Playing a game

Click on the "Players" button in the toolbar of the main IGS window to open a list of all currently online players. To play a game you need to select a proper opponent and send him a match request. After selecting the chosen player in the table and then the "Match" button a dialog will open where the game conditions like board size and time settings can be entered. When satisfied with these conditions, click "Match" in the dialog to finally send your request. An alternative way to open the match dialog on a selected player is to right-click on a line in the table and then select "Match" from the popup menu.

Finding an opponent

Finding a proper opponent from a list of 2.000 players online can be a difficult task. glGo offers some assistance to limit the displayed players.

  • Rank range

    Define an upper and lower rank. If you are a 2d player, you might try something like setting a range from 4d to 2k or similar. This greatly reduces the number of shown players in the table.

  • Available toggle

    Show only players which are currently open to receive a match request. This means those players did not set themselves closed for accepting matches and are currently not playing in another game.

  • Friends toggle

    Show only your Friends. You can mark players as friend by right-clicking on the line and select "Status" - "Friend" from the popup or using the Playermanager.

Receiving match requests

Unless you set yourself being "Not open for playing", once another player sends you a match request a dialog will open and inform you about the proposed game settings. If you agree to the settings, click "Accept" and the game will start. Otherwise click "Decline."

In the toolbar of the IGS main window there is a dropdown box which defines the behaviour for being on the receiving end of match requests.

  • Not open for playing

    Nobody can send you a match request. You can send a match request yourself, but this will automatically switch your status to "Open for playing".

  • Open for playing

    You can receive match requests.

  • Looking for game

    This is similar to "Open for playing", but indicates you really want to play a game now. This increases the chance someone else asks you for a game greatly. Some clients flag these players in a special way.

glGo displays these flags in the player table in the first column. "X" means "Not open for playing", "!" means "Looking for game" and neither "X" nor "!" means "Open for playing".

Seeking a game

Seek” is the easiest and fastest way to play a game. Click the Seek button in the toolbar of the main IGS window and a new dialog will open which allows to configure the game conditions:

  • Time

    Select one of the available time settings which suits your taste best.

  • Board size

    Select the desired board size. Usually this is 19x19 for most games.

  • Max handicap

    Select the largest acceptable handicap you are willing to give to a weaker opponent or to take from a stronger opponent. Seek will always try to find an opponent of closest rank, but if none is available accepting a handicap will improve chances to get a game quickly.

Once the conditions are set, click "Ok" to enter your seek request. IGS-Pandanet keeps a pool of players who entered their seek request, and will select the opponent for you which fits best: Play with the same time setting, on the same board size and within the maximum handicap. When an opponent is found, the game will automatically start. If no game starts after several minutes, you might consider increasing the maximum handicap so seek can select from a bigger number of available players.

While your seek request is active, there will be a small dialog showing the configured game settings. It is possible to adjust the conditions from this dialog if you are unhappy with the previously selected ones or want to improve your chances to find an opponent by increasing the maximum handicap.

You can abort your seek request anytime by clicking the Cancel button. When a game starts, the seek request is automatically closed.