as it appears in chinese and japanese mythology
- even treated with such a respect that it was
avoided entirely as aim ... the imagination of
perfection is stronger than any manifestation.

take eight time eight squares, voila - you have
the xianxi board the 'yellow river' not counted in.

played is it at the nine times TEN crosspoints.
the fortress three times three crosspoints ... :)

go/pente/keryo board contains four quarters
of nine times nine squares - again played on
the 'lines'- happens to be a running pattern in
asiatic games to CLOSELY avoid perfection ...

actually sense of the game, as a go-master said,
goal is not, to win but to snapshot a momentary
cosmic divergence of the tiniest possible kind.

real masters try to win by just ONE stone plus :)
~*~