Just “beginner” (x3) and “level 1” (x9) are fine to start with. You may even want to go back after a couple days and do them again. These should take 5 minutes each or less.

You can do the higher levels if you like, but I’d wait until you feel like you’ve really gotten each level before moving on to the next. 

Level 1, Life & Death, 1 minute. You’ll be given 5 problems and you’ll get two chances (up to a minute each) to solve each one.

Typically, life & death problems (or tsumego) are black to play, and the objective to save Black's stones by making at least two eyes, or to kill (but not capture) White's stones by preventing them from creating two eyes.

These should take 10 or fewer minutes to get through. If you’re short on time, try only giving yourself one chance to solve each one. If you solve them all quickly, I’d suggest doing another set. Unfortunately, if you don’t solve the problem, you won’t be able to see the answer (“Maybe next time...”)

Try to imagine the whole solution/sequence before attempting to play a move, and avoid clicking on the spot where you "feel" like you should play. Reading, or imagining how a sequence of moves might progress is a large part of this game, and practicing that as much as possible will help you more than many other things.

Beginner's may struggle with these if you have not done the lessons, as it may be harder to know where to start.

It is also unfortunate that the problems here are pass/fail, which will make it harder to spend more time on any given one, but you can buy problems under "study", or better yet, find them for free elsewhere. 

Start with 9x9, which should take 5-15 minutes. I suggest you play online rather than the bots, because bots play both really good and really bad moves that average to middling, as opposed to a human, who is going to play mostly middling moves for their level.

While 9x9 games are quick, they are unfortunately more fighting, or tactics oriented, as the board is not big enough to apply a lot of whole board thinking or strategy.

If you have more time, or when you start to feel really comfortable, I’d suggest moving on to the 13x13, which will take 10-20 minutes per game.

Don’t pay attention to anyone’s rank or automatch rating—those numbers are affected by a few different and are things are not reliable, so they can lead you to over or underestimate who you’re playing.

Try not to care too much about winning or losing here, and focus more on the goal which is simply to practice, not any particular outcome.

You can find  explanation of how the game clock (byo-yomi) works further on this page.

A Go Syllabus:

MODULE A (for complete beginners, ≈30kyu to 15kyu)

Most games for players of this level should be done on the 7x7, 9x9, or 13x13 board, but games on the full 19x19 board are not discouraged.

Learning the basic rules and mechanics of the game (A.2) should come first, but beyond that, it is not necessary to explore these topics in order, nor to watch each video for a topic before moving on to another.

It is also important that beginners recognize that learning is a process that begins with exposure, and through practice, becomes something we can apply on our own. The resources presented here are merely the first step. I suggest limiting yourself to only a few of these topics a week and earnestly trying to apply these ideas in many games before trying to move on to the next concept.

In addition to this self study guide, I still highly encourage beginners to use the BadukPop app for lessons, puzzles, and playing other human players online, as outlined here.

Much of what’s here can also be found in the two free River Mountain Go books. In my experience, videos are a great resource for initial exposure, but very often one can become passive, and the content simply ‘comes at you.’ This can make it more difficult to really absorb the information provided, since, before you can connect any new information to things you already know, the video is moving on to the next point. With text, however, it is far easier to control the rate of exposure and to pause, skim, skip, or peruse.

I also suggest reading my Advice & Other Tidbits entries.

Bolded hyperlinks are especially recommended. Italicized hyperlinks are more advanced, and can be returned to later.


A.1: INTRODUCTION

A.1.1 Short historical introduction to the game
AncientGaming - GO (WEIQI/BADUK): History and How to Play [囲碁/围棋/바둑]

Go Magic - History — Is It a Chinese or a Japanese Game?
Seattle Central Go Club - "Aji" Page

A.1.2 Game etiquette and manners
Go Magic - Go Etiquette and Elegance
Go Magic Article - The Nuances of Go Etiquette
Hidamari Tokyo - Go Etiquette for Playing in Person
Sensei's Library Entry

A.1.3 Go equipment
Sensei's Library Entry
Wikipedia Entry


A.2: GETTING STARTED

For links discussing the basic rules and mechanics of the game, please see the Seattle Central Go Club’s Learn to Play page.

A.2.1 Liberties
A.2.2 Living and Dead Groups a.k.a Eyes, False Eyes and Seki
A.2.3 The Ko Rule and No Suicide Rule
A.2.4 How the game ends
A.2.5 How to count territory (including corner, side and center territory potential)
A.2.6 The Objective of the Game 

A.3: BASIC TACTICS

A.3.1 Atari and Double Ataris
Go Magic - Go Basics
Go Magic - Basic Go Techniques
Go Magic - When NOT to Atari
Here We Go - Double Atari

A.3.2 Ko
Clossius - What is Ko?
Go Magic - Ko Fights & Ko Threats
Go Magic - The Power of Ko and How to Control It
In Sente - How to Use a Ko
World Go Channel - How to Count the value of a Ko Threat

A.3.3 Connecting (solid connection, tiger mouth, bamboo, jump, diagonal, knight’s move, large knights move, table shape, dog face, horse face) and Cutting (cross cutting, when to cut)
Dsaun Shape Lecture
Go Magic - Cutting & Connecting
Go Magic - Basic Shapes
Go Magic - The Diagonal Approach, High vs Low
Jay Strategy - 21 Important Shapes for Beginners
Triton Baduk - Understanding Shapes
World Go Channel - Fighting - Common & Basic Shapes (18 Video Playlist)
World Go Channel - Side Extensions from 1- or 2-Stone Walls

A.3.4 Ladders and Nets
Go Magic - Basic Techniques
Go Magic - The Net
Go Magic - Good & Bad Shape
In Sente - Ladders & Nets
StoneFlyMD - Ladders & Nets

A.3.5 Snapback and Crane Neck
Go Magic - Basic Go Techniques
Go Chess - Crane in the Nest

A.3.6 Pushing and crawling
Simple Baduk - Value of Moves

A 3.7 Fuseki (Opening Theory)
Simple Baduk - 4 Core Principles of Fuseki (The last section has useful comments on the timing of 2nd line moves which many beginners play too early)


A.4: ENDGAME

A.4.1 How to end a game
In Sente - Beginner Go Series E6: Ending the game?
Go Magic - How to Finish the Game
Go Magic - Reviewing Beginner's Game on the 9x9 Board
Go Magic - 13x13 with Commentary

A.4.2 Endgame tactics (Hane, knight’s jump, one space jump, monkey jump)
Go Magic - First Line Anomalies
Go Magic - The Monkey Jump
Go Magic - The Mistake of Endgame in the Opening
World Go Channel - Edge Moves
World Go Channel - Monkey Jump

A.4.3 Order of endgame play (double sente, sente, gote)
Go Magic - First Class Moves for the Second Line
World  Go Channel - End Game Basics

A.4.4 Big endgame moves – basics on how to count
Go Magic - Endgame/Yose Counting Basics in the Game of Go
Nick Sibicky Go Lecture #231 - Counting and Endgame Workshop

This syllabus was originally sourced from the Falling Stones are Not Heavy blog. Links, notes, and additions were provided by Derek McGuire, Seattle Central Go Club.

There is a Module B (≈15-kyu to 5-kyu), but links to free resources will be a work in progress for some time.

There is a common adage that beginning players should lose their first 100 games as quickly as possible. This will sound pretty off-putting to many but I'd like expand on it a little here.

First, I think it's a reminder to be humble. Even the best players in the world will lose, and learning to accept that puts you in a better place to learn and grow.

Second, it's practical. Many beginning players looking to improve, will at first try to learn a lot of theory. The problem is that arguably the most important skill for the game is reading and visualizing, or being able to predict and imagine the moves you and your opponent might make. The best way to develop this is through practice, i.e. playing.

The next most important is an understanding of fundamental shapes, or how stones in proximity to each other relate. How they may or may not be connected, what potential they have, or which may be more valuable than others. A little bit of study (practice) can help, but learning to see these things in your game, while you are playing, is what will help you improve, more than answering a question in a book.

Third, it implies that you are motivated, which is a good sign for you, as well as anyone you may reach out to for help. Many Go players are only too happy to go on and on about the game and what they feel they know—probably too happy, since more often than not they'll explain more than will do you any good—but motivation is the most important part of deliberate practice, and the only one that no one else can really help you with. If you've gotten there on your own, you can only move up.

***

I could also explain it like this. As long as you're trying to think at least a little about what's going on in your games while you're playing, and maybe even looking at them afterward to try and notice what you think caused you or your opponent trouble for your first 100 games is a bit like learning the alphabet. There are better or worse ways to do this, some more fun and other less, but there's not really any shortcuts.

Immediately asking for a lot of advice or explanations of what to do is like asking for help with your spelling and grammar before you've even learned which letters are which.

I could also say that spending too much time thinking about your moves at this stage is probably best avoided. What's "too much" will be different for every player, but it should probably be less than a minute per move. If you find you are feeling exhausted after only 50-100 moves, you are spending too much mental energy on thinking—again, like struggling to check your grammar and spelling when you still don't know all the letters.

Remember that this is the exploration phase. You'll have more fun If you accept that you will make mistakes which you will have to learn from bit by bit, rather than the attempt the impossible and play perfectly, or even all that well as a beginner.

An absolute beginner typically starts at about 30-kyu, and the number decreases as they get stronger. I would expect a 15-kyu to be someone comfortable with all the mechanics and lexicon of play, but still learning strategy and tactics. A "Single Digit Kyu" or SDK (9-kyu - 1-kyu), will be someone who plays regularly, and is familiar with more advanced theory, but is still learning to apply this knowledge.

Once a player improves beyond 1-kyu, they progress to 1 dan (or "amateur dan") and their rank increases to 9 dan as they improve. Professional players are all dan level, and it is common these days to distinguish these elite players with a "p" for "professional dan". for example the popular player Cho Chikun is professional 9-dan, or 9d in older media and 9p in newer.

For amateurs:

30-kyu (beginner)
20-kyu (learner)
15-kyu (familiar player)
9-kyu (inveterate player)
5-kyu (strong inveterate player)
1-kyu (very strong inveterate player)
1-dan (“shodan”, mastery of the fundamentals)
4-dan (very strong amateur player)
9-dan (highest amateur level)

For Professionals:
1p -> 9p (or 1d -> 9d in older media)

Knowing your strength is useful for a number of reasons. It can help assess when you are probably ready for a particular concept, or as a way to measure your progress. Perhaps most importantly, it is used to determine the appropriate handicap between two players. For example a 15-kyu player will be given a handicap of 2 stones (as Black) against a 12-kyu player (who will play as White), and White will only receive a komi of 0.5 points instead of their usual 6.5 or 7.5. The half point is to avoid ties. Traditional handicap goes up to 9 stones, meaning a 15-kyu can play an even game with any player from 24-kyu to 6kyu.

More than 4 or 5 stones is considered "high handicap" and you may encounter players reluctant to play this way. While these high handicap games do differ subtly from a normal game, they are meant to make the game even.

More familiar players should not avoid a fair game, and less familiar players should be humble and respect the stronger opponents time and skill.

A shorter pieces can be found here at https://gomagic.org/the-nuances-of-go-etiquette/

and a longer one at https://senseis.xmp.net/?GoEtiquette

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5mVjO5OFYSymMy2Mixl7E5vpwFDO_0B4

These are longer, so unless you are comfortable spending extra time on them, try to limit how many you watch to 2 or 3 a week, or you may slide into over-studying.

He also has a flowchart:

https://shawnsgogroup.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/clossi-approach-draft-1.jpg

It’ll take time to know what’s considered “a base” or what are “weaknesses” and what are not, but it’s still a good methodology.

In general, watching Go videos like these can help expose you to new ideas in a way that might be a little more fun and easy than say, a book, but because they’re easy and passive you tend to get much less out of them in the long run.

Because it's one of the most common and a default time control settings, I'll briefly explain it here.

With byo-yomi, players have a main time, as well as overtime periods. On OGS for example, the default time for a normal (live) 9x9 game is 5m+5x30s. When the game begins each player will 5 minutes on their clock which will begin counting down.

After all of your main time has been used (in this case 5 minutes), you enter overtime, in this case 5 periods of 30 seconds each.

An overtime period is only used up if you spend more than 30 seconds before playing. For example, if you spend 1 minute and 26 seconds thinking about a particular move, that will use 2 overtime periods (going from say, 5, to 3 remaining.)

On OGS your last byo-yomi period will display as "(SD)", rather than 1. This helps avoid being confused about whether you have one left, or are on your last one. Not all servers do this, so be careful.

***

The default time setting for a 19x19 game is 20m+5x30s, which frankly, is probably too long for most beginners. I suggest a 5 or 10 minute main time, which will help keep your games closer to 40 minutes, rather than 90, since most people simply won't want to spend that much time on a game—especially when you're just starting out.