Thursday, November 28, 2013
Awkward IGS Ranking?
Here is the IGS ranking table, I find it a bit awkward that 15k is stronger than 16k+, which is stronger than 16k that is, in strength order: 15k 16k+ 16k. Anyway, uh... never mind, if it were 15k 16k- 16k I'd find it awkward too.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
My first online game
I finally left my fears behind and played my first 9x9 online game in KGS. I had played many times against the computer, but never against a stranger. It was a good experience even though I was crushed! Check out the game below, I'm black.
More than a game
So what is the underlying philosophy that caught my attention?
Consider these principles: simplicity, elegance, depth.
It's simple because it's very easy to understand, and the elements are only white and black stones on a grid.
It's elegant because with very few rules (less than 5), that constitute the axioms from which other implicit rules are deduced. An example of this would be that a group with two eyes cannot be killed, but that is a corollary of the fact that a stone cannot be placed where it has no liberties.
It's deep because the consequences of every move cannot be exhaustively analyzed. Even though the game is 4000 years old, there is still lot's of place for study.
Living groups have eyes for the Japanese and lungs for the Chinese. The stones form good and bad shapes. Opponents stones must not be captured unless necessary. All these things I find very poetic and artistic.
I once heard someone say that a game of Go is like a conversation taking place between two people. Interesting isn't it? In the same way that you need two people for a great game, you need two people for a great conversation.
In my short experience the game has given me so many lessons (and we'll see them in future posts) that I can apply directly to proper life matters: among them are humility, greediness, balance, sacrifice, detachment. I'm not exaggerating, I can come up with examples for each.
Balance is for me the most representative word, while playing, I struggle (yes, I struggle) trying to maintain balance between:
These reasons make me consider Go much more than a game.
Follow this link (in Spanish) for a much better description by Franklin Bassarsky.
Consider these principles: simplicity, elegance, depth.
It's simple because it's very easy to understand, and the elements are only white and black stones on a grid.
It's elegant because with very few rules (less than 5), that constitute the axioms from which other implicit rules are deduced. An example of this would be that a group with two eyes cannot be killed, but that is a corollary of the fact that a stone cannot be placed where it has no liberties.
It's deep because the consequences of every move cannot be exhaustively analyzed. Even though the game is 4000 years old, there is still lot's of place for study.
Living groups have eyes for the Japanese and lungs for the Chinese. The stones form good and bad shapes. Opponents stones must not be captured unless necessary. All these things I find very poetic and artistic.
I once heard someone say that a game of Go is like a conversation taking place between two people. Interesting isn't it? In the same way that you need two people for a great game, you need two people for a great conversation.
In my short experience the game has given me so many lessons (and we'll see them in future posts) that I can apply directly to proper life matters: among them are humility, greediness, balance, sacrifice, detachment. I'm not exaggerating, I can come up with examples for each.
Balance is for me the most representative word, while playing, I struggle (yes, I struggle) trying to maintain balance between:
- territory vs. influence
- heavy vs. light
- thick vs. thin
- attack vs. defend
- stay calm vs. be aggressive
- logic vs. intuition
- ambition vs. satisfaction
- flexible vs. rigid
These reasons make me consider Go much more than a game.
Follow this link (in Spanish) for a much better description by Franklin Bassarsky.
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
So I started playing...
A friend of mine, chess player hobbyist, went to live abroad, so he decided to give me his never used go board and plastic stones. I accepted the offer, with the hope of playing it some day, although I wasn't so convinced myself.
Even though I am a board game fan, my preference relies on Eurogames, that is, casual games for the occasion, preferably those that gather family members. Go is certainly not that type of game. Besides, some years ago I had started studying chess but my enthusiasm didn't last long (less than 2 months I guess), so I imagined that the same would happen with Go.
Another board game pal once told that he was playing Go a lot, and I thought: "How can anyone be so addicted to such an abstract, visually unappealing game...", while I nodded to him quite perplexed.
It wasn't until I went to a board game gathering, where a guy whose name I can't remember, gave a talk about the philosophy underlying the game of Go, and I immediately felt attracted to it.
So, the first thing I did was buy a book: 'Elementos de Go', by Fernando Aguilar. It's an excellent book but only covers the bare basics, as the title suggests. It took me more than 3 months until I dared to play on a 19x19 board. I was only playing 9x9 and then 13x13, against the computer mostly.
A few days later (Dec 2012), I spread this Go disease to 2 coworkers, and we formed a study group. We started off very excited and felt just like in the anime 'Hikaru no Go'.
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