Editing Handicapping in Go (section)

===Fixed placement===
[[Image:Go aloituskivien paikat.jpg|thumb|right|The traditional placement of handicap stones]]
There are 9 star points marked on a 19 x 19 [[go equipment#Equipment|board]] – in each corner on the (4,4) point, in the middle of each side on the fourth line, (4,10); and the very center of the board, (10,10). '''Traditionally''' handicaps are always placed on the star points, as follows:

{| class="wikitable"
! Stones 
! Placement
! Locations 
|-
! 1
| Black plays his first stone as he wishes, and gives no komi
| None
|-
! 2
| Black plays the star points to his upper right and lower left
| A,B
|-
! 3
| Black adds the star point to his lower right (In Classical Chinese rules the third handicap stone is place on tengen)
| A,B,C (or E)
|-
! 4
| Black takes all four corner star points
| A,B,C,D
|-
! 5
| Black adds the center star point
| A,B,C,D,E
|-
! 6
| Black takes all three star points at left and right
| A,B,C,D,F,G
|-
! 7
| Black adds the center star point
| A,B,C,D,E,F,G
|-
! 8
| Black takes all star points except the center
| A,B,C,D,F,G,H,I
|-
! 9
| Black takes all nine star points
| A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I
|}

As the stones are always at the same (4,4) points in the corners, Black always plays more (4,4) openings, and doesn't gain experience playing the (3,4) openings, or others such as (3,3), (5,4), (5,3), etc., except on two and three stones.<ref>Historically, in China, Black and White were constrained to play on diagonally-opposite star points for their first two moves in even games. In Japan, from some point in the sixteenth century perhaps, the board was empty in even games. The consequence was a deeper study of the ''[[joseki]]'' that in the Chinese system were used only in three-stone handicaps. Those ''joseki'' dominated opening theory in Japan, until the ''[[shinfuseki]]'' period of the 1930s. In contemporary go, the 4-4 point openings are fundamental.</ref>