Anyone up for a game of Go?

[Erik Mesoy]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(board_game)

19x19 board. (13x13 or 9x9 is often used when starting.) Rules consists of one short paragraph:

Spoiler :

# Two players, black and white, take turns placing a stone (game piece) on the points (intersections) of a 19 by 19 board (grid). Black moves first.

# Stones must have liberties (empty adjacent points) to remain on the board. Stones connected by lines are called chains, and share their liberties.

# When a stone or a chain of stones is surrounded by opponent stones, so that it has no more liberties, it is captured and removed from the board.

# "Ko rule": A stone cannot be played on a particular point, if doing so would recreate the board position after the same player's previous turn.

# A player may pass instead of placing a stone. Two consecutive passes end a game, beginning the scoring.

I don't really play chess...

 

[Perfection]

Are you planning on creating some sort of league or something, I'd be interested in playing. I haven't played go in ages.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

Wow, a reply!
League? Not enough people around for that, it seems.
I haven't played in ages either, which is why I started this thread. Let's play one game on 13x13, and we can figure out ranking difference afterwards.

 

[Betrayed]

I'd like to join in, but I don't yet understand the basis of the game (yes, yes, I'm slow to learn rules of games). Could you show some example or something?

 

[kcwong]

I learnt Go with a book almost ten years ago when I was a student. Never have any human opponents to play with... there's no Japanese anime to boost Go's fame back then.

So my skill in Go is not good... I only have very vague memories of the techniques learnt from the book now.

 

[punkbass2000]

I'd play. I only learnt over the past year and haven't played on anything greater than a 9x9, however.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

OK, to get all this started properly, I challenge the three of you who have played. I'm having to guess at skill ratings, but the games are 9x9 and should be fairly short. My guesses are:
Perfection, roughly the same as me, gets 5 komi points for playing second at a game I picked.
kcwong, possibly the longest since playing, 4 stone handicap.
punkbass2000, freshman, 2 stone handicap.
Screenshots not required with every post, but I'll drop in some for the watchers, and they're nice for keeping track of the game.


Betrayed, have fun watching, assuming any of these get somewhere. Look at my first post and the Wikipedia for the rules, and you can just pick it up as we go along.

 

[Noldodan]

I've been considering this for a couple days, and I think I want to play. 13X13 though. Sure it's longer, but it's more truly Go than 9X9. [waxing poetic]There, territory is what matters, not just how your stones are arranged. A battle, not one-on-one close combat (if you want an analogy).[/waxing poetic] Anyway... there you go.

PS: I see by your avatar that you read EGS. That's my second-favorite webcomic, behind A Modest Destiny.

 

[Tomoyo]

I want to play a game of go...

 

[Erik Mesoy]

*points Noldodan and Tomoyo at each other*
There!

 

[Tomoyo]

Okay, hi Noldodan!

I prefer 9x9 (shorter game) but I don't mind 13x13.

 

[Reno]

I think i can learn to play this with a bit of practise. (I've played Chess before, so how hard could this be?)

 

[oagersnap]

I'd like to try it too. I haven't played it before. (well, maybe once or twice, but I don't really know anything about it.)

 

[Tomoyo]

I think i can learn to play this with a bit of practise. (I've played Chess before, so how hard could this be?)

Okay, never mind, Noldodan, I wanna play with Reno!

 

[Whomp]

Reno--the corners and ends of the board are key. You can flip the middle all day and it's no biggie.
With two anime people playing don't you two HAVE to play for some stakes?

 

[Tomoyo]

If I win you need to wear my avatars for a week and if you win I have to wear your avatars for a week.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

Whee, Reno vs. Tomoyo? I'm looking forward to that! Definitely include stakes. Avatars sound good.

Betrayed: Now that this game is fairly well underway, are you starting to get the hang of it?

Whomp: What, exactly, are you doing here in my thread?

*thinks a moment, gives oagersnap a few handicap stones, then pushes him at Noldodan* Go guy!

3 games are enough for me to manage at once. Nice to see I generated so much interest, though!

 

[Whomp]

Sorry Eric...
OK who's up for a game?

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Well, I may be interested. Been a few months since I learned it (can't say I really studied it though)...

 

[Tomoyo]

One question: do you just draw that diagram thingy you post? Is there a program that lets you do it? Is there a starting image that you just modify?