Go stones of shell and slate on shinkaya.

Go: 2500 years old; new as tomorrow

Go is "the surrounding game," a most wonderful board game, with simple rules and complexly layered strategies.
Japanese call it go or igo; Koreans call it baduk or pahdook; and it is named wei'qi or wei'chi in China, where it was born some 2,000 to 4,000 years ago. Most "westerners" (including Americans) call it go because our early contact with the game was through Japanese players.

Excellent, and more comprehensive, articles introducing Go:
Go: Life Itself (at kuro5hin) -- Senseis Library page about Go -- Wikipedia article about Go

This page mostly links to Go resources maintained by others, in four broad categories. The Internet is a rich source of information on go. (This page is not a comprehensive list of 'net resources. Some good Go sites are not linked here because I don't know of them, or I haven't gotten around to updating my site, or they mostly repeat info for which I already have good links.) Even so, my four broad categories overlap somewhat, so a few sites are listed more than once.

Learn the Basics - The rules are so simple, that it's hard to understand their implications right away; but it's awfully fun once you start seeing them...
Fellowship of Players - real-world go organizations and virtual-world online go parlours help us find opponent-partners and playing opportunities. There's a bit about computers and go; and I link to some go culture (including literature, and the popular Hikaru no Go manga and anime; including go humor; including teaching go to others)
Grow Stronger - to refine your game, you have to play (see fellowship of players) and you have to study: study life and death, study games (your own, and games of others); eventually, study joseki; and if you're serious about improving your play, then it really helps to have a go teacher. And some general resources are available.
Go Merchandise - suppliers of books, software, playing equipment, and other cool stuff.

Elsewhere on the HilltopGo site:
American Go E-Journal unofficial archive -- Go-themed merchandise.

Jump in this page to: top | [Learn the Basics] | Fellowship of Players | Grow Stronger | Go Merchandise

Learn the Basics

Don't worry if it takes a few games to figure out what's going on; that's normal. Though the rules are simple, the tactics and strategies can be intricate. Don't worry about winning at first; just try to notice something that you can apply in your next game. Play on the small 9x9 board, so you can get useful experience quickly -- about 5 to 15 minutes per game is good.

If you don't have a teacher, try these online tutorials:

PlayGo.TO (interactive; requires java) -- I recommend this highly
UK Go Challenge Tips Sheet is a great second step for beginners [Added Jan. 2004]
Kiseido intro and tutorial
Go - An Introduction with cartoons -- most of the pictures are about 65K; concise but comprehensive explanation of the rules and how to play. [Added Jan. 2004]
Wonderful World of Go -- self-paced slides provide fairly advanced introductions; requires Flash [updated Sep. 2003]
Beginner's Introduction to Go
Janice Kim / Samarkand
Hanging Out at Dan's, at MSO World, is a gentle conversational introduction that continues into advanced topics.
What is Go? and The Capturing Game by Mindy McAdams are excellent (more about Capture Game at the AGA site).
The Fun Way to Learn Go is hosted at the Nihon Ki-in, a major Japanese Go organization.
An Introduction To Go, at Internet Go Server, is heavy on the graphics, but thorough enough. [updated Sep. 2003]
The Rules of Go, at GoBase.org
The Way to Go, at American Go Association (.pdf file, requires Adobe Acrobat); or download one of the instructional videos.
Yahoo! go introduction (follow the "rules" link). Not very interactive, but quite readable and succinct, yet reasonably complete.

After you've played a few times, it's fun to look at the rules a little more closely. (It sounds strange, but really, the basic rules are so simple that you can skip this.)

The BGA page comparing go rulesets is quite informative.
Tromp/Taylor rules are about as simple as go gets.
Ing's ruleset, intended to improve the game, is used in many tournaments.
Ing's SST Rules of Go, and a lucid explanation of Ing's rules.
Senseis Library rules discussion
Robert Jasiek's rules site is comprehensive; perhaps even exhausting.

Jump in this page to: top | Learn the Basics | [Fellowship of Players] | Grow Stronger | Go Merchandise

Fellowship of Players

Why do we play go? To develop "left-brain" analytic reasoning skills, to grow our "right-brain" spatial appreciation and artistic sense, to understand Asian business strategies for competitive sharing, to stave off senility in the elderly, to train the minds of the young, ... All true; but the ultimate reason is because it's fun! And go is the most fun when we have other players with whom to play. (One poetic Chinese name for go is "hand talk," and it fits: the finished game board is a record of the conversation of two minds.) So naturally, players organize clubs, associations, tournaments, and any other excuse to meet for a game. There is probably one near you; if not, feel free to start one.
Go clubs, organizations, associations, etc.

The Internet has been great for go players. Thanks to the Net, you can now find opponents at your level, any time of the day or night; or you can "watch over the shoulders" of stronger players -- sometimes you can even see pro title matches in real-time. There are now even tournaments held only on the Internet.
Internet go

There are computer programs that play go, but they are not very strong. Unlike the case with chess, there is currently no software that can beat any professional go player; and with a few years experience, even most amateurs can beat the strongest go programs. In fact, because of characteristics inherent in the game, go is seen as a fundamentally more interesting Artificial Intelligence problem than chess. Still, computers are useful to go players for recording and playing back games, for collecting and organizing databases of game records, and sometimes for analysis of particular moves. (And, of course, for playing games over the internet; and for reading web pages about go...)
Computer go

Since Go is a social game some 2500 to 3000 years old, it is no surprise that a great body of "go culture" exists. Go was celebrated by ancient poets, praised or spurned by Confucius (depending on interpretation), played avidly by shogun and by geisha, and featured in literature and art. Today go can can be found in novels, movies, and manga and anime.
Go culture

Go Organizations | Computers and Go | Playing on the Net | Go Culture 6-dans at Roy Hayashi Memorial Tournament in Tacoma, WA

Go Organizations

Only a few of many go clubs and organizations are listed here. Contact them about tournaments and other opportunities to play.
Also see lists at SL: GoPlaces and at GoBase: Go Organisations.
No club near you? See AGA and the BGA for advice and materials to help you start a go club.

Wings Across Calm Water internet go club -- open to players througout cyberspace; organizes fun tournaments
International Go Federation is made up of various national go organizations, and works to promote go throughout the world
European Go Federation is a non-profit organization with the purpose of encouraging, regulating, co-ordinating, and disseminating the playing of Go in Europe (there's also an older EGF site)

British Go Associaton merits special mention for its excellent website

American Go Association including Go Clubs in the USA.

A few cities -- Tacoma Go Club (my hometown :-) | Seattle Go Center | Oregon Go (Portland, Corvallis, and other clubs in Oregon) | San Francisco Go Club (California) |
U.S. Go Congress is the biggest go event of the year in USA. Hosted by Evanston Go Club (Illinois) in 2002; Houston Go Club (Texas) in 2003; Rochester (New York) in 2004; Tacoma (Washington) in 2005; North Carolina in 2006; and scheduled for Millersville, Pennsylvania, July 28 - Aug. 5, 2007.

Canadian Go Association
Nihon Ki-in (in English) and Kansai Ki-in (in Japanese) are Japanese go organizations.
Hankuk Kiweon (in Korean) -- Korean baduk organization.

Computer Go

In general, computers make lousy go opponents. (See David Mechner's pages on computer go, including this article about Janice Kim giving 25 stones handicap to the Handtalk program and winning in 1997.)

However, computers are very useful to Go players, for playing over the internet and for study.

GNU Go is a free program that plays the game of Go. [added Feb. 2006]
Intelligent Go Foundation - online home of the non-profit organization devoted to the promotion of computer Go [added Feb. 2006]
Mick's Computer Go Page - seems comprehensive and has up-to-date computer tournament results [updated Sep. 2003]
DaoGo - Between 1986 and 1991 this newsletter and/or technical journal came out quarterly (more or less) "to promote and exchange of ideas among persons interested in the application of computer technology to the game of Go". [updated Sep. 2003]

Smart Game Format

SGF is a simple text format pervasively common for computerized Go game records. (Other formats exist, but are less commonly used.) Most go servers will provide game records in SGF, and most go clients will read SGF files to display a recorded game. Learn about the Smart Game Format for computerized go game records, and check your SGF files for compliance with the official specification.

Playing Go over the Internet

Articles on Go Servers by TerriBlue (Goddess of Go) will help you get oriented.

Partial listing of real-time go servers, in alphabetical order:

DashN, in Korea; has some English content
Internet Go Server (IGS), was probably first, is hugely popular, and frequently broadcasts pro title matches
Kiseido (KGS) has advanced (yet intuitive) features for game review and teaching games
MSN Game Zone
Weiqi Tom is mostly populated by Chinese players (guide to using Tom)
WING
Yahoo! Games

Jago is an excellent, free, java-based Go Server client (for use at IGS and others). It is also a pretty good SGF game viewer and editor (and supports game records in XML format). (gGo is similar.) The KGS java client also doubles as a very good SGF game viewer / editor. There are several other client programs for Internet go; I recommend the lists at British Go Association, Senseis Library, GoBase, and American Go Assn.

Below is a partial listing of turn-based go servers (where you get email notification when it's your turn), taken from the Turn-based Go Guild. You may find more possibilities with your favorite search engine, by searching for "pbem" (which stands for "play by e-mail").

Dragon Go Server (because the games can "drag on," get it? :-)
It's Your Turn
Little Golem

Go Culture

Young go players battle fiercely in Hikaru no Go manga and anime, now available in English.

Hikaru no Go manga (comic): [updated Mar. 2006]

There is a Japanese comic (manga) called Hikaru no Go, with hilarious and rivetting story by Hotta Yumi, superb art by Obata Takeshi, and technical advice from professional 5-dan go player Umezawa Yukari. Published by Jump Comics (here's Jump's HnG page), it follows the misadventures of a boy whose contact with the ghost of a dead go master sparks his quest to excel at go.

Quite popular in Asia, Hikaru no Go revived interest in go among youngsters in Japan and around the world (the Toriyama World fans' scanslation site provided high-quality unofficial translations, making the comic accessible to readers of English). An anime version of Hikaru no Go began airing on Tokyo television in October 2001. The manga ended in spring of 2003 with issue 189; and in June 2003, Viz Communications LLC acquired English language publication rights (causing the Toriyama World fans group to withdraw their scanned- and- translated versions).

Hikaru no Go is now being published in English, in the monthly Shonen Jump magazine, and three or four times a year in "graphic novels" (available at most large bookstores -- Barnes and Noble, Amazon / Borders, etc.). Also, English language DVDs of the anime are available through Amazon and others. The Japanese manga (and anime on DVD, I believe) remain available in the U.S. at Kinokuniya Bookstores and other specialty shops.

Many of the Go players at Sensei's Library have become Hikaru no Go junkies who analyze the games and problems shown in HnG. (Most of them were actual professional games of historical significance.)

Hikaru no Go sites in other languages:

Go in the Arts

Go Poetry: Go Senryu at MSOworld -- other poetry pages are linked there.
Go filmography (at European Go Federation)
Go History and Culture (at American Go Association)

Go Humor

Q: How many 30-kyus does it take to change a light bulb?: A: They can't do it, because they don't see the ladder.
Q: How many 2-dans does it take to change a light bulb?: A: Their positions are so light, that they don't need light bulbs.
Q: How many 9-dans does it take to change a light bulb?: A: Their positions are so influential that other people change the bulbs for them.

If you're chuckling at those moldy Go jokes, then you're a confirmed go player. Most go humor makes sense only if you know the game at least a little bit. But some of it is accessible to the uninitiated...

Go comics
- Ko Fight Club - updated weekly by Russ Williams, the Self-Paired TD at the 2003 Congress in Houston. Maybe half the cartoons are about Go, and they're pretty funny.
- Almost Sente

Teaching Go to Others

Sooner or later, you'll end up teaching someone else how to play the game. If you're like me, sooner or later, you'll end up spending several hours per week teaching others how to play... There are materials available to make this easier.

American Go Association website has a downloadable Way to Go booklet, in PDF format
European Go Federation has booklets, flash animations, cardboard 9x9 go sets, and more

Jump in this page to: top | Learn the Basics | Fellowship of Players | [Grow Stronger] | Go Merchandise

Grow Stronger

life and death | games | joseki | go teachers | general resources

Life and Death

UK Go Challenge Tips Sheet is a good second step for beginners. [Added Jan. 2004]

For a beginner, the first step to improvement is to get a firm grasp of life and death. From what I've read, even the strongest pros practice reading life and death problems. You will learn some basic patterns that are seen over and over on the go board, in endless permutations; and some techniques for attacking and defending. You will see these in your actual games, and between games, you can practice tsumego.

Problem Collections (tsumego)

goproblems.com has over 1000 problems for you to solve via an interactive java applet. If you know your way around an SGF file, you can also contribute.
Senseis Library has several pages of tsumego problems and tesuji.
AGA weekly go problem archive (the AGA homepage has a go problem on the right side); also see AGA lists of tsume-go problems hosted at other sites.
Minoru Harada's tsumego collection

Magari-sensei playing simuls, teaching Mike LePore at the Canadian Open

Games

When you and your opponent / partner have finished playing, it is customary and polite to say "Thank you," and to review the game. Sadly, this is less common in Internet play (though it happens quite often at KGS). Whenever possible, you should make a habbit of this friendly after-game review. Of course, many players study actual games in much more depth than this. Many feel that a good way to improve is to study the games of strong professional players.

GoBase.org houses Jan van der Steen's enormous database of professional games (registration required to view game records).
Go4go.net -- "huge collection of Go game records, daily updates, pro commentaries"

I think it is Alexandre Dinerchtein's site. There is also a subscription service of commented pro and amateur games.

GoGameWorld.com has news from professional go, and provides commented game records via subscription (some records without commentary are available free; login as "guest" when prompted).
Jan van Rongen's Friday Night Files has some games of Cho Chikun, Yamashita Keigo, and others.
Samarkand GameBase has a java applet that will display some recent professional games from title matches and the Korean leagues.
Game databases on CD-ROM, with analysis tools, are available from Games of Go on Disk (GoGoD) and MasterGo.com, among others.
weiqi.ru is a Russian go portal, with Russian news, clubs, pictures, tournaments, game records etc. (mainly in Russian)

Joseki

Joseki (Japanese; the Korean term is jungsuk) are established patterns that are played in the corners and on the sides, giving an even result to both players. Joseki usually are played in the opening and early mid-game. Many joseki are simple, consisting of only three or four moves. Others are very complex, with dozens of plays that should be made in the proper sequence to avoid giving the opponent an advantage.

After you have been playing for a while, it will be worthwhile to study joseki. (I have been playing almost 15 years, and I never studied joseki until a few months ago; but maybe that's why I haven't made much progress the past 8 or 9 years... I will read those books I bought on joseki, soon...) The usual advice is not to memorize joseki, but rather to understand why a particular sequence of plays is joseki. That way, you will learn which plays work well in the context of the whole board position you face in your games; and you will be able to figure out how to take advantage of your opponents' deviations from joseki.

Kogo's Joseki Dictionary - downloadable .zipped SGF file, maintained by Gary Odom, has thousands of variations and modest commentary for each initial corner play. The dictionary covers all basic joseki and secondary variations, common non-joseki plays, and many trick plays.
Senseis Library: Joseki is an excellent place to look for information on josekis.
GoBooks.info lists some English- language joseki guides.

Jie Li reviewing a game between Rick Hubbell and Joey Hung

Go Teachers

In Japan and Korea, it is pretty easy (though perhaps costly) to get one-on-one instruction from professional players and strong amateurs. Thanks to the Internet, this kind of teaching is now available in the rest of the world, too. Below is a (very incomplete) list of teachers whose lessons are available via the Net. (Several of these also provide instruction in person, either one-on-one or to groups.)

The internet Go-School: "... aims to offer good-quality affordable lessons and trainings for Go-lovers all over the world." Reviews and lessons are available in a variety of languages. Teachers include Geert Groenen 6D, Filip Vanderstappen 5D, Ger Hanssen 3D, Guo Juan 5P, Jiang Mingjiu 7P, Li Gang 5D.
GoMasters.com: Several strong professionals teaching, videos, CD-ROMs, online lectures, etc.
Go Teaching Ladder (GTL): provides free review of your games, courtesy of stronger volunteers.
Guo Juan: Former Chinese 5-dan professional; now a Dutch national, playing as 7-dan amateur; one of the strongest European players. Gives go lessons over the internet. Website: www.guojuangoschool.com Email:
Cornel Burzo: Strong Romanian amateur; aspires to play professionally. Teaches on IGS as MyMaster. Website: www.golessons.com Email: cornelburzo@k.ro
Sergiu Burzo: Strong Romanian amateur, teaches on IGS (3d*) as bombay. Website: sergiuburzo.go.ro Email: sergiuburzo@yahoo.com
Feng Yun: Former Chinese professional 9-dan, now living in US; teaching at her schools in New Jersey, and (I believe) over the Internet. Website: mywebpages.comcast.net/fengyun/
Ghetu George Cristian: 1998 Romanian youth go champion; law student; offering go lessons on IGS to kyu-level players. Email: ghetugeorge@yahoo.com
Zhu-jiu Jiang 9 dan
Nai-wei Rui 9-Dan
Ming-jiu Jiang 7-Dan
James Kerwin: Professional 1-dan based in Minneapolis; often writes for American Go Association journals; popular lecturer. Website: E-mail: jimk@maroon.tc.umn.edu
Janice Kim 3-dan: Author of several popular Go books and lecturer.
c/o Samarkand, Inc.; PO Box 101; Corte Madre, CA 94976
Yi-lun Yang: Professional 7-dan; author of several go books; popular lecturer. Website: Email: yanggo@earthlink.net
Alexander Dinershteyn: Professional 1-dan; gives lessons in English, Korean, and Russian.
Other lists of go teachers:: AGA list of teaching pros

General Resources

Frequently Asked Questions about go at Sensei's Library
Jan van der Steen's go knowledge base -- large and wonderful; includes many professional game records; registration now required to access the most interesting bits

Links, links, and more links: AGA's - Harry Fearnley's - Random
Books on paper: see Carlton's annotated go bibliographies, Senseis Library booklist, AGEJ reader reviews, Jasiek's subjective reviews; and some vendors are listed below.
Goama is an international go newsletter, featuring go news, commented games, stories, pictures etc.
GoGameWorld.com has news from the pro scene, including game records
Tactigo has interactive problems and links to Apple Macintosh go resources
Go Teaching Ladder -- get comments on your game from a stronger player; look at the vast library of commented amateur games
Go Problems (java) -- over 1,000 problems for you to solve
Senseis Library, collaborative discussion site where amateur players help each other improve
Learn about the Smart Game Format for computerized go game records, and check your SGF files
JiGo java applet serves up game records on-screen; also see ZGo applet and GoodShape applet.
Takemiya games collection
MindZine Go News (from Mind Sports Olympics) covered tournaments, links to game records; fascinating "behind the scenes" and historical articles, and more. Though tournament news is no longer updated, i still like it a lot.
Ko Fight Club (funny cartoons)

Articles and periodical columns:

: The Magic of Go is a great weekly column, published by The Daily Yomiuri newspaper.
Shigeno Yuki's Journal and Shigeno Yuki's Italian Diary are great reading; by a Japanese pro player and well-known go teacher who now lives in Italy.
American Go Association E-journal (which I now archive)
British Go Association E-journal
Pieter Mioch's monthly column has strategy tips, some game game commentary, and the Japanese go scene, at Jan's go encyclopedia (also see other articles about go there). [Jan. 2006 -- one must now register to read the articles on GoBase.org. Too bad.]

Jump in this page to: top | Learn the Basics | Fellowship of Players | Grow Stronger | [Go Merchandise]

Go Merchandise

Shops and stores for books, equipment, etc.:

Your local Korean ethnic market usually has inexpensive baduk sets. Also:: Go-Figure! is a mail-order shop selling Go playing equipment anywhere within Europe.
Het Paard is a Dutch shop specializing in go, chess, and other games.
Ishi Games has vinyl and wood boards, stones, sets, books, software, and other accessories.
Kiseido has go equipment and tons of great books and go-related art; host of the superlative Kiseido Go Server.
Kurokigoishi is a Japanese site selling go boards, stones, and bowls. They have nice equipment at attractive prices.
Samarkand (owned by Janice Kim, an American pro) -- great go sets at great prices; especially check the 9x9 starter sets. Books too, and recent Korean pro game records.
SimpleKo Go Equipment is an Argentine company making go boards and go tables.
Slate and Shell -- books and more.
Yutopian publishes books about go (and sells lots of other stuff). Competitive prices, excellent service, large selection.
If you're having difficulty finding a particular book, then don't neglect used bookstores and of course Amazon.
Game databases on CD-ROM, with analysis tools, are available from Games of Go on Disk (GoGoD) and MasterGo.com, among others.

Jump in this page to: top | Learn the Basics | Fellowship of Players | Grow Stronger | Go Merchandise

What should this have?

intro and rules (done)
study aids:
- "how to study" articles
- Mioch, Matthews, Magic of Go, et al.
- tsume-go
- help from strongers (GTL, Teachers)
- pro games
go culture
- Hikaru
- glossary - translations
- GoBase stories
- AGA stories - Bob High Memorial Library
- columns (Shigeno, others?); news coverage
computer go: IgoWin, GNUgo, Mac software, ??

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy the wonderful game we call go -- the world's best game!
Happy playing, - Mike Malveaux

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History:
2006-09-13: Added Russian Go links. This page needs an overhaul...
2006-03-01: A bit more pruning and sprucing
2006-02-20: Deleted a bunch of dead links, updated most of the others
2006-01-15: Hey, I have a webpage here... maybe I should update it now and then... Adding CSS over the next weeks, as I learn it
2004-01-12: Worked on this mess a little; huge gobs are left for the future though
2002-12-09: Reorganized the whole page
2002-01-01: Added American Go E-Journal archive
2001-12-14: Added HnG links in Thai, Chinese, Japanese
2001-12-10: Added to rules links
2001-12-08: Began this page (based on my old page at Yahoo Geocities)