3 ms·

One summer, I interned at a think-tank where there were a lot of Go players. One of them invited a Go master (7+ dan) to play 15 separate games against 15 peopl

One summer, I interned at a think-tank where there were a lot of Go players. One of them invited a Go master (7+ dan) to play 15 separate games against 15 people. He never delayed: he would take his turns in each of the games during the amount of time that his opponents would use to take one turn. He won all of the games, but none by anything that would seem like a blowout margin. After he left, people began discussing and comparing scores. He had beaten every single one of them by exactly 13 points.

tdavis 18y ago
That's incredible. Go has always fascinated me on principle, though I have yet to find the time to learn the game. Thanks for this.
- celoyd 18y ago
  If you have 5 minutes, you can learn the rules from http://homepages.cwi.nl/~tromp/go.html http://homepages.cwi.nl/~tromp/go.html -- a much neater explanation than most. It takes a little practice to get good, of course. Just a few years of full-time playing. The best general resource online is http://senseis.xmp.net/ http://senseis.xmp.net/ .
- delano 18y ago
  As celoyd said, it only takes a few minutes to learn the handful of rules. It's just a matter of finding time to play.
- phoolishone 18y ago
  Cool video of game of Go on Microsoft's "Surface", played against an HPC cluster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe0o-IvHOa0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe0o-IvHOa0
patio11 18y ago
Its sort of like playing horse with Michael Jordan. (My Dad has -- they happened to go to the same health club in Chicago. He tells the story much better.) You may think you are playing horse. Michael Jordan is playing another game entirely. You probably don't understand the rules but don't worry, you're not winning in that one either.
- time_management 18y ago
  What game is he playing? I've heard that, among elite Go players, it's most prestigious to beat an esteemed opponent by a small margin, such that a 1-point win is considered ideal.
  - nazgulnarsil 18y ago
    i think that could be a separate issue from the tactics of the actual game. if an opponent blunders such that you have 2 moves that seal the game for you, one which gives a large point victory and one which gives a small one, it is considered polite to take the small one as a show of respect for your opponents skills. that's the way I've heard it at least. Go etiquette reflects japanese culture and not having grown up in it I'm sure none of us truly appreciate all the subtleties.
- antiismist 18y ago
  Funny you mention it, a reasonably normal person beat Jordan one-on-one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B7U74Dg04k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B7U74Dg04k And a reasonably normal person also beat LeBron in horse too: http://www.neatorama.com/2008/09/18/video-of-lebron-james-losing-at-h-o-r-s-e/ http://www.neatorama.com/2008/09/18/video-of-lebron-james-lo...

tdavis 18y ago

That's incredible. Go has always fascinated me on principle, though I have yet to find the time to learn the game. Thanks for this.

celoyd 18y ago
If you have 5 minutes, you can learn the rules from http://homepages.cwi.nl/~tromp/go.html http://homepages.cwi.nl/~tromp/go.html -- a much neater explanation than most. It takes a little practice to get good, of course. Just a few years of full-time playing. The best general resource online is http://senseis.xmp.net/ http://senseis.xmp.net/ .
delano 18y ago
As celoyd said, it only takes a few minutes to learn the handful of rules. It's just a matter of finding time to play.
phoolishone 18y ago
Cool video of game of Go on Microsoft's "Surface", played against an HPC cluster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe0o-IvHOa0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe0o-IvHOa0

patio11 18y ago

Its sort of like playing horse with Michael Jordan. (My Dad has -- they happened to go to the same health club in Chicago. He tells the story much better.) You may think you are playing horse. Michael Jordan is playing another game entirely. You probably don't understand the rules but don't worry, you're not winning in that one either.

time_management 18y ago
What game is he playing? I've heard that, among elite Go players, it's most prestigious to beat an esteemed opponent by a small margin, such that a 1-point win is considered ideal.
- nazgulnarsil 18y ago
  i think that could be a separate issue from the tactics of the actual game. if an opponent blunders such that you have 2 moves that seal the game for you, one which gives a large point victory and one which gives a small one, it is considered polite to take the small one as a show of respect for your opponents skills. that's the way I've heard it at least. Go etiquette reflects japanese culture and not having grown up in it I'm sure none of us truly appreciate all the subtleties.
antiismist 18y ago
Funny you mention it, a reasonably normal person beat Jordan one-on-one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B7U74Dg04k http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B7U74Dg04k And a reasonably normal person also beat LeBron in horse too: http://www.neatorama.com/2008/09/18/video-of-lebron-james-losing-at-h-o-r-s-e/ http://www.neatorama.com/2008/09/18/video-of-lebron-james-lo...