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Sharing the Game of Go with others:

Click here to see the Learn to Play Go and 24Q: 24 Questions for a 24-kyu player booklets I created for my local club

The best advice I've seen on this topic is BenGoZen's blog post (≈10 minute read) which I encourage you to read fully, but would quickly summarize this way:

1. Share the game, don't "teach" the game.
2. Start simple, explain as more complex concepts (Ko, life & death, seki, &c) come up.
3. Be generous; don't punch down. As SU&SD (≈15 minute video) might put it: if the teacher is wining, the teacher is losing; most people will be less interested in a game they feel they'll only lose.
4. A curriculum for absolute beginners:
      a. Absolute Basics
      b. The concept of liberties
      c. Practice capturing with examples
      d. Capture Go
      e. The concept of territory
      f. Handicap game on 9x9.
          Note: Personally, I think 7x7 is better, but they are less common, which is why I've made some for my local club (see the .pdf above). The back also has diagrams that can be used as a guide to walk people through the game's basic mechanics.

You can find more pedagogically rigorous methods out there, but this will work for most people.

If you're looking for something more like a script I have one just below, but I would first like to remind anyone using any kind of script be careful that they are still engaging with the other person. It can be off putting and boring for both parties if there's a feeling of simply moving down a mental checklist rote. Often, this can be avoided by knowing your script very well—to the point where knowing what to say comes automatically—putting you in a better position to maintain engagement.

As for a script, Reddit user Sine_Wave_ wrote the following which I like:

"I tend to do it over a board. I also like to teach board games, and I've got a script I like to follow. Start with an empty 9x9 (I still recommend 7x7 whenever possible), have a handful of black stones and a bowl of white.

'In this game, one player plays black, the other, white. All the stones are otherwise identical. We start with an empty board, and will alternate placing one (and only one!) stone onto any empty intersection on the board. [Place a stone somewhere in the middle, then slide it to the named locations as you talk] We don't play in the spaces, we play on the intersections. We can place a stone in the middle, on the edge [slide over there], in the corner! [slide to corner. Now, build a 9 point territory in the corner as you narrate] But once you place a stone, it stays there unless it is captured.'

'What we are trying to do with these stones is to build walls that carve up the board into territories. Territory is defined as any section of the board that is totally enclosed by one color. [start 'counting' the intersections in the corner] At the end of the game, you will score one point for each empty intersection in your territory. And whoever has more points wins! Pretty simple, right? So we're basically aiming to build walls to get JUST a bit more than half the remaining area'

'What throws a wrench into the works are captures. [place black stone with enough room for a ko around it] When you place a stone, the intersections directly connected to it [point them out one at a time, then start filling them with white stones] are called liberties, and if those liberties are totally taken up by opponent stones, the center stone is captured and removed from the board [capture the stone, hold it up]. Each stone you capture is an additional point for you at the end of the game. [Put it back, replace one of the white stones to make a 2 stone group] Stones of the same color that take up each other's liberties actually share liberties, so this 2 stone group still has 3 liberties [point them out, then surround again] White will have to play more stones to capture them, and only when the last liberty has been taken up is the whole group captured all at once. [capture stones] This is really useful, as it can radically change where the borders are, and it's something you're constantly trying to do or defend against, but it's not really the point of the game. Your main source of points is from territory.'

This will continue going back and forth, claiming territory, threatening captures, making captures, until there are no more profitable moves left; the entire board is now territory, you can't realistically make any more captures, and playing anywhere on the board would either hand your opponent points, or reduce your own score. When I get to this point I'll pass. If both players pass back-to-back, the game is over and you score. Whoever has more points wins! Ready to give it a try?'

[Clear the board, give them an appropriate handicap, and start a talking game with no komi. Try to keep it simple, and play for territory. Make some captures along the way, but don't play any tricky tesuji, don't try to force 2 eyes, and don't let a ko start. You want to LOSE this first game by a few points. That'll help hook them into the game, and you can slowly start to take the gloves off over subsequent games]

[After this first game, explain 2 eyes with the classic E pattern, and ask if it can be captured. Then swap the center stone to kill the group, and ask again. You can try another game with less talking, or explain the Ko rule as well, but ward them away from using a ko until they've got a number of games and get their head wrapped around reading the board and the status of groups]"

***

To expand a little on the first part above:

I've seen time and time again familiar players sit down with total beginners and move from the absolute basics to advanced concepts like aji, thickness, sabaki, &c within minutes. Often, even discussion of living and dead shapes—while fundamental—should probably wait until after a few practice plays. Just because they nod and say they understand, doesn't mean they really do. It also undermines what is supposed to be fun here, which is playing Go, not being lectured.

Also, it often helps to personalize your explanations and to find ways for newcomers to start placing stones as soon as possible.

Don't try to explain everything up front. This may annoy some beginners, as some may think you're hiding information from them to maintain an advantage in play, and that is why it is also important to keep from punching down. I'm not saying lose on purpose, but you don't want improvement, especially with rudimentary concepts, to seem like an insurmountable obstacle. 

My suggestion is to simply start them off with giving them such an abundance of handicap stones, that even if you try your hardest you have little chance of winning, and slowly reduce the number of handicap stones you give them in subsequent games. Very rarely you may encounter someone who's attitude makes you feel like perhaps they could use a little humbling, but it's better if the person you think needs to be humbled is yourself.

It's fine if you want to try using Capture Go (first to capture wins) as a bridge, but runs the risk of making players over-emphasize capturing over making territory, so showing an example of what a completed game would look like is often the very first thing I try to show a new player. I feel like this helps demonstrate how capturing isn't the main objective, but simply a tactic, and a means with which player's may interfere with and attempt to outmaneuver one another.

But I think it's worth repeating you'll do well to avoid what I think are the biggest mistakes people make when introducing Go to people for the first time:

• Over-explaining, or trying to "teach" more than play. 

• Confusing having explained something with that something being understood, or worse, with that something being understood along with any of it's implications.

• Caring about winning.

• Not actually paying attention to the other person and prioritizing their having fun. If they want to play, play. If they want to listen, lecture (a little). If they are confused, commiserate and be patient. Have a conversation, not try to make a sale.

Improving -  skills & deliberate practice:

There are roughly four areas of skill to develop you proficiency in Go:


Reading and visualizing
This your capacity to imagine sequences and variations of moves in your mind. Arguably the most important skill, and the only one that cannot be taught. You simply need to practice deliberately, to develop this skill on your own.

Fundamental Shapes
Shape refers to a few things, such as how well stones are connected, their capacity for forming eyes, and how efficiently they surround territory or fulfill some other function. Shape is often studied through tsumego (life & death problems), tesuji (clever, or best local move) problems, and joseki (common patterns).

The Go board is fairly large, so knowing when you can tenuki, or play away from the local area or how to manage initiative with sente are advanced, but valuable.

Note: any common pattern that is seen as an even result for both players can be considered joseki, but the term most often refers to sequences in the corner.

Tesjui, can also be considered “tactical” theory or knowledge, as opposed to the broader ideas of strategy.

Sente (sen-tay) is a move an opponent is obligated (not forced) to respond to locally. Gote (go-tay), is the opposite. I’d explain it this way with an example from Chess. A sente move by White could be White threatening to capture Black’s hanging queen with a pawn, Black is pressured to retreat their queen; pressured, but not forced, such as with mate against the king. When Black retreats with their queen, you could consider that gote.   

Direction of Play
A term coined by Kajiwara Takeo, described in part:

“in go each stone, whether it stands alone or with others, is invested with a power of its own. Naturally, that power acts in a certain direction depending on how all the stones on the board interact. Accurately pinpointing this direction and finding the right move to match it means having a "sense of direction", and intuitive skill that is vital for real strength in the middle game.”

I would attempt to describe it this way: stones or groups of stones are better (more efficiently, or more easily) used in some ways, or developed in some directions.

For example, if you wish to attack a weak group of your opponent’s that lies between a strong group and weak group of your own, it is often suggested that you attack from (or play closer to) your own weak group, thus strengthening  it and apply pressure to your opponent’s stones simultaneously.

Rudimentary Strategy
This is rules of thumb, proverbs, or general objectives. Examples would include beginning play on the corners, as they are the easiest places to make territory, or avoiding placing weak stones close to your opponent’s strong stones. Studying fuseki (general opening principals), or whole-board problems are a common way to develop this skill.



There are also roughly four elements to deliberate practice:

Motivation
Mostly this has to come from yourself. Intrinsic is better than extrinsic, but things like friendly people, good habits, and finding value in the pursuit rather than the goal help.

Playing or practicing problems at or just above your level
Don’t over-study, stick with a few ideas at a time that you feel you truly understand and can remember before moving onto another topic.

Feedback
Good feedback will be digestible, that is easy to understand and simple enough to incorporate in your very next game. It’s not the best use of your time to try an memorize a 20+ move joseki you might see twice in your life than an 8 move one where you understand  why each move is made as opposed to the dozens of other options.

Good feedback will also come sooner rather than later. Teaching games where someone a little stronger than yourself can explain in real time how one move may be better than another is good, but it requires a very patient and generous stronger player.

The most common way feedback is given is a review after a game has been played. For in-person games among amateur players this is often difficult, as it requires quite a good memory, and the explanation is often quite removed from the moment the mistake when made.

Getting a stronger player to review your online games is often much simpler, but there is still a time delay, and the problem that stronger players tend to over-explain.

That said, if you'd like me to review some of your games, I would be more than happy to—just get on touch : )

Iteration and variation
Test yourself as much and in as many ways as you can. Learning a corner joseki? Learn both colors and learn it all four corners (upside down and mirrored).

Above based on Andrew Jackson's 2013 Teachers Workshop

A Go Syllabus, Module B (≈15-kyu to 5-kyu):

MODULE B (Elementary) (For perhaps 15k to 5k)

B.1 THE OPENING

B.1.1 Properties of the corner (3-3, 3-4, 4-4, 5-4, 5-3)
B.1.2 What it means to be Tengen

B.1.3 Big opening moves (Class A, Class B, Class C moves)

B.1.4 Big moves vs. Urgent moves

B.1.5 Extending and building moyos

B.1.6 Finding the right pincer

B.2 BASIC JOSEKI

B.2.1 3-3 Joseki

B.2.2 4-4 Joseki

B.2.3 3-4 Joseki

B.2.4 4-5 Joseki

B.2.5 3-5 Joseki

B.2.4 Whole board vision for joseki

B.2.5 How to study joseki

B.3 ATTACK AND DEFENSE

B.3.1 Direction of attack and defense

B.3.2 Power and Territory
B.3.3 How to attack

B.3.4 How to defend

B.4 INVASION AND REDUCTION

B.4.1 When to invade and when to reduce

B.4.2 Basic invasion moves

B.4.3 Basic reduction moves

B.4.4 Some basic positions for invasion and reduction

B.5 STRATEGIC CONCEPTS

B.5.1 Sente vs Gote

B.5.2 Miai

B.5.3 Aji

B.5.4 Forcing Moves

B.5.5 Light vs heavy

B.5.6 Key stones and non key stones

B.5.7 Sabaki

B.5.8 Thickness vs Influence

B.5.9 Efficiency of stones

B.5.10 Positional judgment

B.5.11 Probe

B.5.12 Furikawari/Exchange

B.6 THE ENDGAME

B.6.1 Macro Endgame

B.6.2 Counting

B.6.3 More endgame tesujis

B.7 LIFE AND DEATH

B.7.1 A study of all basic life and death shapes (e.g. L groups, L+1 groups, J groups, carpenter’s square, etc.)

The above should be able to help a player to become a single digit kyu (SDK) player.

And of course, nothing really beats playing lots of games and get someone to review it later.

The Above has been taken from the Falling Stones are Not Heavy blog.

Adding links to free resources discussing each of these topics (as I did with Module A) is a work in progress, however of a lower priority as most players that have reached this level will be capable of finding these themselves. 

Example Study regiment — Ang Yue's Go School Study Guide (15k-1k):

Tailor to your liking—you're less likely to do boring hard work than things you find fun, but the work is generally what will help you improve most.

Each day:

1. Solve fifteen Life and death problems (problems that suit your level are the ones you can solve within TEN minutes.)

2. Solve fifteen tesuji problems - It improves your perception of the shapes and makes it easier to find the correct shape in your own games.

3. Play at least one game (at least two serious games per week) to practice what you’re learning and gain more experience.

Each week:

1. Each week take 1-3 lesson(s) with a qualified teacher. Start learning the opening and fighting strategies, how to choose a joseki and the direction of play.

2. Have two of your serious games reviewed by your teacher. The comments will point out your mistakes and correct your wrong thoughts. You should send the games for a review after thoroughly looking at them yourself and having tried to find your mistakes.

3. Memorize three pro games (or one every two days). This allows you to study the opening and read and learn professionals’ perception of shape and fighting. If the game has variations, it is good to memorize them.

4. Memorize fifteen common josekis and learn all the variations of the josekis including the wrong moves so to understand the correct order and punish your opponents’ mistakes.

Watching lectures or reading books can be fun, but they won't do as much for you as playing will. Yes it’s helps to be exposed to new ideas, but few will stick thoroughly enough to be useful without playing. Books and lectures will help you move from not knowing certain things to “knowing” or recognizing them, but “knowing” doesn’t mean you can apply that knowledge consistently or appropriately. Going from “knowing” to applying or playing knowledge requires, well, playing. I find it helpful to move between foci every week or so; invading this week, counting/estimating the score that week, &c.

I’ll put it another way. If you want to quickly and drastically improve something like how many push-ups you can do (or at least how powerfully), you should something harder, like clapping push-ups instead of just trying to do slightly more each week. Yes, the clapping ones are way harder, but your gains will also be greater and faster and a better use of your time and energy.

TL;DR: Play and review more, “study” less.

It’s not always easy to get your games reviewed by a stronger player, and I can recommend AI Sensei, but the caveat is that AI or other player suggestions won’t always make sense, and so are difficult to apply. You should review on your own, for example:

Some classes of moves we can look at:

1. When we've made an empty triangle/connected—were there other options?

2. When we've induced our opponent to connect or make a group stronger.

3. When we remove the aji from a dead group.

4. When we're dissatisfied with a joseki result, it's a good time to try and learn a new one.

5. When we have made an obvious mistake, remove the stones and visualize the sequence in advance.

6. When we've removed the aji of a position, especially flailing with dead stones.

7. When a big position was taken—could we have taken it earlier? Were the preceding moves as severe or big?

(SDK Go Class 2014-11-12)

I can point you to study materials, but there’s so many it’d be better to make tailored recommendations rather than a huge list.