The RubeTube

I just got my first online Go victory! After getting creamed by an average of 82.5 points in my first two online games, I finally achieved sweet success on my third try. (What they say about it being a charm, well it's true.)

My two defeats were against non-beginners. I was devastated in my first game by a 10-kyu player despite a 9-stone handicap, and found similar failure in a no-handicap game against a 22-kyu player. Finally, I managed to score my maiden victory against a fellow beginner, "Alfa" from Indonesia. Here's a record of our game, in SGF format. It wasn't a pretty game at all; it looked like an authentic beginner's match, characterized by huge chunks of territory. But in the end it turns out that I was somewhat less of a beginner than my opponent; I won by 38.5 points! Here's what the board looked like at the end (I was playing white, click for a better view):


If you're looking to get started on Go, you can check out PANDA-glGo. Right out of the box, you can use it to edit and view games. But if you want to play Go against the computer, you'll have to get GNU GO as well and configure PANDA-glGo to use it; you can find the latest release on PANDA-glGo's download page. On the other hand, if you're itching to play against human opponents, you'll have to go to IGS-PandaNet and register for an account. There's also a Go tutorial on the site if you want to learn the rules of the game.

Watch out for me if ever you go online; my handle is "punzki" (as usual) and I'd be glad to have a match. It'd surely be more fun than always losing to the computer!

Labels: :D, board games, go, software