How Go Scoring Works: Territory, Area and Komi

A game of Go ends when both players pass. Then comes the part many beginners find confusing: counting. It's simpler than it looks. Both scoring methods used around the world measure the same thing — how much of the board each player controls — and they almost always agree on who won.

Step 1: remove the dead stones

At the end of the game, some stones may still be on the board even though they could not escape capture. These are dead stones. Players agree which stones are dead, and those are removed before counting. If a group's status is unclear, the game isn't really over — keep playing until it is settled.

What counts as territory

Territory is the empty points completely surrounded by one player's living stones. Empty points that touch both colours — called neutral points or dame — belong to nobody.

Territory scoring (Japanese and Korean rules)

Your score is:

• the empty points in your territory, plus
• the stones you captured during the game, plus
• the dead stones you removed at the end.

Under this method, playing inside your own territory at the end costs you a point, because it fills one of your own empty points.

Area scoring (Chinese rules and many online servers)

Your score is:

• the empty points in your territory, plus
• your living stones on the board.

Captures don't need to be counted separately, and playing inside your own territory costs nothing. That's why area scoring is popular with computer programs and beginners: an extra move at the end never loses points.

Komi

Black moves first, which is an advantage. To balance it, White receives komi — extra points added to White's score. Typical values are 6.5 points for territory scoring and 7.5 for area scoring on a 19×19 board. Smaller boards often use different values. The half point makes a draw impossible.

Why the two methods agree

Each player places roughly the same number of stones during a game, and every captured stone is a stone the other side no longer has on the board. The two methods count the same difference from different angles, so the result usually differs by at most one point.

A worked example

Here is a finished 9×9 game after both players passed. The white stone on B7 is dead — it sits alone inside Black's area and could never live — so it is removed and counted as a Black prisoner. During the game, Black captured 2 white stones and White captured 3 black stones.

Territory scoring (komi 6.5):

• Black: 32 territory + 2 captures + 1 dead stone = 35
• White: 28 territory + 3 captures + 6.5 komi = 37.5

Area scoring (komi 7.5):

• Black: 32 territory + 11 stones on the board = 43
• White: 28 territory + 10 stones on the board + 7.5 komi = 45.5

Both methods give the same result: White wins by 2.5 points. Without komi, Black would have been 4 points ahead — the komi is what turns the result around, and it shows how much the first move is worth on a small board.

Scoring on MindLounge

MindLounge counts Go games with area scoring (Tromp–Taylor rules) and a komi of 7.5 for White. The score is calculated automatically as soon as both players pass.

One detail matters a lot in practice: under these rules, dead stones are not removed. The board is counted exactly as it is, so a dead enemy stone left inside your area still counts as alive — and because the empty points around it now touch both colours, they no longer count as your territory either. In the example above, leaving the dead white stone on B7 would wipe out all 32 points of Black's area. Before you pass, capture every dead stone inside your territory; it costs you nothing under area scoring.

Counting a real game step by step

1. Check that every border is closed. If any neutral point between the two areas is still empty, fill it. Under territory scoring it's worth nothing, but an open gap can let stones walk into the other side's area.
2. Agree on dead stones and remove them.
3. Count each area. Online, the server counts for you. On a real board, players rearrange stones to make each territory a neat rectangle, which makes it easy to count by rows of five or ten.
4. Add captures (territory scoring) or stones on the board (area scoring), then komi for White.

Common scoring mistakes

• Passing too early. A single unfinished border point can decide a 9×9 game.
• Counting a dead group as alive. If a group has no chance of making two eyes, it's dead even if it's still on the board — see Life and Death in Go.
• Forgetting the half point. Komi with .5 means there are no draws — every game has a winner.

Tips for the end of the game

• Don't pass while a border is still open — one missing stone can cost several points.
• Fill neutral points last; they're worth nothing under territory scoring.
• If you're not sure a group is dead, play it out instead of guessing.