I am new to the game Go but I love it SO much the only problem is that I don't have a Go game of my own OR someone who would like to play with me on a daily bacis, what am I to do??? I know of places I can play online but that is no fun!!!

星生san, konnichi wa.

I was expecting that a large city with universities like Tampa would have a chapter of the American Go Association (AGA), but it doesn't appear to be the case.

There is a chapter in St. Pete, with meetings every Sunday evening, but that is probably too far for you to go. Perhaps if you contact someone there, though, they can tell you something about go players in Tampa. Here's their web page: http://www.stpetersburggoclub.com/
The contact person's e-mail address is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Also, there is a list maintained by the AGA to help players to find others near them. It is in the form of a map, which you can zoom in on. You could add yourself to that, if you want to, and hope that someone nearby contacts you. The web site is http://www.frappr.com/RealWorldGo (I would imagine that you would need parental permission before doing this.)

You may want to explore the various resources at the AGA site, http://www.usgo.org/, or the British Go Association site, http://www.britgo.org/index.html.

This may not appeal to you, but there are computer programs-- even a couple of free ones-- which can help you to advance from beginner level to somewhere in the 9 or 10-kyuu range. I can give you details about two of these, one which plays on a 9x9 board, and one which plays on a 13x13 board, if you are interested.

My strength is about 4 or 5 kyuu-- about 5 handicap stones above the level of those programs-- so I can give you some advice on learning, if you are a beginner. But there is of course no substitute for playing with someone in person.

--Tony

P.S.: You could also try calling Student Activities at USF and seeing if they know anything about a go club, or go players at the university.

どうもありがとう。

That is very helpful thank you, yes I am a begginer to Go, but I hope to get better and better!!!

There's a line lots of anime characters say all the time: "I have to become stronger!" I wish I knew how they say it in Japanese.

Give igowin and Wulu a try (if you are using a computer with Windows-- if not, I'll find one for your operating system.

igowin plays on a 9x9 board. It starts out giving you a large handicap, but as you start to win games against it, the handicap will become smaller and smaller. It will also give you an estimate of your playing strength (which is not extremely accurate). When you win enough games, you will eventually be giving the program handicap stones. At that point, I would recommend switching to Wulu, which plays on a 13x13 board.

igowin can be downloaded at http://www.smart-games.com/igowin.html (as well as many other places). The 13x13 version of Wulu can be downloaded at http://www.britgo.org/importfiles/downloads/wulu.zip

I had play GO when I was High school ( about 8 - 9 years before ) at site play.yahoo.com but that time I didn't enjoy to play with someone who I haven't talk for a long time. So I quit it and now I don't know where can I play it.

Until I see this topic! Thank you very much Tony san !!! ^ ^

I've read you're like GO but I didn't ask you about Go Application.
Now I'm going to download it soon ^^

PS. Say_say san, can I play with you next time? ^ ^ (I'm beginner too ^ ^)

I would love to play you some time!