Published: Saturday, July 30, 2005
By Ben Moger-Williams
Free Press Staff Writer

In September 1846, in the feudal Japanese city of Edo, two opponents faced off before a rapt audience. The master, Gennan Inseki, was prepared to teach 17-year-old Honinbo Shusaku a lesson he would not soon forget. The two were closely matched, but now it was Shusaku's move. He reached into a bowl of black stones, drew one out and placed it on the wooden board between them.

It was a devastating move. A doctor in the audience reportedly said later: "I don't know much about the game of Go, but after that move, Gennan's ears turned bright red, a sure sign of distress." Shusaku won the game, and immortality -- in the world of Go, anyway -- for his play known as "the ear-reddening move."

This and other famous moves from the game's millennia-old history are studied and relished by Go players around the world. Go is the Japanese name for the game known as Weiqi in China and Baduk in Korea. The game was invented in China between two and three thousand years ago, and has passed down through the ages with little change. Hugely popular in Asia, this ancient game of strategy also enjoys a relatively strong following in Burlington.

"Vermont is really quite interesting in that we have about 15 regular members that come to the club," said David Felcan, president of the Vermont Go Club. The club is the local chapter of the American Go Association, which, Felcan said, has about 2,100 members nationwide. "In terms of per capita, Go in Vermont is huge," he said.

On the surface, the game is simple. Two players compete to surround territory on a board composed of 19-by-19 inch squares. One player uses white stones; the other, black; and they take turns placing stones (black plays first) on the intersections of the squares. The stones are not moved, but are removed from the board if surrounded by the opponent's stones. The game ends by mutual consent, when both players agree there are no more moves. Points are awarded for territory, and whoever has more points wins.

But Go has many layers, and strategy and patience are key to winning.

"It sucks you in," said Felcan, 36, of Burlington. "It takes a couple of games, then you understand how deep the game is, which is really exciting."

The Vermont Go Club was founded in 1986 by Peter Schumer, a math professor at Middlebury College. Schumer, 51, also teaches a class on Go at Middlebury. He said he has been playing for 30 years, but is still learning.

"You can never learn all there is to learn," he said. "It's a voyage of self-improvement."

Some are trying to teach computers to play the game, too.

Tim Huang, 37, a computer science professor at Middlebury and a member of the Go club, is working on a computer program that can play Go -- and win.

"Go is the only popular strategy game where computers don't play well," said Huang, who often records games he plays with other humans on his Palm Pilot for later analysis.

In May 1997, world chess champion Gary Kasparov was defeated by Deep Blue, a chess-playing computer created by IBM. But Go has too many possible moves and scenarios, so computers can't play at the same level as humans yet.

"Chess has 64 squares, and as the game progresses, the pieces get fewer," Schumer said. "The Go board has 361 intersections, and in Go, the complexity keeps increasing."

Schumer said the number of possible moves in chess is 10 to the 60-70th power where as in Go the number is on the order of 10 to the 250th power.

But you don't have to be a math professor to play.

"I will say that definitely people with a mathematical or computer bent are attracted to the game," Felcan said. But, he added, the strongest players in the club are a retired marketing professional, Richard Chalmers; and a carpenter, Bill Arrand.

Every Wednesday, members travel from around Vermont to come and play in Burlington. The players belong to a wide range of occupations including teachers, a graphic designer, a respiratory therapist and a farmer.

Patrick Johnson, 34, co-owner of Lucky Ladies Organic Egg Farm in the Intervale, began playing four years ago. He says it has helped him improve his memory, among other things.

"I have a tough time learning math," said Johnson, who crafted his own Go board out of a slab of Vermont white oak. "This helps a lot."

Arrand, 57, of Worcester said he learned the game in his mid-20s from a farmer in the Northeast Kingdom. Arrand, one of the highest-ranked members in the club, said he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder 10 years ago.

"It's extremely hard," Arrand said of playing the game with ADD. "In Go you have to stay in a certain frame of mind. ... I'm famous for playing a great game and then just losing it."

Arrand said he struggles with the condition, but it doesn't stop him from playing the game he cherishes.

"I don't know anybody who loves it who won't continue to play their whole life," he said.

Felcan said the club is always looking for new members. "We are really open to beginners," he said. "We do our best to take people under our wing."

John Hartman, 61, of St. Albans agreed.

"New blood often translates into the strongest players," said Hartman, a respiratory therapist. "It's good for when you like to think, but sometimes you don't want to think about any thing."

Felcan explained that an ancient system of handicapping allows weaker players to play against stronger players. In Go, players are ranked from 30 kyu to 1 kyu, with 30 kyu as the weakest. Once a player reaches 1 kyu, he or she then progresses from 1 dan to 9 dan, similar to black belt degrees in martial arts. Depending on the difference in players' strength, the weaker player can place a certain number of stones on the board to start off.

Rankings are determined at tournaments. Depending on the number of games you win and lose, you can move up, down or stay the same. Schumer said Middlebury hosts tournaments about every six months, and Montreal hosts tournaments on a regular basis.

Arrand, who says his ranking is 1 dan, and a few other members get up at 5:30 a.m. Tuesdays to study Go over the Internet with a Chinese professional player who lives in Belgium.

On Wednesdays, the emphasis is on learning and having fun. There is a certain competitiveness, but as Quentin Dombro, 53, said, "Go is basically a very ethical game. Its not a game where you're trying to wipe out your opponent."

Go has lasted through thousands of years for one very good reason: It is a lot of fun.

"I play all kinds of games: video games, chess," Felcan said, "but this is the best game of all. If I could quit my job and just play Go I would."