I'm a brand new player to Go, and to get started I've purchased Volume 1 of "Learn to Play Go", two books by Yuan Zhou--the one on 7 Masters and the one on Go Seigon--that received praise from members on this site, and Cho Chikun's Encyclopedia of Life and Death.

However, I am having a very difficult time with finding very old games to replay on my own board--the oldest being like 2004. As an avid chess fan, I often play through the games of former World Champions and other notable games, and I see other people on these forums and elsewhere who talk about games from like the 3rd century, but I'm having the hardest time finding those.

Any help on finding games would be great, as would any advice in general on how to get started and progress in Go.

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I came to go through Kawabata and was introduced to a whole new world.

This site has a good number of old games. http://sgfdatabase.com/

GoGoD has a lot of ancient games, including some from like 280 AD and hundreds before the 20th century.

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KGS 4 kyu - Game Archive - Keyboard Otaku

You're off to a good start. I recommend Learn to Play Go volume I & II, and doing go problems (either in a book or online), and play games.

If you think you'll enjoy reading through the Master Play books, by all means do so, but it will not be very helpful to you right now (not until MUCH later). Sure, maybe you'll pick up a few things, but there are other things you can do that will be far, far more effective. But, the important thing is that you enjoy it--reading through them and playing the games certainly won't hurt.

A strong Chinese gentleman (countsheep on here, the rare occasions he can find time/ability to post) has put a wonderful video commentary of an old game between Chinese masters here:

http://www.gocommentary.com/free-videos/greatest-games-ever-played-04-huang-longshi-vs-jiang-tianyuan.html

He has a number of other videos that you would probably find interesting on his site - it's a shame he has a hard time getting to post them. This one is only from 400 years ago, but it's definitely not a modern game.

* Expect to understand almost nothing in the Master Play books at the moment.
* Expect to understand almost nothing in any professional game, even if it's commented. But feel free to appreciate the pretty shapes. If you want more game records, try eidogo.com, with a huge collection and a nice viewer. If you want really old games, there're some on http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/o ... tures.html
* Get igowin (it's free) and play it, without thinking too much, starting from 4-stone handicap and until you can beat it as black (this won't take very long). A proverb says you should lose the first 100 games as quickly as possible. This is the quickest way.
* After that, create an account on KGS and play a lot (against real people, of course).
* After you've beaten igowin, played a few games, and gotten a rank, you could go to the Beginners Room or Teaching Ladder room on KGS and ask for someone to give you a teaching game.

For some time, just playing will be the most efficient way for you to learn. Still, Learn To Play Go is a great book. I recommend all four volumes.

Here is a nice page for historical games: http://mignon.ddo.jp/assembly/mignon/go_meikyoku.html

On the same site is another nice page for famous historical players: http://mignon.ddo.jp/assembly/mignon/go ... ikan0.html

To see games, click on a player's name on the left. A page about him will appear in the frame on the right. Nearly all of the links on that page will be to games.

Example game link to Yasui Ohsenchi's first Castle Game: http://mignon.ddo.jp/assembly/mignon/go ... 01117.html

Enjoy!

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The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Hello,

You may like to visit this website :

http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/orient/go/go.html

It contains many of the most ancient records, such as the oldest game record in japan, in korea, etc, or the shortest games ever, the longest games ever.. (on the right side of the page, click on the menus)

have a great time,

Cgb'

Edit : Oops, palapiku had posted the link, just noticed :/

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Staying true to myself.