Hihi from Down Under

kungfupigeon · #1

Hi everyone! I'm from Sydney, Australia. I'm a fairly new player, learnt the rules few years ago, played a few games but left it alone. I did however buy a goban then, found my stowed away goban recently and now it's sitting in my room again. Hoping to pick it up and get somewhere.

I am not really aware of any local clubs around, and searching for "go" leads to random results around here, so hoping to meet some friends here and improve!

Codexus · #2

Hi, and welcome!

When searching for go related things it often helps to search for "baduk" or "weiqi" (korean and chinese names for the game).

EdLee · #3

Welcome. In addition to searching for 'weiqi' and 'baduk', you can also search for 'go game' or 'go board game', instead of just 'go' by itself, which is too generic.

tekesta · #4

Hello and welcome to lifein19x19.com !

When looking up Go-related topics online, I find it easier to get results by entering words like weiqi (Chinese name for Go), baduk (Korean name for Go), and - to a far lesser extent - Cờ vây (Vietnamese name for Go). "Go" and "Igo" (the Japanese name for the game) produce a variety of results, of which most have nothing to do with weiqi :mad:

A couple of years ago I was in a predicament much like yours. I took up weiqi in May 2006 and for the first few years I almost always lost my games, mainly because I did not bloody know what I was doing. So, I laid off weiqi for a while. About a couple of years ago, in late 2011, I began doing puzzles and, some time later, began replaying professional game records.

If you want to improve at a steady rate, in addition to playing actual games on a regular basis, do plenty of easy puzzles. It might sound heoric to do the most difficult ones, but a beginner trying to solve advanced puzzles is like a baby trying to chew meat. Of course it is nourishing, but not if you can't chew it. A beginner doing easy problems is like a baby drinking his mother's milk. Easy to digest as well as nourishing, and it prepares you for the harder stuff. Most of the puzzles you do should be in the life & death and tesuji categories. If you want you can also do opening, middle game, joseki, and endgame puzzles to help improve your understanding of these skill categories. Of course, the more puzzles you do, the better. However, there is no need to do a 5-hour puzzle-solving marathon, unless of course you want to do that. Just a few 15-minute periods of leisurely puzzle solving spread throughout the day is effective. The real purpose of puzzles is to train your ability to analyze and respond effectively to different situations on the board, so if at first you do not know the solution, go on to the next one. The second or third time around the solution will be easier to find. In any case, spend no more than 60 seconds on a single puzzle. If by that time a possible solution has not popped into your head, then it's too difficult. Return to it when you are able to find a solution in 60 seconds or less.

If you want to understand what is going on in a game of Go, theory books can be helpful. If you have access to something like the Elementary Go Series from Kiseido publishing or even Jon Hop's So You Want to Play Go? series, you can load up on some theory to help you understand the experience. Kiseido also has puzzle books in English and Japanese. Some sellers based in China and Korea sell puzzle training books in English as well as in Chinese and Korean. If you understand Mandarin, there are lots of excellent weiqi theory and puzzle books published in that language. Most of the puzzle books in Chinese and Japanese tend to have only minimal text and, at least in books for beginners, all problems are Black to play. Otherwise, if it's Black to play you will see something like 黒先 . If it's White to play you will see something like 白先 .

In Australia you can look at http://gogameguru.com for information on weiqi and a shop for books and gear.

If you do not have much money for books at the moment, you can go to http://tsumego.tasuki.org for a vast collection of puzzles of different level of difficulty, which can all be reproduced for your own use with just paper and a printer. WeiqiOK.com ( http://www.weiqiok.com/asp/English.asp ) has a large collection of printable puzzles. However, to access all of them you will need to pay a yearly subscription.

http://goproblems.com is one place to go for online puzzles.

Replaying pro games is a good way to find out what strong players do in a variety of situations. It is possible to learn a lot just from replaying one. The more of them you replay, the better, but even just a couple of games a day is good enough. No need to replay the whole thing through. You'll get more out of replaying at leisure and observing what occurs during the game. Three benefits of replaying pro games on a regular basis are developing a feel for how a game of weiqi progresses, the usual responses to X move, and easier comprehension of weiqi puzzles, not to mention increased mental stamina :twisted:

There are different styles for different tastes. If you like playing for territory, Cho Chikun, Yu Bin, and Lee Changho are some players whose games you may want to consider studying. If games based on outward influence are more to your liking, you may want to consider studying games by Awaji Shūzō, Yu Changhyuk, or Takemiya Masaki. There are also the games of historical players such as Go Seigen and Kitani Minoru. As for standards, the games of Hon'inbō Dōsaku, Hon'inbō Shūei and Shūsaku are definitely worth studying. If you have the money, John Power's Invincible: The Games of Shusaku is something you will want in your weiqi library. As well, the games of Huang Longshi are a must if you wish to know how to play games on the basis of outward influence. Which reminds me, there is a video of one such game on GoCommentary.com.

http://www.gocommentary.com/free-videos ... nyuan.html

http://go4go.net is one place to go for printable game records. With a free account you can print out almost any game record by a modern player. (Not much from historical players there, unfortunately.)

http://gogameworld.com has good weiqi information. They have some free material, but you will need an account to access the full range of materials therein, including their commented pro games. Do check out their article on how to study weiqi, though.

As for playing actual games, it is helpful to record your games on paper, at least when playing face-to-face. If you can replay a game from memory, even better. This takes practice, though. Key to doing this is remembering the reason for which you played move X. However, in games between players of different levels, the difference in understanding of what goes on in the game is substantial, so sometimes recording a game on paper is necessary insurance. In any case, recording your games and reviewing them, preferably with a player stronger than yourself, will help you to know where you went wrong and what you can do to improve.

Well, hopefully this dollop of information proves to be helpful to you. I cannot guarantee that you'll become the next Go Seigen by applying the above advice diligently, but you will improve your weiqi skills substantially. Enjoy our most marvellous game!

TheBigH · #5

Welcome to the forum!

cornucopia · #6

Welcome to the forum

SoDesuNe · #7

tekesta wrote:

In Australia you can look at http://gogameguru.com for information on weiqi and a shop for books and gear.

You can look at http://gogameguru.com from all over the world because - right now - they ship equipment from the USA, Europe (UK), Asia (Hong Kong and Korea) and Australia. They also are one of the shops with the best prices (imo).

kungfupigeon · #8

Wow thanks for the great info and warm welcome guys! I will do more go problems... I find I have a basic understanding of the game but often am too weak to keep my groups alive when attacked or fail to put pressure on the opponent. I started reading Janice Kim's Learn to play Go and am getting Davies' series... hope to play more games and participate in some discussions with everyone in the future!

EdLee · #9

kungfupigeon wrote:

am getting Davies' series...

The Elementary Go series could be a bit rough for you right now,
but if you enjoy it, great! You may also enjoy
The Second Book of Go by Richard Bozulich.

kungfupigeon · **#10**

I'll take it one step at a time. I want to make a serious attempt at getting better.

I find myself losing track of stones: sequence and location easily when solving problems looking at the page of a book. I hope it is something that will improve with practice and not a sign I'm too stupid. :lol:

On a side note, here is my little goban that I bought before:

It's Shin Kaya from YMI, with double convex yunzi stones. The black stones look amazing under direct sunlight, it's a jade green if the light shines through. Haha... slap it on a cheap $10 ikea table and you have a floor goban :lol:

EdLee · **#11**

Looks like a nice set. Any photos of two people playing a game with that table ?

kungfupigeon · **#12**

Unfortunately no, I haven't really used it much. I have used it a handful of times to look at problems. Like I said, I can't keep track of the stones so I find placing stones actually helps me to visualise.

If you do sit on the floor crosslegged though, it reaches to about chest, so it is kind of high!

Chew Terr · **#13**

Howdy and welcome to the forum!

oren · **#14**

I got the lowest Ikea coffee table and it makes for a fairly good floor board. Yours does look a bit too high to me, but it's a great idea.

EdLee · **#15**

oren wrote:

I got the lowest Ikea coffee table...

oren, do you happen to know if Ikea still carries it ? And would you happen to have a link to that table at their website ?
Do you know off hand the height ? Thanks.

oren · **#16**

EdLee wrote:

Do you know off hand the height ? Thanks.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80135019/

Going by looks and guess without the measuring tape, this is probably right.

11" high table plus a 2.5" table board brings it about right with an average floor board.

kungfupigeon · **#17**

Perhaps this is what you're looking at ed?

http://www.funkbrothersfurniture.com/featured/floating-bedside-tables
http://www.naturalbedcompany.co.uk/shop/bedside-tables/nevada/

EdLee · **#18**

kungfupigeon, thanks.

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