

RIP Go Seigen - awwducks
https://gogameguru.com/rip-go-seigen/

======
karamazov
For those interested in learning to play, Kiseido Go Server
([https://www.gokgs.com](https://www.gokgs.com)) has a fantastic community of
users - from total beginners to professional players. It also has an intro you
can skim, but don't spend too much time with it - just like programming, the
best way to learn Go is to dive in headfirst.

(Don't make the mistake of practicing against a computer to start. AI plays
very differently from humans, and you'll develop weird habits.)

If you're in New York and interested in an in-person game, send me an email -
ben at datanitro dot com.

~~~
MichaelGG
The warnings against AI are overstated. It's fine to start off playing AI. By
the time you're out of the 20K range, you'll start noticing that you're only
winning against AIs your level because they're acting dumb. It isn't good to
scare off beginners. Especially as it can feel a bit tense, playing online. AI
warning is good for better players, but they should know better anyways. The
real issue with AI is finding one worth playing as a beginner, especially on
9x9. Sure, you can take a big handicap, but I'm not sure there are any useful
AIs at that level to have even games with.

Another good resource is DGS : dragongoserver.net. An open source turn based
(correspondence) Go server. It's easy to play as there's no time pressure, and
you can fire up several games at a time.

~~~
thangalin
I concur. There are several computer players on KGS that are rated between
1kyu and 5dan.

Put another way, at my peak I played 5 games against Kyoto's strongest amateur
player (~7 dan), holding black. I won 1 and was handily smote (no contest) in
the 4 others. After leaving Go for a few years, I've come back to be beaten by
the 1kyu AI.

~~~
karamazov
The high kyu/dan level programs are worth playing against. The ones under 20
kyu aren't - they don't play the sort of game you can learn from, especially
when you're getting started and don't know what things are supposed to look
like.

------
fuzzythinker
Here's some good reads on him:

[http://gobase.org/studying/articles/mioch/goseigen/interview...](http://gobase.org/studying/articles/mioch/goseigen/interview-1.html)

[https://gogameguru.com/go-seigen/](https://gogameguru.com/go-seigen/)

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Seigen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_Seigen)
(Almost don't want to post this since the donation is taking over 1/2 the
screen now..)

------
suchire
I always found the parallels between hypermodernism in chess, shin fuseki in
go (which Go Seigen was one of the most prominant proponents of), and
modernism in art to be pretty cool. They were all similar in their challenge
of traditional theory, they were almost contemporaneous with each other, and
they all in the end didn't replace, but instead augmented the establishments
they were rebelling against.

------
xianshou
For a fascinating dramatic depiction of Go's life, not only as the best
professional of the era but as a Chinese man in Japanese society, watch The Go
Master. Here's a good scene to give you the flavor:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QybTzI-8YTM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QybTzI-8YTM)

------
inDigiNeous
Nomen est Omen? Or was his name changed to Go at some point ? Just interested,
couldn't find out this in the article.

~~~
herminator
He is originally Chinese, and the Chinese pronunciation is Wu Qingyuan (i.e.
his name is written the same in Chinese and Japanese, with the characters 吳清源,
but the Japanese pronunciation is different).

The character in his name is not the same as the one for the game.

Interestingly, both Japanese 'go' and Chinese 'wu' can have the meaning
'five', but that is yet another different character :)

------
based2
[http://senseis.xmp.net/](http://senseis.xmp.net/)

