American Go E-Journal » Latin America

Known worldwide for sparkling beaches and water, these attractions were but a pretty side element at the first Latin American Go Congress in Cancun, Mexico from October 13th to 15th. Sixty-four players from 15 countries played in the six-round 19th Ibero American Go Championship (CIG). After a slightly delayed start on the first day (familiar to many U.S. Go Congress participants), TD Milosh Trnka Rodriguez kept the McMahon event moving smoothly. Time limits were short to fit two rounds each day before lunch – generally 35 minutes per player plus 5 x 30 overtime. The overall winner was Kim Hyuneoo of Korea. The Ibero Championship (limited to citizens of the Ibero-American member states) was won by Fernando Aguilar 7d (below left) of Argentina, the perennial top player from the region.

The first Latin American Youth Go Championship was run by Siddhartha Avila of Mexico and had 16 players from six countries divided in two categories. Division A was won by Soomin Oh 2d from Korea and in Division B Shanti Ramírez 12 kyu from Mexico came out on top. In the first Pandanet Go Latin American Team Championship (PGLATC) Mexico bested guest Argentina in a 3-board match with a 2-1 score.

With generous international support, six pros attended: Enda Hideki 9P and Komatsu Daiki 2P from Japan; Cho Hye-yeon 9P and Youngshin Lee 5P from Korea; Mateusz Surma 1P from the European Go Federation; and Eric Lui 1P from the AGA with funding provided by the American Go Foundation. After the main games, the pros provided quick game analysis and each afternoon half of the players took on the pros in simuls. Few of the amateurs won!

There were lectures on pros games (including an especially lively one analyzing a victory over a fellow 9P by Cho Hye-yeon, 9P) and sessions on teaching go by a leading Korean expert from KIBA, Mr. Kwon Kapyong 8P. And, of course, there was lots of casual play and discussion of games whenever players sat around a board.

The evening events included Crazy Go (with 19 variants) on Friday night run by AGF President Terry Benson. Rengo Kriegspiel was run for the first time in Spanish. As usual, everybody won. On Saturday evening, The Surrounding Game film was screened.
Each of the three evenings included a round of the second Ibero-American Pair Go Championship – with many of the pros and the Congress Director playing – won by Samy Suastegui, 8k of Mexico and Youngshin Lee, 9P of Korea.
The Emporio hotel provided a classy setting for the event. There was an included opening dinner at the hotel, box lunches each day, and plenty of coffee and water. The closing dinner at Porfirios had a classic Mexican atmosphere – good food and mariachi music. There was even a little impromptu singing of Go songs. And a new one – in Spanish – written by Benson and Ester Monroy added to the canon.
Funding for the event came from the International Go Federation, Pandanet, Nihon Ki-in, Korean Baduk Association, American Go Association, American Go Foundation, and Mexico’s National University UNAM.

The Mexican Go Association Congress team led by Emil Garcia and including Marco Hernandez, Temilotzin Ibarra, Ester Monroy, Dafne Rios, with additional support from UNAM students staff and media team gave a good start to the tradition of Latin American Go Congresses.
The site of the 2018 event will be announced before the end of the year with Bogota, Colombia and Buenos Aires, Argentina the likely candidates. For those who like an international Congress diet, there is a new hearty entrée on the menu.
– report/photos by Terry Benson

by Roy Laird

What if a set of go equipment cost $2500? That’s the situation Cuban go players face today. The Cuban peso is worth about $.04, and no local game stores sell go equipment in Cuba, so to purchase a $100 go set on the Internet would cost 2500 pesos – when the average monthly income in Cuba is 750 pesos. In addition, shipments weighing over 1.5 kilograms require a surcharge of $10 US or 250 pesos per kilo.

Cuban Go Association president Rafael Torres estimates that there are as many as 2000 go players in Cuba, mostly playing on homemade sets or donations from abroad. Scarce equipment is the main thing holding back the Cuban go community, he said. In response, The American Go Foundation has established the AGF Cuban Go Development Fund, kicking it off by arranging to send small shipments of equipment to Havana and Camaguey, the two main Cuban go communities at present. Each site will receive ten “Club Classic” full size go sets from The AGF Store. In addition, Slate and Shell has generously agreed to kick in ten each each per site of their two Spanish language books, Como NO Jugar al Go by Yuan Zhou and Sube a Shodan by Rin Kaiho. “Helping the Cuban go playing community to grow is good for the US too,” said AGF president Terry Benson. “As our nearby neighbors develop, we can look forward to stronger international ties, more cultural exchange, and lots of friendly time over the go board.”  Click here to contribute to the Cuban Go Development Fund, then click on “Send special instructions to the seller and type “Cuban Go.” Tax deductible earmarked contributions to the fund are welcome, and will be applied to an equipment drive planned for later this year.
photo: Laird is at left front during the recent visit to Cuba

by Dr. Roy Laird

A fabulous feast of “food for thought,” the International Conference on Mind Sports in Camaguey, Cuba came to a successful close on May 5 after affording some 70 participants a chance to get to know enthusiasts of other sports. Mornings were devoted to lectures and presentations, with various events , friendship matches and exhibitions in the afternoon. In an indicator of the level of interest Cubans have in mind sports, the first day of the conference was televised.

Here’s a rundown of some of the interesting presentations.
ARE MIND SPORTS REALLY SPORTS? If you’ve ever told a sports fan about mind sports, you’ve probably heard a version of this question. International Mind Sports Association Secretary General Thomas Hsiang took on this question head-on in his opening remarks, reviewing the rigorous requirements for admission to IMSA. Noting that “there is no doubt that mind sports have a beneficial impact on players, especially children,” Hsiang concluded by saying “with educational benefits for the young and health benefits for the old, promotion of mind sports is a social responsibility.”
PROMOTING WEIQI IN CUBA: Dr. Zhang Wei, Director of the Confucius Institute in Havana, musing on why weiqi is not more widely known throughout the world, theorized that the lack of economic development and constant warfare in western Asia had interfered with cultural exchanges throughout history. He also expressed the hope that weiqi would grow in Cuba throughout the world because it is good for the moral fabric of society since “no bad person plays weiqi.”
THE FUTURE OF MIND SPORTS IN CUBA: Dr. Lazaro Bueno said that notables from Simon Bolivar to Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez have all spoken of the importance of mental competition and chess in particular. Dr. Bueno also unveiled plans for a large Mind Sports Complex to be built soon in Camaguey.
TEACHING CHESS IN PRESCHOOL: Columbus introduced chess to Cuba in 1492, and the subsequent history of chess in Cuba is filled with distinction. The Cuban school system has included chess in its curriculum since 1989, and at present chess is taught in more than 9000 primary schools and over 1000 high schools. Luis Enrique Perez Pena said chess is now being introduced to preschool children. With Cuban children starting at such a young age, the world may see another Capablanca before long.
PITARRA – INDIGENOUS OR UBIQUITOUS? Maria Cristina Quintanar Miranda from the Universidad Queretaro in Mexico gave an intriguing presentation, describing the evolution of Pitarra (right). Played only by indigenous Mexican tribes, she theorized that it had developed as an ancient folk tradition. However, it turns out that “Pitarra” is identical to Nine Men’s Morris, a game dating back to the Roman Empire and still played in Europe. Not only that, another attendee recognized the game from his childhood in Taiwan as “The Watermelon Game,” and it is played in Cuba as “Tres,” named after the central principle of lining up three pips in a row. Ms. Quintanar came to the conference with an interesting finding and left with an even more interesting question.
SPANISH SCRABBLE: A Spanish version of Scrabble is a big seller in Latin America, and Mexico in particular, where it is so widely played that some Mexicans call it “Lexico.” Javier Guerrero, the head of the International Spanish Scrabble Federation (FISE), said that FISE aspires to IMSA membership, but since IMSA does not admit sports that involve any amount of luck Scrabble advocates have proposed a form of “duplicate Scrabble” in which each player would play against a computer programmed to assure randomization of moves. However, Scrabble faces an even bigger hurdle — IMSA does not admit mind sports that are copyrighted or trademarked.
UNDERSTANDING ASIAN THINKING THROUGH GO: Fernando Aguilar of Argentina is one of the strongest Latino go players and certainly among the best known, having scored upset victories against two Japanese 9Ps in the 2002 Toyota Denso Cup and having played in many international tournaments. Aguilar was not able to attend the conference, but submitted a paper entitled “Go As A Way to Understand Oriental Thinking” in which he identified five sets of contrasting concepts that are spelled out in detail in Sun Tzu’s classic “The Art of War,” noting that their meaning can be more deeply understood through the study of go. The strong player maintains a balance between Attack and Defense; Efficiency and Concentration of Forces; Transparency vs. Deception; Emptiness and Solidity; and “Chi” (potential) vs. “Li” (material gain).

Other speakers held forth on the importance of physical exercise and fitness if one is to play one’s best, the superiority of in-person game play over video and computer game, the social and cultural significance of dominos, and draughts (10×10 checkers) as a metaphor for life. The overarching theme that emerged, and with which participants surely agreed, was well stated by the Scrabble representative: “The family that plays together is a happy family.”

Dr. Laird, former president of the American Go Association, attended the conference, presenting on “Play Go and Grow.”

by Roy Laird
The first Cuban Mind Sports Conference got underway today (Wednesday) in Camaguey, the island’s second largest city, at the Santa Cecilia Conference Center in the Plaza de los Trabadores under the auspices of the University of Camaguey. Under the watchful gaze of several images of Che Guevara, seventy or so participants assembled for the kickoff. Dr. Lazaro Bueno, the principal organizer, introduced Thomas Hsiang, the Executive Director of the International Mind Sports Association (IMSA), which helped to sponsor the event. Dr. Hsiang explained the rigorous criteria for admission to IMSA, and reviewed recent developments such as the University-Industry Cooperative Program, through which anyone who achieves dan level in go is guaranteed a job. The university, where the program began, now partners with more than 30 local businesses. After a brief discussion of Chinese go, Dr. Hugo Beltre spoke about various orthopedic injuries he has treated in many mind sports competitors, possibly the first such presentation at a mind sports conference. After a lunch break, the afternoon was devoted to a Cuban – American informal friendship matchup, and a demonstration of contract bridge.
To this observer, Cuba seems to be a remarkably friendly and welcoming place. I am staying at a “Casa Familiar,” a very picturesque small hotel with seven rooms, a rooftop bar, and its own restaurant. Prices are almost embarrassingly low. My lovely room is only $40 per night, and I found a decent slice of pizza for about $.25. At the same time, there are surprising challenges. No Internet, and some wireless phone plans do not work here. You have to purchase a card and be in the right place to use it. But that adds to the charm – no Internet dishes, no cell towers, and forget about any chain restaurant you have ever heard of. There are two separate currencies, with similar denominations, but one is worth 25 times the other, so keeping them straight is important. Fortunately, the unfailingly honest and helpful Camagueyans were always eager to help. The streets, often barely wide enough for one car, twist and wind through the city, but the downtown area is small and easy to learn. Street traffic includes bicycles, pedicabs, horse-drawn carts, and a few cars now and then, many of them vintage autos from the 1950s. On a nighttime walk, I felt quite safe. Many buildings that seemed abandoned during the day turned out to be occupied, and the residents had thrown their doors and windows wide open. In many cases they could have reached out and shaken my hand as I passed without getting up. A group of perhaps 50 people had gathered in a side street, listening quietly as a middle-aged woman spoke passionately to them. When I passed by later on my way home, they were still there.
The conference continues tomorrow and Friday, and appears to be a harbinger of great things to come, in Camaguey and perhaps throughout Cuba. Dr. Bueno told us that the university plans to begin a serious program of research into the benefits of competitive games. Considering Cuba’s prominence in the world of chess, it seems likely that we can expect great things from our neighbor to the south. The next time there’s an event in Cuba, sign up if you can!