One summer, I interned at a think-tank where there were a lot of Go players. One of them invited a Go master (7+ dan) to play 15 separate games against 15 people. He never delayed: he would take his turns in each of the games during the amount of time that his opponents would use to take one turn. He won all of the games, but none by anything that would seem like a blowout margin.
After he left, people began discussing and comparing scores. He had beaten every single one of them by exactly 13 points.
Its sort of like playing horse with Michael Jordan. (My Dad has -- they happened to go to the same health club in Chicago. He tells the story much better.)
You may think you are playing horse. Michael Jordan is playing another game entirely. You probably don't understand the rules but don't worry, you're not winning in that one either.
I've heard that, among elite Go players, it's most prestigious to beat an esteemed opponent by a small margin, such that a 1-point win is considered ideal.
i think that could be a separate issue from the tactics of the actual game. if an opponent blunders such that you have 2 moves that seal the game for you, one which gives a large point victory and one which gives a small one, it is considered polite to take the small one as a show of respect for your opponents skills.
that's the way I've heard it at least. Go etiquette reflects japanese culture and not having grown up in it I'm sure none of us truly appreciate all the subtleties.
If you have 5 minutes, you can learn the rules from http://homepages.cwi.nl/~tromp/go.html -- a much neater explanation than most. It takes a little practice to get good, of course. Just a few years of full-time playing.
After he left, people began discussing and comparing scores. He had beaten every single one of them by exactly 13 points.