American Go E-Journal » 2020 » December

Tango cat go art link sent in by Daniel R. Grayson.

Dark River
“I just wanted to let you know that go plays a pivotal role in my new novel, Dark River, in which the main character is trying to solve a 20-year-old murder,” writes Avery Jenkins. “In fact, the game provides him with the solution to that mystery — and others as well. Though the cover blurb doesn’t mention go, trust me — it’s in there.” You can find out more about the novel here.

Rain Dogs and The Vegetarian
In Adrian McKinty’s novel, Rain Dogs, the protagonist, a Northern Ireland detective investigating a murder, goes to Finland to interview the prime suspect, reports Dave Weimer. “When he arrives, he finds the suspect playing go. In a later chapter entitled ‘Kami no Itte’ the suspect cleverly eludes trial.”

Dave also reports that “On page 162 of The Vegetarian, by Han Kang (translated from the Korean by Deborah Smith. London: Hogarth, 2016. Winner of the Man Booker International Prize and one of NYT 10 Best Books of 2016),” there is the following passage: “There’d been a time when she could spend hours like this weighting up all the variables that might have contributed to determining Yeong-hye’s fate. Of course it was entirely in vain, this act of mentally picking up and counting the paduk stones that had been laid out on the board of her sister’s life.”

The Andromeda Evolution
Fifty years after “Andromeda Strain” we have a sequel by another author: The Andromeda Evolution by Daniel H. Wilson reports the National Go Center’s Gary Smith. “He (her father) explained that life was like the game — and every word spoken, every emotion betrayed through gesture or expression, constituted a move. By controlling each of your moves, you could reduce anxiousness and win the game. Peng Wu found that she very much liked winning at weiqi and at life.”

‘Quantum go machine’ plays ancient board game using entangled photons
A quantum-mechanical version of the ancient board game go has been demonstrated experimentally by physicists in China, according to a report in PhysicsWorld. “Using entangled photons, the researchers placed go pieces (called stones) in quantum superpositions to vastly increase the complexity of the game. They foresee the technology serving as the ultimate test for machine players that use ever more sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI).” (Robert Cordingley)

Mitchell’s Utopia Avenue
In David Mitchell’s new book Utopia Avenue, the character in his current novel set in the 1960’s England is “remembering” a scene from the novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob van de Zoet, a novel that takes place in 18th century Japan, reports Ken Parel-Sewell. “It’s a huge spoiler and very complicated to explain why this happens. David Mitchell’s books are fascinating alone, and even more fascinating when you read them all.”

The History of Home
In episode two of The History of Home, narrated by master woodworker Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation), go is seen at 48:27 in a transition between explaining the historical importance of board games and the modern pastime of playing video games, reports Tyler Keithley, President of the Southwest Missouri Go Club. “Go is then mentioned by Twitch streamer Sonja Reid ‘OMGITSFIREFOXX’ at around 50 minutes and 30 seconds into the show.”

A more-or-less random selection of go-related stuff that somehow we just never got around to publishing this year, but that we don’t want to forget, file or delete. Thanks to everyone who sent us tips and suggestions this year; keep ’em coming to journal@usgo.org!