Hello all you Go Junkies! I hope you’re all studying and playing in preparation for the 2024 Chicago Rapid! As I count down the weeks until the tournament begins – with what I hope will be record turnout – I can’t help but reflect on the game as a whole and how the rise of the internet has changed how people play this game which has existed for thousands of years. I’m a double digit kyu player and don’t use teachers or coaching material on a regular basis, although sometimes I will look on a lecture or two to brush up on concepts which fly over my head. However, friends who I play Go with that the best way to learn the game at my level is to play as many games as possible, and hope the collective experience beats some lessons into you. It’s the lesson you would tell someone at a new job or who’s going to school, that experience is your one true teacher. Of course, to gain said experience, you need to play games. Most people would tell you that the best way to play Go is live games. In other words, you are face-to-face with a person, with a board and stones in front of you. And therein lies a major problem – who has the time to play live games? Many Go clubs usually meet once a week (maybe twice if you’re really lucky), and even then a bunch of things can happen. They might meet at a day which is inconvenient for you. The Go club I go to used to meet on Mondays when I started going there. Eventually someone at the club recognized that this was a bad day for many people, and the day was moved to Saturday. But then there’s the problem of getting there. Some people must drive great distances just to get to a club that’s near them; imagine the amount of gas you’d have to spend just to do that! By the time you’d get there, you’d be tired already and not in your best condition. You’d probably only have enough stamina for 2 games at most before you make the trek back home, depending on how far away you live. Now I’ve seen people make it 10 hours by train just make it to the Chicago Rapid last year, so this might be a moot point. But then there’s finding a good place to play in the first place that’s close enough to enough people to be used as a regular meetup spot. My group usually meets at a Panera Bread that’s off US-34, and we get enough people every week that everyone can play at least once. However, we’re a small group with people who can’t always make meetings due to various circumstances. Not to mention that since it’s a restaurant, you might not always get the tables you want to play efficiently. If you met at a library, you could book a private room. However, there’s always a chance there won’t be rooms available at any given day, or the library would be closed. In short, there are a bunch of logistics that could go wrong at any time when trying to meet up for live games. Thankfully, we live in an age where computers have allowed us to play Go with anyone we want across the world at any time. Even if you can’t schedule live games with people (due to busy schedules, you could probably only play at nighttime or weekends), there’s always the chance you can play correspondence games. For those who don’t play online on OGS or other services, what correspondence means is that you can challenge someone to a game and play moves at your own convenience. If scheduling on OGS, you can make time limits for moves from 7 days to 30 days. You can choose to play a move, then you opponent can take a set amount of time (in most cases, up to 7 days) to respond with a move of their own. You don’t have to be rushed when playing, and can choose to ruminate on an opponent’s move if you’re stumped and want to come back to it later. You could run up to 10 games at a time and play all your moves in one sitting if you chose. While you’re losing against people in handicap games and just trying to put those lessons to use, you could absolutely dominate someone your own level in another game you’re playing at the same time. The amount of experience you can gain from correspondence games is exponential and limitless, depending on how much information overload you’re able to handle while playing. There are a few drawbacks however to this kind of play. As I stated before, playing Go is ideal when you can see your opponent’s face and can focus on one game in front of you. When playing online in front of a computer or on your phone, you lose the very human element of Go that AI is chipping away at in so many levels. For instance, while checking the status of your games on your phone, you might be distracted by your phone notifications or some videos your friends sent you that you just HAVE to see at this moment. For all the convenience that correspondence games have in terms of both levelling up as a player and playing overall, I much prefer playing live games whenever I can at my local club. If only enough people played this game that more clubs were in my area. As much as I’d love to ramble more on this topic, I’m more interested in hearing your stories. Please let me know in the comments below what you think about this live vs correspondence debate. Which method do you prefer overall when it comes to playing Go? Also, please feel free to share any stories you have about the overall experience you’ve had playing live games vs playing correspondence games. I’d love to hear your stories! Happy reading and viewing, and please keep on playing in preparation for the Chicago Rapid coming up on November 2nd!
