Learn to play Go

Overall reaction to the tutorial

• Many find it well made: clear progression, engaging puzzles, minimal distractions, and no forced signup.
• Annoyances: on mobile you can’t change many settings without an account; some UI confusion about whose move it is or what stones belong to whom.
• One user hit apparently “wrong” life-and-death answers that turned out to be a browser dark‑mode issue hiding white stones.
• Some feel parts are tedious or overlong (e.g., many near‑identical “count the liberties” quizzes).
• Auto‑generated translations are criticized as low quality; some would prefer no translation or a volunteer‑driven approach.
• A few think the older Flash-based OGS tutorial was more intuitive and polished.

Tactics vs strategy, and what the course teaches

• Strong thread arguing the course is almost purely tactical: captures, cuts, life-and-death, ladders.
• Critics say it largely omits:
  • Movement shapes (1‑point and 2‑point jumps, diagonal, keima/“horse” moves).
  • Fuseki / direction of play, influence vs territory, invasions, walls.
  • Sente/gote/tenuki and tradeoffs between “strong” vs “fast” play.
• Debate over joseki/openings:
  • One side: early moves (fuseki/joseki) decide games and should be studied early.
  • Others (including strong amateurs) say beginners should delay joseki; opening mistakes are usually small, while tactical reading and fighting decide most games.
  • Several note the proverb “learn joseki, lose two stones”: memorizing sequences without understanding context can backfire.
• Specific example problems (stretch vs jump) spark detailed shape/AI analyses and illustrate how hard it is to teach “direction” in a beginner course.

Go difficulty, ratings, and chess comparisons

• New Go learners report being humbled by low online ranks despite reasonable chess skill.
• Long subthread digs into Elo math, differences between FIDE and online pools, and weird percentile reporting on chess.com; no clear consensus, just that numbers aren’t directly comparable.
• Multiple people who dislike chess say they enjoy Go:
  • Fewer rules, more “freeform”.
  • Less reliance (or perceived reliance) on rote opening memorization.
  • Emphasis on intuition and pattern recognition over deep brute‑force calculation.

AI: AlphaGo vs modern engines

• AlphaGo documentary is widely recommended and emotionally impactful, especially the famous human win in game 4.
• Some push back on the mystique: AlphaGo is now far surpassed by engines like KataGo, which explicitly solve ladders and expose AlphaGo’s blind spots.
• Suggestion that “brilliant” AlphaGo moves should be re‑evaluated with modern AIs; historic games are pivotal for AI history but less authoritative for current Go study.

Servers, tempo, and online play

• OGS praised but some find it hard to get quick pairings; others recommend Fox, KGS, Pandanet, and tools like WeiqiHub for Asian servers.
• Handicap settings are suggested to widen the opponent pool.
• Compared to chess, Go online is seen as slower‑paced (longer time controls more common), which some view as a positive.

Community, culture, and personal stories

• Multiple anecdotes about Go as a social anchor: university clubs, intergenerational play, parent–child bonding, and summer Go camps with strong intellectual/cultural communities.
• Handicap system is repeatedly highlighted as making fair, enjoyable games across wide strength gaps.
• Go culture is described as small but welcoming offline; online experiences are more mixed, with occasional toxic behavior.
• Hikaru no Go (anime and manga) and its Chinese drama adaptation are praised as excellent and influential gateways into the game.

Rules nuances and “statefulness”

• The ko rule prompts discussion about Go’s effective statefulness and comparisons to chess’s castling/en passant.
• Clarification that in formal rules you must avoid exact repetition (superko variants), but in casual play players often only care about avoiding infinite loops.

Other learning resources mentioned

• The Interactive Way to Go, Sensei’s Library, learn-go.net, GoMagic, European Go Journal, book series like “So You Want to Play Go”, professional commentary channels, Twitch Go streamers, and lichess’s learn section (for an analogous chess experience).