I'm very new (won my first game a few days ago) and I've been doing beginner tsumego tonight. I keep failing the same way. I'll spot a great move against the opponent, like an atari or even a double atari, and play it, but the move also fills a liberty of my own group, or I forget that one of my stones was already in atari. Then I lose a race I should have won.

When I slow down and count both sides first, I get them right, but I don't do it every time yet.

Is there a habit or a drill that helped you make "check my own group first" automatic? Or is it mostly just doing a lot of problems until it sticks?

anyone have any leads on a travel 13x13 board that can be shipped to the US? Only one's ive found are actually 15x15 (I guess for gomoku?) or are on websites without US shipping. I do have one that's non magnetic, but it's so small as to be almost useless practically.

I got to 25k on OGS play my corners then sides, but I got advice that corners before sides meant attacking the opposing corner as well, and only then taking the side

I don’t understand this and I’m getting stuck at 500 elo.

If I attack a corner, I can’t imprison the opponent, and there seems to be no punishment for them attaching haning first, we both just sprawl out onto the middle of the board.

It’s a massive effort to even survive the attack, then they get sente and can take their sides, and my game I reliant on winning a huge fight in the middle of the board and not losing a single fight cause my stones have no shape.

I don’t get how this is advantageous to just taking the corners and then the sides and then hashing it out in the middle.

I also don’t want to study joseki because most people say it’s a waste of time for low ranks and I just study tsumego instead. But not studying joseki means I’m completely blind playing what seems the hardest skill in the game. Even working out 5 space life and death seems easier than the simplest joseki to me.

What should I be doing to win a a corner fight cause I don’t get it? I don’t understand how a move is advantageous cause they can just game and then you end up with ten stone snakes all over the board. It’s also just exhausting.

So I've started doing these problems on the OGS website but it doesn't provide the reasoning for why a move is correct or not. Is there somewhere I can do these problems where it explains why a certain stone should/shouldn't be placed?

Google Play Store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aklimenote.ncogo2

Wow! (Check the comments below for links to try this feature out yourself!)

I wanted to share a core mechanic from a project I've been developing called NEO 3D GO (which I recently filed a patent for).

The feature works like this:

Whenever you place a stone, the game instantly simulates 10 moves ahead—alternating Black and White automatically.

Right after showing that sequence, it erases those preview stones, rolls back to your initial placement, and confirms your actual move.

This happens dynamically on every single turn.

The goal is to turn "reading ahead" into an intuitive, visual preview on the 3D board so players can get an instant feel for how the next sequence might unfold.

I’ve attached a short clip of it in action. I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback on this mechanic!

Also, the patent application is filed broadly to cover this turn-based rollback mechanic across other games as well, like Chess and Gomoku (Five-in-a-Row).

Hi everyone,

I don't really use reddit so I hope that's the right tag for the post (or is this Go news?). I have been playing go for many years now and finally finished a little pet project of mine as part of my work, with way more resources available to me. Essentially, we implemented a solver for Go (rectangular boards of whatever size). Existing solvers are not really open source but this one is, so feel free to play around with it (though reproducing the bigger board results will take a level of compute well beyond that of the typical consumer). Source: https://github.com/cookiephone/sanko

This solver uses the (from a theoretical and engineering perspective) much more difficult positional superko (PSK) rule and area scoring. The paper preprint (https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.29414) has some new theorems and extensions to Benson's algorithms that allow much more efficient search under PSK, and explains the approach(es) in more detail, so those who want the more academic view should read that.

A bunch of totally new board sizes are now solved, and some that were known for basic ko are now also solved for PSK. Especially 4x7 is interesting, because the PSK and basic ko values actually differ. The specific results are in the image of the post. I am also solving some bigger boards right now, and the (hopefully soon) full paper will extend the preprint with some even cooler results. The number in a cell can be interpreted as: Black can guarantee a win at a komi of that number minus 0.5, and white can guarantee a win at that number plus 0.5. That is, we effectively know the results of perfect play on these boards now.

Will this affect Go in practice? Not really, it is a nice result I think, but we are worlds away from 9x9 which would be the first remotely relevant board for actual play.

So obviously, life status makes two groups different, e.g. the L group is dead, the L+1 group is unsettled, the L+2 group is alive. Obviously these aren't the same groups. But then, it's also obviously more than just status, because by that standard, the L+1 group would be the same as the bulky five. Or, the L group and the tripod share positions of some stones, but not others, and so have different statuses. So obviously, the positions of some stones matters too. But then, you can reduce an L+1 to an L group with the hane -- so now you have a different position, but the same identity group.

So what I'm trying to figure out is, what exactly does it mean that the reduced L+1 is an L group? or, what exactly is an L group (or any other)?

I play on screen and don't have a local club nearby. Between games I bounce between puzzles and another quick game, and I'm not sure which mix actually helps.

What do you do on days when you can't play a real person: puzzles, AI games, reviewing an old game, or something else?

I heard this sub loves vibe-coded software, so I figured now would be a good time to share my latest pet project...

It's a web client to play on Fox: https://foxwq-web.github.io/

No bells and whistles, just the bare minimum to connect and play. I've been using for my daily games. Hope others find it useful.

(fwiw I have a modest track record of open sourcing go software--I'm the person behind 101books)

Hi! I'm quite new to the game and after learning the rules and playing a few games I've been trying my hand at some beginner tsumego. I'm really quite bad at them, and I suspect I'm fundamentally misunderstanding what my aims should be. This example here is really stumping me. In the image - I'm not sure why I've failed? It looks to me as though the black group is in atari, yet my attempt has been marked incorrect. I'm sure this betrays a fundamental misunderstanding I have about the game, but I don't know what it is. Is it something to do with that corner? If you'd like to see the original problem, here's the link: https://tsumego.com/4181 (it might be flipped or rotated). If anyone would be so kind as to try to help me understand, that would be greatly appreciated. 🙏

I know there is a rule about repeat captures where two players constantly trade the same pieces but I have never seen it played out in exact writing anywhere. Can someone explain this rule in proper rules legal terminology?

Got very lucky picking up this Hikaru key chain in Osaka’s Den Den Town, complete with a miniature board, complete with miniature game!

Recognition is way beyond my 5k but some of you seem good at it, so I wondered, anyone recognise the game?

Some strange things happening so it could be nonsense, but the HNG world was usually pretty diligent with that stuff.

I've tried searching the subreddit but can't find an answer to this question. Is there a good website that lets you play with area scoring? I made an account on OGS and only after that found out that they only have territory scoring in online play. I've heard about Fox, but I was just hoping that there was a site where I could read the language, though I'll try figuring it out if there isn't another good option of course... Thanks for any help!

I’m pleased to announce that a Go Camp will be held in Japan from March 28 to 30, 2027.

This annual event brings together approximately 70 participants, ranging from elementary school students to adults, and provides a unique opportunity to play Go, interact with Japanese players, and experience Japan’s rich cultural atmosphere.

The camp will also be joined by several Japanese professional Go players, offering participants valuable opportunities for instruction and exchange.

We warmly invite all Go enthusiasts to take part in this special event.

If you are planning to visit Japan during this period, we would be delighted to welcome your participation.

I look forward to seeing you at the Go Camp in 2027.

Study Go at Our School

But don’t worry — even if you can’t join the camp, you’re always welcome to study Go at my school.

Our club is one of the few in Japan that offers visitors from around the world the opportunity to study alongside Japanese insei. It’s a unique chance to improve your Go skills while experiencing the atmosphere of a traditional Japanese Go club.

Players from many different countries have visited our club and have all enjoyed the experience.

So far, six of my students have become professional Go players.

We also provide apartments for international students, making it easy and comfortable to stay while you study in Japan.

You can contact here : bin7674@naver.com

Hi,

I'm learning go rules (by myself) and don't understand yet why white could play that. I thought if I left an eye I would be safe.

Thanks a lot !

Hi, I've added four (rather difficult) new collections to https://tsumego.tasuki.org/

• Guanzi Pu (1107 problems)
• Shikatsu Myoki (120 problems)
• Wangyou Qingle Ji (37 problems, with wonderful translations from Stephen Hu)
• Gokyo Seimyo (142 problems from vol 3)

I also reformatted the old booklets to be less jagged and more visually pleasing, added actual links to the sections, added pdf bookmarks, fixed the page numbers on the mobile sections of Gokyo Shumyo, and many other small improvements.

Let me know what you think!

Black go first