Are you interested in learning something new?
There is a wonderful chance to learn the ancient game of Go/Wei’chi/Baduk.
The game of Go is more than 3000 years old, and yet still the world’s premier mind game. It’s played one on one with two players facing each other across a board.
- In ancient China Go was one of the four required arts to be considered cultured (along with music, painting, and calligraphy).
- Even today computers are not competitive with top human players.
- New players can start at all ages.
- In China children by the millions learn, as it is considered very beneficial for developing thinking abilities.
- In Korea many men learn during mandatory military service, where it is a common way to while away the hours.
- In Japan, retirement is a common time to take up the game, to keep the mind sharp in later years.
- A typical game at a club would be around 1 hour long; as a beginner a smaller board size would be used so you can play a short game in 15 minutes.
- Top professional games are sometimes played over two days.
In Canada, most cities have active clubs. The Toronto Go club (not the only Go club in Toronto, but it is the oldest) is based at the community center at Yonge & Wellesley . They now have an active team looking to run lessons for beginners.
Registration:
The primary registration method is to register with the event Toronto Go club beginner’s lessons. To do this you will need to create an account with the CGA. You will need to provide you email, phone number, and contact info. Please be assured the CGA treats this with information with great care.
Nevertheless if you are uncomfortable providing your information to the CGA, or just want to find out if you really like this game before creating an account, you can register via email or phone. Just email [email protected], or call 416-486-8048 (asking for James).
When will the lessons be?
The primary meeting for the Toronto club is Sunday afternoon’s 12:00 – 5:00 PM. Holding a lesson at 10/11 AM so that those who wished could stay for the club meeting is a good candidate. We are also likely to have access to space for the meeting Saturday afternoon. We would much appreciate your feedback on what lesson times could work for you, please don’t let complications with lesson times hold you back. Worst case we’ll keep you in mind for a next session which may be a better fit.
Also note if you have a group at a community center/youth group/other organization that would like to learn together, we can think of a few options for you:
- We can come in and run an intro session to expose you and your group to the game
- We might be able to arrange lessons on site, if there are enough interested players there.
Hope to have the pleasure of meeting you at the Go board in the future!
The Toronto Go club teaching team