Board Game Arena - User contributions [en]

Tips classicgo

2020-12-25T03:27:22Z

Amomum: fix a garbled sentence, and add more.

Go strategy is extremely complex and well-studied, so we won't try to cover more than the basics. You can find more at external sites like [https://senseis.xmp.net/ Sensei's Library].

''Life and death'' is an important concept:
* A group is ''dead'' if the opponent can eventually capture it, and ''alive'' if they can't.
* A group with ''two eyes'' (two small territories) is alive, because the opponent can't fill up both eyes at the same time.
* A group with one big territory is generally alive, because the opponent can't stop it from making eyes.
* A group that can connect to another live group is alive.

Basic strategy:
* Go is a race to surround territory as fast as possible, so play the biggest moves first. Generally these are those that decide the life or death of big groups, or that stake out large territories.
* Starting in the corners is more economical than starting in the middle or on the sides. For illustration, think of how much area can be surrounded by 4 stones in the corner (4 points) compared to the side (2 points) and the middle (1 point).
* Don't waste moves trying to capture or save stones that are already dead.
* Don't worry about losing individual stones. You get another one every turn.
* You don't necessarily have to respond to your opponent's move. Often it isn't a threat, or there's something more important elsewhere.

Tips classicgo

2020-12-25T03:23:57Z

Amomum: more basics

Go strategy is extremely complex and well-studied, so we won't try to cover more than the basics. You can find more at external sites like [https://senseis.xmp.net/ Sensei's Library].

''Life and death'' is an important concept:
* A group is ''dead'' if the opponent can eventually capture it, and ''alive'' if they can't.
* A group with ''two eyes'' (two small territories) is alive, because the opponent can't fill up both eyes at the same time.

Basic strategy:
* Go is a race to surround territory as fast as possible, so play the biggest moves first. Generally these are those that decide the life or death of big groups, or that stake out large territories.
* Starting in the corners is more economical than starting in the middle or on the sides. For illustration, think of how much area can be surrounded by 4 stones in the corner (4 points) compared to the side (2 points) and the middle (1 point).
* Don't waste moves trying to capture stones that save a group that can't be saved.
* Don't worry about losing individual stones. You get another one every turn.

Tips classicgo

2020-12-25T03:01:45Z

Amomum: Link to Sensei's Library

Go strategy is extremely complex and well-studied, so we won't try to cover more than the basics. You can find more at external sites like [https://senseis.xmp.net/ Sensei's Library].

Starting in the corners is more economical than starting in the middle or on the sides.

For illustration, think of how much area can be surrounded by 4 stones in the corner (4 points) compared to the side (2 points) and the middle (1 point).

Tips chess

2020-12-25T02:57:01Z

Amomum: Mention development and king safety

* Before you move, check to make sure that you have protected all of your pieces.
* In the opening, try to:
** Control the center of the board
** ''Develop'' pieces (especially knights and bishops) by moving them off the back rank
** Castle early.
** Generally, making a lot of queen moves in the opening is a bad idea.
* Keep your king safe behind other pieces (often pawns).

Tips chess

2020-12-25T02:50:05Z

Amomum: Formatting

* Before you move, check to make sure that you have protected all of your pieces.
* In the opening, try to control the center of the board and castle early.
* Generally, making a lot of queen moves in the opening is a bad idea.