09.16.07
Really: it’s time to learn Go
And timely news from a Go vendor:
Slate & Shell has just acquired the new printing of Teach Yourself Go, by Charles Matthews, which has been unavailable in the US for awhile. This is an excellent general book about the game that also functions as an introductory book. However, it is much more thorough and covers more issues about tactics and strategy than normal intro books, so it is useful to virtually any kyu player. It also has information about the history and culture of the game.
You keep your mind agile and able by learning new things, and Go is a great candidate. Learn now, practice through the next few weeks, and over the Thanksgiving break play several games a day. It will, I promise, change the way you look at things.
Ben said,
17 September 2007 at 9:51 am
I have been learning to play from the website “The Interactive Way to Go” (courtesy of your Go links–Thanks!). I also downloaded the program igowin, and I’ve been playing games in my free time to learn the basics. I mentioned this to my brother–who first replied, “It’s all about the eyes”–and he said he’d love to start playing with me, as he’d received a board from a friend about a year ago. So far, so good.
Ben
LeisureGuy said,
17 September 2007 at 9:59 am
Your brother’s right. It takes a while before you can look at a group and see that they can’t possibly form two eyes, and thus inevitably must die—or, on the other hand, already have good eye shape so that it’s pointless to attack them.
Years ago, I played Go once a week with an elderly Japanese man in Cleveland. He always gave me 9 stones, and in the entire year I won exactly once.
At any rate, I well remember how many times I was fighting in a corner, struggling mightily, and then suddenly realized that my group was not only dead, but had been dead for several (or more) moves. “They’re dead!” I would exclaim, to which he would respond, nodding his head, “Yes {chuckle}. All dead. {chuckle}.”
Ben said,
17 September 2007 at 12:05 pm
Right now one of the best things about playing vs. “the computer” is that I struggle with scoring. Unfortunately, that also means that I often work toward or to defend low-scoring positions.
If you’ve used the program igowin (downloadable from a link on “The Interactive Way to Go”), I can get down to the rank of 16 kyu, where the computer spots me 2 stones. I haven’t won at this rank yet. Also, the board on the free version is a 9×9, so I’ve yet to try a full board. Again, so far, so good; I’m having a lot of fun learning.
P.S. I love the story about the elderly Japanese gentleman.