Joelnelsonb wrote:I would ask when I should start studying joseki, however, I've seen a lot of debate around this and feel like its the wrong way to think about it. I'm a Chess player. If a beginner asked me "when should I start studying openings?", I would instantly realize that the player has a flaw in his or her understanding of what an opening is. A better question is: how should I begin studying opening variations? Because there is no particular time in a player's progression that deems them "ready for openings". A player can learn an opening the first day they learn the game as long as they grasp the fundamental concepts involved instead of simple memorization of the moves. What's important is that you understand the strategy behind what you're actually doing so that you comprehend (if only on a basic level) what the reason is behind each and every move and are therefore ready to make variations as applicable. I have some Chess games where my opponent brings out his queen early on and it changes everything about my plan, but, being a seasoned player, I simply adjust and re-establish my strategy based on the dynamic of the present game; this is all that's needed at a beginners level to get into opening study. This being said, I don't feel like I should be waiting to achieve a specific kyu level or profound understanding of the game. I feel like I could greatly benefit from studying joseki from right where I am now as long as I'm focused on the ultimate concept and not the specific move-to-move. So, any suggestion on the best way to jump into the world of joseki and get the most applicable, practical benefit most efficiently?
I think the first advice I would give you is: don't.
The second advice, and more important one: stop thinking of Go as chess. You seem to want to keep doing it.
The differences between the two games are huge, although not apparent to a beginner. One of the most important ones is, in the context of this discussion - the way chess and Go handles ideas. In both games ideas and creativity are important, but...
In chess, you would learn sequences/openings/variations/whatever to eventually arrive at the ideas. As you said yourself, you can show a beginner the philidor opening, and even if he does not have the understanding or ideas, it will provide him with a skeleton and eventually he will begin to understand the ideas.
In Go it is the opposite - you learn ideas to eventually arrive at sequences/joseki/fuseki/whatever. This is very important, and a crucial point for you, I think. It means that you should start your journey by studying ideas rather than specific sequences or "openings". These ideas will eventually allow you to understand better sequences and play them yourself.
It really has nothing to do with the quality of either game. Go is simply much more complex. Not necessarily in terms of strategy, but the sheer size of the game tree. Game of Go takes 200 moves rather than 40, you can start with almost 300 first moves rather than some 20, and there are many more viably responses to each of the first few moves in Go than in chess... In chess, players stay "within the book" most of the time, and usually throughout the whole opening (which can take half of the game or more) - while in Go being "out of the book" is every Go player's bread and butter on move 5 or earlier. At least - at our level.
This, and more, is why you absolutely cannot approach learning Go the way you would learn chess.
So I think that the question you should be asking is not which or how should you study jokes (don't, its a waste of time for you now), but which basic ideas you should think about and observe in games.
If you need a practical example:
1. You might start with the simple idea: corners, sides, center. This means you start your plays in corners to ge a base, then develop to the sides to get points and influence, and eventually move out into the center for attack and defense. Replay pro games (or any games) and pay attention how players adhere to this idea, and when they abandon it.
2. After you have some basic understanding of that, look at the idea of influence and replay some more games while observing how this works.
3. Then maybe look at the idea of thickness... and then weak and strong groups... and so on.
All the while play games yourself, and pay attantion how you and your opponents apply these ideas, and especially when you violate them.
Do not worry about systematically studying specific sequences. Maybe look something up now and then, after your game, when you realize you misplayed something really badly but have no clue why.
PS>
My more "friendly" advice is - don't worry about studying, play games, talk to other players, lose a bunch of games, and eventually it will become clear what you need to learn - and then sudy that. A month later you will realize you need to learn something else - then study that. Rinse, repeat. And most of all: have fun!
And trust me - you cannot approach Go and chess the same way, not even similar way. They are completely different games. Chess is about grinding down your opponent, about destruction, about starting with two full armies and battling and killing until somebody yells "mama!". The strategy revolves around killing enemy pieces and forcing them into bad positions. Go is almost the exact oposite - it is about building, not destruction. You start with an empty board, empty field, and you need to build a castle. The strategy revolves around building a structure which is bigger than that your opponent is building - given the limited resources you both share (=the empty intersections on the board.)
You have to think about each game completely differently.
And I speak as somebody who played both games for decades.
and
, an obviously equal position,
is a good move...
