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Go Game Guru – Learn all about the board game Go

171 points by dukenuke 11y ago

lucb1e 11y ago
Slightly off topic perhaps, but I've been looking to buy a Go game. Dutch sites don't seem to have it for a reasonable price; this site sells it for $9.99 but with $18 shipping. Any Europeans here who can tell me how to get it to either a German, Belgian or Dutch address for about €20 or less?
- voidpointer 11y ago
  There are options that would fit your budget on the german amazon site. I really recommend investing a little more (€30-40) and get something nicer. I've had my go board and stones for 20+ years now (not that I get to play much but it's still great to play a round from time to time). This is something that you'll hold on to for quite a while.
- r-u-serious 11y ago
  Hebsacker Verlag has options for every budget. Shipping still adds a bit, though: http://www.hebsacker-verlag.de/shop.php http://www.hebsacker-verlag.de/shop.php http://www.hebsacker-verlag.de/shipping.php http://www.hebsacker-verlag.de/shipping.php
- panglott 11y ago
  IMO it'd be better to draw a board on a piece of wood and use black and white glass gems, rather than buying a very low-end set. Very cheap sets have stones that are just too small. Probably the best beginner set would be a set of full-size glass or melamine stones and a roll-up vinyl board.
- tasuki 11y ago
  There are many go clubs in the Netherlands. Find one, go and play with people! While you are at it, you can ask them about buying a go board and will probably be able to buy one without having to pay for shipping at all.
  - lucb1e 11y ago
    If I remember correctly, my girlfriend looked for one near south Limburg but the closest one was Utrecht.. I know there is an index for chess clubs, do you know of one for go clubs?
    - tasuki 11y ago
      https://gobond.nl/verenigingen https://gobond.nl/verenigingen Surprisingly, south Limburg doesn't seem to be included.
    - jdietrich 11y ago
      The Nederlandse Go Bond has a list of affiliated clubs. If you speak French or German, I might also suggest looking for clubs across the border. https://www.gobond.nl/verenigingen https://www.gobond.nl/verenigingen http://www.eurogofed.org/members/ http://www.eurogofed.org/members/
- jdietrich 11y ago
  The cheapest set of playable quality I've found is from GoGameGuru. It includes a wooden board and plastic stones and bowls. It costs €35 shipped to the Netherlands. https://shop.gogameguru.com/newbie-go-game-set/ https://shop.gogameguru.com/newbie-go-game-set/ I have one of these folding magnetic sets. It's a few centimetres smaller than a standard board, but is perfectly usable and very convenient for study or casual games in cafes. It costs €22 shipped, but you'll have to wait a few weeks as it's sent direct from China. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-large-magnetic-Go-Game-suit-gobang-folding-board/32319690990.html http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-large-magnetic-...
- rveeblefetzer 11y ago
  have you tried a Chinatown gift shop? The kind of place that sells baoding balls, incense and kitschy porcelain?
weavie 11y ago
Here is another list of useful go resources : https://forums.online-go.com/t/free-resources-for-beginners/6700 https://forums.online-go.com/t/free-resources-for-beginners/... Another useful site which has interactive tutorials : https://online-go.com/learn-to-play-go https://online-go.com/learn-to-play-go https://online-go.com https://online-go.com is also good for playing games online.
tel 11y ago
The biggest most canonical English resource is http://senseis.xmp.net http://senseis.xmp.net. You can get lost there for days.
chrisherring 11y ago
I've started playing Go against a computer (SmartGo iOS on a 9x9 board) but I find the hard part is determining where you're making mistakes, what is a better move, why the computer did what it did etc. For instance the computer may ignore a capture to play elsewhere and it can be hard to work out why. I learnt to play Chess when I was young so I can't make a fair comparison but it feels like Chess is much easier to self diagnose.
- panglott 11y ago
  I took up Go about six months ago, after many false starts over the years. The secret for me was to stop playing computers and start playing humans online (I like online-go.com). Computers at lower difficulty settings make a combination of very strong moves and very weird moves, which are difficult for beginners to interpret. And the game is just a lot more fun when playing against people of similar skill level or a bit stronger, so you win about 50% of games and can understand your opponents' moves more easily.
  - chrisherring 11y ago
    Sounds like good advice. I have noticed some of these weird moves using the hint function - at times they've caused me to lose badly so I've gone back and done something else and came out on top which made me question the reasoning behind it.
  - mtgx 11y ago
    I like this one: https://www.flyordie.com/go/ https://www.flyordie.com/go/
  - jonbarker 11y ago
    The 12k bots on pandanet are good for learning how to make large groups live against a relatively good opponent, large group deaths are usually the most damaging thing to a beginner's results.
    - gohrt 11y ago
niij 11y ago
If you're shopping for a Go set, I would recommend looking at http://www.thegamesupply.com/go-game-sets/ http://www.thegamesupply.com/go-game-sets/ There are a few medium quality boards on there. There is a $70 set with free shipping that includes: • 1 full size (17"x18") wooden board with wooden feet • 320 Bi-convex glass stones with plastic containers
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Notre1 11y ago
The best introduction to the game that I've ever found is "The Interactive Way to Go" http://playgo.to/iwtg/en/ http://playgo.to/iwtg/en/
- hyperpape 11y ago
  Seconded. The only downside is that it's using Flash.
  - Notre1 11y ago
    Yeah, it would be awesome if someone would modernize it. Or do something like Chesscademy for Go.
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mfoy_ 11y ago
I just started playing Go this January. The game was fairly overwhelming at first. The path I followed to get a decent understanding of the game (I'm about 13kyu now) was this: 1. Start by playing a few games, doesn't really matter the size of the board, or whatever, it's just for context and to get a general feel for the game. But not enough games to get dejected or fall into bad habits. 2. Read an introductory Go book. I personally first read "Go; More Than a Game" by Peter Shotwell. It explains the game from the very beginning and also has a lot of historical context which most Go books do not. My roommate had this book which was very convenient for me. An online resource that is fairly good is Sensei's Library, especially http://senseis.xmp.net/?HaengMaTutorialForBeginners http://senseis.xmp.net/?HaengMaTutorialForBeginners. You can also find the definition and exampels of all Go terms here. 3. Play more games, try to apply things you learned from the book. Also start watching Nick Sibicky's YouTube lecture series. Just start at #1 and keep watching when you have time. I'm only on lecture ~30 but I find they have been very helpful. 4. Get a Tsumego (like chess problems, but Go problems) app or something for your phone and do a Go problem every so often. (Try to do at least 10 problems a day. Try reading it out rather than firing shots blindly. If you just brute force the solution you won't learn nearly as much as if you spend a long time just trying to read it out.) 5. At this point, you should be playing a few 19x19 games every week. Keep in mind that 9x9 is fairly different, so play it if you like it but keep in mind it is not 19x19 at all. Try to review after each game, or have your games reviewed by stronger players. There are a lot of friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable players in the chat rooms on online-go.com and the review tool is pretty cool. The site actually uses a pretty modern stack, too, using node.js and Angular, if I recall correctly... the devs hang out in chat too and are fairly open to questions) 6. At this stage, you should be somewhere around 20-15k on online-go.com. (Essentially, past the most basic novice level. You understand atari, ko, etc. You recognize some of the obvious mistakes.) Now it's time to buy a more serious Go book. I highly recommend "The Fundamentals of Go" by Toshiro Kageyama 7p and "Graded Go Problems for Beginners" (Volume 2) by Kano Yoshinori 9p. Kageyama's writing style is pretty entertaining and he stresses the fundamentals which are very important. The Go Problems book covers a lot more than life and death, it has opening, end game, etc problems, with explanations attached to all the answers. 7. Keep playing games, doing tsumego, watching youtube videos, and re-reading the books if relevant. It should be a straight and steady climb to single digit kyu-dom from here on out. At least that's my hope. :) ----- NOTE: Do not play against Go computer programs if you can help it... they play bizarre moves that sometimes work out and sometimes are meaningless... You can learn much more from a human opponent who will help you learn the obvious mistakes by punishing you for them directly.
swannodette 11y ago
For the English speaking Go community, GoGameGuru is without question the most reliable online resource for great commentary on the most important matches between the world's top players (and of course more recently AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol). They also do translations of the best content from Korea's BadukTV - lessons, game commentary, famous problem sets, and more. GoGameGuru is a treasure trove, no question. That said, GoGameGuru is just another sign of an explosion of amazing Go content, tools, and communities for an English speaking audience. There's really never been a better time to get into the game. You have Lee Hajin's (Korean 3p) YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTji1kQNoWIH85dB_Vxka9g https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTji1kQNoWIH85dB_Vxka9g where she plays games live on Tygem (one of the largest and strongest online Go communities, many top pros play there). You have online sophisticated pattern searching over hundreds of years of games http://ps.waltheri.net http://ps.waltheri.net. You can get free online commentary on games you played https://gokibitz.com https://gokibitz.com. And you can easily find an opponent online without leaving the comfort of your browser http://online-go.com http://online-go.com. I wrote a post in January summarizing all the great content now available as well as possible paths to deepening your understanding of the game - http://swannodette.github.io/baduk//baduk/2016/01/08/hello-baduk.html http://swannodette.github.io/baduk//baduk/2016/01/08/hello-b....
- Alex3917 11y ago
  Nice post! The one thing I think is missing is Dwyrin's YouTube videos and lectures: https://www.youtube.com/user/dwyrin https://www.youtube.com/user/dwyrin He's all about how you can reach dan level just by being good at direction of play, even if you're not great at solving problems. Also just the fact that he grew up in America makes him a little easier to understand.
- hyperpape 11y ago
  This is a great post. I do think it should mention OGS (online-go.com) as an alternative to KGS. Some people may really not like installing a Java app for KGS.
  - MichaelGG 11y ago
t_fatus 11y ago
"Despite recent advances, computer programs are still a long way off being able to compete with the top human players." They might want to update this ;)
knodi123 11y ago
I, and I suspect a lot of other people, was introduced to Go by the tv show Hikaru No Go. > While exploring his grandfather's shed, Hikaru stumbles across a Go board haunted by the spirit of Fujiwara-no-Sai, a Go player from the Heian era. Sai wishes to play Go again, having not been able to since the late Edo period, when his ghost appeared to Honinbo Shusaku, a top Go player of that period. Sai's greatest desire is to attain the Kami no Itte (神の一手?, "Divine Move") – a perfect move. Because Hikaru is apparently the only person who can perceive him, Sai inhabits a part of Hikaru's mind as a separate personality, coexisting, although not always comfortably, with the young boy. > Urged by Sai, Hikaru begins playing Go despite an initial lack of interest in the game. He begins by simply executing the moves Sai dictates to him, but Sai tells him to try to understand each move. It's a fun series, especially if you have a fast-forward button and don't have to fumble around with discs
- Jach 11y ago
  What would you ever fast forward besides the intro/"last time on.." and the outro? ;) I would add a recommendation to watch the Japanese dub. I accidentally stumbled upon the English dub on Youtube recently, I didn't even know there was one, it was terrible...
  - knodi123 11y ago
    > What would you ever fast forward besides the intro/"last time on.." and the outro? 5 minute long freeze-frame shots where the camera slowly pans over shocked faces having a massive emotional reaction to every single clever move. Just like I'd fast forward Dragon Ball Z every time Goku needs to use 3 episodes of grunting to charge up an energy ball attack.
    - sn9 11y ago
      That's why reading the manga is almost always the superior experience compared to watching the anime adaptation. The adaptations usually insert so much unnecessary filler because they'd otherwise catch up to the latest manga chapter much more quickly. Your typical half-hour episode usually covers 2-3 chapters' worth of material. Without the filler, a year's worth of manga might be covered in half a season of anime. Regarding HnG specifically, reading the manga has the additional advantages of not bothering with intros/outros/spoilery-previews and allowing you to avoid messing with pause buttons to get a better view of game boards. The art is also absolutely gorgeous, especially in the latter half of the series.
romaniv 11y ago
While we're here, does anyone know a good Go app for Android? A lot of them look like spyware, judging by permissions.
- ideonexus 11y ago
  I use "Go Free." It has permissions to USB storage and network access. The unpaid version allows a 13x13 board (19x19 requires upgrading). It has 10 levels of difficulty, of which I can only beat up to level 3. The ads are a little annoying, but no worse than any other free games I have for android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.aifactory.gofree https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.aifactor...
  - Jach 11y ago
    They recently upgraded their engine to a stronger one, so are you still at 3? Also the full app is available for free on Amazon Underground, I use that for playing 19x19 games. The big lacking feature of the app for me is that it doesn't let you save your game as an SGF. At least https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mco.prj.app.bwgofree https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mco.prj.app.bw... lets you do that.
    - ideonexus 11y ago
      I just got the notice about the upgrade. I'm probably going to do worse at 3 now since my wins there were tenuous. Go has been an easy game for me to learn, but a very difficult game for me to get any good at. I just don't know how to think about it the way I think about chess.
      - Jach 11y ago
        Yeah, I haven't upgraded my copy from Amazon since I'm still working on beating it at level 5. Still pretty weak. I've gone through the first two Janice Kim books which I think made me stronger, but I still don't handle fights very well. Finally starting to take tsumego practice more seriously, so I'm cautiously optimistic about a noticeable skill bump over the next couple months. I think my prior Chess experience helps with raw reading ability (and even just the concept of reading) but I read way too optimistically in Go, and just don't read enough in longer 19x19 games.
hasenj 11y ago
This YouTube channel has very useful and informative content. A caveat: the presenter there has a very thick Chinese accent. I personally have no problem with it but some people have commented that they can't understand what he's saying. https://www.youtube.com/user/gocommentary/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/gocommentary/videos This is one of the best game commentaries in my opinion. It has subtitles to help with the accent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O-lwNzN0G0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O-lwNzN0G0
deleted 11y ago
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dkonofalski 11y ago
What's the point? The computers can already beat everyone. :-P
partycoder 11y ago
Learning: - I personally like this guide: http://playgo.to/iwtg/en/ http://playgo.to/iwtg/en/ - If you use Windows or Mac, there's a very good software called SmartGo. On Linux you might want to try "Kigo", from KDE. - Eidogo.com and Josekipedia.com are good for learning joseki. - For Android there's a really good app for exercises called "Magic Baduk Go". Some mini review of different servers: - online-go.com (OGS) is excellent, but is very new and not as active as other servers. Still recommended. - KGS if you are western is the thing. There are usually bots that are 24 kyu that you can play against if you are new to the game. - IGS might be good as well. - Tygem and WBaduk are very hostile to new players because of the high number of sandbaggers (dans that pretend to be 18 kyu). You can get it running on Windows or Wine. Books: - "In the beginning", "38 basic joseki" and "attack and defense" are probably the best books for starting on go. SmartGo has them, and this will save you the effort of reading complex diagrams. Instead you can have interactive embedded go boards. Equipment and playing offline: - If you don't want to commit to buy equipment, drop by a go club and try the game. Usually people there are very friendly to newcomers. - If you just want to commit to the real thing you can look for go boards and stones on Amazon. My personal favourite stones are the "Yangstone go stones", korean made durable glass stones. Other stones like Yunzi can be really fragile and shatter. Stones are the most important thing to start. - You can start off a printable 9x9 board for practicing, then play on 13x13 then 19x19. Starting directly on 19x19 is a bit difficult. Watching professional go games: - You can subscribe to Baduk TV, or watch their Youtube channel for free: https://www.youtube.com/user/onbaduktv https://www.youtube.com/user/onbaduktv - You can see latest game records (kifu) uploaded to gokifu.com Lessons: - Some people on KGS offer lessons. While this can be a bit expensive and they might be hard to find, it's a possibility. I did this for a couple of years and I went from 20 kyu to around 5 kyu.
lbhnact 11y ago
It's been a joy to watch all of the excitement around Lee Sedol and AlphaGo's incredible machine performance translate into increasing interest in Go, rather than a disappointed turn away from another domain that we seem to be preempted from. Maybe this speaks to something deeply encouraging about the definition of actual human intelligence. It's sure makes me feel better about all the time I've spent playing Go during the workday these past few weeks, anyway.

171 points by dukenuke 11y ago

Slightly off topic perhaps, but I've been looking to buy a Go game. Dutch sites don't seem to have it for a reasonable price; this site sells it for $9.99 but with $18 shipping. Any Europeans here who can tell me how to get it to either a German, Belgian or Dutch address for about €20 or less?

voidpointer 11y ago
There are options that would fit your budget on the german amazon site. I really recommend investing a little more (€30-40) and get something nicer. I've had my go board and stones for 20+ years now (not that I get to play much but it's still great to play a round from time to time). This is something that you'll hold on to for quite a while.
r-u-serious 11y ago
Hebsacker Verlag has options for every budget. Shipping still adds a bit, though: http://www.hebsacker-verlag.de/shop.php http://www.hebsacker-verlag.de/shop.php http://www.hebsacker-verlag.de/shipping.php http://www.hebsacker-verlag.de/shipping.php
panglott 11y ago
IMO it'd be better to draw a board on a piece of wood and use black and white glass gems, rather than buying a very low-end set. Very cheap sets have stones that are just too small. Probably the best beginner set would be a set of full-size glass or melamine stones and a roll-up vinyl board.
tasuki 11y ago
There are many go clubs in the Netherlands. Find one, go and play with people! While you are at it, you can ask them about buying a go board and will probably be able to buy one without having to pay for shipping at all.
- lucb1e 11y ago
  If I remember correctly, my girlfriend looked for one near south Limburg but the closest one was Utrecht.. I know there is an index for chess clubs, do you know of one for go clubs?
  - tasuki 11y ago
    https://gobond.nl/verenigingen https://gobond.nl/verenigingen Surprisingly, south Limburg doesn't seem to be included.
  - jdietrich 11y ago
    The Nederlandse Go Bond has a list of affiliated clubs. If you speak French or German, I might also suggest looking for clubs across the border. https://www.gobond.nl/verenigingen https://www.gobond.nl/verenigingen http://www.eurogofed.org/members/ http://www.eurogofed.org/members/
jdietrich 11y ago
The cheapest set of playable quality I've found is from GoGameGuru. It includes a wooden board and plastic stones and bowls. It costs €35 shipped to the Netherlands. https://shop.gogameguru.com/newbie-go-game-set/ https://shop.gogameguru.com/newbie-go-game-set/ I have one of these folding magnetic sets. It's a few centimetres smaller than a standard board, but is perfectly usable and very convenient for study or casual games in cafes. It costs €22 shipped, but you'll have to wait a few weeks as it's sent direct from China. http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-large-magnetic-Go-Game-suit-gobang-folding-board/32319690990.html http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-shipping-large-magnetic-...
rveeblefetzer 11y ago
have you tried a Chinatown gift shop? The kind of place that sells baoding balls, incense and kitschy porcelain?

weavie 11y ago

Here is another list of useful go resources : https://forums.online-go.com/t/free-resources-for-beginners/6700 https://forums.online-go.com/t/free-resources-for-beginners/... Another useful site which has interactive tutorials : https://online-go.com/learn-to-play-go https://online-go.com/learn-to-play-go https://online-go.com https://online-go.com is also good for playing games online.

tel 11y ago

The biggest most canonical English resource is http://senseis.xmp.net http://senseis.xmp.net. You can get lost there for days.

chrisherring 11y ago

I've started playing Go against a computer (SmartGo iOS on a 9x9 board) but I find the hard part is determining where you're making mistakes, what is a better move, why the computer did what it did etc. For instance the computer may ignore a capture to play elsewhere and it can be hard to work out why. I learnt to play Chess when I was young so I can't make a fair comparison but it feels like Chess is much easier to self diagnose.

panglott 11y ago
I took up Go about six months ago, after many false starts over the years. The secret for me was to stop playing computers and start playing humans online (I like online-go.com). Computers at lower difficulty settings make a combination of very strong moves and very weird moves, which are difficult for beginners to interpret. And the game is just a lot more fun when playing against people of similar skill level or a bit stronger, so you win about 50% of games and can understand your opponents' moves more easily.
- chrisherring 11y ago
  Sounds like good advice. I have noticed some of these weird moves using the hint function - at times they've caused me to lose badly so I've gone back and done something else and came out on top which made me question the reasoning behind it.
- mtgx 11y ago
  I like this one: https://www.flyordie.com/go/ https://www.flyordie.com/go/
- jonbarker 11y ago
  The 12k bots on pandanet are good for learning how to make large groups live against a relatively good opponent, large group deaths are usually the most damaging thing to a beginner's results.
  - gohrt 11y ago

niij 11y ago

If you're shopping for a Go set, I would recommend looking at http://www.thegamesupply.com/go-game-sets/ http://www.thegamesupply.com/go-game-sets/ There are a few medium quality boards on there. There is a $70 set with free shipping that includes: • 1 full size (17"x18") wooden board with wooden feet • 320 Bi-convex glass stones with plastic containers

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Notre1 11y ago

The best introduction to the game that I've ever found is "The Interactive Way to Go" http://playgo.to/iwtg/en/ http://playgo.to/iwtg/en/

hyperpape 11y ago
Seconded. The only downside is that it's using Flash.
- Notre1 11y ago
  Yeah, it would be awesome if someone would modernize it. Or do something like Chesscademy for Go.

deleted 11y ago

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mfoy_ 11y ago

I just started playing Go this January. The game was fairly overwhelming at first. The path I followed to get a decent understanding of the game (I'm about 13kyu now) was this: 1. Start by playing a few games, doesn't really matter the size of the board, or whatever, it's just for context and to get a general feel for the game. But not enough games to get dejected or fall into bad habits. 2. Read an introductory Go book. I personally first read "Go; More Than a Game" by Peter Shotwell. It explains the game from the very beginning and also has a lot of historical context which most Go books do not. My roommate had this book which was very convenient for me. An online resource that is fairly good is Sensei's Library, especially http://senseis.xmp.net/?HaengMaTutorialForBeginners http://senseis.xmp.net/?HaengMaTutorialForBeginners. You can also find the definition and exampels of all Go terms here. 3. Play more games, try to apply things you learned from the book. Also start watching Nick Sibicky's YouTube lecture series. Just start at #1 and keep watching when you have time. I'm only on lecture ~30 but I find they have been very helpful. 4. Get a Tsumego (like chess problems, but Go problems) app or something for your phone and do a Go problem every so often. (Try to do at least 10 problems a day. Try reading it out rather than firing shots blindly. If you just brute force the solution you won't learn nearly as much as if you spend a long time just trying to read it out.) 5. At this point, you should be playing a few 19x19 games every week. Keep in mind that 9x9 is fairly different, so play it if you like it but keep in mind it is not 19x19 at all. Try to review after each game, or have your games reviewed by stronger players. There are a lot of friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable players in the chat rooms on online-go.com and the review tool is pretty cool. The site actually uses a pretty modern stack, too, using node.js and Angular, if I recall correctly... the devs hang out in chat too and are fairly open to questions) 6. At this stage, you should be somewhere around 20-15k on online-go.com. (Essentially, past the most basic novice level. You understand atari, ko, etc. You recognize some of the obvious mistakes.) Now it's time to buy a more serious Go book. I highly recommend "The Fundamentals of Go" by Toshiro Kageyama 7p and "Graded Go Problems for Beginners" (Volume 2) by Kano Yoshinori 9p. Kageyama's writing style is pretty entertaining and he stresses the fundamentals which are very important. The Go Problems book covers a lot more than life and death, it has opening, end game, etc problems, with explanations attached to all the answers. 7. Keep playing games, doing tsumego, watching youtube videos, and re-reading the books if relevant. It should be a straight and steady climb to single digit kyu-dom from here on out. At least that's my hope. :) ----- NOTE: Do not play against Go computer programs if you can help it... they play bizarre moves that sometimes work out and sometimes are meaningless... You can learn much more from a human opponent who will help you learn the obvious mistakes by punishing you for them directly.

swannodette 11y ago

For the English speaking Go community, GoGameGuru is without question the most reliable online resource for great commentary on the most important matches between the world's top players (and of course more recently AlphaGo vs. Lee Sedol). They also do translations of the best content from Korea's BadukTV - lessons, game commentary, famous problem sets, and more. GoGameGuru is a treasure trove, no question. That said, GoGameGuru is just another sign of an explosion of amazing Go content, tools, and communities for an English speaking audience. There's really never been a better time to get into the game. You have Lee Hajin's (Korean 3p) YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTji1kQNoWIH85dB_Vxka9g https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTji1kQNoWIH85dB_Vxka9g where she plays games live on Tygem (one of the largest and strongest online Go communities, many top pros play there). You have online sophisticated pattern searching over hundreds of years of games http://ps.waltheri.net http://ps.waltheri.net. You can get free online commentary on games you played https://gokibitz.com https://gokibitz.com. And you can easily find an opponent online without leaving the comfort of your browser http://online-go.com http://online-go.com. I wrote a post in January summarizing all the great content now available as well as possible paths to deepening your understanding of the game - http://swannodette.github.io/baduk//baduk/2016/01/08/hello-baduk.html http://swannodette.github.io/baduk//baduk/2016/01/08/hello-b....

Alex3917 11y ago
Nice post! The one thing I think is missing is Dwyrin's YouTube videos and lectures: https://www.youtube.com/user/dwyrin https://www.youtube.com/user/dwyrin He's all about how you can reach dan level just by being good at direction of play, even if you're not great at solving problems. Also just the fact that he grew up in America makes him a little easier to understand.
hyperpape 11y ago
This is a great post. I do think it should mention OGS (online-go.com) as an alternative to KGS. Some people may really not like installing a Java app for KGS.
- MichaelGG 11y ago

t_fatus 11y ago

"Despite recent advances, computer programs are still a long way off being able to compete with the top human players." They might want to update this ;)

knodi123 11y ago

I, and I suspect a lot of other people, was introduced to Go by the tv show Hikaru No Go. > While exploring his grandfather's shed, Hikaru stumbles across a Go board haunted by the spirit of Fujiwara-no-Sai, a Go player from the Heian era. Sai wishes to play Go again, having not been able to since the late Edo period, when his ghost appeared to Honinbo Shusaku, a top Go player of that period. Sai's greatest desire is to attain the Kami no Itte (神の一手?, "Divine Move") – a perfect move. Because Hikaru is apparently the only person who can perceive him, Sai inhabits a part of Hikaru's mind as a separate personality, coexisting, although not always comfortably, with the young boy. > Urged by Sai, Hikaru begins playing Go despite an initial lack of interest in the game. He begins by simply executing the moves Sai dictates to him, but Sai tells him to try to understand each move. It's a fun series, especially if you have a fast-forward button and don't have to fumble around with discs

Jach 11y ago
What would you ever fast forward besides the intro/"last time on.." and the outro? ;) I would add a recommendation to watch the Japanese dub. I accidentally stumbled upon the English dub on Youtube recently, I didn't even know there was one, it was terrible...
- knodi123 11y ago
  > What would you ever fast forward besides the intro/"last time on.." and the outro? 5 minute long freeze-frame shots where the camera slowly pans over shocked faces having a massive emotional reaction to every single clever move. Just like I'd fast forward Dragon Ball Z every time Goku needs to use 3 episodes of grunting to charge up an energy ball attack.
  - sn9 11y ago
    That's why reading the manga is almost always the superior experience compared to watching the anime adaptation. The adaptations usually insert so much unnecessary filler because they'd otherwise catch up to the latest manga chapter much more quickly. Your typical half-hour episode usually covers 2-3 chapters' worth of material. Without the filler, a year's worth of manga might be covered in half a season of anime. Regarding HnG specifically, reading the manga has the additional advantages of not bothering with intros/outros/spoilery-previews and allowing you to avoid messing with pause buttons to get a better view of game boards. The art is also absolutely gorgeous, especially in the latter half of the series.

romaniv 11y ago

While we're here, does anyone know a good Go app for Android? A lot of them look like spyware, judging by permissions.

ideonexus 11y ago
I use "Go Free." It has permissions to USB storage and network access. The unpaid version allows a 13x13 board (19x19 requires upgrading). It has 10 levels of difficulty, of which I can only beat up to level 3. The ads are a little annoying, but no worse than any other free games I have for android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.aifactory.gofree https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.aifactor...
- Jach 11y ago
  They recently upgraded their engine to a stronger one, so are you still at 3? Also the full app is available for free on Amazon Underground, I use that for playing 19x19 games. The big lacking feature of the app for me is that it doesn't let you save your game as an SGF. At least https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mco.prj.app.bwgofree https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mco.prj.app.bw... lets you do that.
  - ideonexus 11y ago
    I just got the notice about the upgrade. I'm probably going to do worse at 3 now since my wins there were tenuous. Go has been an easy game for me to learn, but a very difficult game for me to get any good at. I just don't know how to think about it the way I think about chess.
    - Jach 11y ago
      Yeah, I haven't upgraded my copy from Amazon since I'm still working on beating it at level 5. Still pretty weak. I've gone through the first two Janice Kim books which I think made me stronger, but I still don't handle fights very well. Finally starting to take tsumego practice more seriously, so I'm cautiously optimistic about a noticeable skill bump over the next couple months. I think my prior Chess experience helps with raw reading ability (and even just the concept of reading) but I read way too optimistically in Go, and just don't read enough in longer 19x19 games.

hasenj 11y ago

This YouTube channel has very useful and informative content. A caveat: the presenter there has a very thick Chinese accent. I personally have no problem with it but some people have commented that they can't understand what he's saying. https://www.youtube.com/user/gocommentary/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/gocommentary/videos This is one of the best game commentaries in my opinion. It has subtitles to help with the accent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O-lwNzN0G0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O-lwNzN0G0

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

dkonofalski 11y ago

What's the point? The computers can already beat everyone. :-P

partycoder 11y ago

Learning: - I personally like this guide: http://playgo.to/iwtg/en/ http://playgo.to/iwtg/en/ - If you use Windows or Mac, there's a very good software called SmartGo. On Linux you might want to try "Kigo", from KDE. - Eidogo.com and Josekipedia.com are good for learning joseki. - For Android there's a really good app for exercises called "Magic Baduk Go". Some mini review of different servers: - online-go.com (OGS) is excellent, but is very new and not as active as other servers. Still recommended. - KGS if you are western is the thing. There are usually bots that are 24 kyu that you can play against if you are new to the game. - IGS might be good as well. - Tygem and WBaduk are very hostile to new players because of the high number of sandbaggers (dans that pretend to be 18 kyu). You can get it running on Windows or Wine. Books: - "In the beginning", "38 basic joseki" and "attack and defense" are probably the best books for starting on go. SmartGo has them, and this will save you the effort of reading complex diagrams. Instead you can have interactive embedded go boards. Equipment and playing offline: - If you don't want to commit to buy equipment, drop by a go club and try the game. Usually people there are very friendly to newcomers. - If you just want to commit to the real thing you can look for go boards and stones on Amazon. My personal favourite stones are the "Yangstone go stones", korean made durable glass stones. Other stones like Yunzi can be really fragile and shatter. Stones are the most important thing to start. - You can start off a printable 9x9 board for practicing, then play on 13x13 then 19x19. Starting directly on 19x19 is a bit difficult. Watching professional go games: - You can subscribe to Baduk TV, or watch their Youtube channel for free: https://www.youtube.com/user/onbaduktv https://www.youtube.com/user/onbaduktv - You can see latest game records (kifu) uploaded to gokifu.com Lessons: - Some people on KGS offer lessons. While this can be a bit expensive and they might be hard to find, it's a possibility. I did this for a couple of years and I went from 20 kyu to around 5 kyu.

lbhnact 11y ago

It's been a joy to watch all of the excitement around Lee Sedol and AlphaGo's incredible machine performance translate into increasing interest in Go, rather than a disappointed turn away from another domain that we seem to be preempted from. Maybe this speaks to something deeply encouraging about the definition of actual human intelligence. It's sure makes me feel better about all the time I've spent playing Go during the workday these past few weeks, anyway.