Learning Go

The pandemic hobby I’m proudest of is learning how to play Go. I knew that it’s the East Asian analogue of chess, and I knew that Google’s AlphaGo program finally beat the top pros a few years ago, but I didn’t even know the rules until summer 2020. I was playing other games online with a friend, I suggested we learn it together, the suggestion was well received, and we were off!

Go can definitely be intimidating. There’s the knowledge that there are a bunch of people who literally devote their whole lives to it. There are the AIs that will eagerly crush you even worse than a human could. So learning definitely took some humility for me. It’s the same mixture of humility and curiosity it takes to dive in to any large field of knowledge where you know you’ll only ever be a dabbler. In that sense it reminds me of math classes. The fact that it reminds me of math classes is also why I like it, though! I haven’t done much math in the past year, but I’m proud of flexing those muscles.

So for anyone looking for an intellectual side project, I recommend learning Go! Here’s some resources for getting started:

Interactive Rules Tutorial at Online Go Server – The best way to learn is by doing. After the tutorial, build your intuition by going through Cho Chikun’s Encyclopedia of Life and Death in the Puzzles section. I guessed at a couple problems at a time as a 5-minute brain break at work for several weeks. Or start playing! There are weaker bots to test yourself against before trying your hand against random humans. Use the 9x9 board first.

Michael Redmond’s Youtube channel – Michael Redmond is the only Western-born player at the top tier of professional play. He’s made it his mission to spread love of the game to English-speaking audiences, including a large amount of content for beginners. He’s dignified and professional, which makes him enjoyable to watch even when his strategy is a little over my head. This link goes to the beginner playlist, but also check out his game reviews and life and death problems. The problems have great soundtracks too!

I still play every week or two, and I hope I’ll continue for months or years to come. It definitely helps that I have someone to play with, so hit me up if you want to play sometime!