GGPFBV1

Tuesday night is my customary night to play an over-the-board match of Go, so I headed to the Seattle Go Center for my game. I was there for a short time but there was nobody looking for a match, about 5 matches in progress. There are sometimes spouses and other non-go playing significant others who are at the Center, but not looking to engage in conversation or interact generally. After watching a few games in progress, I left to secure a quick but healthy-ish dinner nearby.

When I got back, there were perhaps twice as many people as before, although still no Jon Boley. Apparently he is away for a while, so other senior players take turns stewarding the place and greeting unfamiliar faces. I watched the end of a match on a 13×13 board, and once it was over was able to make some comments on the ending and contribute. I counted it out silently as an exercise, and so knew that it was over already but that playing it out was a learning experience and kept my peace. One of the interested watchers looked like he might be interested in a game, so I asked him for a match and we played a game on a nearby 13×13 board.

And so I came to play a game with Andy. He was a fellow novice, and had no idea of his relative strength, but was familiar enough with the rules to play a good game. I explained a bit about ranks, or stones, and then we agreed upon a 4 stone handicap on the 13 square board. It was very enjoyable, and tough to the end. Black ended up winning by around 15 points or so, which goes to show that a 4 stone handicap counts for a LOT more than the same on a 19×19 board! But all around, it was a learning experience; I got sloppy and let a group die that shouldn’t have and was meant to become an excellent buttress. I make good fast shapes, but then have to defend them well enough to make it stick.

I like thinking of a python squeezing out a shape; if another player is unable to make life in the “bubbles” on the board, then all the stones inside die, as if swallowed whole by a snake. On the other hand, I didn’t win, so I don’t get to give much advice… :-)

I sent him an email recommendation on the spot and tried to warmly welcome him to playing Go on the Beginners Night there at the SGC Tuesdays, or online at KGS, or anywhere at all that he could find a match and a partner. He asked me what I thought the best way to get started getting stronger at Go was, and I thought that it was good enough of a question I would post a thorough answer.

I can give a handful of links right now by many strong players on the internet who have echoed the wisdom of go sages for a long time, for example Guo Juan the traveling Go teacher who during her seminars observes and comments on games played by the attendees, holding court in the midst of those seeking the kami no itte.

But I have found that simply recommending study to a new player such as Andy as a way to continue to get into Go is not very effective; if instead you want to find out if you have interest enough to spark your making time enough to learn Go, I feel there is almost no better way than simply starting with the 4 volume set Graded Go Problems for Beginners. (GGPFBV1-4) (The cover pictured at the beginning of this post is a link to the book on Amazon, the book is widely available and very recognizable.)

This book really started me on the path to knowing that I enjoyed what I feel is the real “root game” of Go: tsumego, or life and death problems. Dramatic sounding title, but life and death problems are kind of like riddles that you solve by applying some foresight. And the wonderful thing about tsumego is that when you have really solved a tsumego, you know it for certain. You know it so well that you have absolutely no need to look at the answer at the back of the book, you are positive that the question is solved. The idea at first doestn’t have to be about memorizing some sort of random looking pattern, but merely excercising the part of your brain and eyes that work together at perceiving the board. This simple task, if done daily as recommended by prominent well-known professionals, will lead to a healthy fundamental base upon which to build skill at Go.

The full set of 4 volumes is not required to start you on your way, and are in fact quite challenging. I have not completed the full course of problems in all 4 books due to my level of reading skill and the escalating nature of the challenge. The volumes come with ratings for their difficulty, and so you can approximate a rating to tell other people if you are able to complete at least this first book of the four. It starts out very simple, but by then end is definitely worth your time. Remember, the point is not to be stumped (although this is good), but to train your brain and your perception. Constant and faithful repetition of these exercises are bound to be reflected in your play eventually as you increase your reading depth.

Graded Go Problems for Beginners, 30 Kyu to 25 Kyu (Beginner & Elementary Go Bks.)

This brought up the topic of ratings again, and what would have been a good handicap for Andy and I to use? How could he find out his rating if he wasn’t yet up to attending one of the monthly ratings tournaments held by the AGA at the Center? What if he just wanted to make a good handicap and have a quick but balanced or interesting game?

I recommended reading the GGPFBV1 and then going online somewhere like KGS and either playing against a bot (if you are shy or suffer Online Go Anxiety) or playing a few random ranked matches with other players. After some number of rounds you will at least have a rough approximate guess, and of course the longer you devote to this the more likely you are to get a good number that will help you in the future. If you are consistently winning matches, then you are likely playing below your true level. The problem is that novice players have a much greater variance from game to game, and so its good to get a number that feels comfortable and then just throw yourself into playing matches, as many as you can.

So, if Guo Juan and others say that daily tsumego are a sure way to improve, what are sure places where you can easily get the fuel for these daily exercises? I like to have some content come to me, and tsumego makes for a great daily mailing list, IMHO. I am subscribed to a couple which I found either online or via links from the AGA web letters, using filters to automatically sort and tag the emails so they all show up in a gmail folder tagged tsumego. Since I never have to worry about running out of space, I can just let this folder fill up all the time and review it whenever I have a moment for study.

One of my favorites is actually released en francaise, which is not a problem in the world of Go. The whole board position is laid out and different problems for different ranks of players lie in separate regions of the board. The French is easy to understand, and English translation is provided below anyway to help you get started. I once disagreed with the solution to a 10 kyu problem from this list and spent an hour laying it out trying to prove it wrong. It was easily the best hour I spent studying that week, and I don’t regret getting it wrong and using that to learn more.

In the programming world, there is a saying that “There’s More Than One Way To Do It.” It’s not necessary to study Go exactly the same way I did or that I think it ought to be studied. There are lots of ways that you can get hooked into the game, and I hope that something catches your fancy the way mine was as I rode on a bus in the rain reading GGPFBV1 cover to cover. If you feel like you get stuck, or you don’t “get” how to get better, or aren’t seeing results, then by all means try some daily tsumego study.

A tsumego is basically an idea, or a pattern. As such, supplies of them can be found all over the internet both for free and for paid access. Many ancient texts and literature in other languages is surprisingly accessible, and the more sources you have the better. Whatever works best for you, books or daily emailed diagrams or java applets on a bookmark, even if its ASCII art it can still help you improve and train your mind to play better Go.

Peace to you and yours.