Go/How to Learn

From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection

[edit] Introduction

Go is a learning game. You learn something every time you sit down to play, and every player has a truly unlimited potential to learn more. The emphasis on learning is part of what makes the game enjoyable. There is no question that go is a competitive game, but when players respect each other enough to appreciate what they have to learn from one another and the game they play, there is a cooperation of learning which enriches the experience. Because go is also a philosophical game, lessons learned on the goban often apply to other areas of life. Attributes such as open-mindedness, flexibility, humility, honesty, and respect are truly important and helpful to your go game, and just as beneficial to life in general. Improving your go game is satisfying and enjoyable in its own right, but as you learn you should also be on the outlook for larger life lessons that just happen to be illustrated in stones.

As enjoyable as it is, there are parts of learning go that can be challenging, even frustrating. Many novice players have had the experience of playing their first games with an enthusiastic, more experienced friend, and hopelessly losing every game. Because there is so much to learn in go, and because those lessons learned can immediately and dramatically affect the quality of one's play, even modest gradiations in skill (particularly for novices) can be insurmountable hurdles. The handicap system helps to some extent, but does have its limitations.

The purpose of this chapter is to give guidance to the beginning player on how to progress -- what sorts of games to play, what to study, what to focus on learning at what stage, etc.