American Go E-Journal » Go News

On Saturday Feb 8, Xinming Simon Guo – assisted by his wife Joy – Greg Kulevich and Mark Rubenstein taught over 350 new-comers how to play Go at the Chicago Art Institute’s Lunar New Year event. This is the second year that Simon has been invited to teach Go to museum visitors. In addition to Go, the event included Chinese chess, paper cutting, taiko drumming and other activities. 

“Simon has a unique way of teaching Go which enables newcomers of all ages to start playing real Go right away, without any complicated explanations or terminology,” says Rubenstein. “I had known about his method for a long time, but hadn’t tried it myself. I used his method all day, and found that it really simplifies the game for first-timers.”  

“This unique method has been used in many math classrooms in the Chicago area, and it is compatible with different rule sets, which means there is little conflict when players visit a local club and count the score by territory,” says Guo.

Simon Guo is the founder of the Go and Math Academy, and was the AGA’s Teacher of the Year in 2015. He teaches thousands of school students to play Go every year. Visit their local wiki page to find out more information about the Go and Math Academy or check them out on Facebook.

report and photos provided by Mark Rubenstein

The AGA Board is meeting on Sunday, February 23rd at 8pm EST.  Topics of discussion include: updates on several on-going projects as well as new domestic and international tournaments, the creation of two new commissions, congress, staff reappointments, teaching, the accessibility of board meetings, and access to go clubs.  For more information, you can find the detailed agenda here.

Are you an AGA member interested in listening in to the meeting?  Please contact the Chairperson at lisa.scott@usgo.org for call-in information.
Are you interested in commenting on past board meeting minutes?  You can submit your comments using this form, and they will be available to board members and relevant officers. Past board meeting minutes are available on usgo.org.

Each year Go players in Portland host a table teaching Go at Portland’s Mochitsuki festival, an annual Japanese and Japanese-American cultural festival and celebration of the Japanese New Year held at Portland State University. Several thousand people attended this year, and volunteers Neal Wright, Patrick Easley, Stewart Towle, Rick Steinfeldt, Olin Wexler, and Peter Freedman were busy all afternoon teaching new Go players of all ages, from 4 to 74.

Teachers at the table ran a Hikaru no Go anime to attract attention and provided Way To Go pamphlets, along with some Go Worlds, Go books, and of course information on Go locally and nationally. “It was a great day, I am hoarse,” reports Peter Freedman, and not for nothing. Their engagement and enthusiasm have gotten them invited to host a table at the Cherry Blossom Festival at Clark College in Vancouver this April by an impressed attendee of Motchitsuki Portland.