News

SGC Temporarily Closed

SGC must close until it finds a temporary location to rent. Our landlord says they are defaulting on their loan, and we need to leave the premises by 27 JUL. SGC will operate normally through 18 JUL in its current location. We hope to find a new temporary location soon and resume normal programs. Until we rent a temporary location for SGC, we are looking for a location to host Tue evenings, for example, a restaurant or coffee shop that is closed on Tue. Please email manager@seattlego.org with any suggestions or questions.

77th Anniversary of the Atomic Bomb Game

This August 6th, 2022 is the 77th anniversary of America dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.  Our generous benefactor, Kaoru Iwamoto 9p, was playing a Honinbo title match game with Utaro Hashimoto about 5 miles from the impact site.  The blast disrupted the last day of their three-day game, and though windows were broken from the blast, nobody in the playing room was badly hurt.  Later in the day, they restored the board state and finished the game.  Only later, as they walked to their host’s house, did they get the terrible news of what happened as refugees were fleeing the center of Hiroshima..

Iwamoto Sensei’s wartime experiences motivated him to continue to share and teach the game of Go as a pathway for international understanding.

[ Read more… ]

Seattle Go Center to Re-Open March 1st

The Seattle Go Center will be re-opening for in-person activities on Tuesday March 1st, 2022.

Upon re-opening the SGC will limit the consumption of foods and drinks to the outdoor patio until COVID-19 rates have declined further, and we will require visitors to wear N95 (preferred) or KN95 masks. With the windows open it may be chilly, so warm clothing is recommended.

We will still require visitors to be fully vaccinated and strongly encourage they be boosted as well.

As a reminder, up to three free face masks are available for every person in the United States, which can be picked up at participating pharmacies and health centers.

Here are CDC guidelines on how to use you N95 mask as well as their decontamination and reuse.

The SGC website now has a COVID-19 FAQ.

The SGC will continue to host its regular online meeting Tuesdays on Zoom.

Join Zoom Meeting(s): https://zoom.us/j/99377436701.

Please refer to the SGC events calendar for future notices.

Remembering Executive Order 9066 & the Japanese Internment Camps 80 Years Later

This February the 19th marks 80 years since President Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066.

Go stones believed to have been used at the Minidoka War Relocation Center

The Executive Order effected the forceable movement of nearly 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans from exclusion zones along the US’s western borders into relocation centers. Some two-thirds of those incarcerated were American citizens.

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The Seattle Go Center Wishes You a Happy New Year

(L to R) Noriyuki Nakayama 7-dan, Suzuki Goro 8-dan, and Suzuki Tsuna 5-dan at a party at the Nihon Ki-in to celebrate Nakayama’s promotion to 5-dan in 1981

This excerpt comes from Noriyuki Nakayama’s essay “The New Year’s Eve Disciple”, found in the book The Treasure Chest Enigma: A Go Miscellany (1984). Noriyuki was born on 3 September 1932 in Nagano Prefecture. In 1953 he became a disciple of Suzuki Goro 8-dan.

Nakayama first participated in the Oteai in January 1954. Nakayama, a non-insei, placed 8th, but as only the top placegetters are awarded professional ranking, he felt he had done extremely poorly…

***

The teaching game played over two years

This was the start of my long history of trials in the qualifying tournament. Every year, at the New Year, came the season I had to test myself.

            In the following year, 1955, Homma Akio, Kudo Norio, Amano Masafumi, Kitamura Hiroshi, Tanimiya Teji and Sakaguchi Tadao all became professional shodan. In my final game I defeated Tanimiya Teiji and I shall never forget the tear which dropped from his face onto the go board just before he resigned. The loss made his score ten wins to five losses and he must have been afraid that he would not qualify.

            In 1956 Tozawa Akinobu, Kitani Reiko, Hanadachi Masaaki, Otake Hideo and Honda Teruko gained the laurels. Young Tozawa (aged 15) won all 15 of his games.

            In 1957 Sanno Hirotaka and Shirae Haruhiko made it. It looked as if my turn would never come.

            Fourteen or fifteen is the age when one’s go strength increases the most rapidly. A 7- or 8-kyu boy of whom we had not heard one year would turn up in the qualifying tournament the next years as a 2-or 3-kyu — and, what’s more, he would qualify. Otake Hideo 9-dan was perhaps a typical example. My strength might go up a little in one year, but it would not begin to approach the high-speed development of those young geniuses.

            On 31 December 1959 I was at Suzuki Sensei’s house to help him with some manuscripts he was writing. Suzuki was one of the very few professionals who were proficient at writing; a load of work that had to be finished within the year had piled up, and I had stayed over at his house for two days to help him.

            The last of the work was polished off at about eight in the evening. I was waiting for the right time to take my leave when Suzuki spoke.

            “We have nothing more to do this year. How about playing a game?”

Do You Have a Favorite Image of Go?

The Seattle Go Center is looking to print some posters for the large windows downstairs and is open to community suggestions. Do you have a favorite game, or have you seen an interesting problem somewhere? Or maybe a go related piece of art? What about an interesting board position such as the rare hanezeki or “moonshine life”? Even comics or memes are welcome.

If you have something you’d like to share with us, please e-mail derek@seattlego.org with “poster” in the subject line.

Introducing our New Operations Manager

We are pleased to announce that Derek McGuire will be our new Operations Manager.  He is in training now, and will fully take over Brian’s job by the end of this year.  Derek will usually be at the Go Center on Tuesday nights, so feel free to introduce yourself to him if you are around.

Derek was born in the California Central Valley before serving in the USAF as a mechanic and an administrator. When stationed in England, he often played games with co-workers during lunch, and it was while searching for something new that he discovered Go. Fascinated by the simplicity of its

Help Keep The Lights On!

The Seattle Go Center is looking to hire a part time Operations Manager who can work 50 hours a month. Their current Operations Manager, Brian Allen, is planning to retire and concentrate on documentary photography. Brian will train the new manager in the fall.

The Operations Manager position includes paying bills, doing payroll, filling out tax forms, doing maintenance, supervising maintenance contracts, and meeting and coordinating with the Board. The Operations Manager should be familiar with the game of go, and passionate about sharing it, but they do not have to be a strong player. This is a paid position.

If you would like to help our unique institution in this important role, please contact Bill Chiles, Board President, for more information.

Our Monthly Ratings Tournaments Return

This August 1st, we will be holding a face to face rating tournament.

Registration is from 10:00am – 10:45am sharp, and first game will start at 11:00 am.

AGA membership is required; please check to see if your membership is current, and try to renew it online if it needs to be updated. More info on membership is at www.usgo.org.

If you have any questions, feel free to email programs@seattlego.org

Japan Fair

Next week on June 26 at 3:45 PM – 4:30 PM PDT, the Seattle Go Center will be presenting a remote seminar called “How to play Go” for the Japan Fair. We will be teaching attendants the game of Go and about the Seattle Go Center. We will be using zoom and OGS to host this event. To Register for this event please visit: https://jf2021_seattlegocenter.eventbrite.com

For more information checkout out the Facebook Event and the Japan Fair site.