Teacher: Judith

Go isn't everything. Go is the only thing.

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Currently 4.5/5 Stars.

420 total sessions

Subject:

Computer Programming

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About Class

Gentlemen should not waste their time on trivial games ~~- they should study Go.~~
- Confucius, The Analects, ca. 500 B. C. E.

Go is to Western chess what philosophy is to double entry accounting.
— from Shibumi , bestseller by Trevanian

Come here to learn the ancient Asian board game Go (also known as Igo, Weiqi or Baduk). A game that is so beautiful, elegant, incredibly simple and incredibly deep. There are more possible games of Go than there are atoms in the universe. Asians believe that the entire world is mirrored in Go and may draw on Go wisdom to help them win battles or lead a successful business.

Go is an abstract intellectual game like chess. There is no element of luck in the game. The main difference compared to chess is that Go requires a lot more intuition and pattern recognition skills rather than just calculating / reading ahead. This makes it the new challenge for those developing artificial intelligence. Chess computers can beat the world champion, Go computers are just average.

Go clubs can be found around the world and you can find lots of partners to play it with online at any time of the day or night.

I will only offer this class for free once, so sign up while you don’t have to pay!

Syllabus

- Brief history of Go
- Rules of the game
- Practise time
- Tips for improving

Prerequisites

Anybody can learn how to play Go, even small children. However, you should know English well enough to be able to follow the class.

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Philip said: Why is this class in the Computer Programming category? ^^ If you have some experience in this question, could you please make a class with some introduction to the programming of Go games? That's something that could be very interesting...

Also, I find your sentence about luck a little bit misleading :) It seems like you are trying to say that chess have an element of luck and this is the reason for computers being better at it when in fact chess has no element of luck and the only reasons that I can think of are the number of possible combinations in Go and the lower amount of investment into the research in this area (compared to chess software).

Thank you for this great class, I'll be sure to attend as I love Go but struggle to rise from the complete beginner level for quite a long time already... posted 11 months ago
Judith said: Sorry that sentence didn't come out right. Neither Go nor chess involve luck. The reason Go is a lot harder for computers is because it can't be calculated out effectively, with 300+ possible moves every time. Also, a subtle change in the beginning can have an effect 100 moves in the future, so there's no easy feedback. Humans master Go more easily than computers do because humans are better at pattern recognition and intuitive play. They have the ability to recognize 'beautiful' plays:

"The difference between a stone played on one intersection rather than on an adjacent neighbor is insignificant to the uninitiated. The master of go, though, sees it as all the difference between a flower and a cinderblock. Certain plays resonate with a balletic grace, others clunk, hopelessly awkward, and to fail at making the distinction is a bit like confusing the ping of a Limoges platter with the clink of a Burger King Smurfs tumbler."
-- from The Challenge of Go: Esoteric Granddaddy of Board Games , by Dave Lowry

By the way, quite a lot of research has been done on computer Go software, except mostly in Japan. There's a price pool of over a million for the first Go program that can beat a master. posted 11 months ago