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Best Go Resources for a Beginner?

Posted by Cliff on from the beyond-the-basic-moves dept.

wrinkledshirt asks: "So, as an English teacher stranded in the middle of South Korea, I've learned that Go (or Baduk, as it's called here) is a really popular game with the locals. Unfortunately, it's really difficult to learn how to play it when most people who are good at it don't speak English very well. So, I've turned to the web. There are some okay teaching sites, but often the learning curve beyond simple rules explanation is pretty steep... 'This is a white stone. This is a black stone. They take turns. These are eyes. Ready? Okay, now observe how abandoning the joseki here leads to a gote which needlessly gives white sente...' (Me: 'WTF?!?'). What are the best Go resources for a beginner?" "I've been playing Go on yahoo, but the beginner rooms there don't have all that many beginners. Sensai's Library is pretty good, but laid out a little confusingly. The Go Teaching Ladder has a decent list of commented games, but it's hard to know which ones are instructive for beginners. I've also tried playing both GnuGo and Igowin (playing them against each other head to head seems to suggest that GnuGo has the better engine, although my version has a horrid scoring system), but in the end I'm worried that computers are the wrong way to learn this game. Books in English are hard to come by in my part of the country, but I'm considering ordering them or making the trip up to Seoul if there are titles worth buying."

2 of 68 comments (clear)

  1. American Go Association by scupper · · Score: 5, Informative

    American Go Association
    http://www.usgo.org/

    They have a ton of links to tutorials and multimedia aids.
    http://www.usgo.org/resources/internet.asp

  2. Go help by hiroshi912681 · · Score: 5, Informative

    http://senseis.xmp.net/
    Here's a wiki dedicated to Go. I've found it very useful.

    http://playgo.to/interactive/
    An interactive tutorial

    http://www.britgo.org/cartoons/
    comic for beginners

    http://www.usgo.org/
    the American Go Association

    http://www.smart-games.com/igowin.html
    demo version of "The Many Faces of Go". I highly recommend the full version, but it's very very expensive. if you get to the point that this demo is no longer challenging, you should probably purchase it...

    http://gobase.org/software/editors/
    SGF editor

    http://gobase.org/software/clients/
    play go online with other ppl

    http://go-club.1up.com/
    a club I started on 1up

    http://games.slashdot.org/games/04/09/24/1742243.s html?tid=202&tid=106
    like knoppix, but for go players

    ok, that's all for now =P