Go, Baduk, Weiqi
I play the game of Go, also known as igo (囲碁) in Japan, baduk (바둑) in Korea, and weiqi (圍棋, 围棋) in China.
What is Go?
If you don’t know about Go/baduk/weiqi, I recommend this Go Review - A video 4,000 years in the making, by popular boardgaming channel Shut Up & Sit Down.
If you find yourself with a bit more time on your hands, I can also strongly recommend AlphaGo - The Movie | Full award-winning documentary, a brilliant and moving documentary on the Google DeepMind Challenge Match of 2016, and AlphaGo’s rise to fame by beating Lee Sedol, one of the strongest players in the history of Go.
This is the point in the review where I would look for criticisms of Go, but—candidly—I don't have any. That would be like looking for problems with a pearl. The question isn't "what's wrong with this pearl?", it's "do you like pearls?"
Ranks
I have been playing Go intermittently since 2014–15, and can confidently say I am somewhere between a strong intermediate and a weak advanced player. My ranks are as follows.
| Association | Rank |
|---|---|
| AGA | 1 kyu |
| EGF | 2 kyu |
| NAGF | 3 dan ( ) |
| Server | Rank |
|---|---|
| Fox Weiqi | 4 dan |
| KGS | 1 dan |
| OGS | 1 dan |
| Pandanet IGS | 1 dan |
Gameplay
For three years, between 2021 and 2024, I have been a member of the American Yunguseng Dojang (AYD), an online Go school led by In-seong Hwang. Over the course of my reviews, he’s come up with a few noteworthy and funny quotes about my gameplay.
You are good at winning the game that you cannot win. [...] Somehow in the local fighting situation you get something out of nothing; that is your specialty.
Still not stable. But somehow you know the way to win the game, somehow. It's not easy to explain [your style of play].
As usual, you have a strong ability that you win the game that you cannot win.
I can tell that this is your best game ever. It's a pretty good one.
You are good at finding [the practical move]. Very good.
I always emphasize that you need to make your games more stable. This [...] was a stable game. I like it! I felt that this game was in control. You were in control.
Indeed, you possess the remarkable ability to excel in games that appear unwinnable—a true specialty.