First question: is there a big list of Go players posted anywhere so a person could see if there is anyone close to play? (I have checked AGA clubs and another site that had a big map but no one closer than 3 hours!)

Second: I was kind of going over some game reviews and other articles and kept seeing references to 'poke' and 'peek'.... I tried to figure it out by looking at the diagrams but I just don't get it! What is this referring to?

Introducing myself: been interested in go since about 86 after reading an Eric Van Lustbader novel that had references to it. In 89 I was in Korea and asked around...one Korean gave me an old board and stones but didn't know how to play. A few years later I found a used go book and read it but had no one that would play. Years after that I read Janice Kims book and discovered IGS and KGS. After spending a lot of time just observing I finally got up the nerve to start playing, and love it!

I am Kyle654 on both igs and kgs, so I hope to learn and grow! I will probably be on kgs more because it really seemed friendlier and better set up to learn on....but I will be on igs when I only have my iPhone or iPad because I can't play on kgs with these!

(oh I have played like a whopping 6 or 7 games total on kgs ( i think) and 1 9x9 on igs)!!!

Kyle

Howdy Kyle, and welcome!

To answer your first question, try http://igolocal.net/

Second: Do you mean a 'peep'?

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Peep
$$ ------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . X . . . . .
$$ | . . . a W . . . .
$$ | . . . X . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .
$$ | . . . . . . . . .[/go]

The marked white stone is a peep at the black shape. It threatens to play at 'a', separating the black stones. Black will most often play at 'a' if the peep is a valid threat, or at least find a creative way to prevent white from wanting to play at 'a'.

Feel free to post a game in our analysis forum for suggestions, if you feel like you could use some guidance. For the meantime, however, good luck and enjoy!

_________________
Someday I want to be strong enough to earn KGS[-].

Kyle,
What part of the country are you in? igolocal.net is a good suggestion, but I know that there are a number of players in my area who aren't listed on there. It may be that someone on the board can steer you towards something in your area.

I live in Navarre, Florida, which is near Pensacola, Fort Walton Beach, Destin,,,and Panama City is about 2 hours away (which is where I work)!

Thnx for the responses!

Kyle

(i know this is old, apologies)

welcome, and enjoy. about players: igolocal i think is a work in progress (a very cool idea, for sure). i think your best bet might be to try to find a club close to you, and go from there. i had the same question as you, and realized that the obvious (google for go clubs in ones area) is actually quite straightforward. i haven't yet met the club i found, for various reasons (mainly because, unlike you, i don't speak the local language, so it's a bit awkward). the challenge when using google is that the word "go" is basically unusable, so try weiqi or baduk also. good luck

The AGA has a list of clubs, though it's not always up to date, and not every club registers. http://usgo.org/cgi-bin/chapters.cgi?state=FL#listing

_________________
Occupy Babel!

I have seen "Poke" and "Peek" used as pseudo-technical terms, but only in an article in the Go Winds publication that Yutopian puts out. The author is Craig Hutchinson - is it a Britishism? (and is "Anglicism" more proper here?)

In addition to Poke and Peek, he talks about "Pinning" and all sorts of other bizarre, unexplained things. Here's a typical example:

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W Can white purge the shape's links?
$$ --------------
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . X . .
$$ . . . , . . .
$$ . . . X . . .
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . X . . .
$$ . . . . . . .[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W Collie Peg 3
$$ --------------
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . X . .
$$ . . . 3 . . .
$$ . . . X . . .
$$ . . . 4 1 . .
$$ . . . X . . .
$$ . . . . . . .[/go]

To top it off, he apparently has a somewhat different definition of "peep" than the rest of the English-speaking Go world, shown by the example below.

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W Collie Peep 3
$$ --------------
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . 1 . .
$$ . . . . X . .
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . X . . .
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . X . . .
$$ . . . . . . .[/go]

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$W White peeps at 1; should black protect with a peg or a pin?
$$ --------------
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . . X . .
$$ . . . . . 1 .
$$ . . . X . . .
$$ . . . . . . .
$$ . . . X . . .
$$ . . . . . . .[/go]

It seems like he has some useful knowledge, or at least explores some shapes in a very systematic fashion, but it's all hidden behind this impenetrable self-created jargon.

But in any case, "Peep" is a useful term, as Chew Terr explained. "Poke" and "Peek" and "Pin" and "Peg"... maybe not so clear as technical terms.