Hello, I joined not too long ago, and I just want to introduce myself.

I'm a Chess player, who has been learning the rules of Go, for a about a week. I've been playing GNU Go, on a 9x9 board, and reading Go for Beginners, by Kaoru Iwamoto. I'm having a great time learning Go, but I'm still very weak compared to Chess.

I'm sure I'll be posting on here a lot.

Welcome, Goblin!

Welcome to the forums.

As a former chess player, I can recall some things that did not transfer from chess:
1) In go, the center is not as important as the sides which are not as important as the corners.
2) There are simultaneous multiple fights occurring in go. In chess it is usually one, or two at the most.
3) In go, you cannot retreat, indeed you cannot move at all. When that stone is played, it is there until the end of the game or until it gets killed.
4) Playing go against computers will teach you bad habits.

_________________
Help make L19 more organized. Make an index: https://lifein19x19.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5207

Thanks for the advice.

Welcome.

Playing against the computer on a 9x9 board will not teach you any bad habits.

Computers make surprisingly good sparing partners on that size. The danger of learning bad habits exists on the 19x19 board, though that's also relative and diminishes as the software gets better. Playing against a computer on 19x19 as a beginner probably gives you better (as in "more correct") games than games vs. other beginners (but the latter are more entertaining and your human opponent will make very basic mistakes that a computer won't make, so the frustration potential is smaller). Opening books have increased the quality of computer opponents and it isn't ten years ago anymore.

As for go servers, I always found KGS to be the friendliest server that is also very easy to get into. I've come to enjoy Tygem too, but that's just for playing -- there is very little "community" there. KGS also has an interface that I prefer. There are definitely more beginners on KGS as well, so it'll be easier to find opponents.

I think sticking to the 9x9 board is a good idea until you feel a bit stronger tactically. But do try different software as not every program plays the same style. GnuGo, Fuego, Mogo and Leela Lite are all free. Leela and Many Faces of Go also give you a rank and try to dynamically play at a strength roughly equal to yours, so you'll experience a sense of progress and not feel like you always get crushed. GnuGo has a difficulty setting too, but it's not dynamic and I don't know how that affects games on 9x9. (I like playing against Many Faces of Go best, especially since it uses a variety of openings, but it's not free.)

Anyway, have fun with the game.

Howdy, and welcome!

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