Go: A Complete Beginner's Guide to Learning the Game of Go | Strategy Board Game for Adults & Kids | Perfect for Family Game Nights & Mental Exercise

I've read quite a few introductory go books now, so I give this book 5 stars as the best one I have found so far for its stated purpose, which is to introduce the game to a complete beginner. Cho Chikun is one of the strongest go players in the world today. I've found that as in everything else, people who are really good at something are not necessarily the best teachers or writers on the subject, so I liked Cho's ability to talk to someone who is just picking up the stones for the first time and not intimidate them with his godlike go powers.Cho really does cover all the basics, at an introductory level. He recommends starting off with a 9x9 board. Since I am no longer a rank beginner, everything he covered was already pretty basic for me - I didn't even have to think about the handful of problems he gave. I'm past the point where this book could teach me anything. But if I were to choose one single book to give a beginning player, right now it would be this one. Go for Beginners by Kaoru Iwamoto is good too, but I think he packs a little too much into a book the same size as Cho's book, and some of the final chapters may stump a beginning player. The Learn to Play Go series by Janice Kim and Jeong Soo-Hyun is more complete, but that's more of a beginner's course, and a new player might not want to take on several volumes to start with.So, this one gets my highest recommendation for beginning go players. It's short but complete, and between chapters on basic go strategy and tactics, Cho talks about the history of go and go today, including professional go associations, how much money go professionals actually make, the handicap system, and computer go. Since this book was written in 1997, the sections on tournament prizes and computer go are now a bit out of date, but most of Cho says about computer go is still true - there is still no go equivalent to Deep Blue that can beat an expert human player.I have tried several beginner books, some better than others, and some really good, however, this book by Cho Chikun trumps them all. The reason is that it has real clear explanation of the concepts needed to play the game while at the same time giving you enough complexity to challenge you to take that next step towards improving.The author teaches the basics of the game using a real game example. This can be challenging, since I have seen cases when it gets a little too complicated and the beginner may feel overwhelmed. This is the main flaw I have seen in the beginner book I was looking for a good introductory book and this is exactly what I was looking for. The book also gives a lot of suggestions at the end to direct readers to other books in the future that are appropriate for their level.First Go book I've read. 4 stars only because there are probably 10+ typos in it. But, most of these are not that serious (they're obvious typos); the most serious one is on page 15; Figure 7 and 8 are missing a white stone on the top row; I spent about 5 minutes recounting the territory over and over until I realized that there was a printing error. Otherwise the book is excellent and I really do like how it mixes Go culture/history between each chapter.I actually like the terse writing style and think it suits the introductory style well.I would take a different approach than some of the other reviewers here. This is a fine book. However, there really isn't much meat to it. As a complete beginner, I would recommend reading the Wikipedia page for Go instead of this. That will give you a basic understanding of the rules in addition to some history. Then, download Go Free for your phone and play 9x9 games to get a solid feel for the rules. After this, now is a perfect time to buy your first Go books to step up your game. GO is a great game for the mind to comprehend and build up your talents in winning this game, can help to prepare us all for live.Cho Chikun's little book is an excellent introduction to this game. No prior knowledge is assumed, and he takes the reader through the basic concepts of the game, step by step. There are many diagrams, so you can reproduce the moves. The first chapter includes a very simple game on a 9 x 9 board, to give you an idea of how Go "works". Other chapters introduce us to "Capturing Stones", "Eyes and Living Groups", "Linking up Stones", etc. By the way, you can mark off a section of a full-size board, to play a 9 X 9 game, or you can make your own. Chapter Nine takes us through a nine stone handicap game, played by two amateurs. Chapter Eleven takes us through one of the author's professional games, (on a full size board.) His commentary is very instructive. Finally, inbetween each chapter Cho Chikun has inserted a short essay on various aspects of the game. Thus, one is entitled "The Origins of Go." Others include "The Development of Go in Japan," "Go Around the World," "Go Equipment," etc. My book came from a US seller: delivery was very promptThis book is a fantastic introduction to Go. I especially love the history chapters put between lesson chapters. They provide interesting background while giving the brain a short break before the next “lesson”. There are also useful book suggestions for further studies. I can’t recommend this enough.If you're completely new to Go, or only played a few games but felt confused, this book will give you the basics. Suitable for anyone between 30 kyu (complete beginner) to 20 kyu (understand the basics). Beyond that, there's perhaps a few tips and tricks to pick up that could be beneficial. As a ~17 kyu, I'd get a different book, though the sections in between detailing history, Go in the world, and such, was nice. Overall, well written and informative. The examples were easy to follow, and the style was light. Just a tad bit too simplistic once you've crossed the 20 kyu barrier.This is a great book written by an authority on the game. It slowly progresses chapter by chapter making sure each new idea is cemented in the reader's brain before moving on to the next set of ideas.If you've never played Go this book will teach you all you need, and if like myself you;ve played but not achieved any standard well it might take 20 pages before you hit some new ideas. There's a very advanced game featured with step by step commentary so this could be a great first Go book for even seasoned players.In between chapters are short articles on the history and development of the game along with details of the p[rofessional game around the world. I enjoyed these as they break up the learning abit. Recommended.This book is incredibly thorough. I have no prior knowledge of the game, but I think this book will help me learn how to play. It feels like the beginning of an adventure. I bought this from Go Game Guru UK and they really went the extra mile in helping me with info about my order. David got back to me really quickly and made it clear that if I needed to ask any more questions he was there to be asked. Excellent customer service!