Boardgame GO?

[War4ever]

i played othello....good game !!

[DrSpike]

Yeah I got it for christmas a few years back......it is a deceptively deep game. There is a world championship, bags of opening theory, and the best human is still (just) on top of his silicon brother.

And 'go' has even more finesse.

[War4ever]

humans can always outthink machines...though we are subject to poor decisions..

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Father Beast
I am enjoying the exercises, and am thinking of getting myself a Go board so I can see the board situation more clearly.

Good idea. That way you can follow the more advanced examples easier.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by War4ever
when you surround, do you mean completely...is there a go website on the web i could look at...

Yes, completely. Since Go is played on a grid, you need 4 stones to surround one enemy stone. Interestingly, you need only 6 to surround 2, and 8 to surround 3 (if they are in a straight line).

Here's Google's web directory on Go

[Father Beast]

yup, othello on steroids would be a good description. the main differences being the board is empty when you start, you can place a piece anywhere instead of having to be next to existing pieces, you surround instead of straight line capture, and the captured pieces are removed instead of converted.

I'm getting the hang of this a lot better now that I'm reading the book straight through instead of skipping around. I played a game against igowin and actually held some territory, although I still lost 50 - 31 (on a 9x9 grid).

I may try the tutorial included. Igowin has something called the "way to Go", while turboGo for windows has a joseki tutor. I think one of those games had something that said the game had a kyu rating on the highest difficulty.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by Father Beast
yup, othello on steroids would be a good description.

Thanks. I was quite proud of it myself.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Father Beast
I'm getting the hang of this a lot better now that I'm reading the book straight through instead of skipping around. I played a game against igowin and actually held some territory, although I still lost 50 - 31 (on a 9x9 grid).

Remember, always go for the corners first.

Originally posted by Father Beast
I may try the tutorial included. Igowin has something called the "way to Go", while turboGo for windows has a joseki tutor. I think one of those games had something that said the game had a kyu rating on the highest difficulty.

You don't need to remember joseki now, just brush up your play first. Joseki is sort of like chess openings, most beginners don't memorise them.

[The Pioneer]

I played "Go" back in college and I still own the board but I never really got too deep into the whole game despite the fascination. The reason was that nobody around me at the time wanted to play with a board game ! I'll be checking "Go" on the net for thenext few hours now to refresh my memories .

So long...

[Drake Tungsten]

Remember, always go for the corners first.

What does this mean, exactly? Does this mean you should place your first stones close to the corners? Or do you place your stones in the center and quickly push out to the corners? I don't understand...

I downloaded a Go computer game last night and am learning the game right now, so any advice would be appreciated. The computer is destroying me on the easiest setting.

[Drew Dude]

I thought go for the corners first was the tactic in Othello

[Dauphin]

The Othello 'tactic' is to prevent your opponent being able to get a corner.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

Remember, always go for the corners first.

What does this mean, exactly? Does this mean you should place your first stones close to the corners? Or do you place your stones in the center and quickly push out to the corners? I don't understand...

You should put your first stones close to the corners. Because of the properties of the corners, it is much easier to become "alive" near the corners. A block of stones is considered alive when it contains two "eyes," or can form two eyes dispite your opponents best efforts.

Also, since the object of the game is to capture territories, corners are best for that. To encircle a 4x4 grid, you only need 4 stones at a corner, 6 stones at an edge, but 8 out in the centre. So you don't ever start in the centre, bad idea.

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
I downloaded a Go computer game last night and am learning the game right now, so any advice would be appreciated. The computer is destroying me on the easiest setting.

Which one?

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Sagacious Dolphin
The Othello 'tactic' is to prevent your opponent being able to get a corner.

Or just grab them yourself.

[Drake Tungsten]

Which one?

Goban for MacOS X.

It's pretty nice, although I can't play the capture game instead of full-on Go. It'd probably be easier to learn the basics playing the capture game, but oh well...