As with Zen Buddhism, Matcha tea or mini Bonsai trees, everyone believes that the Game of Go was invented by the Japanese! But Go has been around in China for 2500 years, it is called “Wei Qi” which means “encirclement game” there. Michael Silcher, young and friendly President of the Phénix club and the Belgian Federation of Go, introduces us to the most subtle widespread abstract strategy game in the world !
LHCH had the chance to meet Michael Silcher at his Saturday office at the Library of the Belgian Chinese Association / Confucius Institute in Brussels. Outside of Go, Michael is an analyst-programmer, a scholar and a lover of good Chinese teas !
LHCH: The rules of the Game of GO in a few words? Do you have to be a Mister or a Miss Genius to play it?
Michael Silcher: Not easy to understand how subtle Go is without playing! Go is an abstract game with a Yin and Yang side. What makes it magic is the simplicity of the rules which makes it very playable at every level and yet at the same time the deepness of its strategy.
The game opposes two opponents who take turns placing stones, black and white respectively, on the intersections of a board with a grid on it called “goban” in Japanese, “qípán” in Chinese. There is no movement in Go, but stones with no room to breathe can be captured. The game finishes when there is nothing left that can be captured. The goal of the game is to get more points than the opponent by capturing opponent stones and building big “territories”. So Go is a game of “territories” and “captures”.
LHCH: The game of GO was also obviously invented by the Japanese! ( laughs)
Michael Silcher: The “GO” name, yes. But not the game itself which is called “Wei Qi” in Chinese. In the beginning, thousands of years ago, primitive forms of Go were perhaps played with simple material on a small grid drawn on the ground… ; perhaps it was primarily a way of counting? It is unclear. But during the Spring and Autumn Period, Confucius mentions it. This game, initially rather aristocratic, was part of the Four Chinese Sacred Arts along with music, calligraphy and painting. It then spread to Korea and Japan. There it was enjoyed in particular by monks and Samurais and so Japan became the “country of Go” – with even some kind of “Ministry of Go” ! – until the end of the 20th century. Nowadays if you search for a country where Go is practiced intensively, it’s South Korea. But China is globally on the rise !
LHCH: There are World Go Championships?
Michael Silcher: There are globally recognized competitions. A bit like the “Tour de France” for cycling. But it is true that for a long time the three major Go countries played a bit separately. Nowadays there a more international competitions and at the top levels, Korea and China have the best players, followed closely by Japan that is a bit on the decline.
LHCH: A bit of justice! (laughs). And in Europe?
Michael Silcher: The German philosopher Leibniz talks about it in the 17th century, but it was mostly at the end of the 20th century that Go has started to slowly become known in western countries.
In Belgium, it were often Chinese and Japanese immigrants who introduced the game. It was seen as some kind of exotic “japanese” activity akin to philosophy. It was a bit smoky. People lacked access to good Go pedagogic material and level of play was generally poor, and so players played poorly often for many years without even realizing it… (laughs).
Since, we have structured our knowledge and activities over time. Professionalization of Go organizations is slowly becoming a reality too
So nowadays practice is more technical – often with computer assistance – and it’s becoming back again a “Chinese game”. In general, in Europe the practice of Go is an open door to discover the culture of China, Korea and Japan.
LHCH: But how has this game changed or “evolved” over time?
Michael Silcher: The size of the grid has evolved a bit with time and also some minor rules.
In the past the Chinese played the game always with an initial setup by placing a few stones before the game starts. In Japan in the middle ages, they innovated by starting on an empty board, and my personal interpretation is that the purity of this version contributed greatly to the development of Go in Japan and later in the world…
LHCH: In 2016, Google created the Alpha Go program which beat the best Go players. Dizzying?
Michael Silcher: For sure. Experts were skeptical about computer abilities to understand a game as subtle as Go before Alpha Go Artificial Intelligence did beat the best Go players in the world. This delay of almost 20 years (Deep-Blue vs Kasparov was in 1997) for Artificial Intelligence to catch up with Go compared with Chess is a convincing argument about the depth of the play in this wonderful Chinese game.
LHCH: This game has a “Chinese strategy” side to it à la Sunzi in the sense that you don’t essentially have to kill your opponent to win a battle but surround him, neutralize him.
Michael Silcher: I am not sure Chinese military strategists were always very economical with casualties, but Sun Zu indeed had such kind of modern approach – that sparing the forces is key to gain advantage. In Go too we take care of the life of stones…
The Game of Go has a competitive aspect
but it is in a very civilized atmosphere. For example, we thank each other at
the end of the game.
Go is also about pedagogy because we all learn as much as we play. As a Go
teacher, for example, I like to give an “animal” related to their level to
players, so they can see where they are in the pyramid of the Go players. The
stronger you are, more it’s hard to progress as you have to be even more
subtle. Good to know: to become strong, practice is key. There is no genius at
Go who hasn’t played hundreds of games…
Somehow, we all play Go because we love the beauty of the calligraphy drawn by stones, how stones “move”, the ideas hidden behind them and the coexistence of simple and amazing moves. Go is about strategy and combination, but moreover it’s about contemplating and fun !
If you want to discover Go, you are for sure welcome at the Phenix Go Club. We play at the library of the Belgian-Chinese Association every Saturday afternoon.
For more info about Go in Belgium, see: https://www.gofed.be/
