We are still closed to the public due COVID-19 precautions. However, we have several online opportunities for you. Our Tuesday evening meetup on Zoom is a good place to find a game, no matter what your level. And on Saturdays, a group meets on Discord. We can also arrange lessons with private instructors, for a fee. Here, Cullen Mott teaches a student remotely in March of 2019. For more information about our Paid Private Instruction, contact our Program Manager Kyle .
News
We are pleased to announce that Kyle Burg is our new Program Manager. Kyle has been our lead volunteer at Uwajimaya (taking over from Dennis Wheeler) until COVID precautions shut that down. He has been an enthusiastic teacher at many outreach events, including Cherry Blossom, Sakura Con, U District Street Fair, and Bon Odori. He also has an extensive background in software engineering. Kyle will have responsibility for outreach events and school Go clubs when they become possible again, and for classes, lessons and tournaments at the Go Center, when we reopen. In the meantime, he will be helping with our online events, website, and social media. Welcome Kyle!
The Seattle Go Center is looking for a part time Program Manager, who can work up to 50 hours a month. If you are interested in the position, we would be glad to send you more info.
Sadly, SGC is shuttered now due to COVID, so this role is limited to on-line events until the SGC and Seattle return to some sort of normalcy with an open Go Center and visits to school clubs, community centers, street fairs, and ethnic festivals.
The Program Manager will have use of a desk and computer in the Go Center office, but almost all the work can be done remotely while we are under COVID restrictions. For more detail on the position, please contact manager@seattlego.org.
We will take applications at least until March 1, 2021.
We have been expanding our on-line offerings, since face to face play is still not possible at the Seattle Go Center, due to COVID-19 precautions. Our events page has the details.
Plans are proceeding for the development of the Seattle Go Center property. The project has passed the “Early Design Guidance” phase, so now many of the parameters of the building have been established. The building will be 23 stories high! We will have the 2nd floor space marked “office” on the plans. The rest of the building will be apartments. The big cork tree next to our entrance will be protected. We will have some parking on the basement levels, accessed from the alleyway, also know as Roethke Mews.
The Go Center is currently closed due to COVID-19 precautions, while our tenant, Caring Pet Clinic, is open with social distancing guidelines. If the development plan goes ahead, the Go Center will be able to occupy the current building at least until the end of 2021, once the pandemic is under control. Then we move to a temporary location while the new building is being constructed.
As summer fades into fall, much of our regular schedule is returning. On Mondays, Drew will teach one more class on Sept 16 (thanks Drew!), and then YouTube star Nick Sibicky will start teaching again on Sept 23 with our live audience, from 6:30-8:30.
Tuesdays were big in August, and will probably get even bigger when the UW students are back in town in late Sept. We are open 1-10 p.m.
We will be closed on Wednesdays in September. In October, we’re expecting to reboot the “Programming Computer Go A.I.” class, based on the book “Deep Learning and the Game of Go”
Thursdays are a great day for beginners. We are open for casual games 2-9 p.m., and Larry Eclipse teaches (free!) “Go for Complete Beginners” class, 6:30-8:30 PM.
On Fridays, we are open only for the UW Chanoyu (Culture of Tea) class.
Saturday is our second most popular day. Players of all levels can find a game, and Dennis Wheeler is available to teach beginners. Open 1-8 p.m.
Sundays we are closed, except for tournaments.
Seattle Go Center is pleased to present the 6th Annual Gala Night of Pair Go
- * Saturday, December 8 (following 2nd Saturday Speed League).
- * Register in person, 5:00 – 5:30 PM.
- * $10 entry ($5 for youth 17 and younger / Go Center voting members).
This is a great holiday event, with two rounds of Pair Go, cake, prizes and lots of fun. (We expect to finish the evening around 10 PM.) We will be following International Pair Go Rules. Each team must have one male partner, and one female, transgender, or non-binary partner. Team members may be of any age. This is not an official Pair Go competition, so formal dress is encouraged, but not required.
Special guest Hajin Lee, 4 Dan professional — Haylee’s World of Go/Baduk — is expected to play!
We have gotten a second shipment of Chihyung Nam’s new book, “Go Terms”. This is a great book for Seattle Go Center players, since it compares Go terms across four languages: English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. While English is the most common language at the Go Center, a lot of our stronger players use Japanese, Chinese or Korean as their first language.
“Go Terms” is available in our book and equipment shop for $25, including tax. (We are sorry, but we do not do mail order or internet sales.)
The book is organized for English readers, with explanations in English, and diagrams, and the corresponding Asian words, along with their Romanized versions. There are tables in the back of the book to help Japanese, Chinese and Korean speakers find corresponding terms in English.
Readers will find that many Japanese terms are listed in the English columns as well, such as komi, sente and hane. In other situations, Ms. Nam suggests using English terms, which would make the game more understandable to beginners who speak English. So she uses “corner pattern” for joseki, and “play elsewhere” for tenuki. Often there is not an exact match across all four languages. The entry on “Continuous atari” includes a comparison of 7 Asian terms, including the Japanese oiotoshi, and the Korean chokchoksu.
Chihyung Nam was one of the first female pros in Korea, and she is a good friend of the Seattle Go Center. She is a professor at the Buduk Studies program at Myungji University, and has represented Korea at several international conferences on unifying Go rules. Her earlier book, “Contemporary Go Terms”, went out of print a long time ago, when Oromedia Publishing closed. We are very happy that she has thoroughly rewritten her book, and found a new publisher. Report and photo by Brian Allen
Mike Malveaux Teaching at the 2018 U District Street Fair
We are pleased to announce that the Directors of the Seattle Go Center have selected Mike Malveaux to be the Program Manager for the center. This is a new part time position with responsibility for classes, workshops, visiting pros, outreach and school programs. Mike will also be updating the website, the mailing list, and our social media. Brian Allen will be continuing at the Go Center as Operations Manager, with responsibility for the building, the bookkeeping, and for tax reports. [ Read more… ]
Steve Pell with his prototype Go board
A talented furniture designer and craftsman in Bellingham, Steve Pell, has taken an interest in making high quality Go boards. He has given us one of his prototypes to test out. Try it and tell us what you think! It is the 2.5 inch thick table board in the photo. (It will be in the main playing room, and it is a bit thicker than our regular boards.) Some of Steve’s other work can be seen at: Pellican Design