Any cubers interested in the game of Go?

[abunickabhi]

I have been playing a bit of Go too since 2016. I own a non-wooden board. I play mostly online on OGS server.

For those who do not know about the game of Go,
Go is an abstract strategy board game for two players in which the aim is to surround more territory than the opponent. The game was invented in China more than 2,500 years ago and is believed to be the oldest board game continuously played to the present day.

Its played on a 19x19 board, and there are a few variants and sizes which can be tested at the amateur level.

The main objective of the game is to capture territory, and the person who capture more territory wins. There is rich strategy involved and lot of theory, and its super complicated to find the best approach. It is much tougher than the well known games like chess and shogi.

My goals with the game of Go is to study the AlphaGo games, be good in Go blindfolded and spread the game of Go in India.

 

[Mr. McCubing]

I've played a similar game online called "reversi"

 

[abunickabhi]

I've played a similar game online called "reversi"

reversi is quite different game, even if it looks the game. The game complexity is quite less and it is a solved game.

Go on the other hand is super old game, and still tough to solve even with reinforcement learning algorithms as it's search tree is huge.

 

[Mr. McCubing]

ok. looks similar tho. reversi is pretty fun imo. but go also seems like a fun game to get into

 

[abunickabhi]

ok. looks similar tho. reversi is pretty fun imo. but go also seems like a fun game to get into

Yeah Go is a super easy game to learn, as there are only 2 rules.

But it is one of the toughest games to master as there is too many concepts that emerge in gameplay.

 

[NacksSnack]

I have found Go to be quite difficult to comprehend. But Chess very easily explained and teachable to the undisciplined mind. Why is that?

 

[abunickabhi]

I have found Go to be quite difficult to comprehend. But Chess very easily explained and teachable to the undisciplined mind. Why is that?

Go and chess are quite different. Chess is easier, because each piece has a value, and the objective of checkmating the opponent is clearly defined.

Go on the other hand, has very simple rules and objective, ie to capture territory. But since the rules are simple, we have to figure out a lot of decisions ourselves, and those are not objective decision like in chess.

Computers also find Go much harder to solve as compared to chess.

 

[Cubertix]

I have found Go to be quite difficult to comprehend. But Chess very easily explained and teachable to the undisciplined mind. Why is that?

Well, for one, people are different and have different minds! Another reason could be that making a move in the opening, is more focused on general direction/area and not as important for the exact spot (unless it's in a close-combat situation), which makes explaining why some exact move is the best a bit tough. Another reason is that groups (clumps of stones) often don't have a dichotomy of dead or alive as in chess. You can have a dead group that has no hope to survive, then a couple of moves later that dead group is now only 70% dead because your opponent has increased his influence nearby.

 

[abunickabhi]

Well, for one, people are different and have different minds! Another reason could be that making a move in the opening, is more focused on general direction/area and not as important for the exact spot (unless it's in a close-combat situation), which makes explaining why some exact move is the best a bit tough. Another reason is that groups (clumps of stones) often don't have a dichotomy of dead or alive as in chess. You can have a dead group that has no hope to survive, then a couple of moves later that dead group is now only 70% dead because your opponent has increased his influence nearby.

Yes the strategies are too complicated to explain to a beginner. Thats why its better to start with more close combat out of the opening by playing on a 9x9 board first, and then move to the territorial and the original size of 19x19.

 

[abunickabhi]

 

[UKCubeFan]

I have a Go set somewhere but I've never played it.
Reversi and othello are actually slightly different games, but the name reversi seems to be used for othello often. In reversi there are no discs on the board at the start of the game.

 

[abunickabhi]

I have a Go set somewhere but I've never played it.
Reversi and othello are actually slightly different games, but the name reversi seems to be used for othello often. In reversi there are no discs on the board at the start of the game.

Yes Go is quite different from othello.

I was just too lazy to create another thread for othello which would not gain too much traction.