Are you looking for a way to play Go online with human players and/or bots? Or would you like to take part in any online Go lessons?
From the video tutorials below you will learn how to use each of 3 most popular Go servers among European and American Go community.
1. OGS
You can play Go on OGS simply through your browser, i.e. you don’t need to download anything.
It’s quite easy to use, no matter if you wish to play on your PC, phone, tablet or Apple devices.
Nowadays it’s a very popular server for conducting Go classes.
Watch the playlist of OGS tutorials
2. KGS
You can play Go on KGS through your browser and through a special downloadable client called “CGoban“.
You will find there a list of rooms, which you can join. And then you can play Go and chat with other players who are in the same room as you.
Some rooms are moderated by national Go organizations, clubs or private teachers. So, after joining a room you can also get access to some local information, e.g. if there is a change of schedule in the next week’s meeting of your Go club.
KGS is a much older server than OGS. It’s less popular than it used to be, but it still remains a nice place for discussions among local Go players and you can still find there other people to play Go with.
And the CGoban client is very convenient for writing down your games, even if you are offline.
Watch the playlist of KGS tutorials
3. IGS-Pandanet
You can play Go on IGS-Pandanet only after downloading a special client called “GoPanda2“.
Pandanet is one of the first Go servers in the world.
These days it’s still much more popular in Japan than in Europe or America, although it becomes used more often in the West thanks to e.g. generous sponsorship of Pandanet in large European and American tournaments.
Some tournaments are being played or broadcasted exclusively on Pandanet, so if you are interested in e.g. cheering for your team in the European Team Go Championship, it’s definitely worth visiting this server.
Watch the playlist of IGS-Pandanet tutorials
Besides these 3 servers, there are also some other servers used by a much bigger audience in Asia, but they aren’t as popular in the western countries.
The reason can be e.g. lack of English version or a poorly translated one. Most of your opponents there won’t be able to communicate in English, either.
In comparison, OGS, KGS and IGS-Pandanet have well prepared English versions and they are even translated to some less popular languages, e.g. Greek or Estonian.
Some of the world’s biggest Go servers are: Fox, Tygem, Yike, Cyberoro.
Due to a huge audience, it’s not a problem to find there a suitable opponent, regardless of your level and time of the day.
The top European and American Go players usually play some practice games on these servers anyway, because they can play there with the top Asian players who are still much stronger than the players from other continents.
For the internet Go lessons, besides Go servers used for analyzing Go variations, we recommend using an additional communication tool, such as Discord, Skype or Zoom.
Even though you can write with your teacher on each of these servers, it’s faster to speak than to write. And you can even see your teacher’s face during the lesson if they decide to switch their video camera on.