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Comment by trcollinson | Hacker News Reader

I had a manager years ago who was a great go player. I always wanted to learn but frankly it becomes a bit overwhelming. Any suggestions on getting started?

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The way to learn how to play Go is to start playing games. Join a local club, make friends and start playing Go.

At first, you will lose terribly almost all the time.

Stay humble, ask for help with reviewing games by more experienced players. It would be even better if there are professional Go players in the club.

It takes some time before the basic theory of Go "clicks" in your head.

There's a saying that you should "lose your first 50 games quickly," in the sense that it will give you a lot of exposure, and a chance to make a lot of mistakes and learn from them. I like Richard Bozulich's books - The Second Book of Go is great, once you have the basics.

Here's another link to some books on Go : http://361points.com/guide_to_go_books/

When I was first learning, I mostly played against the computer. You can lose a lot faster that way, since the computer plays quickly, and it will brutally punish really newbie mistakes, so you can learn to avoid doing really stupid things before venturing against another human.

Try to practice against real people rather than AI, especially when getting started. It's more fun and veterans can explain things to you. In-person would be ideal, but online communities work too.

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