Ladders: When and How

Difficulty
Language EN
Subtitles EnRu

Find a ladder and count it till you mount it

April 2026
(14)

Ladders are one of the first things you learn in Go, yet they remain a frequent source of mistakes. They may be simple in principle, but they are incredibly demanding in practice. This course offers a deep dive into ladders: how to recognize them early and manage them effectively. You’ll master common shapes and tactical patterns that will sharpen your reading and ensure you never fall into a costly ladder trap again.

Suitable for: 20–13 kyu

Teacher

Marianna Szychowiak 2d

Devoted Go player from Poland deciphering the game and the Chinese language.

  $29.90 *
Trial Lesson
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Course Includes

5 Lessons
6 Quizzes
~ 60 min

Reviews

5.0
Avg. Rating
14 Reviews
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We'd love to know what you think!
Posted 9 hours ago

Great course! Didn't know ladders could be this tricky

Posted 2 days ago

Des explications simples et claires pour des exercices pas si simples. Merci

Posted 4 days ago

That's a great course. Thanks, Marianna! Even though I was able to solve all the problems in the course except for one, I still feel that I've become much more confident in this important area. The point that you shouldn't “estimate” the ladders but count them stone by stone is very important.

Posted 5 days ago

Great course. Very important topic. Looking forward to the “Advanced Ladders” course!

Posted 5 days ago

Good course for beginners. I would have liked some sdk examples as I still notice people (even up to 3k) unable to properly read ladders. Kageyamas chapter about that in Lessons in the fundamentals in go is nice as well.

Posted 6 days ago

Thanks for the course Marianna; I enjoyed it. Definitely recommend this course for those who haven't learned their ladders yet. Many variations and techniques are presented with thorough explanations and good quiz problems. An important thing Marianna mentions more than once is the importance of reading ladders stone by stone. Great course, and I hope to more from her.

Posted 1 week ago

Thanks to pretty teacher!

Posted 1 week ago

Loved the course always good to practice the basics!

Posted 1 week ago

Excellent course with very clear explanations. It would have been better if the whole course was published in one go: now I had to wait halfway through for some tiume before the second half became available. That does not take away anything from the content, though, which was very helpful for a DDK like me.

Posted 3 weeks ago

A very well-explained and informative course. I’m glad to see new instructors joining the Go Magic team. If I had to mention one thing, I’d like the animated sequence showing the stones that have been placed to be a little slower than it is now. I hope we’ll see her again in more courses because she explains things very well.

Posted 4 weeks ago

Great course that shows how ladders can be tricky to find in real games...

Posted 1 month ago

Loved the course. I've been looking for something like this for some time. I know I'm weak on ladders and no way to improve.

Крутой курс и упрожнения, ни думал что лесница может так применяться

Posted 4 weeks ago

Очень харизматичная и приятная девушка, здорово объясняет. Побольше бы курсов с ней.

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