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Beginners Study Discussion
   

Bill Spight: Go pedagogy is not really very well understood, particularly in the early stages. There are certain basic concepts to master, but if you understand them reasonably well, you are already a fairly strong amateur!

I have the fond notion that play on small boards gives a good start, even though I never even played on a 9x9 when I was learning, but always on a full board. The 3x3 teaches that the player with an eye has the advantage in a fight. The 5x5 shows how to live with 2 eyes, and a mistake can lead to a ko.

When I was learning there were few go books in English, and I was unaware of the Japanese go books. Mostly I learned by playing, and my weakest opponent was a 5 kyu. In less than a year I was 4 kyu.

What did I learn during that first year? Certainly not tesuji. It was then that I got a book on tesuji. I didn't even know the basics. Certainly not life and death. I didn't even know the basic vulnerable shapes. Certainly not shape. One of the first Japanese go books I bought dealt with shape. It was a real eye-opener. (I loved it.) I remember three things that I learned during that first year that I think were very important to my progress:

  • Play the whole board. Think on a large scale.
  • Make efficient plays. Make your stones work together.
  • Throw stones away.

Dieter comments on Bill: You have told so before and it has made me reconsider my strong opinions on TeachingPaths more than any other comment. I still think you are the exception, but nonetheless other exceptions will exist and then again we have maybe been wrong all the time and more players should be initiated the way you were. The problem is that I think one can better stick with one approach until the need for another approach is apparent. The Korean university of Baduk can't come soon enough with a sound statistic study on this subject.


Comments: I removed the discussion leading to the WikiMasterEdit of BasicRulesOfGo. --Dieter

  • Dieter: I think Basic instincts should come much earlier in the learning process.
  • Stefan: like where?
  • Jan: I agree with Dieter here. I think it should be moved to before 5, Fighting - possibly even to before 4.

Jan: Here's why I think BasicInstinct is important.

  • First of all, they are easy to learn. No complicated reading or vague discussion about influence :-)
  • Second, they usually help - otherwise they wouldn't be basic.
  • Third, I think beginners don't have a chance of actually applying the more advanced concepts (they can study them of course) since the player who does have some BasicInstinct will never let the situation get that far.

I've recently started teaching the game to a lot of novices (my friends at the Biton Go Club?) and there even seems to be a more basic skill needed to play the game: knowing the Basic Edge Patterns. Sure, you get to see them after a while, but it still brings back painful memories of my first struggles against IgoWin.


Dieter removed Playing a game backward from recommended reading material for Life and death in the Beginner Study Section. Not that it is not recommended, but it is not particularly related to life and death.



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