Basic weiqi strategy: where to play, territory, corners first, star points

Strategy is what turns weiqi from a rule checker into a four-thousand-year-old decision problem. This guide is for players who already know the rules but want a framework for where to play first, what to do in the opening, when to invade, and when to wait. If you are still learning the rules themselves, start with How to play weiqi. For the historical and cultural context behind the game, see What is weiqi?.

What follows is opinionated. The principles here are widely agreed on at the amateur kyu level (around 10–15 kyu) — strong amateurs will refine them — but they are the most useful heuristics a beginner can carry into their first hundred games.

● The opening principle

01

Corners, sides, center — in that order

The single most-cited rule of weiqi openings.

A weiqi board is a 19×19 grid with corners, sides, and centre. The corners are the easiest places to make territory on because only two sides need to be defended. Sides are harder — three sides to defend — and the centre is the hardest of all, because a single move at the centre has no easy way to make territory on its own.

The traditional opening order is therefore:

1. Corners first. Play in or near the four corners to establish initial frameworks.
2. Sides next. Once a corner framework exists, extend toward the side.
3. Centre last. The centre is best approached through influence built from the sides.

This is why a typical professional game has moves 1–30 mostly in the corners, moves 30–80 on the sides, and the centre only really opening up after move 80.

"

The corners are the easiest to take. The sides are next. The centre is last.

"

● Star points and hoshi

02

The star points (hoshi) and the 3-4 point

Why most professionals play in the same four openings.

The 19×19 board has nine star points (hoshi in Japanese): the intersections at the 4-4, 4-10, 4-16, 10-4, 10-10, 10-16, 16-4, 16-10, and 16-16 coordinates. These mark off natural corner and side positions.

The most commonly-played first move by professionals is the 3-4 point (also called the komoku or low approach). The 3-4 point sits inside the corner, two lines from the edge and four lines from the nearest side. It is balanced: deep enough to defend the corner, shallow enough to extend toward the side later.

The 4-4 point (hoshi) is also very common — slightly defensive, slightly faster to make territory.

● Territory vs influence

03

Territory vs influence

Choosing between points that score now and points that threaten later.

Two kinds of moves shape every game:

Territory-making moves land where they will eventually form the boundary of your empty space. They are concrete — they score points you can count after the game ends.

Influence-making moves land in open space where they do not yet surround anything but radiate potential — they make it harder for your opponent to invade the surrounding area. Influence is intangible. It does not score points at the end; instead, it converts into territory later through the moves it forces your opponent to play.

A balanced player learns to alternate. A player who only makes territory will be invaded. A player who only makes influence will end up with no territory at all.

● Shape and direction

04

Light and heavy stones, direction of play

Not every stone on the board is doing the same work.

A light stone is one that contributes little to the position — perhaps a single empty neighbour. A heavy stone is one whose removal would cost you the surrounding area. A useful exercise is to ask, after each of your moves: if I were forced to remove this stone, how much would I lose?

This leads to the most famous strategic concept in the game: direction of play. A move that helps your own groups while doing little for your opponent is said to play in the right direction. A move that builds both sides simultaneously — for example, an approach move that develops your corner but also helps your opponent’s adjacent group — is playing in the wrong direction.

● Reading

05

Reading a simple sequence

What it means to read ahead, and how to start.

Reading is the weiqi term for working out who wins a local fight if both sides play optimally. Strong amateurs read 5–10 moves ahead. Beginners read 1–2.

The simplest reading exercise: in a corner where you have one stone and your opponent has one stone, list every empty intersection around them. For each one, in turn, ask:

• If I play here, what does my opponent do next?
• Then what do I do?
• Is there a sequence in which I capture their stone, or in which they capture mine?

This is tedious at first. With practice it becomes a reflex. The game’s pedagogical tradition is built around ladder drills and life-and-death problems precisely because they train this reflex without the cost of full-board games.

● Common mistakes

06

Ten things every beginner does wrong

The most common losses in amateur games, and what to do instead.

● Frequently asked questions

01 What is the single most important strategic idea in the opening? ▾

Corners first, then sides, then centre. Until you have a corner established, the centre is not yet meaningful because no one's framework is settled.

02 When should I invade my opponent's framework? ▾

Invade when the framework has a clearly weak point — usually a 3-space opening on the side, or an empty corner adjacent to a strong side. Do not invade a settled two-space framework; you will die inside it.

03 When should I tenuki (play elsewhere) instead of responding locally? ▾

When the local fight is small and your opponent's move is unenlarging — a defensive move that does not threaten a big area. Tenuki forces your opponent to either make their framework smaller or come and fight you on your territory, which is usually a worse trade for them.

04 How long does it take to reach a stable intermediate level? ▾

Most players reach a comfortable amateur kyu level (around 10–15 kyu) within 1–2 years of regular play. Reaching shodan (1-dan) on a national scale typically takes 5–10 years of dedicated study. The skill curve is steep early and shallow later.

05 Where can I practice without playing a full game? ▾

Life-and-death problems (tsumego) are short puzzle positions where you have to kill or save a group. Even ten minutes a day of tsumego raises reading strength significantly faster than full games alone.

06 How do I know when my opening has gone wrong? ▾

Two reliable signs: your stones start to cluster in a single corner without an extension toward a side, or your opponent plays an approach move on your framework and you cannot answer it locally. Either symptom usually means you started too deep (3-3 with no follow-up) or too shallow (5-5 with no nearby support).

● A practice plan

How to put this into practice

Three habits that compound.

Three habits compound faster than any book:

1. Play games. Full games against opponents slightly stronger than you. After each game, find the move you most regret and ask: what did I think that move was doing? The gap between what you thought and what the move actually did is where your strategy grows.
2. Solve tsumego. Even three per day. They train reading, which is the underlying skill underneath every other strategic concept.
3. Review your own games. After every game, find 3–5 moves where you had a choice and worked out what would have happened if you had chosen differently. This is what AI engines like sharp.go’s analysis are designed to help with.

For the rules under which all of this takes place, see How to play weiqi. For the cultural and historical arc that made these principles canonical, see The story of weiqi.