[dnackoul]

>Its not good for a professional to play a game he thinks he will lose.

That's interesting, any ideas where this attitude comes from? I feel like that's the opposite of a lot of other sports and games, where the ability to take a bad loss and come back improved is seen as an important skill.

[bingojess]

I have no idea how to play Go but reading his responses are quite and interesting and insightful into the realm. Go does seem very different from other kinds of sport. I guess this stems from the fact that it can't be brute forced so it's very much a game that goes by feel, intuition and experience?

[icelancer]

Go is also seen as a martial art and much of its underpinnings are spiritual in nature. It's a much different beast than chess from a cultural standpoint, hence the somewhat strange replies.

[baby]

I feel like defeat in Go is much more intense, even at an amateur level. In Sport you get all these hormones throughout the game that you kind of feel good even if you lose. In Go if you lose it's a direct attack to your intelligence. Losing a Go game is really stressful (imo). But then I get really stressed when I play starcraft too.

[conanbatt]

Hm, i dont think this is it.

To play go well you need balance. It requires intense emotional training. Any feeling you have during a game must be reigned in immediately because it will cloud your judgemnet and it does so in a way you cant understand.

Think of Go as a conversation. Lets stay you are having a civil conversation about a topic with someone, and the other person throws an insult in the middle. Will your next messages look the same as the ones before? Of course not, because you will be rattled, or offended, or something, and thus the tone and content of your messages will change immediately.

If that happens to you in Go, you are on a path of self destruction.

So losing a game to an amateur could be something in your mind, as an insult, that just modifies you a bit, even just temporary. But it does, so you feel contaminated.