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How Not To Teach Go
    Keywords: Humour

Let's share some anecdotes and principles illustrating the rich treasures to be mined in exploring the question of how not to teach Go. See How to Teach Go for good advice.


One thing you should definitely do in order not to teach Go is to criticize every move your student makes, without also taking time to praise the good moves.

And note: even if a move isn't actually good per se by your own standards, it may actually be an attempt by your student to put into practice the principles you yourself have been trying to teach - and it may be tons better than the move he would have made before he heard your instruction. So, the best way not to teach Go in this case would be to harshly criticize the move in question anyway, since you see about ten times more clearly than your student and know exactly what's wrong with the move he made. Do this regardless of whether or not the move actually showed that your student is learning.


Here's another one: make sure never to ask your student what his thought process or intention was in making whatever bad move he made. Just assume you know exactly what he was thinking - or better yet, refrain from caring at all what he was thinking. Just criticize the move. If you suspect the move was made for reasons having to do with whole-board strategy, then make sure to criticize it on tactical grounds. Conversely, if it was a tactical move, criticize it on strategic grounds instead. Under no circumstances should you address the relationship between these two areas of consideration. This will greatly confuse your student, and you will be moving rapidly closer to your goal of not teaching Go.

Since this is something I do regularly when teaching (when I see a noteworthy move, good or bad, I'll often ask why they chose that move and what others they considered, and only then decide whether to praise or criticise), I'm curious why you think it's something to avoid doing. -- Bignose
You've got the point backwards. This page is a list of how *not* to teach go. So, if you don't want to teach go, never ask the student's reasoning. -- ThomasBushnellBSG

A favourite method of not teaching go to someone: start explaining the rules, ko, life&death, territory, sente, gote, joseki, shape, influence, shinogi, the carpenter's square, and the subtle differences between rules to your student before even playing the first move. I've seen this in real life (well, maybe I exaggerated a bit). Scary.

Dieter: What you mean is that you should not tell someone what he should not do ?

No, I meant explain only the very basics (e.g. play stones on the intersections and not in the squares, stones don't move afterwards) and then start playing immediately. What good is it for a beginner to know about the carpenter's square, when he has not even placed one single stone on the board yet?

HansWalthaus: But make very sure you have a booklet containing the rules when teaching it quickly in a pub. New players who are focusing on 'game' instead of 'learn' tend to moan and complain when introduced to Ko or life&death in the middle of a game. Always have some paper back-up. It prevents a lot of howlers like: 'Cheater!!! Cheater!!!!'


As in anything else, a little encouragement goes a long way. The teacher could say 'I can see the merit in that move' and state what merit there is, and then perhaps say '... but this may be a better one, can you see why?' -- Wysi


Another not I recently witnessed is this one: I welcomed a beginner and taught him the game with some atari-go games and one fast real game on 9x9. Then our lowest ranked player came in and I was happy to team them up. I left the table to have them enjoy Go. Unfortunately, another player came in, who sat down and kibitzed, explained, kibitzed, explained, and thoroughly analyzed each move. The newcomer got more and more puzzled, left the club with the idea that Go was indeed very very complicated and he never returned. By all means, don't overexplain ! -- Dieter


(moved from TeachingGoToNewcomersDiscussion)
Chris Hayashida: Don't start by playing a handicap game against them. It doesn't make the game any more fair. There also isn't a need to prove that you can beat them. In my opinion, it's better to teach simply, and let them learn quickly. On an empty board, the game is less confusing. Giving 5 stones on a 9x9 make it look like the student has the entire board, only to be left with none of it at the end of the game. As a side effect, the student will also see White play more "normally," which will help develop their understanding of the flow of play.


Toorima?: It's best to start out with a explanation on the Shusaku kosumi and with the many josekis that they will see in the future, And if you have free time go into the Taisha Joseki. 9x9 wont give the full feel of the game so 19x19 needs to be used to start them out.


Alex Weldon: Perhaps a good way not to teach go would be to rely solely on Pavlovian conditioning for improvement, rather than explanation. Rather than explaining why a given move is bad, simply hit the student with a stick after every move, with the amount of force used varying with the badness of the move. After the student has improved to the point where not all moves are bad, good moves can be rewarded with food pellets. (ChessWhiz: LOL!!)

Jasonred : I consider you kind people in Sensei's as my teachers. Thanks. Though sometimes, I get the feeling that if I could rise 5 stones in strength, I would gladly request Pavlovian training... yeouch...

Chipuni: That would be a popular combination in San Francisco: Go and S&M!


TJ: I find it most useful to move into not teaching go by immediately following the first nine-stone handicap game they've won against me by a session of explaining how White made some bad moves, allowing black to win. The deeper one goes into how better moves by white would have led to complications from which black could never have had even one live group on the board, the better. The student, feeling over-whelmed by your superiority, will soon move on to another (no doubt less imposing and more level-appropriate) teacher, leaving you to contemplate your navel in peace.



This is a copy of the living page "How Not To Teach Go" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.