Hi all. Long time interest in GO, and very VERY poor casual play. But this time, I think I am ready to actually dive in. I have had a decent set of stone (no pun intended?) and even a smaller full GO set with miniature board for years now. Like 20+. But every time I got interested, or played against some software.... logged onto the Korean server to watch and kibitz..... I just really felt like I didn't have a firm grasp on starting.

This time, I am actually approaching it a bit more seriously. I hope to be around for good now, and actually get at least decent at the game.

good luck you should play on ogs. Nice community and you can play roundbased and live games.

No one is good when they start. The standard advice for people just beginning to play is to lose 50 or a hundred or some number of games, because you need to just get experience with the way capturing works, how the game goes, etc. before anything more involved makes much sense. Don't be discouraged if/when you lose, as you're just starting. You can't expect to pick up an instrument for the first time and be able to play a concert-worthy performance regardless of how much music theory you know, as there's some basic training you need to accomplish first. Go is no different.

I would recommend small boards, like the 9x9, to start as well, since you go through a game much faster and can more easily see the relationship between earlier moves and the outcome of the game.

Welcome! Where's the pun, if we intentionally look for it ?

It's just that you need some stones to play go.