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It is the world’s second most-played strategy game (after Chinese Chess) with some 60 million players, but you could spend a lifetime in the West without ever seeing it in the fl esh. It appears in such films as Pi and A Beautiful Mind, but only in fleeting glimpses and without ever being named. It is regarded as the quintessential game: pure, simple, but profoundly difficult to master.
What is it? The ancient strategy game of Go.Originating in China, where it is known as weiqi, at least three
thousand years ago, Go’s beginnings are wrapped in myth. The board, consisting of a grid of lines in each direction, indicates a link with the lunar calendar, and the black and white playing pieces, called stones, with the concepts of yin and yang. Some stories tell of an Emperor who used the game to sharpen the mind of a wayward son.Undoubtedly, Go has been valued since ancient times for the way it develops not only logical and strategic thinking but also judgement, balance and respect for your opponent –much like the physical martial arts. Throughout its long history the game has sustained the interest of many sections of society. Older than Buddhism, in Japan it captured the attention of Zen monks and the samurai warrior class, who both recognised Buddhist philosophy refl ected in the interplay of the game’s simple rules and almost esoteric complexity. Though the equipment can be exquisite (and also very expensive) a board and
stones can be improvised anywhere with whatever is to hand. In India, small children in orphanages use bottle caps and cardboard to play through professional game records, while in Canada and Alaska construction workers caught without a set use river pebbles, coins or sweets
What is it? The ancient strategy game of Go.Originating in China, where it is known as weiqi, at least three
thousand years ago, Go’s beginnings are wrapped in myth. The board, consisting of a grid of lines in each direction, indicates a link with the lunar calendar, and the black and white playing pieces, called stones, with the concepts of yin and yang. Some stories tell of an Emperor who used the game to sharpen the mind of a wayward son.Undoubtedly, Go has been valued since ancient times for the way it develops not only logical and strategic thinking but also judgement, balance and respect for your opponent –much like the physical martial arts. Throughout its long history the game has sustained the interest of many sections of society. Older than Buddhism, in Japan it captured the attention of Zen monks and the samurai warrior class, who both recognised Buddhist philosophy refl ected in the interplay of the game’s simple rules and almost esoteric complexity. Though the equipment can be exquisite (and also very expensive) a board and
stones can be improvised anywhere with whatever is to hand. In India, small children in orphanages use bottle caps and cardboard to play through professional game records, while in Canada and Alaska construction workers caught without a set use river pebbles, coins or sweets