Hi guys,
I’m a complete newbie: played and learned only one day. In parallel with practicing, I’m just curious how do Go rankings work, and usually, how is the learning curve like. Today, I’ve played Cosumi AI Go levels 0 and 1, and I have to admit I haven’t won any game yet and I just get smashed over and over. Can someone give me tips on how to improve?
I have absolutely no idea what this is.
I don’t think it matters, as long as you remember to select newbie when you sign up.
I don’t think it matters, as long as you play you will improve.
However, even the most gifted person cannot make significant progress in just one day.
I guess days, weeks, months?
You need to at least be consistent and keep playing.
For complete newbies, I only recommend that you currently know how to play a game completely.
(Capture, ko, pass, confirm score, etc.)
Generally speaking, it will take at least a few days for fast learners to figure it out, and it may take weeks for slow learners.
As for the skills, I think this is something you need to learn when you already know what the game is doing.
for complete beginners, i love to suggest this little app, written for children:
GoChild (gochild2009.appspot.com)
It’s really basic and it starts from the complete beginning, step by step, so you can see, learn and improve
Hello and welcome to the game of Go. 
On Sensei’s Library, you can read up on ranks and lots of Go topics. In short:
You start around 20-kyu when you barely know the rules, then progress up to 19-kyu, 18-kyu and so on until 1-kyu, then 1-dan and up to 9-dan if you are better than most amateurs.
The idea is that you can give the difference in rank as handicap stones for an even game. For example, if a 15-kyu plays against a 10-kyu, the 15-kyu should take black and start with 5 stones on the board, and no komi (extra points) for white.
There are lots of things you can do to improve, but I will mention just three:
If you just focus on improving, your rank will follow in time, so don’t worry too much about it. Good luck in your games.
Players gain or lose rating points from winning or losing ranked games that take into account the opponent’s rating. The automatic calculation is complicated. Players start with a provisional rank of 6 kyu for purposes of auto-matching, but the displayed rank is (?). The system is highly sensitive, so changes occur quickly. It takes about six to ten games to get a firm rank. The floor is 25 kyu.
Go is a difficult game, where lots of early losses should be expected.
People vary in their preferred method of learning. I think most players agree that it is better to avoid bots and to play people instead. It’s not necessary to start on the 9x9 board, but I think it is better. 9x9 helps one learn tactics in a quicker format. When one is comfortable with that, one can move on to 13x13, or 19x19, where many strategic principles come into play.
In addition to learning by playing, people use a variety of supplemental learning aids. One is to solve go problems (tsumego). The puzzles tab under the Learn pull-down in the menu has thousands of tsumego, as well as several excellent tutorials in the early pages. Or if that is not to your taste, the web has many excellent go-learning resources (lectures, tutorials, commented games). You can also ask for a teaching game in the Forums, or ask to get one of your losses reviewed.
Welcome!
The learning curve is indeed pretty steep, but the beginning is the hardest part. Once you get the “feel” on how stones work together it all starts to make more sense ^^
Maybe go through the content at https://www.learn-go.net/
As another very new player, I’ve learned a lot from this series on the Korean Baduk TV:
It’s fun and legitimately helpful.
No, I believe users can now declare how powerful they are when registering.
If the user declares himself a beginner, then he will start from 23k.
That does appear to be true, although it must have been quite a recent change. One provisional player I found in the games tab has a 5.7k in their ratings table, even though they are a beginner and they started as recently as August 19.
Maybe they didn’t select “beginner”?
Yeah they were added in March, but users are free to select any option they want (or none, and it will still default as before). There is no test to verify their selection, it is all user discretion.
The rating system will still sort itself out in 6-10 ranked games regardless, it’s just an option to smooth their experience somewhat.
Cosumi is nice little program and it’s quite normal to lose against as beginner.
I encourage you to play with other beginners like you are, it’s fun and you ll have quicker chances to win some.
I ll be pleased to help if you have a specific question, just pm me.
In short it’s difficult to help you with tips before you experiment by yourself with the game for some time. Play, have fun.