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Teaching Game
   

A teaching game is a game in which the stronger player teaches the weaker player. Usually their relationship is one of teacher (sensei) and pupil (insei). The game can be with, without or with reduced handicap. The pupil may or may not retake his move. The sensei may or may not give hints so as where to play. The sensei will usually play so as to create instructive situations on the board. The game may or may not be resumed before it is completed.

In Japanese, it is called shidougo (source: Hikaru No Go),

...where ou in roman transcription (romaji) stands for a long o sound (like in 'door').
But it's usually spelt shido-go in English. --SAS

A teaching game is considered to be a generosity of the part of the sensei. The higher ranked a player, the less probable it is to receive a teaching game from her. Honinbo Jowa has only played Shusaku twice. Currently, like many things of honour, a teaching game is measured in money. It seems that a teaching game against a 9 Pro would cost about 600 US$.

--Dieter Verhofstadt

I don't know what it costs today but in the 80's a teaching game with a 9p (one on one) at the Yaesu branch of the Nihon Kiin (next to Tokyo Station) cost 10,000 or 11,000 yen which was less than 100 USD. A much more normal experience is playing a lower or middle rank pro in a club. He or she will be playing 3 or 4 games simultaneously and the cost will be around 2500 to 4500 JPYen depending on their rank and the arrangement with the club. --Dave Sigaty

Bill Spight: I was fortunate to learn go in an environment in which every game was a teaching game (or, at least, a learning game :-)). It was rare not to go over a game afterwards and talk about it. The weaker player could learn from that, and often the stronger player as well. Unfortunately, that practice does not seem to have caught on in the West.

Just as I was taught by stronger players in that manner when I was learning (and I hope that I still learn something every now and then), I have always considered it a duty to teach weaker players in my turn, not a matter of generosity.


The spirit of generosity (or duty) is alive and well on the Kiseido Go Server (KGS) because of the excellent teaching and review software which is part of the client. Most players will review a game after playing if the other player wants to. Many strong players will review others' games for free. Some players will teach games for free and others will do so for a fee (KGS Teachers). The client software CGoban2 supports common teaching customs. --Hu of KGS


Some teaching games played on Sensei's Library are here:


If you would like to give and receive teaching games, why not check out Go Lessons Online? This is currently being set up to make free teaching games available to players on a ladder basis. You join the ladder and arrange to play games with other players through private e-mail. You may use any go server you wish for this purpose. An archive will be kept and made publicly available. More information on GoLo can be found at the homepage [ext] http://www.angelfire.com/games4/hanami/index.html (this is a temporary page and is rather basic). Anyway, I hope you can join us! --Tristan Jones



This is a copy of the living page "Teaching Game" at Sensei's Library.
(C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.