I learned the basic rules of Go around 1980 when I was a graduate student of physics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. I lived in a house with half a dozen other graduate students. One of my housemates was in the English department. He had grown up in El Paso, Texas, and learned Go from a Korean man there.

Then I moved to Poughkeepsie, NY, to work at IBM. One of my co-workers was very much into games and puzzles. He had a side business running puzzle contests. $10 to enter, $1000 to win, and hope there are a lot more than 100 entrants! He was a Go player, too. We only played a few times - I really got trounced!

I was a Visiting Scientist at MIT for a year or so, mostly 1991. I say a notice for a Go Club & went to one meeting. Young oriental-looking man glides up on rollerblades & asks me what's my rank. Rank??? He tells me he's third dan. We play a game. Do I have to tell you, I got trounced!

Moved to Oregon, late 1990s. Wow, a Go Club meets at the local coffee shop! Wonderful! So Thursday evenings for at least a few months, I am playing Go. Mostly with the grade school children who tag along with their parents! But maybe I managed to win a game or two that way!

What motivated me to take another swing at this... years ago I had got vols 3 and 4 of Kano's Graded Problems. I should say, I am a book nut: I have over 10.000 books on shelves, in boxes, in storage, it's a mess. Anyway, finally I found vols 1 & 2 on abebooks. (Now I am learning too about on-line go equipment suppliers, so it needn't have been such a challenge!) Maybe finding those books tipped me over the edge! But now I have discovered IGS and KGS. What great ways to play lots of games!

So that's me introducing myself!

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Welcome

May I recommend you look at signing up for your first L19 tournament if you feel so inclined? It's aimed at DDK players, and has three 20-25k players in it: http://www.lifein19x19.com/forum/viewto ... =11&t=1123

Hi there. Welcome to the forum. =D If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask!

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Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].