Go is growing in the English-speaking world. Since I’ve had the pleasure of joining the mod team of Go (Weiqi) Players of FB, I’ve had the chance to see that 3-4 people come to join the group every day, and I know that this doesn’t constitute the entirety of the Go playing audience.

As Go grows, we naturally want to teach other people how to play. The question a lot of us run up against is how to teach the game to a total novice. Thankfully, we aren’t without resources, but then we run into the issue of selecting from an abundance of resources (or even making our own). Here are a few that I’ve looked at online:

Shawn Ray’s youtube channel has some videos that cover the basics of rules. His contribution to Baduk TV is a much more well-produced work that looks like the introduction to a full video course; it’s inviting to those who are seeking it out. The youtube channel covers life and death, but Baduk TV doesn’t. I actually like that he shows some capturing tactics without going in to life and death first, and I think that’s an easier way to get players feeling comfortable with the game. I prefer his youtube video’s brevity, but I think there’s something to be said about professionally-edited videos being easier to learn from.

Steve Miller has a video about how to play Go. This is the first hit I see when I search “How to play Go” on youtube. I dont think this is the best video to instruct a novice per se, but Miller’s enthusiasm for the game sets a high bar for presentation skills. There are admittedly some small mistakes (such as claiming that there are 40 million professional players worldwide), but his tactical advice is sound. I’d recommend this more to somebody who is interested in Korean culture particularly, and who responds to enthusiasm. For people who need a more thorough explanation of the game, though, I’d avoid it.

Online-Go.com has an interactive tutorial played on 9×9. This tutorial, at its conclusion, links to the tool that taught me the game: the interactive way to go! Interactive tools really helped me learn the game, as I’m a very tactile learner. I think OGS should consider making a few changes to its prompting. I think that in the future, more embedded tools should make use of this sort of approach where players are placing stones themselves.

Goshawk Heron’s video uses a powerpoint approach to go. It begins with some basic history but moves quickly to the rules. I’ve used this to check for thoroughness before. I think this is a niche video based on learning style; attentive, visual learners will benefit from it.

Jonathan Hop’s video on the rules of go follows a television presenter style. Overall, my big issue with this is that Hop emphasizes that the rules are “not that hard.” The strategy Hop is going for is to avoid anxiety by viewers, but many viewers are probably seeking the video because they had difficulty; there’s the risk that viewers will feel incompetent that they had trouble with something so “easy.” He also shows a territory with white and black stones contributing to a single wall, which is a bit of a misunderstanding. I do like that he adds captions and labels to the video – it’s a good strategy to reinforce a point through multiple channels of communication.

However, Hop’s videos where he plays on the 9×9 with a beginner friend are helpful – especially when he stops to pause and ask “who’s winning, and why?”

A speech by Helen Cook at ignite Seattle is a short elevator speech about go with a very concise set of rules. Her talk opens with an aesthetic appreciation of the game; I take some issue with her choice to talk about board construction (even though it’s an interesting topic to me), but I appreciate how concise it is. I think it’s critical when teaching beginners that they feel they know “all the rules” as quickly as possible; then they can start to learn the nuances of the rules and basic strategy. I appreciate that she uses humor to dispel the comparison to othello. She includes the Ko rule, which I generally feel is not something to introduce. However, with a large audience in a live setting it might be useful to get full rules coverage. Note that she does a full review so that people can run over it. She also shows how to exercise basic positional judgment in the lecture, but I think her endgame concepts are somewhat more advanced – but it ties into an appreciation for the aesthetic elements of go. After all, the endgame is really fun and intense, and even if it’s a high-concept element, it’s inviting to see what one means when they say that go is “deep.”

What’s missing? Do we need to reinvent the wheel?

I think there are still some niche areas we could cover.

First, I still find that new players have difficulty understanding the win condition – even after seeing these videos. I’d love to see a video that takes an almost narrative approach that begins with placing stones (no other rules), and counting the winner (black, if there’s no capture rule). Then it scales up to show how territory scoring can be a substitute for area scoring.

Second, I think that video lectures should include more annotations that link to exercises for players. Interactive demos can sometimes feel unguided even with commentary, but videos may go over novice’s heads. Imagine a video lecture that offered people a chance to pause and try 10 problems on their own.

Third, I think that the Ko rule is premature. The best beginner-friendly explanation of Ko I found was Shawn Ray’s video for BadukTV, but even that seemed a little high-concept (and premature as Life and Death seems more important). Videos should probably cover Ko at the very end, and in such a way that demonstrates WHY the Ko rule exists. I think I might write an article trying to address this myself.

Fourth, I have to admit ignorance as to how beginners are likely to learn in China, Korea, and Japan. I imagine that the presence of a go culture in those countries trends toward a younger age at which one learns. I also wonder what experiences those people have. If you are from one of these countries and play go (or know somebody else who fits this description), I’d love to hear how you learned. We don’t necessarily have to reinvent the wheel, especially if teaching methods for the game have been tested over such a long time abroad.

What would you add to the discussion?

I’m certain that I haven’t covered all the resources for learning the game. How did you learn? What was helpful and what wasn’t? And what would you like to see in materials for new players?