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I want to learn Go. I would like to practice against a bot first before I get on KGS. What is a good Go program I can run on my Mac to practice against? The AI

I want to learn Go. I would like to practice against a bot first before I get on KGS. What is a good Go program I can run on my Mac to practice against? The AI does not need to be very good at all since I am novice. Once I get familiar with rules, I will play online against players. What is a good Go client to play online on the Mac?

esgoto 12y ago
GnuGo is easy enough for beginners I think. I also used a bot called Aya when learning, but I don't know if that is available for OSX. Regarding clients, there are a few options. CGoban2 is the only client you can use to access KGS, which is currently the biggest English-speaking server. You can also try online-go.com which is entirely browser-based so you don't need a client, and there's also IGS, a Japanese server which can be accessed through their own client called GoPanda2 or other clients like qGo2. There are also two servers called Tygem and WBaduk which are mostly Korean. They have proprietary clients you can run through Wine. I think they're supposed to be accessible through qGo2 as well, but I haven't been able to play through it, only observe others' games. Also, if you're just learning, http://senseis.xmp.net/ http://senseis.xmp.net/ is a great resource.
RBerenguel 12y ago
Pachi and fuego are open source engines you can make work on Mac. To play online, IGS is quite nice-looking on Mac, and the most western-populated server is KGS. Ogs is a browser based turn & real time server, too. KGS: Kiseido Go Server IGS: Internet Go Server OGS: Online Go Server
xcombelle 12y ago
Be aware that practicing against AI lead to poor play and very few improvement, playing weak or strong human is far better. Especially with handicap.
tjl 12y ago
If you just want software to play against, without the client aspect, I'd recommend an older version of Sen:te's Goban (version 3.2). Unlike the latest version, it's free (the latest version is $10). It's quite old, but it seems to still work. It uses an older version of the Gnu GO engine. It used to be able to connect to the Pandas server. I don't know if that part still works. You should be able to find download links. If the Mac version of SmartGO has features similar to the Windows version, it should be excellent. But, they've been focused on iPhone/iPad apps so it hasn't come out yet.
BSousa 12y ago
Not the answer you are looking for, but get on KGS even if you are a novice. There are many folks starting out as well, and you can always play more advanced players there and ask for teaching games. I don't have much time now to play, but was around 4-5k in KGS and like me, there are always a bunch of folks ready to play with you while explaining the rules/strategy.
exDM69 12y ago
GnuGo is good enough to get started but you should not play many games with it. Just a handful to get acquainted with the rules. Playing against computers will teach you bad habits and will not be helpful past the very basics. If you want to do exercises, try e.g. Tsumego (for Android at least). And the best way to get started is to find your local Go club, take a friend with similar level to you (ie. complete novice) and join their game night (my local go clubs meet in bars). Ask a more experienced player to over-the-shoulder for a few games. This is how I got started.
spot 12y ago
i recommend crazystone over gnugo (it's mobile)
tunesmith 12y ago
There is a way to compile GoGui so it is a mac app. Through it you can play against GnuGo (brew install gnugo), fuego (brew install fuego), or pachi (compile yourself). With it, you can also learn a lot by making an AI play starting at a certain move, or making AI's play against each other. You can also buy Goban from the app store to play GnuGo or Pachi (both bundled), but it is a bit buggy (and not really better than the older free version). They do respond to bug reports though so it sounds like they are actively working on it. Start out playing 9x9 against GnuGo. Give yourself a 9-stone handicap, you should probably win. Take away handicap stones until you can win with a 3 stone handicap. In general you don't want to play an AI at less than 3-stone handicap or you will learn bad habits. At that point, play against GnuGo 19x19 with a 9-stone handicap. If you are a beginner around 20kyu, you will find it a challenge to win. I've been practicing consistently for the past couple of months. I do problems on goproblems.com or from a few iPhone apps. I've played a couple of games against ranked bots on kgs and am ranked 15kyu there since I beat a popular 16kyu-ranked bot. KGS is inflated through so I'm probably around 20kyu, still a complete beginner. I beat GnuGo 19x19 at a 9-stone handicap but not quite yet at an 8-stone handicap. Once you are able to beat GnuGo 19x19 at a lower handicap then you can start playing against Fuego or Pachi. But at that point you should also already be playing humans regularly - it's a very different playing style in that you'll come across clearly bad moves that you will have to learn to recognize and take advantage of.

esgoto 12y ago

GnuGo is easy enough for beginners I think. I also used a bot called Aya when learning, but I don't know if that is available for OSX. Regarding clients, there are a few options. CGoban2 is the only client you can use to access KGS, which is currently the biggest English-speaking server. You can also try online-go.com which is entirely browser-based so you don't need a client, and there's also IGS, a Japanese server which can be accessed through their own client called GoPanda2 or other clients like qGo2. There are also two servers called Tygem and WBaduk which are mostly Korean. They have proprietary clients you can run through Wine. I think they're supposed to be accessible through qGo2 as well, but I haven't been able to play through it, only observe others' games. Also, if you're just learning, http://senseis.xmp.net/ http://senseis.xmp.net/ is a great resource.

RBerenguel 12y ago

Pachi and fuego are open source engines you can make work on Mac. To play online, IGS is quite nice-looking on Mac, and the most western-populated server is KGS. Ogs is a browser based turn & real time server, too. KGS: Kiseido Go Server IGS: Internet Go Server OGS: Online Go Server

xcombelle 12y ago

Be aware that practicing against AI lead to poor play and very few improvement, playing weak or strong human is far better. Especially with handicap.

tjl 12y ago

If you just want software to play against, without the client aspect, I'd recommend an older version of Sen:te's Goban (version 3.2). Unlike the latest version, it's free (the latest version is $10). It's quite old, but it seems to still work. It uses an older version of the Gnu GO engine. It used to be able to connect to the Pandas server. I don't know if that part still works. You should be able to find download links. If the Mac version of SmartGO has features similar to the Windows version, it should be excellent. But, they've been focused on iPhone/iPad apps so it hasn't come out yet.

BSousa 12y ago

Not the answer you are looking for, but get on KGS even if you are a novice. There are many folks starting out as well, and you can always play more advanced players there and ask for teaching games. I don't have much time now to play, but was around 4-5k in KGS and like me, there are always a bunch of folks ready to play with you while explaining the rules/strategy.

exDM69 12y ago

GnuGo is good enough to get started but you should not play many games with it. Just a handful to get acquainted with the rules. Playing against computers will teach you bad habits and will not be helpful past the very basics. If you want to do exercises, try e.g. Tsumego (for Android at least). And the best way to get started is to find your local Go club, take a friend with similar level to you (ie. complete novice) and join their game night (my local go clubs meet in bars). Ask a more experienced player to over-the-shoulder for a few games. This is how I got started.

spot 12y ago

i recommend crazystone over gnugo (it's mobile)

tunesmith 12y ago

There is a way to compile GoGui so it is a mac app. Through it you can play against GnuGo (brew install gnugo), fuego (brew install fuego), or pachi (compile yourself). With it, you can also learn a lot by making an AI play starting at a certain move, or making AI's play against each other. You can also buy Goban from the app store to play GnuGo or Pachi (both bundled), but it is a bit buggy (and not really better than the older free version). They do respond to bug reports though so it sounds like they are actively working on it. Start out playing 9x9 against GnuGo. Give yourself a 9-stone handicap, you should probably win. Take away handicap stones until you can win with a 3 stone handicap. In general you don't want to play an AI at less than 3-stone handicap or you will learn bad habits. At that point, play against GnuGo 19x19 with a 9-stone handicap. If you are a beginner around 20kyu, you will find it a challenge to win. I've been practicing consistently for the past couple of months. I do problems on goproblems.com or from a few iPhone apps. I've played a couple of games against ranked bots on kgs and am ranked 15kyu there since I beat a popular 16kyu-ranked bot. KGS is inflated through so I'm probably around 20kyu, still a complete beginner. I beat GnuGo 19x19 at a 9-stone handicap but not quite yet at an 8-stone handicap. Once you are able to beat GnuGo 19x19 at a lower handicap then you can start playing against Fuego or Pachi. But at that point you should also already be playing humans regularly - it's a very different playing style in that you'll come across clearly bad moves that you will have to learn to recognize and take advantage of.