Life In 19x19

Bartleby wrote:I am about 10 stones stronger at chess than at Go

Ha. Then I'll play you in chess and you can give me a 10 stone handicap.

Go ruined my chess game. I haven't won a chess game since I started playing Go.

Yes, I have great experience of go making my chess easier.

I only knew rules from childhood, so went to city chess club and told them I was a beginner. They were kind and explained to me about some heuristics and techniques. However, by the end of the night almost no one could believe I was a beginner. But everything was new to me. They explained opening lines like joseki, and I kindly listened remembering "that memorizing joseki make you two stones weaker, but learning them makes you two stones stronger." Some people were very obsessed with them, so I could tell like a go player who focuses too much on joseki that they probably had reached wall because of their approach to learning. To keep long story short, I just learned few basic openings and focused on endgame and tactics problems for couple of months and reached about 1800.

After this I stopped for various reasons.

I like both chess and go, but only enough time and energy for one

John Fairbairn wrote:My greeter did not ask me how strong I was or tell me what the fee was, which two things are usually in the first or second sentence in a go club once you have eventually force someone to "greet" you.

Perhaps it's different on your side of the pond, but from my experience the first question I get asked when showing up at a go club meeting is something to the extent of "Are you sure you're in the right place?". There is almost a shock at the idea of a new player showing up.


Back on the original thread topic, I think the strategic ideas from go and the ability to visualize variations have both helped my chess (Though admittedly it would have been darn near impossible to hurt it...).

I think I actually got worse at chess after learning Go , but that might be from lack of playing. I often don't see direct threats anymore.

Mef wrote:Perhaps it's different on your side of the pond, but from my experience the first question I get asked when showing up at a go club meeting is something to the extent of "Are you sure you're in the right place?". There is almost a shock at the idea of a new player showing up.

Our club plays at a local coffehouse, so we quite often get people stopping and watching. Typically we'll ask them if they play go. I always like to follow up a "No" answer with "Would you like to?" I like playing in a public space, we get to abduct... erm... convert people to Go players.

I remember playing exactly one game, out of the blue, against the vice-captain of a high-school club in Austin. This was the first time since I started Go. As he told me afterwards, he was playing his best game.

I forced him to resign quite early in the middle game.

I had no ongoing threats and no material advantage, and the board looked rather even. The difference was that I was reading every line of play around ten moves deep all the while setting it up, and my last move was a simple pawn advance. My opponent was strong enough to realize there was simply nothing he could do to gain the upper hand. I myself saw only two 7-8 move sequences that ended right back into an equal position. Everything else ended in disaster for him.

I will never play such chess again. I was simply in a state of awesomeness that day. I don't have the faintest idea why.

Unlike John Fairbairn, I had a very weak grasp on the concepts of Go and had very strong reading that simply translated straight into chess. The 8x8 squares grid with a limited number of moving pieces made it really easy in comparison. My only thoughts were about positional pressure, and there it was on the chessboard.

I love to brag about this game, and it was an elating experience. Sorry if I bored you with all my self-glorifying.