Go, Baduk, Weichi pt. 1 - The Mindset of Go

I first started learning Go when I was about 8 years old, but I never devlved much deeper than the most basic strategies. It was much later when I became fascinated with sea shell stones on a wooden board.

What was the most striking difference between my playing style as an 8-year-old and my playing style now is that I am less greedy and more patient. I'm not necessarily prying on the issue of virtue, but Go is also a game of character. It's a multi-dimensional game touching base with several facets of life not excluding strategy, memory, flexibility, but most importantly a test of character.

I'm by no means an expert, but it seems apparent that the sooner you learn to apply patience and understanding to the game, the faster you begin to realize what this game is really about. Once you nail down the basic strategies, you begin to understand that at higher level games it really becomes an exciting game, more like psychological warfare.

You begin to learn how to wear down the opponent or scare him into making the wrong move. Patience and character pays because the longer you hold up can often make the difference between a win or a loss.

The concept of applying patience is also fundamental to lower level games. When you begin to sit back and think about the consequences of each move, you understand when and where to start cutting your losses. You will also begin to see where the appropriate time to attack your opponent and avoid playing overly aggressive plays. It is really quite remarkable how closely Go will articulate your patience and reward you with it.

It is not surprising to see thousands of Go proverbs that seem to impose more of a moral than a strategical tactic. You can spend all the time memorizing proverbs, however, the easier option is to just apply pinch of patience.