Special cases:
- When Mr. Michael Redmond was a child, he would just quietly and patiently watch his father play Go with friends. Later, Michael got hold of some kind of Go book (say, a joseki dictionary or a life-and-death problem set) and in a relatively short time promptly memorized it.
- Another pro had no memory of anyone teaching her the rules; but only memory of watching adults play and figuring out the rules by herself from watching.
- We have a local member with a learning disability -- even after one year, still doesn't understand eyes. For example, even after one year of detailed, step-by-step instructions, repeatedly and in varying methods, still doesn't understand the status of
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- Click Here To Show Diagram Code
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This is a rare exceptional case, but it highlights why it depends so greatly on the individual.
Let's define a raw beginner as a random coffee shop patron who sees Go for the first time in their life; a beginner-2 as someone who returns a second time to the club, a beginner-3 a third time, etc.
I've had experience teaching raw beginners, beginner-2's, and beginner-3's from age 5 through age 70's for the past 15 years. Probably in the hundreds range, total.
In general, I'd say these are too early for beginners: complications of various rulesets, endgame principles, basic joseki. ( Of course, there are always exceptions. )
For the raw beginner: just the most basic rules ( no more than can fit in a normal font on
one side of a business card ). Zero jargons: I avoid jargons as much as possible for the raw beginner; thus I
don't say: liberty, eyes, ko, throw-in, etc. In general, I don't even
mention the term atari to the raw beginner. I
demonstrate the concepts of
dame,
atari, and captures
visually and in normal everyday language, without jargons. I feel the concepts are important, not the jargons. It's my preference when teaching raw beginners. Maybe there are people who have greater affinity with jargons and can learn faster with jargons -- so YMMV here.
In general, for a raw beginner, even up to a beginner-3 (as always, exceptions apply):
- the most rudimentary rules ( zero jargons );
- the most fundamental capturing exercises ( capturing a single stone in the center, the side, and the corner; capturing the smallest group with 1 real eye; etc. )
- the most fundamental rescues: saving 1 single stone in atari, etc.
- capture-1 on 9x9 ( just a few iterations, to see their digest levels );
|
| (the down-arrow 'v' in the quoted text above)
v
This down-arrow 'v' depends
immensely on the individual:
For many beginner-3's, they never made it past capture-1 to a full 9x9 game.
Sample: last night at the coffee shop, a recent university graduate showed up. He's currently applying to graduate schools in the U.K. but is in town for a few months. He had played some 9x9's with friends and against engines. He had only played two 19x19 games before last night. He played his third 19x19 game with our 10kyu member. He played his 4th 19x19 with me; 9-stone -- he was ready. So it depends greatly on the individual.
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