[sergj]

Boring compared to chess? As a Go player I take this as an insult. Go is way more interesting, there are more fights, more complexity and you make a lot of tactical and strategic decisions in one game. Also you have a great handicap system, playing stronger players is no big problem. Did I mention that there are no remis and pro matches are often decided by 0,5 points which is really little.

I am ending my rant with a quote: "Rather than being the image of a single struggle as in chess, Go is much more like the panorama of an entire campaign, or complex theatre of war. And so it is more like modern warfare where strategic mass movements are the ultimate determinants of victory. … As in modern warfare, direct combat, without supporting tactics, rarely occurs. In fact, to engage too soon in direct combat frequently spells defeat." -- Oscar Korschelt

[jballanc]

I agree, but just wanted to add that if you find Go boring, I suggest you pick up a good Go book or two. The really good Go writers can construct an entire war narrative from a game of Go, all the while giving you deeper insight into the strategy and tactics at play in the game. To be honest, compared to Go writing, I find much writing about Chess to be very boring and analytical (though I'm sure that has as much to do with specific authors as with the subject matter in question).

[Yovel]

Do you have any good Go book suggestions?

[tzs]

"Go for Beginners" by Iwamoto is a classic [1].

"Go: A Complete Introduction to the Game" by Chikun Cho generally gets very high recommendations [2].

When you finish your first book a good followup is "The Second Book of Go" by Bozulich [3].

Finally, the series "Graded Go Problems for Beginners" is excellent [4]. Volume I problems are suitable for beginners starting as soon as you learn the rules.

If you have an iOS device, take a look at smartgo books [5]. Chikun Cho's book listed above and the graded go problem series are available from them, as are many many other books. These books are in an interactive format that works with their free reader app.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Go-Beginners-Kaoru-Iwamoto/dp/03947333...

[2] http://www.amazon.com/Go-Complete-Introduction-Beginner-Elem...

[3] http://www.amazon.com/Second-Book-Beginner-Elementary-Books/...

[4] http://senseis.xmp.net/?GradedGoProblemsForBeginners

[5] http://gobooks.com

[jballanc]

Right now I'm working through the book "How Not to Play Go", by Yuan Zhou, but he has many very good books I could recommend. Neil Moffatt is another good writer, and I particularly enjoyed "Double Digit Kyu Games" by him. If you're not afraid of diving right in, Yuan Zhou's "Master Play" series, where he dissects games by different Go masters are very entertaining as well.

[TylerE]

Where is the place to start for someone who understands nothing.

[jballanc]

Yes, it looks like something from the late 90s (and it probably is), but this is a tutorial I used early on: http://playgo.to/iwtg/en/

[RBerenguel]

You can lurk the go subreddit /r/baduk (baduk is the Korean name for go, helpful for web searches now Google killed the term) and Sensei's Library: http://senseis.xmp.net/ a wiki for and from go players.

[ars_technician]

http://golang.org/doc/effective_go.html

[europa]

I think Yovel was asking for 'Go Game' book.

[anExcitedBeast]

The bitterness between the go and chess communities is silly to me. There is more depth in either game than any one person could ever fully appreciate. Hell, checkers has more depth than any one person can appreciate, and that's a solved game. Pick a game and enjoy it, and don't try to yuck someone else's yum.

[crusso]

I agree completely, as long as those Othello jerks don't come in here with their crappy attitudes.

[jcutrell]

> As a Go player I take this as an insult.

I'd be of the opinion that boring-ness is fairly subjective, so being insulted probably isn't warranted.

You make good points about the gameplay differences, though.