Valerie Smith first learned about an ancient Asian board game of strategy in Japanese comics that showed characters playing the game.
Photo illustration by Angela Kershner / The Citizen
The clock is ticking toward 2007
The clock is ticking toward 2007
The Auburn teenager found the game fascinating. She began to love the game because of the game's culture of respect for an opponent, much like the respect given to opponents in Asian martial arts. Losing was about an opportunity to learn rather than the loss of self-esteem because of defeat.
“With chess or checkers, if you lose, you feel awful,” Smith said. “With Go, you can say, 'Hey, I tried my best. I know I need to improve.' (In chess), one bad move can lose the game.”
Chess and checkers are in the same class of the centuries-old game called Go or Igo in Japanese, Wei-ch'i or Weiqi in Chinese or Baduk in Korean. The knight's move in chess is akin to a move from Go.
The game is played on a 19-inch by 19-inch board with intersecting lines. Each player takes turns placing black or white stones on the intersections of the lines. Players make patterns that will block their opponent's ability to progress across the board and capture more territory. An opponent's stone is considered captured when the four lines at its intersection - its four “liberties” - are blocked, Smith said.
“It's complex and simple at the same time. It's simple because it's a board and stones. It's complex because there are so many different places you can put your stones, so many different moves you can do, so many different shapes you can make,” Smith said.
The patterns formed during the game can even be considered works of art, Smith said.
Smith started a club at school, but she decided to begin a club that is open to the entire community because she has met more people outside of school who like the game. There are a handful of members, but they would like to expand the club.
Smith first learned about the game in a monthly Japanese comics magazine, Shonen Jump. Characters in the comics played the game. The game was started in China, but it has been popularized in Japan by graphic novels and comics (called Manga in Japan).
Smith said that 90 percent of the world's players are male, but that girls are just as good at the game. She said playing this game has strengthened her, and she hopes that as many girls or women, as boys or men, will join the club.
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
If you go
What: Go club
When: 12 to 3 p.m. every other Saturday; the next meeting is Jan. 6.
Where: Children's Room, Seymour Library, 176 Genesee St., Auburn
For details: visit http://auburn
goclub.brave
host.com
“With chess or checkers, if you lose, you feel awful,” Smith said. “With Go, you can say, 'Hey, I tried my best. I know I need to improve.' (In chess), one bad move can lose the game.”
Chess and checkers are in the same class of the centuries-old game called Go or Igo in Japanese, Wei-ch'i or Weiqi in Chinese or Baduk in Korean. The knight's move in chess is akin to a move from Go.
The game is played on a 19-inch by 19-inch board with intersecting lines. Each player takes turns placing black or white stones on the intersections of the lines. Players make patterns that will block their opponent's ability to progress across the board and capture more territory. An opponent's stone is considered captured when the four lines at its intersection - its four “liberties” - are blocked, Smith said.
“It's complex and simple at the same time. It's simple because it's a board and stones. It's complex because there are so many different places you can put your stones, so many different moves you can do, so many different shapes you can make,” Smith said.
The patterns formed during the game can even be considered works of art, Smith said.
Smith started a club at school, but she decided to begin a club that is open to the entire community because she has met more people outside of school who like the game. There are a handful of members, but they would like to expand the club.
Smith first learned about the game in a monthly Japanese comics magazine, Shonen Jump. Characters in the comics played the game. The game was started in China, but it has been popularized in Japan by graphic novels and comics (called Manga in Japan).
Smith said that 90 percent of the world's players are male, but that girls are just as good at the game. She said playing this game has strengthened her, and she hopes that as many girls or women, as boys or men, will join the club.
Staff writer Amaris Elliott-Engel can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 282 or at amaris.elliot-engel@lee.net
If you go
What: Go club
When: 12 to 3 p.m. every other Saturday; the next meeting is Jan. 6.
Where: Children's Room, Seymour Library, 176 Genesee St., Auburn
For details: visit http://auburn
goclub.brave
host.com
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