Go

Last updated: Jul 21, 2024

I discovered Go in early 2016, shortly after I joined Google, when the company announced AlphaGo.

Interesting Things About Go

Board starts empty: Many similar games start with all the pieces on the board and you work to destroy your opponent's. In Go it's mainly about building up, with the occasional captures.
Only 1 piece: In many games you need to learn several pieces and how the can be placed or moved. In Go there's only 1 piece, with easy placement rules, and can't be moved once it's placed. This is the main contributor to the simplicity of the game.
Scoring: In most games it's pretty easy even for beginners to know who's winning throughout the game and to know the winner right away once the game ends. In Go scoring involves counting surrounded territory, which in many cases is not definitive until the last part of the game. This is probably the most off-putting aspect of Go and the main contributor to the complexity of the game.
Tactics vs strategy: Most games involve a lot of tactics and not much strategy. In Go tactics manifest as "local battles" and are extremely important. But strategy (the "global" aspect of the game) is elevated more than any other game I know: you always have to be aware of all the ongoing battles across the board.

Get good at life and death problems. Practice at least 1 per day, ideally 10.
Make only 2 living groups. Additional ones are likely to die and cost you the game.
Rarely good to try and run away.
One to three point jumps are fine when there are no enemy stones nearby. Otherwise only one point jumps are safe and in some cases two point jumps.
Useful to learn/memorize josekis, even if you can’t understand them.

Start once they know how to count to 30 and read.
Don’t start with theory. Start with how to capture a stone (surround liberties), concept of atari maybe, then start playing.
When playing, let them capture your stones. But also capture theirs so they can learn how they can lose them. Defer teaching about eyes until they understand capturing well.
Start on a smaller board.
Teach every day, or at least every other day.
15-30 minutes per session since children can’t focus for long.
Once they understand capturing well, give them kids books.
Ideal environment is to have many children so they can play each other. Children get bored when only playing adults.

OGS. My preferred server to play on. Not the biggest server, but simple and modern website with minimal requirements.
Sensei's Library. The site witht the most information about Go. Hard to browse around but the search is reliable.
ten minutes to Go. Neat website with good tips and resources.
Black To Play. Super clean and simple web app to do Go problems.
Tsumego Pro (Android, iOS). Another simple app to do Go problems, but have to pay to get beyond the 150 free ones.
Go Magic. A learning platform with some free content and a Duolingo-style section.
Go4Go. Useful site to see professional game records.
American Go Association.
North American Go Federation.
The Clossi Approach