GOing mad
While its tempting to describe Go as the Chess of the Far-East (Chess being predominantly popular in the west, as mental games go), it is said to be far more demanding than Chess.
Ever since i saw an art on The Economist, wanted to post this snippets on Go for others who may not have read it there:
The game known in English as go—Igo in Japanese, Weiqi in Chinese, Baduk in Korean—is not just more difficult and subtle than chess. It may also be the world's oldest surviving game of pure mental skill. Devised in China at least 2,500 years ago, it had stirred enough interest by the time of the Han dynasty (206BC-220AD) to inspire poets, philosophers and strategic theorists.
As in China, go in Japan remained for centuries a mere aristocratic pastime, until a sudden flowering under the shoguns of the Edo period (1603-1867).
Proper patronage, professionalisation and the rivalry between schools certainly elevated the standard of play in Japan far above that in China.
The new phenomenon in go is the meteoric rise of South Korea, a country long regarded by its neighbours as a backwater. Korea is go-mad. With less than half Japan's population, it has almost three times as many active players.
Some further pointers from The Economist on Go below:
Sensei's Library offers information and discussions about go for aficionados and novices alike. A glossary of go terms is here. Google hosts a go discussion board; Go4Go has news about recent games. Go Game World lists famous games.
Ever since i saw an art on The Economist, wanted to post this snippets on Go for others who may not have read it there:
The game known in English as go—Igo in Japanese, Weiqi in Chinese, Baduk in Korean—is not just more difficult and subtle than chess. It may also be the world's oldest surviving game of pure mental skill. Devised in China at least 2,500 years ago, it had stirred enough interest by the time of the Han dynasty (206BC-220AD) to inspire poets, philosophers and strategic theorists.
As in China, go in Japan remained for centuries a mere aristocratic pastime, until a sudden flowering under the shoguns of the Edo period (1603-1867).
Proper patronage, professionalisation and the rivalry between schools certainly elevated the standard of play in Japan far above that in China.
The new phenomenon in go is the meteoric rise of South Korea, a country long regarded by its neighbours as a backwater. Korea is go-mad. With less than half Japan's population, it has almost three times as many active players.
Some further pointers from The Economist on Go below:
Sensei's Library offers information and discussions about go for aficionados and novices alike. A glossary of go terms is here. Google hosts a go discussion board; Go4Go has news about recent games. Go Game World lists famous games.
posted by g.e. at 6:58 AM
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