Review: Baduk TV
1. Baduk tv according to gogameguru:
In Korea, the game of Go is called Baduk.
And Baduk TV is a television station that broadcasts programs exclusively about Go.
24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Live games with commentary, game reviews and the highest quality lessons on all aspects of Go.
Unfortunately though, Baduk TV has never been easily accessible outside of Korea.
At least, it wasn’t…
Baduk TV on demand with English subtitles
Go Game Guru teamed up with Baduk TV to create a product we call Baduk TV English.
Baduk TV already produces the best Go videos available anywhere in the world. The presenters are professional Go players and the production values are as high as you’d expect from a serious TV channel.
So how do you make something like that even better?
We took the best of Baduk TV, assembled a team who are not only native speakers of Korean or English, but also top amateur or professional level Go players, and got them to work together to translate the videos into fluent English for you.
2. About the reviewer:
I’m a EGF 9k who recently re-discovered go.
I don’t get anything in return for this review, but gogameguru will sponsor the Brussels go tournament so it would be nice to give some feedback about baduk-tv to the participants of the Brussels tournament.
3. Review:
A Why did I subscribe to baduk tv:
I was curious. Like every go-player in Europe I had heard about how in Korea and Japan they have tv-channels where they show go programs nonstop. I was already a fan of gogameguru (arguably the best news site about professional go) and the reviews of professional games they post. One evening I just decided I’d give it a try.
B Experience
The content on Baduk TV English seems to be divided into lectures and game reviews. The Lectures are either based on level (becoming x-kyu, or lever up to x-kyu) or are topic basic (ex: attacking vitamins). The game reviews are either historical or are recent pro-games.
I’ve been a subscriber for roughly a month and I watched about 70 video’s.
Lectures:
I started with the “becoming 5-kyu” series. The presenter is Shim Wooseop 7 dan. His style of teaching is different from anything I had seen so far. Here (Belgium) I have heard not to study fuseki or joseki until I was 5kyu, but Shim (or Wooseop?) takes a totally different approach. Every lecture lasts +- 15 minutes, which he divides into “opening, invasion and life and death”. The invasions that he discusses are invasions that can happen in the opening he discussed in the first half of the lecture and the life and death situations are always very practical. His pace is just about right for someone who isn’t 5kyu but he manages to put a lot of information in the lectures.
He also always starts his lecture with what I started calling a “Shimism”, which is a statement intended to whet your go-appetite. After watching a couple of lectures from Shim, I found myself eagerly awaiting his next Shimism. As it is difficult to explain what exactly I’m talking about I’ll give an example:
Hello everyone, welcome to ‘Becoming 5 Kyu’. I’m Shim Wooseop 7d.
Many Go players in Korea enjoy drinking.
They say they drink to blow off steam after losing a game.
But I think that’s just an excuse. They actually just want to spend more time with their Go friends.
And they keep talking about Go, even while they’re drinking.
Lots of useful information about Go is discussed and learned on such occasions.
I miss those days with my Go friends and hope that you’ll become one of my Go friends too.
Now I’m watching the “level up to 3-kyu” series. The information is already more advanced and the pace is quicker. The teacher doesn’t use Shimisms.
Game reviews:
The game reviews are always reviewed in pairs, a pro player and another player who seems to be asking the questions the viewer wants to asks. It’s fun, I won’t say that at my level I have learned a lot, but it really gives an impression of the playing strength of the pro’s.
One of the game reviews I saw was a review of a game which was reviewed live. At one point the players started a game-deciding ko and the game reviewers were counting ko threats. It was fun to hear the amazement in the commentators voice as the players found more and more ko threats (Is that also a Ko threat? That means he has 4 more!)
The quality of the video’s and translations is very good, I would say I haven’t seen anything like it. I can only compare with video’s that can be found on youtube.
4 Conclusion:
So far I have nothing bad to say about baduk tv. It’s a lot of fun for $ 20 (+- € 15). The lectures are useful and it’s great to have a tool that allows you to take a better look into the world of the pro’s. I’ll end this review with a Shimism:
Some people say “I’ve been 5 kyu for 20 years.”
Others also say “I’ve been for 7 kyu for 30 years and only started improving recently.”
Everyone shares the desire to improve their Go abilities.
I have a solution.
When we’re sick, we need to go to see a doctor and get a prescription.
Similarly, we can view not improving for a long time as an illness.
This kind of Go player should see a better player.
And get a ‘Go prescription’. Then, they should follow it.
Maybe Baduk tv is your prescription to improve your Go abilities or to get more fun out of playing Go. 🙂