
Go Game Guru – Learn all about the board game Go - dukenuke
https://gogameguru.com/
======
swannodette
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-b...](http://swannodette.github.io/baduk//baduk/2016/01/08/hello-
baduk.html).

~~~
hyperpape
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
I'd also mention the turn-based (async) Go system, Dragon Go Server:
[http://www.dragongoserver.net/](http://www.dragongoserver.net/)

Many people find the more relaxed environment useful for playing human games.
You don't need to commit to a block of uninterrupted time, and you can take
your time and play out ideas. There's a great Android client:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mco.prj.app.bw...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mco.prj.app.bwgofree&hl=en)
and DGS plugin:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mco.prj.srv.bw...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mco.prj.srv.bwdgs&hl=en)

------
mfoy_
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.

------
chrisherring
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
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.

~~~
jonbarker
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
Large group death meaning that the opponent invades before you have created
eyes among your large-looking territory?

~~~
NhanH
In your large-looking territory, the territory would be the eyes.

Large group death just basically mean a large group of stones, it could either
be an invasion group, an attack and run group that grows, or even the used-to-
be-territory-but-now-not group

------
tel
The biggest most canonical English resource is
[http://senseis.xmp.net](http://senseis.xmp.net). You can get lost there for
days.

------
knodi123
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
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
> 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
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.

------
weavie
Here is another list of useful go resources : [https://forums.online-
go.com/t/free-resources-for-beginners/...](https://forums.online-
go.com/t/free-resources-for-beginners/6700)

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.

------
Notre1
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
Seconded. The only downside is that it's using Flash.

~~~
Notre1
Yeah, it would be awesome if someone would modernize it. Or do something like
Chesscademy for Go.

------
partycoder
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.

------
niij
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

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

~~~
ideonexus
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.aifactor...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=uk.co.aifactory.gofree)

~~~
Jach
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.bw...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mco.prj.app.bwgofree)
lets you do that.

~~~
ideonexus
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
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
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)

------
lbhnact
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.

------
lucb1e
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?

~~~
tasuki
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
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?

~~~
jdietrich
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/)

------
t_fatus
"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 ;)

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

