This is a 23 volume series that's about people playing a board game. Throughout the course of the series, they play the game, they get better at it, they play against people who are pretty good at it, then they play some more. Why would I give a series that's pretty accurately summarized by that a 9? Because it's amazing.
Really, the plot is not as boring as it sounds. The story isn't really about the game. It's not like sitting and watching a chess match. Really, the actual amount of game playing is brief, and they don't go into too much depth about it that a complete noob to Go wouldn't understand it. The most interesting components about the story comes from the opponents that they play against, the dramatic irony that no one else knows that Hikaru has who is pretty much the freaking God of Go on his side, and how the characters--both the protagonists and "antagonists"--are both trying to improve themselves.
The characters, in this way, are one of the greatest elements in the story. I read this quote from somewhere that the story doesn't go anywhere with just a strong protagonist. You need a strong antagonist, or rival, for there to be any enjoyment in the story. In this case, we have a super strong rival known as Akira Toya. The story isn't about some overpowered protagonists taking down everything in his way to stay overpowered. It's about him moving through these obstacles to achieve something that's greater than him.
BUT by far, the greatest part of the characters was the development. It was done so beautifully. Hikaru develops not only in his gameplay, but in his attitude. All of the characters change and aspire to something. But another part of character development that some manga and anime tend to forget is physical development. In this case, the story starts off pre-puberty, and the artist made sure to make slight changes in the character design to show their physical growth, and it was such a nice touch. The best part was, I didn't even realize it was happening when it was, so it almost gave you a connection to the characters, like how family members you haven't seen in a while will tell you that "you've grown!"
The only reason why my review is a 9 is because not all of the questions I had about the series, and not all of the concepts they brought in were directly answered or explained. There was no gigantic plot hole that destroyed the manga like some of the things I've read. In comparison, there was just a few bumps. But not all of the questions can be answered.
I think my favorite thing about this manga is that I can't quite put my finger on what I loved so much about it. I've talked to some of my friends about it, and some said that they couldn't get into it, but I think if you can, you'll end up loving it. I would completely recommend all manga lovers to read it.
READING ADVICE:
If you do decide to read it, obviously just try out the first one or two volumes before committing. Once you do, though, when you get to about volume 19, get all the ones that come after that. There's a bit of an arch that starts to form around there, and it's also towards the end of the series, and you don't want to find yourself in that position with no more books, but it's not like I'm mentioning that due to personal experience or anything.