Hi all, I’m a beginner looking for guidance. Earlier this year I learned the rules and then tried beating the intro-level AIs here. I don’t feel like I knew how to do that!
So, what resources would you suggest to learn go strategy in real games? I’d appreciate suggestions in terms of the following:
If a mentor is a good idea, how to find one? Are there any no-cost groups for beginners that meet online?
Are there programs (apps) that help me assess the value of one move over another? Something that could help me develop tactical intuition?
Any good books for someone who knows the rules? Any good books for practicing different situations?
How to find a mentor - No idea. Without spending money having a permanent mentor may be hard. But there are many people willing to help in general for free. Answering questions or reviewing games. Both you can do in this forums for example.
Non cost beginner groups - Im not sure. On the Go beginner discord and Go magic discord, there are often beginners (trying) connecting to each other. In the Go beginner Discors there is (usually) every month a torunament with free reviews for beginners. This might be good places to search.
Programms apps for estimating big moves - We have Go AI’s that are much better than humans in the game. But alone reviewing games and moves with AI needs training. Its not so easy. Can be very missleading and hard to understand. As beginner I wouldnt recomment using AI to soon. At least not for deep study. It can be a good tool to detect big blunders.
There are Go problems you can solve to gain some feeling for positions. If you like solving problem puzzles, I can recomment tsumego.com. There are many more sites too.
In the beginning you may want to have a bigger focus to master a few basics of the game (whatever basics are, Im still trying to learn what I’d call basics). If you like watching you tube videos, I can recomment this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kebyn0IaNKU&list=PLWYy6k8S3dSkxBl7E8DKCvr_CA6jxCNMh
There are some more people too that do basically the same thing.
At the very last, this is not the first time somone asked this kind of question here, if you do some search in the forums you will find a ton of input.
OGS has a Learn to Play which you could try, but also a resources page:
Out of all that, for total beginners:
– The “81 Lions” that has already been suggested is very good.
– “A Go guide from a beginner” is a free multilingual amateur attempt to provide an accessible substitute for the five book “Learn to Play Go” series which is an excellent series (and I totally suggest someone buying it), but expensive.
– Nick Sibicky’s YouTube channel is also a common first stop for a lot of new players.
– Go Magic is, from what I hear, a good place to begin if you want a “teaching platform”.
Good luck and remember to have fun.
Ratings and skill don’t matter much, especially in the beginning. Don’t stress too much over it, we are all still learning after all.
There is a BeginnerGo discord. I don’t have a personal experience, but seems pretty active.
Also I think it might be a good idea to simply pop over to our chat sometimes, or ask for a review here at the forums if you have had an interesting game I am happy to make a review sometimes.
Any game you finish on OGS gets a basic AI review that rates good/bad moves. It is a great tool for experienced players, I am not convinced it is super valuable for begginers. Currently, there are no AI tools that could explain WHY a move is good or bad.
A bit of a shameless plug, but for some basic strategies, and explanations check out https://www.learn-go.net/ if you don’t mind reading. I made it a while ago when I still felt like text was okay nowadays I would go for videos.
Not something I personally would focus on right now. AFAI am conerned you will improve fast enough on your own at the start with a bit of effort. See if you find a good community or some online friends to play with, and once you have improved, and developed some basic skills, THEN I would consider looking for a teacher if you still feel strongly about improving.
Also, I should add: I was starting by playing AIs on 5x5 boards in OGS, thinking that smaller is better for newbies. I was having a hard time winning, and in the one case where I technically won I can’t explain why. Seems the big board is about long strategy and local tactics.
It’s interesting to me: Knowing the rules well doesn’t translate into knowing how to win. The rules make clear what’s allowable, but learning the strategy to win seems like another matter.
Nothing to request, every standard game gets one. (You won’t see them for irregular boards, like 5x5)
Site supporters get a more detailed, and interactive review as it costs more server power, but as far as I am concerned that is not too important for a beginner.
I would caution against relying too much on AI for a new player though. It can show you the mistakes, yes, but cannot explain what makes the moves good or bad.
As one who started learning Go last year in November, I have a pretty fresh view on the learning from scratch process.
I started on 9x9 and played many games, then analysed most of them using AI. I feel the analysis (not focused on minor mistakes, but on major game changing moves) helped a lot. Also, I read the 81 little lions book and watched some specific 9x9 tutorials online (some of them paid).
When I reached about 11-12kyu in 9x9, I decided to try 13x13. Which is a pretty different game (same rules of course, but more strategical than 9x9, bigger board, a lot more decisions to make every move) and it’s quite a challenge for now.
After I improve my 13x13, I plan to move to the grown-up’s board - 19x19, but I feel there’s a pretty long way to go.
Later edit - I also solved problems, starting with those from Ogs and Go magic. Actually this is an ongoing activity.
When a nominal 1k and a nominal 1d play a series of even games, the 1d is expected to win about 65% of the games. That probability imbalance is similar to a difference of 100 Elo rating in Chess.
nowadays I would go for videos.