In Korea they call it Baduk, in China Wei Ch’i, but here in Ukraine the Japanese name of this game is known better. Go, the rock game, is considered the oldest intellectual board game. It is 4000 years old, meaning that it antedates even chess. It first appeared in Korea and China and later was adopted by neighboring Japan. Europeans discovered it in the early nineteenth century, when they took over this sophisticated but very captivating amusement together with the whole splendid culture of the Land of the Rising Sun.
The rules of the game are, on the one hand, quite complicated, and, on the other, quite understandable for those who used to play points as a child. The game’s goal is to take over the opponent’s territory by encircling his pieces (rocks). In the end, the player who does this better wins the game. Unlike in chess, the black pieces start the game, but the white receive a bonus of half a point. Thus there can be no draws, since the score is kept in whole numbers. The methods of calculating player ratings by the Tokyo-based World Federation are quite interesting. A player receives the first dan (rank) after playing a hundred games at amateur tournaments. One can move up to the sixth dan in the amateurs’ league. When one reaches the seventh dan he automatically becomes professional. Now he can perfect himself up to the ninth dan. However, there are few such masters in the world. Even Japan and Korea can boast no more than twenty. In Europe, one can count them on one hand. There also is no professional go association in Europe. This is not surprising, since the major tournaments take place in Asia, homeland of the ancient game. Many Europeans go to this region specially to undergo, so to speak, field training and, if they are lucky enough, to take part in one of the professional world championships. There are quite a few of them. Each of the three trend-setting go countries holds one. The winner receives the title of Kisay, literally meaning “sacred player.” The European Go Federation is based in Amsterdam. It also holds an annual championship financed by the Ying Foundation. The Taiwan billionaire who died a few years ago was a great admirer of the game and for many years worked to popularize it outside Southeast Asia and make it a worldwide pastime.
The Ukrainian Go Federation numbers around 300 members. There are also many admirers of the Asian game who are not members of the federation but always take part in Ukrainian tournaments. In addition to the Ukrainian Open itself, there are quite a few others. The embassies of Japan, China, and Korea hold championships for Ambassador’s Cups. Ukraine has no professional players, like most European countries. However, Dmytro Bohatsky, fresh university graduate, has come very close to this with his sixth dan. There are also fourth and fifth dan masters in Ukraine, many of who also work as coaches like, for instance, Yury Pliushch and Vasyl Skachko (fourth dan). For many years owing to their (and other people’s) efforts Ukraine is represented at the world amateur’s championships. A strong go school exists in Rivne thanks to enthusiast Yury Shevchuk. The younger generation of players is Ukrainians’ special pride. At the recently finished Junior European Championship in Cannes, two our players, 11-year-old Ihor Zaitsev and Artem Kachanivsky, 10, took first and second place respectively, overtaking the Russians, who were believed to be the strongest on our continent.
