Topic: Go it's what's hot

[Dragonlor]

For those who like chess and other board games that require thinking.  I would like to introduce Go originating in ancient china it has become a rather popular board game in most of east Asia and is making its way threw the U.S.  If you want to try it you can go to this link and download a java client for a server where you can play and learn the game.  I go there regularly when i need a Go fix.  http://www.gokgs.com/download.xhtml

[Quemaqua]

Go is quite a cool game.  I've never been able to really get super into it, though.  As a book I once read put it, where chess is a balance of strategy and tactics, other games seem to lose the balance.  You've got something like Checkers which is all tactics, or Go which is all strategy.  I don't know if that's why I never got into Go, but I suspect it has more to do with the fact that I just devoted my time to other pursuits.  As it stands, I haven't played it in probably more than 10 years.

[Dragonlor]

well that's why I offer the site for the go server.  it's a fun place to go to it even has a room for Texas go players.  I would jsut like to see more friends play go.  I have a $270 table go set that I can never use because no one around me knows how to play or refuses to learn.

[Xessive]

Remmeber how we were talking about each week seems to have a theme?

Anyway, they were talking about Go in comparison to Chess in the last episode of Terminator: TSCC.

I've always been interested in Shogi (Japanese variant of traditional Chess).

[Dragonlor]

Aye people are actually drawn more toward shogi then Go mainly because of the chess play style.  But that's why I prefer Go over it, because it is different.  I always tell people to give it a try but they never do.  and they don't want to play me because I'm a lot better.  But I don't play weaker players just to destroy them.  I like to help them and play what is called teaching games.  On KGS go server I'm a 12k  rankings start from 30k-1k then from 1d-9d.

[Xessive]

The only way to get better is to play against better players. Challenge inspires development

That's how I feel about PC/videogames too. I've been logging on to UT3 online to develop

I think at first sight Go just seems more complicated and can be overwhelming, which usually deters people from taking that first step. I'm curious to try it some time.

The popular boardgames here are mainly Chess and Backgammon.

[Dragonlor]

That's the funny thing about go it does seem rather complicated, but the rules are quite simple.  Like any board game that requires thought the rules are simple but confusing at first till you try, and only with time do you become better.  I just get board not having people around here to play with you know what I mean.

[Quemaqua]

Go is actually incredibly simple if you just want to learn how its played.  Getting good, on the other hand, is a different matter.  Like I said before, it's really all strategy, plus it lacks a certain spontaneity that other games have, and these combine to make it pretty inaccessible for the beginner.

[Dragonlor]

i think that's because it's less well known.  If say go was the main board game to play instead of chess, I believe chess would be looked at the same way go is now.  Chess in my opinion for me isn't random enough.  There's to many set ways to move to win you the game unless facing an opponent that knows the moves you are trying to do thus interrupts it.  while with go every game is always different.  i guess that's why I prefer go over chess personally.

[Quemaqua]

While I can understand why one would think that way, especially in comparing the two, it also shows that you haven't been playing nearly enough chess, because that pretty much isn't true at all.  =)

While chess is ultimately a more difficult game to simply pick up the basics of, there's an immediacy to it where you see how the game responds directly to your decisions.  It doesn't mean things will go well for you, but the chain of reasoning has links that lie fairly close together.  Go takes more time to develop, so while the basics are very easily apprehended, it takes more time and understanding to fathom exactly how your actions are changing the balance of the board.

[Dragonlor]

I understand what your saying and I guess that's why I prefer go over chess.  I enjoy the feeling of not knowing exactly how the opponent will respond and then how should I respond after wards, should I defend or attack.  In chess I'm sure you get the same feeling but not in the same type of intensity in my opinion.  I'm sure it's the same way with chess trying to think of your opponents next move and how to respond, or how to force your opponent to make curtain moves. same thing with go and like chess one little mistake can either cost you a lot of points or even the whole game.

[Quemaqua]

Both games are equally deep, or at least well past the point where trying to figure out which might be deeper would be an exercise in futility.  I think I enjoy chess more, but that's for a variety of reasons, not all even related directly to the game itself.  But I still think I understand what makes chess more attractive to the beginner.  Or maybe that isn't even accurate, because go is probably the more attractive initially if you look at the basic concepts, but I think after a game or two the beginner is often left feeling bewildered, whereas with chess, though the beginner has to work harder to learn how to play, even after repeated failures it's easier to see just why one has lost.  It takes much effort and study to overcome those hurdles, but at least you know where to start: with your weaknesses.  With go, finding a good starting point in the learning process seems to me to be a fair bit more difficult.  Which isn't a problem with the game, but likely a problem with many who give up on the learning experience too early.

[Dragonlor]

i see what your saying.  Learning go is easy but getting god is hard when there's no one to show you your mistakes.  I actually had two teachers on KGS go server that was 1k and 2k that helped me out a lot.  That's actually one of the good things about that server is the fact you can have some one play you teaching games then go back threw the game and show you your mistakes.