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KGSTheKiseidoGoSe...
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ContinueWhileDoze...
TeachingGame67
LargeHandicapGame...
HikaruNoGoQuestio...
TeachingGame44
TakingBackAMove
ChineseGoTerms
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TeachingGame22
RespectYourOppone...
TeachingCustoms
TeachingGame66
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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 指導碁 (source: Hikaru No Go),

...where ou indicates a long o sound (like in English "door"); see Japanese Go pronunciations.

But it's usually spelt "shido-go" in English. --SAS

The above is not true, the hyphen is only used in katakana. --FFLaguna

The hyphen in English does not lengthen the vowel (as the katakana ー that looks like a hyphen does); rather, it's used to separate two words that run together in Japanese: shidou 指導 "teaching" and go 碁 "Go".) --Lothe

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! --Tamsin


Justin: I have a question about teaching games. I've been playing them a lot lately against weaker players, and I'm trying to improve my ability to "create instructive situations on the board". Does anyone have any tips about how to do this? I've been able to conconct little scenarios here and there, but usually I just end up playing like I normally would, which often results in me inadvertantly crushing my poor playing partner. That or I make deliberate under-plays, which don't seem to be in the right spirit either. Most of the "teaching" happens during the post-game review, when I try to explain things that went wrong. But it would be nice to be able to demonstrate things in real-time, during the actual game. Any advice?

I played against someone who deliberately (and explicitly) played dame points from time to time because "I want to see where you attack". Aside from anything else, this seemed like a good lesson for me in how to punish underplays (IE, tenuki, attack).

Alex Weldon: I do the opposite. When I'm teaching, I overplay like mad, because there's a tendency for students in teaching games just to defend, unless there's a high handicap. I tell the student beforehand that I'm going to try to get away with unreasonable moves, and that they shouldn't be scared of me and back down, but should try to counterattack and punish. Of course, if they play too submissively and miss the opportunity, or counterattack badly and get a poor result, I point out my overplays after the game, and show they how they could punish.


Lothe?: Anyone looking for a review of their game should visit the Go Teaching Ladder ([ext] http://gtl.jeudego.org/). Players of almost all skill levels are available to analyze games, and it's all free to boot. Just make sure you have a copy of your game in SGF format on hand.



This is a copy of the living page "Teaching Game" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.