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MeaningOfStones

 

Dieter's advice to beginners
  Difficulty: Beginner  

When I am teaching Go to beginners up to 15k players, I stick with these three basic principles.

  1. Connect your stones and cut your opponent's stones.
  2. Don't take away your own liberties.
  3. Play away from strong stones.

More specifically:

1. Tactics: always read at least two moves deep. Do not assume that your opponent will not answer. If your move is only a good move if he doesn't answer, it is a bad move.

2. Technique: If after your opponent's answer your group has less liberties than before, then reconsider your move.

3. Strategy: what's the meaning of stones?

  • They cut the opponent's groups, at least one of which is not clearly alive --> defend these stones
  • They cover an area that is too large to be overtaken by the opponent --> almost always defend these stones
  • They are close to a strong group of your own --> almost never defend
  • They are close to a strong enemy group --> throw them away with a big smile

4. Strategy: When looking for a move, look for the largest open area



This is a copy of the living page "Dieter's advice to beginners" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.