The Surrounding Game

From an email I received from both MassGo and the MIT Go Club (inexplicably there is no official site or page for this event):

The MIT Go Club and the MGA are pleased to present the 1st annual New England Open Go Tournament and Ing Qualifier!

Please join us Sunday, March 6, 2011 at the MIT campus for a day of intense competition! There’s something for everyone, from dan level players to complete beginners. Thanks to the generosity of the Shanghai Ing Foundation, the New England Open will offer substantial cash prizes for two open sections: 1d-4d and 5d+. Games played in the 5d+ open section of this tournament will also count towards qualification for the Ing Tournament at the U.S. Go Congress in 2011 (Final approval for qualifier status pending). Breakfast is also provided.

Details:

Date and time:

March 6, 2011. Registration from 9:00am-9:45am. Tournament starts promptly at 10:00am and may run as late as 6 or 7pm. (Latecomers participate at the discretion of the tournament director).

Place:

The Coffeehouse in the MIT Student Center (building W20)

Fee:

There is no registration fee for MIT affiliates and club regulars. Still, we request that you preregister for the tournament. For everyone else, there is $15 on the day of the tournament. $10 if preregistered by Friday, March 4. Preregister by filling out the online form at with name, rank, and AGA number. As a reminder, a one-day AGA membership is $10.

Divisions:

5d+, even games only, AGA membership required, Ing qualifier. Prizes are $250/$100/$50 for 1st/2nd/3rd place. 1d-4d, even games only, AGA membership required. Prizes are $100/$50/$25 for 1st/2nd/3rd place. 15k-1k, handicap games, AGA membership required. Prizes are selected from three Go books. 30k-16k, handicap games, AGA membership not required. Prizes are selected from three Go books.

Rules:

There will be four rounds. In case of an odd number of players, some may have to take a bye for a round. Main time is 45 minutes minutes with a fast overtime of 25 stones in 5 minutes (Canadian byo-yomi). All games will be played under the Ing ruleset

Questions:

Please send questions or comments to tournament directors at mitgoclub-tournament-at-mit.edu

We hope to see you there!

Yesterday I was ruminating on how nothing in Pinyin is pronounced the way it sounds and realized there was a chance I was pronouncing it wrong this whole time. Turns out I was saying it wrong …I have been pronouncing it WAY-KEE.

Uncovered via Sensei’s Library

“Surrounding Game” is the literal translation of the chinese characters 圍棋 or in Pinyin, Weiqi, but better known as Go. It’s one of the oldest board games in existence. There is direct evidence of it’s existence a little over 2,000 years ago but it may be 4,000 years old, according to folklore.

I’ve been playing weiqi (I will refer to it as Weiqi, because the Korean Baduk isn’t familiar to me and Go is a nightmare of a search term) for a little less than that, about two years now. I have considered making a website about it for quite some time but in my mind I said, “What do I know about it? I’m just a beginner.” In my studies of weiqi I have realized that a simple description of the game is impossible (except that it’s a surrounding game, duh!). Much like playing the game it cannot be described simply in what it is, but must also be described as what it is not – a surrounding description, each piece arranging itself to describe itself and the area around it. In realizing that I have begun chronicle my experiences and discoveries regarding the game, regardless of my rank or to experience.

The Surrounding Game will be an exercise in the direct and the indirect, chronicling strategy and understanding how it fits in with everything else, to the best of my knowledge. I feel that it is not a game that can be simply understood by memorizing patterns or strategies but needs to be placed in the larger context of how it fits into Chinese philosophy and beyond. Weiqi often turned up in poetry, and was considered one of the noble arts of the chinese scholar, along with guqin (a musical instrument), calligraphy, and painting. A post here may be a 1,000 year old poem, or a current news story, or something actually directly relating to weiqi strategies. I hope you play along.