The Ladder (Shichō) in Go: A Beginner's Capturing Chase
⏱ Read ~4 min · Updated July 2026 · Part of: Learn Go
The ladder (征子, shichō) is one of the first tactical patterns every Go player learns, because it's a capture you can read to the end with certainty — if you can visualize the path, you know the result before you play.
| English | 中文 | Plain meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ladder | 征子（梯子） | chase a group in atari zig-zag to the edge |
| atari | 打吃 | one liberty left |
| ladder breaker | 引征／劫材 | a stone in the path that stops the ladder |
| liberty | 氣 | an empty neighbor — breath |
1. What a ladder looks like
You put an enemy stone in atari. It has only one direction to run, so it extends — and you atari it again. It turns, extends, you atari again. The two lines of stones form a zig-zag staircase running across the board.
🪜 Picture: like chasing someone down a staircase where each step forces them to turn. If the staircase reaches the board's edge with no escape, the runner runs out of air and the whole group is captured.
2. When a ladder works
A ladder works (captures the group) when nothing blocks the zig-zag path to the edge.
🎯 The whole skill is reading the ladder before you start it: trace the zig-zag in your head. If every turning point is empty (no enemy stone helping, no friendly stone of theirs as a ladder breaker), the group dies at the edge.
3. The ladder breaker (when it fails)
A ladder breaker is one of the runner's stones already sitting somewhere along the zig-zag path. When the chase reaches it, the runner suddenly has extra air and the ladder collapses — the attacker has wasted moves and is often worse off.
😱 Beginner disaster: starting a ladder, chasing five moves, then discovering a breaker. You've built a wall of your own stones that now has bad shape, and the group lives. Always read first.
4. Ladders on a 4×4 board
On a tiny board the edge is always close, so ladders are short and easy to read fully — perfect training. brainGO's 4×4 puzzles often hide a ladder: the "winning move" starts a chase you can trace to the edge in two or three zig-zags. Learn to see the staircase and you'll spot captures other beginners miss.
5. Why ladders matter
Ladders train the core Go skill — reading ahead visually — in its purest form. You must hold the zig-zag path in your head several moves deep and check for breakers. That's exactly the muscle every later tactic builds on.
Try it
The fastest way to "see" a ladder is to play one and watch it resolve.
👉 Play brainGO — read your first ladder
Related guides
- Learn Go: the visual beginner's guide
- Atari in Go — the alarm that starts a ladder
- Capture in Go — where the chase ends