Previous by DateNext by Date Date Index
Previous by ThreadNext by Thread Thread Index
LM_NET Archive



"Go ahead: Players establish another club dedicated to ancient Chinese=20
game"
http://www.syracuse.com/living/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-1=
/1038649309281421.xml

by Frank Herron, Syracuse, New York
Post Standard, Monday, December 2, 2002 -- CNY section, page D-1

----------
Go ahead: Players establish another club dedicated to ancient Chinese game =



Many board-game players in this country are bypassing Go.=20

They don't know what they're missing, says Mark Brown.=20
Brown, a philosophy professor at Syracuse University, has been playing Go=20
for more than 40 years. He and other local players of the ancient Chinese=20
game are launching a third Go Club (Ithaca has one).=20
A group will gather at 7 p.m. today in the dining area of the DeWitt=20
Wegmans on East Genesee Street. They hope it's the first of weekly=20
sessions.=20
They will do battle on wooden boards, marked with a grid of 19 horizontal=20
and 19 vertical lines. Players alternately place white or black "stones"=20
at grid intersections. The goal is to encircle empty territory and=20
opposing stones.=20
That's why the Chinese word for the game, often written "wei-chi" or=20
"weiqi," means "surrounding game."=20
The origins of Go disappear into the mists of ancient China, about 4,000=20
years ago.=20
The beginnings of the Go Club at SU also disappear - into the mists of the =

mid-20th century.=20
"It may even go back before the war," Brown says, meaning World War II.=20
Brown heard of Go while he was in elementary school in the Oswego County=20
town of Mexico in the 1940s. His father was preparing a talk on the=20
development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, and one thing caught the=20
youngster's attention.=20
He noticed that the scientists who were working at Los Alamos, N.M.,=20
played Go for recreation.=20
Years later, while an undergraduate at SU, Brown began to play the game.=20
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he ran into a number of employees at=20
the General Electric plant in Liverpool who played the game during their=20
lunch hour.=20
The game is deceptively simple, he says. While the basics might come=20
easily, the number of stones and number of moves can be dazzling. On=20
average, at any point in the game, a Go player has can pick one of about=20
240 moves. That's about eight times the average moves available to a chess =

player.=20
Brown has seen players come and, well, go in his 40-year connection with=20
the SU Go Club.=20
Participation has ranged from about 30 to two, he says. Nowadays,=20
on-campus participation hovers near the lower end.=20
One person who's been involved with the SU club for about 30 years, Anton=20
Ninno, is launching the Go club at Wegmans.=20
Ninno, who teaches technology to teachers for BOCES, says he wanted to=20
find an easily accessible place with ample parking.=20
But he's quick to say he doesn't want this new meeting time to draw people =

away from Brown's meetings on campus. "When it comes to Go, Mark Brown is=20
The Man in this town," Ninno says.=20
=A9 2002 The Post-Standard. Used with permission.

=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F=5F

Anton Ninno, K12 Tech Integration Trainer
Voice: 315-431-8407   E-mail: aninno@cnyric.org=20
6820 Thompson Road, Syracuse, NY 13221=20
OCM BOCES  http://www.ocmboces.org/=20
NYGPS  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nygps/=20

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-
All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law.
To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu
In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET  2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL
3) SET LM_NET MAIL  4) SET LM_NET DIGEST  * Allow for confirmation.
LM_NET Help & Information: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/
Archive: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/LM_NET.shtml
LM_NET Select/EL-Announce: http://www.cuenet.com/archive/el-announce/
LM_NET Supporters: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/ven.html
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-

LM_NET Mailing List Home