Go is a strategic board game for two players. It is known
as Wéiqí in Chinese (Traditional:
; Simplified:
), Igo
(
) or Go
(
) in Japanese,
and Baduk in Korean (hangul: ??). To differentiate
it from the common English verb go, it is sometimes written with a capital
G or spelled Goe.Go originated in ancient China, centuries before its
earliest known references in 4th century BC writing. It is mostly popular
in East Asia but has nowadays gained some popularity in the rest of the
world as well. Go is noted for being rich in strategic complexity despite
its simple rules.
Go is played by two players alternately placing black and white stones on the vacant intersections of a line grid. The standard size of this grid is 19 × 19, although the rules of Go can be freely applied to any size: 13 × 13 and 9 × 9 are popular choices for simpler and more tactic-oriented games, useful to introduce Go to new players. The objective of the game is to control a larger part of the board than the opponent. To achieve this, players strive to place their stones in such a way that they cannot be captured, while mapping out territories the opponent cannot invade without being captured. A stone or a group of stones is captured and removed if it has no empty adjacent intersections, the result of being completely surrounded by stones of the opposing color.
On one hand, placing stones close together helps them support each other and avoid capture. Placing stones far apart, on the other hand, influences more of the board. Part of the strategic difficulty of the game stems from finding a balance between such conflicting interests. Players strive to serve both defensive and offensive purposes, and choose between tactical urgency and strategic plans. The game ends, and the score is counted when both players consecutively pass on a turn, indicating that neither side can increase its territory or reduce its opponent's.
For this years the main idea is to encourage new players to come on the first couple of days (when it's less busy and we can pay more attention in instruction) and have a special tournament for them (simplified rules: stone counting scoring and no komi) on 9x9 to see what they've learned. After that we can give a lesson explaining the concept of territory and of territory vs area scoring, and the rule of komi. Everyone gets a pin or something and we pack up in high spirits, ready for the big day.
9x9 tournaments will have sign-up sheets ready for A, B, C classes (roughly 20k, 25k and 30k players); the larger board tournaments are intended for players 18k and up. We'll use full traditional handicap on 19x19, and reduced handicap with free placement on 13x13:
This is because we expecting a fairly wide range of player strengths coming in for the "open" tournaments and not as much demand as for the 9x9s, and we want to keep it interesting.
During non-tournament times on Saturday and Sunday, we'll have tsumego set up on a board at the front. (Should be able to fit 7 problems from GGPFB book 2 or 3.)
Our Tournament and workshops will be:
Thursday 6-9PM: Introduction to Go and Free Play
Friday 4-7PM: Introduction to Go and Free Play
Friday 7-8PM: New Players' 9x9 Tournament and Special Lesson
Friday 8-9PM: Introduction to Go and Free Play (buffer in case
tournament goes overtime)
Saturday 10AM-1PM: Introduction to Go and Free Play
Saturday 1-3PM: 9x9 and 13x13 Tournaments
Saturday 3-6PM: Introduction to Go and Free Play
Saturday 6-8PM: 9x9 and 19x19 Tournaments
Saturday 8-9PM: Introduction to Go and Free Play (buffer in case tournaments
go overtime)
Sunday 10AM-TBA: Introduction to Go and Free Play
**Please note that all events are subject to change