Editing Go (game) (section)

== Comparisons to other games ==
Go begins with an empty board. It is focused on building from the ground up (nothing to something) with multiple, simultaneous battles leading to a point-based win. Chess is tactical rather than strategic, as the predetermined strategy is to trap one individual piece (the king). This comparison has also been applied to military and political history, with [[Scott Boorman]]'s book ''The Protracted Game'' (1969) and, more recently, [[Robert Greene (American author)|Robert Greene]]'s book ''[[The 48 Laws of Power]]'' (1998) exploring the strategy of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] in the [[Chinese Civil War]] through the lens of Go.<ref>{{Citation |last=Boorman |first=Scott A. |title=The Protracted Game: A Wei Ch'i Interpretation of Maoist Revolutionary Strategy |year=1969 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn = 978-0-19-500490-8}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title = The 48 Laws of Power |chapter = Law 48: Assume Formlessness |last = Greene |first = Robert |year = 1998 |publisher = Viking Press |location = New York, NY |isbn = 978-0-670-88146-8 |url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780670881468}}</ref>

A similar comparison has been drawn among Go, [[chess]] and [[backgammon]], perhaps the three oldest games that enjoy worldwide popularity.<ref name="WPinc">{{cite book|last=Pinckard|first=William|chapter=Go and the Three Games|date=n.d.|chapter-url=http://www.kiseido.com/three.htm|access-date=2008-06-11|editor-last=Bozulich|editor-first=Richard|title=The Go Player's Almanac|publication-date=2001|edition=2nd|publisher=Kiseido Publishing Company|isbn=978-4-906574-40-7|archive-date=2019-09-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905135104/http://www.kiseido.com/three.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Backgammon is a "man vs. fate" contest, with chance playing a strong role in determining the outcome. Chess, with rows of soldiers marching forward to capture each other, embodies the conflict of "man vs. man". Because the handicap system tells Go players where they stand relative to other players, an honestly ranked player can expect to lose about half of their games; therefore, Go can be seen as embodying the quest for self-improvement, "man vs. self".<ref name="WPinc" />