Life In 19x19

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!

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

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.