Chess

[aurik]

It often helps getting advice on past games you have played from a player that is a few stones stronger than you. They don't have to be wtfamazing to give you insight on what they would have done if they were playing. That's one reason why playing people around your skill level is an effective way to learn.

Once you're reasonably experienced at the game it gets easier to look at a move and articulate what is good (and what is bad) about that particular move. It's finding those moves in the first place that can be hard.

[ZarakiKujata]

In all honesty, that is the only way to learn how to play. Get a cell phone app, there are awesome iphone/android ones to learn 9x9 and then dive in. Because the game is so random to each occasion, there is no sort of X move when you are in Y situation to a degree, outside of basic eye shapes and such, the only way you will understand is by playing. Everyone who plays Go started by blindly wandering through it, even if they had their father/grandfather teach them.

[Woozie]

HAX!!!! I swear that bishop wasn't there before.

[Woozie]

I'm on to you, Cadsooaine....if that is your real name.

[Cadsuane]

so much for my beautiful forced mate with a queen sacrifice...

[Norellicus]

Someone else challenged me to a game and moved their queen out on step 2. I was a little shocked at first, don't normally see that kind of aggression. Then I tried to move -- they deleted the game. lol

[Woozie]

Wow, did I really just put my rook right there? I told you I suck at this.

[Cadsuane]

it's always that one stupid blunder

[Norellicus]

Fuck your en passant pawn, making it hard for me to hold the line :<

[Cadsuane]

I think this game is done ":3

[Norellicus]

Meh, I could live if I pushed the king into the corner but I'll lose so many pieces, you'll just move the rest of your power units in to pin it down...so yeah

Edit: I don't want to screw up either of our ratings, is it better to play to mate or resign?

[Cadsuane]

both are a loss for you and a win for me. May as well play it out, there are some interesting lines to play for both of us, but I see your best chance being 13... Nc6 14. Qf3(?) - ... maybe Bb7 or something ... things get exciting after that. Though if someone can suggest a better line for black let's hear it. Personally I don't give a shit about ratings anyway the guys who score high use analysis aids and AI.

http://www.redhotpawn.com/gameanalys...3&cbqsid=21999

[Cantih]

I understand the rules of Go (the handicap, capturing, etc; how territory control is determined is still a bit fuzzy) but it seems like it's impossible to find good resources for teaching you how to play; like anything I've looked at that gives tutorials and stuff makes no effort to explain the reasoning behind the moves it guides you through, barring a few specific cases

I've gone through a couple of books, and they do suffer from this. The pedagogy still tends to getting the why from either realizing it yourself, or being taught by a person. The best books to start out with are Janice Kim's Learn to Play Go 1-5. Cho Chikun and Kaoru Iwamoto have good beginner books too, but they're a bit more intense, especially Iwamoto's.

I've been busy with things, so had to put it aside a bit, but I'll get through Bozulich's "Second Book of Go" and Toshiro Kageyama's "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go" eventually, and if needed I'll necro this with my impressions.

And after all those, I think I'll be confident enough to sign up at KGS.

[ZarakiKujata]

You honestly don't need to read that much. I was on KGS mucking about before I even picked up vol1 of Janice Kim (I think I was 15k before I even finished vol4 and she didn't even have vol5 back then..). I get that its a lot to do with confidence, but you will gain confidence/understanding of moves quicker if you just play ~20 games and watch ~10. Unlike Chess, this is a game where too much theoretical book reading will hinder you. I'd honestly be happy to play any of the people looking to learn go or to challenge aurik anytime on Sunday, just post itt.

Hikaru no Go was what got me hooked on this, and one of the initial characters in the manga is named Tsuitsui, and he's a total pussy at the game because he does nothing but read go books rather than play.

[aurik]

About the only books I ever found useful were the ones on L&D, the rest I had to learn just by "doing". Sometimes I look at my old old games and laugh at how bad my moves look to me now, but with KGS I was being matched to other new people so the games were still interesting and competitive.

[Cadsuane]

Yeah that really was the best move. Shit's complicated now.

[Cadsuane]

Oh lol I almost let Woozie scholar's mate me

[Woozie]

I don't know what that is and I wouldn't have seen it anyways. Don't worry, you're very safe. I don't really know how to get checkmates. Also, I feel like my last move was a HUGE mistake.

[Cadsuane]

You had checkmate in 1 there on like, the fourth move. Technically it's not the canonical scholar's mate you were doing, but it was similar and generally speaking really emasculating early game checkmates are sometimes called scholar's mates.

To my eyes it what you've done looks really goddamn slick. If you'd done something else I'd be playing Bh3 now and have a skewer on your knight and white bishop, fucking up your whole position and winning the game right now probably. I might still do it but it's definitely not as nice a move anymore!

[Norellicus]

A cheap move on my part, I know >_>