Teaching: We have boards, stones and supervisors sufficient to teach groups of up to about 24 members. When students are young and sheer beginners, the students learn more in a smaller group, twelve or under. We are happy teaching baduk, and we wish to share the joy of this game with others.
Handicapping & Emotional Maturity: Our South Korean teachers emphasized from the beginning levels on up a reverent respect for one's opponents. As baduk has a refined system of handicapping, with incremental gradations of challenge available for each additional handicapping stone placed on the board at the start of a game; a good teacher can accurately estimate the proper handicap to provide a roughly 50/50 won/loss opportunity.
Each additional handicapping stone yields a fine gradation of advantage such that given the appropriate handicap, any two players can have a game with a 50/50 chance of winning. This handicapping system permits players from varied skill levels to compete with one another, so you don't get bored having to play others in the same small group of your skill level every time. Having a variety of potential opponents keeps it interesting, and students naturally get used to winning and losing several games every day. We believe this helps them learn to accept results with a stoic and respectful equanimity. Young children soon learn not to throw the board when they lose or crow when they win.
We see considerable potential for emotional maturity in the mutual development paradigm essential to higher level baduk play, a "live and let live" philosophy, which imbues students with profound respect for -- and a concomitantly keen sensitivity to -- the opponent. The beautiful harmony brought out by playing baduk is not often found in other complete information, definitive strategy games. One way that baduk play feels more like a dance than a ruthless, take-no-prisoners battle is reflected in the baduk proverb: "Fighting must not be the key to go, it should be reserved as your last resource." Zhong-pu Liu, 1078 AD
Handicapping & Emotional Maturity: Our South Korean teachers emphasized from the beginning levels on up a reverent respect for one's opponents. As baduk has a refined system of handicapping, with incremental gradations of challenge available for each additional handicapping stone placed on the board at the start of a game; a good teacher can accurately estimate the proper handicap to provide a roughly 50/50 won/loss opportunity.
Each additional handicapping stone yields a fine gradation of advantage such that given the appropriate handicap, any two players can have a game with a 50/50 chance of winning. This handicapping system permits players from varied skill levels to compete with one another, so you don't get bored having to play others in the same small group of your skill level every time. Having a variety of potential opponents keeps it interesting, and students naturally get used to winning and losing several games every day. We believe this helps them learn to accept results with a stoic and respectful equanimity. Young children soon learn not to throw the board when they lose or crow when they win.
We see considerable potential for emotional maturity in the mutual development paradigm essential to higher level baduk play, a "live and let live" philosophy, which imbues students with profound respect for -- and a concomitantly keen sensitivity to -- the opponent. The beautiful harmony brought out by playing baduk is not often found in other complete information, definitive strategy games. One way that baduk play feels more like a dance than a ruthless, take-no-prisoners battle is reflected in the baduk proverb: "Fighting must not be the key to go, it should be reserved as your last resource." Zhong-pu Liu, 1078 AD
Baduk Equipment:
Here is a description of how to make your own baduk set, from the British Go Association. I have thought of using M&Ms with a graph sheet of paper marked off with a 19 x 19 grid in bold lines with a permanent marker held straight by a ruler. However, with my penchant for chocolate, I fear I may eat up the "stones" before the game ended. :-)
Below are some sites devoted to teaching baduk online:
www.goproblems.com These problems are great for honing your skill at recognizing patterns. Here, you efficiently improve your understanding of when and how a small group of stones is alive or dead, and when you need to make one more move to maintain life (or conversely, to ensure the death of an opposing group of stones).
US Go Congress
Sensei's Library (good beginner information)
American Go Association
Here is a free book which teaches the game well.
You can find a server and get set up to play online here: Go Servers at Sensei's Library
Before playing real people online, you might want to download a free computer program, set it at the easiest level, and play on a small board. Then, as you begin to win consistently, move to a larger board and/or upgrade the computer response by giving it more time to "think."
Here is a description of how to make your own baduk set, from the British Go Association. I have thought of using M&Ms with a graph sheet of paper marked off with a 19 x 19 grid in bold lines with a permanent marker held straight by a ruler. However, with my penchant for chocolate, I fear I may eat up the "stones" before the game ended. :-)
Below are some sites devoted to teaching baduk online:
www.goproblems.com These problems are great for honing your skill at recognizing patterns. Here, you efficiently improve your understanding of when and how a small group of stones is alive or dead, and when you need to make one more move to maintain life (or conversely, to ensure the death of an opposing group of stones).
US Go Congress
Sensei's Library (good beginner information)
American Go Association
Here is a free book which teaches the game well.
You can find a server and get set up to play online here: Go Servers at Sensei's Library
Before playing real people online, you might want to download a free computer program, set it at the easiest level, and play on a small board. Then, as you begin to win consistently, move to a larger board and/or upgrade the computer response by giving it more time to "think."
LINKS GALORE
Four simple rules: Mathematical Rules of Go by Jean-Claude Chetrit
Our family has expressly enjoyed Janice Kim's 5-book series for learning baduk.
You can do BA, MA, & PhD studies in baduk at Myungji University, South Korea.
http://nrich.maths.org/1433
Go Proverbs at Sensei's Library
Discussion of go versus chess
Strategy game goes back tens of centuries
Links for the High Brow: http://math.berkeley.edu/~berlek/cgt/gobook.html
Four simple rules: Mathematical Rules of Go by Jean-Claude Chetrit
Our family has expressly enjoyed Janice Kim's 5-book series for learning baduk.
You can do BA, MA, & PhD studies in baduk at Myungji University, South Korea.
http://nrich.maths.org/1433
Go Proverbs at Sensei's Library
Discussion of go versus chess
Strategy game goes back tens of centuries
Links for the High Brow: http://math.berkeley.edu/~berlek/cgt/gobook.html