Life In 19x19

Hello Again,

As you must know by now, I am a complete beginner. One thing I don't know is the words for moves and terms. I know a few, but not all. Is there like a dictionary for these terms (if there's that many), or is the list short enough you can tell me?

Galen

I think this is a good place to start: http://senseis.xmp.net/?GoTerms

Yeah, if you see us use any words that aren't on that list, or if you aren't sure what the definition there means, feel free to ask.

Also, you don't need to know most of them. Just check senseis library when you find a new one, and that should be enough.

Here's a short list of what I believe are the most commonly used japanese go terms:
Aji, Atari, Gote, Hane, Joseki, Ko, Komi, Miai, Moyo, Seki, Sente, Tengen, Tenuki, Tesuji

If you know these, then you'll understand 95% of "go player talk"
For explanations of the terms see the link that tj86430 already posted: http://senseis.xmp.net/?GoTerms

edit: Added "tenuki" after I saw it on Araban's list! How could I forget about that – it is so common that it deserves to be on my list too

Zwergesel wrote:Here's a short list of what I believe are the most commonly used japanese go terms:
Aji, Atari, Gote, Hane, Joseki, Ko, Komi, Miai, Moyo, Seki, Sente, Tengen, Tesuji

...and hamete!

But this is a good list of terms that are very common in the Go community. I'd also like to add to it (along with a very succinct and practical definition):

• Dame (neutral point)
• Fuseki (early stage; synonymous to the opening)
• Hoshi (the star point; there are 9 on the board; also signifies handicap placement)
• Kifu (game record)
• Nigiri (a procedure to decide who plays W/B in an even game)
• Ponnuki (the shape that arises when 4 stones capture 1 enemy stone; flower/diamond shape)
• Semeai (liberty race)
• Shimari (corner enclosure)
• Tenuki (to play elsewhere)
• Yose (endgame)

Out of curiosity I checked how many results a forum search for these terms produced

Sente (529), Joseki (428), Aji (312), Moyo (234), Tenuki (214), Tesuji (191), Gote (189), Atari (176), Komi (156), Hane (155), Fuseki (141), Tsumego (119), Miai (91), Seki (90), Dame (62), Tengen (61), Shimari (49), Hoshi (45), Ponnuki (40), Kifu (38), Yose (30), Sabaki (29), Keima (20), Semeai (18), Hamete (17), Tewari (16), Nobi (13), Tobi (12), Kosumi (12), Nigiri (9), Jigo (7)

I could not search "ko" because it's too short, but I believe it will certainly be amongst the top 10.

These are some additional technical terms (and their number of occurrence in the forum). Most of them are in English, but they have a special meaning in go:

approach: 302
attachment: 74
byoyomi / byo-yomi: 74 (excl. ocurrences in sgf)
extension: 142
kakari: 15
ladder: 157
monkey jump: 15
nakade: 8 (rarely used, but important to know)
net: (too short to search for, but important to know)
peep: 80
pincer: 205
ponnuki: 41
snapback: 24
squeeze: 15

FWIW of the words posted so far there are a handful that I have no idea what they mean (I could look them up if I wanted ofcourse). What I mean is that you don't need to know all these words in order to enjoy the game. Understanding them aids to some extent in communication with others and to put a word on difficult concepts but is by no means a prerequisit for playing the game.

Furikawariiiii!!!!

I believe one of the best things here in the L19x19-Community is the general will to help beginners, so when you dont understand a word, need a graphical explanation of a concept etc. just feel free to ask, I'm 100% sure you'll get an answer

Doesn't everyone need to know sangentakabasami?

Perhaps this Sensei's Library page is more useful to a newcomer: [sl=CommonGoTerms]Common Go Terms[/sl]

Helel wrote:A great resource for Swedish players that could have some value also for an English audience is
P-A Lund's Japanese-Swedish-English GO Glossary.

I guess that if you don't speak Swedish you would like to see this link instead: http://arkiv.goforbundet.se/palund/glos ... rm_000.htm

Helel wrote:A great resource for Swedish players that could have some value also for an English audience is
P-A Lund's Japanese-Swedish-English GO Glossary.

I can see why you suggested a Swedish resource. I hope he's not actually galen, or perhaps that will make him feel right at home here amongst like minded

DrStraw wrote:Doesn't everyone need to know sangentakabasami?

three point high pincer?

But should it not been sangen taka basami splitting it up makes it much more readable.

san means three
Taka means high
hasami means pincer