[Brutha]

The best Go programs, on the other hand, play at novice level.

While a pro will beat a Go program anytime, I wouldn't call the level on which computer programmes play a novice level. There bots at KGS that play as 1 kyu.

First = Kurnik - Play Free Online Games (chess, bridge, canasta etc.) once you register I am sure you'll find equal oponents to you and will enjoy the game.

In general there are a lot of people on Kurnik that don't know anything about strategy (at least the Go players on the server).

I would rather recommand a pure chess server for someone who wants to learn how to play and don't learn flawed ideas about the game (my own experience lies in Go but learning chess is probably similar).

In general Go is a more whole brain game than chess.

In Go you generally to find the objectivly best possible move and make that move afterwards.
In chess you rather try to make a move that wins you the game and you try to provoke your opponent to make errors.

I think that Go needs more long term thinking when chess is more about hard calculation of possible moves that are 5-10 moves ahead.

I would also recommend a book focusing on the strategy on the first 25 moves (the opening). It is pretty much accepted that if you can secure the best positioning control of the board within that time, you give yourself the best chance to dominate and win the rest of the game.

Even when I don't know that much about chess I have read an article that makes the case that beginners make every few move errors that are greater than the advantage gaint by player a correct opening.