3 ms·

As someone who is pretty decent at go (6k OGS, for those who know what that means), I teach go in a pretty unorthodox way, which has so far produced much better

As someone who is pretty decent at go (6k OGS, for those who know what that means), I teach go in a pretty unorthodox way, which has so far produced much better results than the way I see other teach it. The way I teach both the rules and basic strategy of go is to start with the smallest possible board 1x1 and work our way up. on a 1x1 board, it's impossible to place any stones because it has no liberties. Great now the player knows about liberties. Then we move to a 2x2 board, where it is possible to place a stone and capture the opponent's stone. Great now we know about captures and ko. Then we move to 3x3, where we find ourselves able to create our first live shapes, and get to score the board. Now we know when the game ends and how to score it! Then we move on to 5x5, where we play our first 'real' game, now knowing all the rules.

russellendicott 4y ago
I've never once looked at how to play Go but your explanation was super helpful. I appreciate this learning style. I use it with computer stuff too (e.g, in an algo process a list of len 0, then 1, etc)
tasuki 4y ago
I'm not very good at go, only European 4dan, but I also have some opinions on teaching :) In my experience, ko is confusing and shouldn't be explained until the players encounter it in their game, play it for a while, and say "wait this is stupid", which is a good time to explain "actually you're not the first to encounter this situation, and there's a rule to handle it!"
- v-erne 4y ago
  Isn't ko just simple forbinding of board state repetition rule ? (As in You cannot go back to previous state of board and create infinite cycle). Akin to repetition rule in chess. Why would this be hard for beginers ? Unless You try to frame it as a forbinding of retaking the stone that took Your stone - because that can be confusing and it does not explain why this rule exist.
  - tasuki 4y ago
    > Isn't ko just simple forbinding of board state repetition rule ? In sensible rule sets, yes. For technically-minded people, forbidding of board state repetition is easy to understand. For children and less technically-minded people, ime they often won't understand what it means and will worry they'll repeat the board state accidentally and it takes a whole lot of explaining and examples. Everything very much depends on who you're teaching.

russellendicott 4y ago

I've never once looked at how to play Go but your explanation was super helpful. I appreciate this learning style. I use it with computer stuff too (e.g, in an algo process a list of len 0, then 1, etc)

tasuki 4y ago

I'm not very good at go, only European 4dan, but I also have some opinions on teaching :) In my experience, ko is confusing and shouldn't be explained until the players encounter it in their game, play it for a while, and say "wait this is stupid", which is a good time to explain "actually you're not the first to encounter this situation, and there's a rule to handle it!"

v-erne 4y ago
Isn't ko just simple forbinding of board state repetition rule ? (As in You cannot go back to previous state of board and create infinite cycle). Akin to repetition rule in chess. Why would this be hard for beginers ? Unless You try to frame it as a forbinding of retaking the stone that took Your stone - because that can be confusing and it does not explain why this rule exist.
- tasuki 4y ago
  > Isn't ko just simple forbinding of board state repetition rule ? In sensible rule sets, yes. For technically-minded people, forbidding of board state repetition is easy to understand. For children and less technically-minded people, ime they often won't understand what it means and will worry they'll repeat the board state accidentally and it takes a whole lot of explaining and examples. Everything very much depends on who you're teaching.