Marcus wrote:jts wrote:These aren't players who want to study and learn the game ... they just want to play. They don't care about evening the odds with handicaps, or reducing their handicap ... they want to play the game "the way it should be played" without handicap. They then get frustrated and play the game less and less until they stop because they find the game "boring and repetitive".
Interesting, that's the reverse of what I find. Beginners always seem delighted the handicap system means they have a decent chance of beating me, despite my knowing the game much better than they.
I've seen this both ways. This is also why many beginners are hesitant to play on boards smaller than 19x19. They think that the smaller boards are not "proper Go". I usually get around this by explaining that different board sizes and handicaps ARE proper ways to play the game and stressing that they are not playing a "kiddie" version of Go with a 13x13 board and 5 stone handicap.
