I am getting better and better at Go—well, at least on the App Store kids’ version called Badukpop (which I persist in calling BadGOku). It’s timed, like speed chess, and after figuring out the point system and the automatic 6.5 handicap for white when playing on an evenly matched board, I realized I could beat the Korean toddlers I assume I’ve been playing against—and even the 9- to 18-year-old Africans and Europeans. Strangely enough, I don’t play against Americans at all. I did when I sucked. (Hey Ho!) by reminding myself of the three Go-isms all key players must know and respect: All money ain’t good money. Never put all your money in one basket. And don’t throw good money after bad.

Every book I have read on GO outlines the structure of a 9×9 game like this:

For the first six moves, your focus should be on territory,and since there is only a 1/2 point difference if one were to split the board in half you may end up playing close to your opponent as you battle to stake your area and gain the upper hand.

After the 12th move on a 9×9, it’s all about cutting your opponent off from connecting and growing territory. Sometimes that means letting them take your stones because there’s no way for you to connect. The endgame is about connecting creating eyes what you have until your opponent realizes they lost and gives up.

A poor player will try anything to get out of atari, completely focused on saving stones whose fate has already been decided.

Here’s a game I had to play out completely because the poor dear didn’t have the good sense to know when they were beaten. Sure she lowered my points at the end but the game is not about points. It’s about winning losing or stalemate. Points don’t matter because you can’t take them with you. (It’s a metaphor yall…billionaires and oligarchs disagree but one of the biggest mistakes a KYU go player makes is focusing on taking stones and getting mad when they get their stones taken. This is how I have been beating that ass…Anyway I call this strategy A Dilettantes Great Wall.

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