Anyone here Play "Go"?

[brewmaster15]

Just curious if anyone here plays "Go" also known as "IGO" ("weiqi" in Chinese, "baduk" in Korean)

for those that aren't familar with it.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game)

I've always enjoyed playing Chess and found chess to be a challenging game... I have to say though...compared to "go" Chess is definetly a more simple game.

My Kids and I recently found the game thru a Japanese Anime show.."Hikaru no Go" on netflix, which is an excellent show for kids BTW, once you get used to subscripts. In any case...the show focuses on the game and the journey of a kid into the world of "go" as a professional player aided by the spirit of a "go" teacher that lived a thousand years ago.

I was so intrigued by the game that I bought the kids a "go" board, and have been frequenting the numerous websites and reading tutorials on it, trying to learn more and more about it. My kids are hooked as well.... This game is the the most popular board game in the world and has been around thousands of years...on a basic level its easy to play...anyone can...but because the playing field is so large and the possibilities for moves and strategies so great it has the potential to be an incredibly rich and mentally challenging game.

Theres several websites (sites like http://www.gokgs.com/) that you can play other players around the world..haven't yet...as I think I have much to learn still...and theres even apps for Iphones and droid smart phones to connect to these "Go" servers...You can also play the game in linux against computers ...its called KIGO ( part of the KDE desktop game package) Theres even windows games for it.

see this list...
http://senseis.xmp.net/?GoPlayingPrograms

Theres many "go" tournaments world wide and many levels of skills in both professionals and amateurs. They just had one in California this past week...http://www.gocongress.org/

In any case... the game is amazing if you like games of strategy.. In some countries this game is taught as part of military training courses.What ever depth you chose to take...its a great alternative to Chess and checkers.

Go has been played in then USA for a while now.... and its popularity is growing... even have a US Go association...

http://www.usgo.org/

Okay so I am hooked... just thought I'd see if anyone else played as we have a very large Asian constituency, and I also wanted to introduce more people to game of skill and thinking that I have come to believe tops the list.

-al

[YSS]

I played when I was very young. My father taught me how to play, but never played enough to be good at it. I should ask my father to teach my son. My son is 10 and quite a chess player. He also plays chinese/korean chess and is pretty good at it as well. Yes, go is a very challenging game, but don't necessarily agree that chess is simpler game than go.

[brewmaster15]

I played when I was very young. My father taught me how to play, but never played enough to be good at it. I should ask my father to teach my son. My son is 10 and quite a chess player. He also plays chinese/korean chess and is pretty good at it as well. Yes, go is a very challenging game, but don't necessarily agree that chess is simpler game than go. You should do that...thats a a great age...my son is 8 and daughter is 10....Theres an online Go forum for kids... http://tigersmouth.org/viewpage.php?page_id=2

As for the Chess comparison..LOL....Don't get me wrong...I love chess but I do think Go is more challenging, maybe because I am new at "go" and have played chess for 35 years, ..I've no plans on hanging up my chess board :) and I think the way you need to look carefully at a Go board probably enhances how I play chess.. Just my opinion.. I guess this sums up why...


The reasons why computer programs do not play Go well are attributed to many qualities of the game,[81] including:

* The number of spaces on the board is much larger (over five times the spaces on a chess board—361 vs. 64). On most turns there are many more possible moves in Go than in chess. Throughout most of the game, the number of legal moves stays at around 150–250 per turn, and rarely goes below 50 (in chess, the average number of moves is 37).[82] Because an exhaustive computer program for Go must calculate and compare every possible legal move in each ply (player turn), its ability to calculate the best plays is sharply reduced when there are a large number of possible moves. Most computer game algorithms, such as those for chess, compute several moves in advance. Given an average of 200 available moves through most of the game, for a computer to calculate its next move by exhaustively anticipating the next four moves of each possible play (two of its own and two of its opponent's), it would have to consider more than 320 billion (3.2×1011) possible combinations. To exhaustively calculate the next eight moves, would require computing 512 quintillion (5.12×1020) possible combinations. As of June 2008[update], the most powerful supercomputer in the world, IBM's "Roadrunner" distributed cluster, can sustain 1.02 petaflops.[83][84][85] At this rate, even given an exceedingly low estimate of 10 flops required to assess the value of one play of a stone, Roadrunner would require 138 hours, more than five days, to assess all possible combinations of the next eight moves in order to make a single play.
* Unlike chess and Reversi, the placement of a single stone in the initial phase can affect the play of the game hundreds of moves later. For a computer to have a real advantage over a human, it would have to predict this influence, and from the example above, it would be completely unworkable to attempt to exhaustively analyze the next hundred moves to predict what a stone's placement will do.
* In capture-based games (such as chess), a position can often be evaluated relatively easily, such as by calculating who has a material advantage or more active pieces.[nb 15] In Go, there is often no easy way to evaluate a position.[79][86] The number of stones on the board (material advantage) is only a weak indicator of the strength of a position, and a territorial advantage (more empty points surrounded) for one player might be compensated by the opponent's strong positions and influence all over the board.

As an illustration, the greatest handicap normally given to a weaker opponent is 9 stones. It was not until August 2008 that a computer was able to win a game against a professional level player at this handicap. It was the Mogo program which scored said first victory in an exhibition game played during the US Go Congress.[87][88]

[zimmjeff]

I don't know sometimes checkers stumps me.

[YSS]

They are two very different games.

[brewmaster15]

Pretty pleased here...I actually found a Go club in CT that meets Fridays about 20 mins from my house at Wesleyan University. Went for the first time last night....and got schooled promptly on how much I did not know. :) It was the most enjoyable stomping I ever had. The person who leads the group played me a "teaching game" and it was obvious he had been playing for several decades!

Played a few other players thats were closer to my level...won some and lost some.. up to this point I had only played computers and my kids...face to face with people that have experience is a whole different game. 4 hours passed in minutes. I left the club mentally spent ,having to concentrate so hard for so long, but at the same time It actually felt good.

Highly recommend this game to anyone looking to sharpen their concentration skills and enjoy a seriously challenging past time.

-al

[MKD]

I'm a beginner for this game but watch the experts playing for hours each game. It is a strategy game that used to teach in military in the pass like Al said. They think and concentrate so long for each move because it could turn a table around just 1 mistake move. I would love to play it but it takes so long and can't play in the rush. Its a good game to help develop strategy plans and see big picture.

Thank you to bring it up