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Compare Go To Chess
Path: BadHabits   · Prev: LeavingYourHandOnTheMouse   · Next: PlayingThroughLunchAndArrivingLateToClassAndGettingChewedOutByTheOtherTeachers
   

It's a bad habit to compare Go to Chess. When trying to explain what Go is, comparing it to Chess, you don't do honour to the game of Go. When comparing Go to Chess, to show how infinitely much richer the game of Go is, you don't do honour to Chess.

--Dieter

I think people make this comparison because both games are full of strategy and deep thinking. And chess is just much more popular in most areas. What would you compare it to? JezzBall meets Othello

Sbaguz I totally disagree: I don't understand why it's a bad habit to compare Go to Chess. On the contrary I think it's a very interesting comparison between games with a strong cultural and historical importance for east and west. It's a way to compare east and west way of thinking too, with an excellent philosophical approach. For west players it's also the best way to diffuse Go: a Chess player can often appreciate Go more than other people ( I know about a lot of "conversions"...). Yes, it may be a bad habit if you aren't impartial and you try to elect the best game between them (I refer to the sentence "to show how infinitely much richer the game of Go is": this is very rude, because I can agree, but a Chess player ?...)

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I both agree and disagree: as Sbaguz notes above, it's certainly bad form to dwell on the (perceived) superiority of one game over another, insulting to the traditions of both, and I suspect that this is what Dieter is referring to.

But there are, I feel, some useful, valid, value-free comparisons which can be made. While trying to explain the nuances of the game to an experienced chess player, I've found it helpful to point out that the fact that go is placement-based and chess is movement-based reverses the value of locations on the board: in chess, taking and holding the center is key, while in go, it's corners first, then sides, then the center. Topologically, it's (to me) as though in chess, the board had a single central hill, over which the conflict is fought, while in go, it's as though the corners were hills, the sides lower ridges, and the center a low plain.

Also, while trying to explain the difficulties of programming Go to a fellow geek, it's impossible to avoid mentioning the difference in raw move combinatorics.

// Cornelius


Stefan: I follow Cornelius on this one - some good comparisons can be made. This is pretty obvious - it should be relatively easy to compare any mind game with go. In the end most debaters on this page seem in violent agreement: go and chess can be compared, but it should be done in a respectful way for both.

While we're on the topic: there is some meta level but nevertheless good advice on go study contained in a chess related article.



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