When Should You Graduate From 9x9?

I’ve been playing for about two weeks now, and I’ve gotten the basics down. I’m really enjoying go, so finding the motivation to play everyday has not been difficult :smile:
I only play 9x9 at the moment - when would you say is the right time to start playing 13x13 and 19x19?

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I would say when you feel like it :slight_smile:

If you wanna think more “bigger picture” instead of fighting all the time do it now :slight_smile: If you don’t like the long games, you can always go back. Also, you can challenge me if you want, and we can have a chat about the basics of the big board after the game.

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You can play on larger boards right away. I started with a 13x13 board and played my second game on 19x19. It is hard to have global feelings on a 9x9 board.

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You can keep playing 9x9, actually, makes for good reading exercise. Of course 19x is the king of all board sizes, so there’s more to it than just reading local sequences. If you want to prepare for 19x and if you feel inclined to believe me, replay pro games. Lots of them. Memorize them. You will understand the game much quicker than if you just play against equally inexperienced players.

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Totally agree and it’s FUN.

Please don’t use the word ‘Graduate’. I prefer ‘Broaden the experience’.

But to answer your question properly: As soon as you understand the rules reasonably well then go for it whenever you feel like it. It’s never too early to start learning the basics of 19x19 and the experience is epic (like Ben-Hur) if you like epic.

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I’d recommend a mixture of 9x9, 13x13 and 19x19. If you’re losing at 19x19, you can always go back to 9x9 and rebuild your confidence. And if you’re finding 9x9 too restrictive, you can move up to 13x13 or 19x19. There’s no reason to totally finish with a certain board size unless you want to; there are some mid-dan players that have stuck with / adopted 9x9 and become very strong at it.

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I would only recommend 9x9 for beginners only for the reason of faster matches to cover counting and before they lose interest, particularly kids. There is no issue with startin 19x19 straight. I did so too. This is just a case of misguided idealogy by the Western world. Pay no heed. Asians never had this as a hard and fast rule to graduate from or start with.

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Lose 50 games, then you’ll be ready to go lose 50 games on the 19x19 :slight_smile:

In all honesty, though, I find the 19x19 to be a much more rewarding game than 9x9. Once you can spot an atari, and once you feel like you’ve grasped, on a very basic level, how to connect and cut stones, move up to a bigger board. If you feel overwhelmed, if it feels like the 19x19 is too complicated to be fun, you can always go back to the 9x9 or 13x13 and play some more games there.

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People say beginners should start on small boards, but I really don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to do so. I started playing on 19x19 immediately because I just found it to be a more interesting size to play on.

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I’m with bugcat. I could never bring myself to play only 19 x 19 games. All board sizes have their own charms and challenges (I play like 8 different sizes in correspondence at any given time). If you enjoy 9 x 9, no reason to ever leave it behind :slight_smile:

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I never even heard of 9x9 until I reconnected with go 15 months ago (after a 40-year absence). However, I do agree with the common advice that it has great value for beginners because it exposes one to basic fighting tactics and practice in reading in more limited situations. Personally, I love 9x9, which I play IRL or sometimes on GoQuest (not OGS), even though I’m pretty bad at it. I find 9x9 fascinating because it seems like it should be solvable, yet it constantly surprises.

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Right?! So fascinating :slight_smile:

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Well, I only play 9x9 (some 13x13 ocasionally). I have little time (and family!) to play live, and I would find veeeeery slow to play 19x19 correspondence (3 months or so per game, 3 years per tournament!!!).

On the other hand, I do not think 9x9 is easy. In fact, statistically is the size where dan players can loose more often against kyu players. The longer the game, the more probable the weaker player makes a mistake. In 9x9 a minor mistake and you are out.

Since you are starting to play, I think the best would be to try all of them (9x9, 13x13 and 19x19) and see what you like more.

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I’ve learnt the game rules back in 1972. At the time I was not aware that people play on other board sizes than 19x19, except heretics. When I discovered online Go, I also discovered those other sizes. I found 9x9 boring and too dangerous. The first mistake you are dead. I enjoyed 13x13 at some point, but now I’m back to basics. Go is 19x19, and nothing else (call me an integrist if you want).

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Now that’s an interesting juxtaposition if I’ve ever seen one :slight_smile:

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I think for absolute beginners (lower than 20k), 9x9 is nice as the games aren’t as long and you can’t really handle larger board strategies until you get the basic tactics anyway.

After that, play what you prefer :slight_smile:

I’ve been getting to about 15k on 9x9 and am now trying to switch to 19x19. It kinda sucks at first because my openings are too slow, and in an even game I can already tell right out of the opening that I’m quite behind. So clearly I’m going to lose a couple stones - which I don’t really mind, but I hear this is a common situation (“the 9x9 trap”) so that’s something you should keep in mind if your plan is to switch to 19x19 once you are “good enough” for it. If that is your plan, the proper time to switch to 19x19 is probably once you get somewhere between 20k and 17k rank on 9x9.

Some people stay on 9x9 much longer and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that either, if they enjoy the game for what it is rather than as a stepping stone to larger boards.

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I started playing 9x9 games about a month ago or so, then switched to 19x19 after around 100 games of 9x9 (at 10k after about two weeks). Promptly went into a losing streak after the transition as expected but rating quickly tends to stabilise where it should be anyway.

The advantage of the 9x9 I think is that you gain experience in trying to not come out too badly in a fight (i.e. practising practical reading) while skipping the time-consuming bit of playing out and/or falling behind in the opening every game. I switched when I felt that [me not reading correctly and trying to save an already dead group or killing an easily living group] would not be the main reason I lost a game in the near future.

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From Asian players: “Oh what is a 9x9? Is it still go?”
From West: “I still play it as Dan player and it was best to start with.”
Ok ok now you can start 19x19 whenever you want. Even if you could get a bit lost, it’s great. It’s amazing.

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I’d say step up to a bigger board whenever you get curious about how it may be to play there :slight_smile:

9x9 is nice for first steps, for first understanding of life and death in Go, for for first experience with fighting, attack, defence, killing and survival. 9x9 is also always good exercise when time’s short.

I have no idea what “Asian players” you may have asked, @violaine, just look here, for example: https://homepages.cwi.nl/~aeb/go/games/games/other_sizes/9x9/Misc/index.html. There’s also a collection of 435 9x9 games played by professionals, see here: https://homepages.cwi.nl/~aeb/go/games/index.html (bottom, tiny text, link to TGZ archive).

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And forgive me for replying to myself …
Here’s the awesome “Crazy Nines” series on YouTube, by our all @mark5000 and @xhu98:

So, even if you’re strong, there’s still fun to be had on 9x9 :slight_smile:

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