Now I’m trying a new approach: Playing lots of games, replaying lots of other people’s games and, most importantly, doing tsumego every day.

Up to this point, I’ve spent a lot of time reading books on how to play Go.  Books on fuseki.  Books on attacking.  Books on special techniques for handicap Go.  And, of course, some of this sinks in and some of it bounces off.  But now my brain is full to the point of overflowing and, unless I use that information (or recognize it as I replay a game), I’m going to lose it.  Truth is, I still make a ton of beginner mistakes even though I often know the theory of how the play ought to proceed.

A big handicap for me has been that I don’t like playing Go online.  It’s more a measure of emotional immaturity than anything else, because I am afraid of being harshly criticized by kibitzers on the online services, such as KGS or one of the many Go servers listed on the Sensei’s Library website.

You see, this actually happened to me once: When I was a brand new player, I played a simultaneous game with a high-dan player — this was very early on in my Go studies.  Not only was I crushed in the game (as one would expect), but the rude comments by the kibitzers crushed me emotionally.  I never wanted to play online again.  Yet, I know that if I would just play more online, I’d surely benefit greatly (though I must say that, no matter what, nothing can replace playing in front of a real Go board).

An interesting solution

Recently, my friend Glenn Vasdal visited me for an extended 4-week vacation here in Japan, so that he could play in the annual Japanese ranking tournament and also spend some time studying Go in Japan, before returning to his full-time studies in China.  While he was here, Glenn hit on a super idea that could help me with online Go — to rid me of the doubt and fear that I’d experienced.

He created a kyu account on KGS, but would not tell me the name of the account or its rank.  Glenn was my intermediary:  he set up the games and sent the invitations.  Once a game started, he played moves on my actual Go board for the other player.  In short, I played a “real” Go game in front of a Go board, with no help or kibitzing.  And no risk of seeing the comments.  In fact, there was no risk of anything other than having an interesting game.  Even though we only did this over a couple of weeks, at the end of the experiment, Glenn still didn’t tell me the name of the account, saying only that I’d “made it into the single digit kyu level.”

Now, I’m more interested than I have been in years to play more online.  It still is hard for me, but I did play a game earlier today, using a new account.  Hopefully the only way I can go from here is up.

I’d seen the same clever-looking poster (in a full poster size) prominently displayed at the Ki-in’s Tokyo branch, featuring two cats (naturally, one black and one white) playing Go while talking about joining the course. The poster was so fun, I wanted to find out more.

For 2009, this annual course is being offered at 72 different locations, including branches of the Nihon Ki-in and various private Go salons throughout Japan. The target audience described on the poster is kyu grade members, which could be children or adults. However, because there are numerous children’s courses, my expectation is that this course targets older youth and adults. It’s noteworthy that igo mirai is also the name of the monthly Ki-in members’ magazine for kyu grade players, and that copies of igo mirai will be used as the textbook for the course.

Go’s own ‘life-and-death problem’ (死活問題)

Although I have heard people say that Japan has long since lost its edge in the world of Go, and despite the fact that the professional rankings bear this out, I find that there is no shortage of interest in Go in Japan. Japan’s population is graying rapidly, so it should come as no surprise that the population of Go players is graying in proportion to this change.  However, I have recently come to realize how vibrant the Go community is in Japan, especially after having met some players in Tokyo and seeing large numbers of children take part in competitions and classes.

From my point of view, the interesting question isn’t so much “what country is in the lead” but, simply, “is the community thriving and growing”.  Happily, in Japan I think that the answer to this second question is ‘yes’.

• In the upper right-hand corner of the poster: “Go of the Future,” the Japanese Go Association’s monthly magazine will be used as the course textbook
• One of the two Go-playing cats says, Using “Go of the Future” [the magazine], let’s study Go of the future!
  
• The poster’s title, in red, announces, The “Go of the Future” course is now accepting applicants
• Beneath the title is a description:

Maybe you learned Go, but now you’re a kyu player who’s not playing very much.

If you’d like to play some enjoyable Go with other kyu players, then you should join the Go of the Future class!

Join us for an exchange about Go in a relaxed setting with knowledgeable instructors

• Instructors: Mainly Nihon Ki-in instructors
• Location: Branches of the Nihon Ki-in and certain private Go salons (details at http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/igomirai/)
• When? Times vary by location; please inquire at an individual class location for details
• Target audience: Kyu grade Nihon Ki-in general members (Basic II) (daily admission for non-members is also available)
• Format: Lecture and discussion (Igo Mirai magazine is used as the text – annual subscription is JPY 7,500 [= about USD 76 at time of writing]), teaching games and games played against other members of the class
• Cost: Fees vary by location; please inquire at an individual class location for details
• Contact: Japan Go Foundation, telephone 03-3288-8725

[Translator's note: Although the word mirai means future, it typically refers to a distant or abstract future. So the title would seem to target a young demographic. My translation of igo mirai as "Go of the Future" could be interpreted differently, but I think it captures the intended spirit.]

However, I have recently been learning a lot about my own personality by playing the board game Go.  There are no draws when playing a game of Go: in each game someone wins, and someone loses. I was thinking about this topic the other day while quickly rereading a popular manga entitled Hikaru no Go, which is an excellent story about a young boy who learns to play Go through a rather unusual set of circumstances.

In the story, the protagonist, named Hikaru, develops an intense (and mutual) rivalry with a prodigious young Go player of the same age named Akira. Throughout the story, there are times when their playing is completely overwhelmed by the intensity of the emotion that they feel about this rivalry. (In inset, above, Hikaru is reminded of his rivalry by one of his teachers.)

Reading this, I immediately though about my own experience playing Go and my own thoughts about the relative importance of winning and losing. And also about how my own personality must come through to others when I win or lose against them.

What I want is to learn from playing games. To learn about the game. To learn about my opponent.  But I don’t want the winning of the game to be the focus of my playing.

Yet, about half the time, I find that either my desire to win or, sometimes, just having a bad day can really affect my playing style.  I can become frustrated because I don’t understand more advanced strategy and tactics, and I sometimes get frustrated for playing outright incorrect moves, even though I knew the correct tactic to use. Of course, these mistakes are merely a sign of inexperience, and they will change as I play the game more.

Fortunately, I recognize that the more selfish side of my personality comes out at times like this. With this in mind, I am able, at least, to use this chance to keep my egocentric behaviour in check. In this fashion I’ll be much more able to focus on the ‘fun’ part of playing games.

As the old saying goes, “it’s not whether you win or lose that counts; it’s how you play the game.”

Situated a two-minute walk from the JR Ichgaya station (市ヶ谷駅) on the Sobu train line [1] and an equal two minutes away from the Ichigaya subway station (Shijuku subway line), the Nihon Ki-in building is the spitting image of the drawings in the manga Hikaru no Go. (Compare the inset images, right.)

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a lot of time to poke around on this trip, so just looked around on the ground floor.  But even the small lobby area was quite impressive, with a number of quite unique looking historical go artifacts, including what appeared to be a hand-carved go board that was clearly hundreds of years old.

It turns out that yesterday saw an important match between Takao Shinji (9p, Judan) and Cho U (9p, Meijin) in the 2009 Judan Title tournament. In the lobby of the building, about 15 or 20 people were sitting silently, intently watching a large-screen television showing a live feed of the match play.

During the interval between plays by these two professionals, I had a chance to see what events were upcoming, and the list is long. According to the fliers posted in the lobby, aside from the many courses on offer, there is to be a spring break go training camp, in that very building. For about US$80, students from elementary school through high school age can participate in daily sessions (graded by ability, from absolute beginner to high dan-grade), under the supervision of professional players. I bet that will be a lot of fun for those who participate.

There is also an amateur competition coming up at the end of the month, and if time permits, I might go back and watch some Go-playing in person.

[Note 1] Ichigaya station is on the JR Sobu line, which has yellow color-coded trains.  It shares a rail right-of-way with the Chuo line in central Tokyo, which means that you can take the Chuo rapid line (Orange trains) to the nearest transfer station (Yotsuya or Ochanomizu) and then transfer to the local Sobu line (Yellow trains) for the final few stations. [See the JR East map of Tokyo train lines (PDF) for more details.]

Housing eight Go boards (囲碁盤, igoban) as well as a large magnetic lecture-style Go board at the front of the room, the tournament room was far more intimate than the general meeting room we’d used before. Now I really want to come to this room to watch a tournament.

Each week we study four homework problems in a classroom setting, after which we review one of the games played by the students the previous week. (We record our games on kifu paper and give them to the sensei before leaving. He reviews them after class and selects one of them to show in class, based on what topics he wants to present.)

One of today’s problems really intrigued me. It wasn’t especially hard, but I guess I wasn’t thinking about the problem with an open mind, until one of my classmates walked me through the problem. It’s a question concerning the opening of a game. In the diagram (right), with black to play next, which of the four choices (A~D) is the best?

I felt certain that the answer would be “B” because of the importance I attached to protecting the side. After all, C looked to be barging into white’s territory without adequate support and A looked to be a standard approach move, but nothing extraordinary.

However, my problem was not thinking through the final option, D, from the point of view of the opposing color, white.  I saw the lower-left corner as exerting significant black influence toward the center of the board. However, as my classmate pointed out, if you imagine white at point D, you can quickly see how most of the black stones in the area could come quickly under severe attack by white.

The best answer is D. Live and learn.

My notes written just before the class (but after having realized the error of my thinking) read as follows:

一番強い選択はＤだろう。Ｄを選んだら、低いの左の隅が守られる。しかし、白いがＤに打つ場合に黒の隅に置いてある石は早く亡くなって来るかもしれない。

Run by a 2p (ni-dan professional), the center is usually quite full of players on any given day. There are sessions for beginner players on Thursday afternoons, but otherwise the place seems to be reserved for experienced players. I often go to simply watch the games (and sometimes they even waive the fee).

The average age of the players seems to hover around 60, or older, it seems, though I have seen some younger players from time to time. Although I know that the average age of Go players is advancing, I do wonder about the future of the game if children are not actively participating. I’ve only been to a few Go centers in Osaka, but they all seem to have roughly the same demographics. Now that I’ve noticed, I’ll pay closer attention.

If you’d like to stop in to the store sometime, the address of the Tennoji Go Center is shown below, at right, in Japanese. Even if you don’t speak any Japanese, having the address in kanji would be helpful for taxi drivers or other locals who might help you get to your destination. In English the address would be written as follows:

Tennōji Go Center, 4th floor, Shinwa-Kōsan Building, Hiden-in machi 8-11, Tennōji-ku, Osaka, Japan 543-0055. Their telephone number is (06) 6773-0541. [map] (The staff speaks only Japanese)

I believe that this Go Center is affiliated to the Kansai Ki-in, though I am not 100% certain. In any event, the players are quite strong and, by and large, are tolerant of foreigners in their midst. (I’ve even been taken to karaoke by one of the more elderly players. But that is a completely different story!)

The ad hoc coordinator of these efforts is David Drexler, who’s set up a Google groups list devoted to coordinating the various Go activities in Oklahoma. The details are on the Oklahoma Go players website.

What the Oklahoma players are doing is really interesting: they’re not only interested in ensuring that people have a venue in which to play, but also that they draw in young players.  To that end, they’re trying very hard, with the assistance of local teachers, to set up elementary school clubs.  I think it’s a really fantastic idea.

Maybe you’re an Oklahoman who is interested in being a Go player or finding other people who know how to play Go.  If so, check out the website and learn to play!

2009-03-03
Updated to reflect correct link to the Oklahoma Go Association website.

And there the matter stayed for quite a long time.  However, once I moved to Japan, I was once again exposed to Go and its 4000-year history through my Japanese language tutor, Mr. Kimura, at the Osaka YMCA Japanese Language Institute. Kimura-san is an amateur dan-grade Go player, and so our conversations quickly turned to Go. We started to play games every Monday afternoon on a friend’s Go board, and I eventually bought my own so we could play and study problems.

In November 2008, I decided to get a more “standard” introduction to the game by taking a short tutorial instruction from a professional Go player at the Nihon Ki-in western branch in Osaka, which is about 15 minutes from my home by train.  Under the expert guidance of Furuta Naoyoshi 4-dan pro (古田直義四段), I was able to grasp the fundamental concepts of the game, and I’ve been playing steadily ever since.

The Nihon Ki-in is one of two major Go associations in the Kansai region. Although the Nihon Ki-in is the largest Go organization in Japan, apparently there was a scism long ago in the Go community that left Kansai with both a Kansai Ki-in, headquartered in Osaka, and the Nihon Ki-in, headquartered in Tokyo, but with a major presence in Osaka. I chose to go to the Nihon Ki-in for assistance purely because they were more conveniently situated for me.

I hope to take a kyū grade seminar at the Nihon Ki-in in the spring, time permitting, to learn more about how to play well. They offer a fairly wide range of courses, aimed at different levels of players and at varying ages.