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Ask HN: Any Go players here? (Not the language)

22 points by ccvannorman ↗ HN
Hello HN,

It recently came to my attention that Go is just a pixelated version of life/logic, and that many of you are Go enthusiasts. I myself am a 9k and looking for opponents, and hereby challenge all of you individually to a match. Will you accept my challenge? :-]

https://online-go.com/user/view/71952/derpziIIa

20 comments

[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 56.5 ms ] thread
valarauca1
What is the current flavor of the month Go Client?

I've been using KGS until my professional life made me stop playing.

ashworth
It's still kgs in the western world afaik, but online-go.com is very nice and Ajax-y and runs in browser without being janky.
valarauca1
I'll have to give it a try. Thanks :D!
CaiGengYang
There is this site too : www.eweiqi.com/. Its all in mandarin, but the level of players there is arguably higher than KGS
CaiGengYang
I have a 3d account on KGS called "GengYang". Sure let's play a game sometime, I accept your challenge
trcollinson
I had a manager years ago who was a great go player. I always wanted to learn but frankly it becomes a bit overwhelming. Any suggestions on getting started?
CaiGengYang
The way to learn how to play Go is to start playing games. Join a local club, make friends and start playing Go.

At first, you will lose terribly almost all the time.

Stay humble, ask for help with reviewing games by more experienced players. It would be even better if there are professional Go players in the club.

It takes some time before the basic theory of Go "clicks" in your head.

blacksmith_tb
There's a saying that you should "lose your first 50 games quickly," in the sense that it will give you a lot of exposure, and a chance to make a lot of mistakes and learn from them. I like Richard Bozulich's books - The Second Book of Go is great, once you have the basics.
JeffL
When I was first learning, I mostly played against the computer. You can lose a lot faster that way, since the computer plays quickly, and it will brutally punish really newbie mistakes, so you can learn to avoid doing really stupid things before venturing against another human.
chadzawistowski
Try to practice against real people rather than AI, especially when getting started. It's more fun and veterans can explain things to you. In-person would be ideal, but online communities work too.
corruptio
I deeply urge everyone interested in go to try to play it in person. Nothing beats a live face-to-face game against someone and then being able to review it on a board afterwards. You'll also find that the people who go to go clubs are very friendly and generally love to teach beginners.

There are a surprising number of local go club around the country: http://www.usgo.org/where-play-go

Especially, if you're in the SF Bay Area (my area): http://bayareago.org/#local-clubs

patientfrog
I learned go (igo) a number of years ago while living in Japan, and when I returned to the US had trouble finding people to play with.

Ever since online-go.com started I have been getting back into it. I love being able to play asynchronously.

My username on that site is "rob.doherty.127" I'm happy to play anyone beginner to advanced (I am an intermediate level player).

jjengo
I've been playing Go for about a year now, and play mostly on online-go.com. If anyone wants to play my username is jon.jengo. I would say I am an intermediate level player.
jayturley
I haven't been playing in years, but this is inspiring me to go to the local Go club this weekend :)
matburt
I'm one of the developers of OGS (online-go.com) We're really passionate about building the site and providing the best place to play Go online.

We also have full public rest and real-time APIs. Stop by chat and say hello!

anoek
I'm the other developer of ogs, and I'm always up for another correspondence game, feel free to shoot me a challenge :) (same goes for anyone reading this :))
zorf
I've been playing for about 10 years (still about 10k). I usually play on http://www.dragongoserver.net, since it is asynchronous and I sadly don't have much time to play.