广西希望之星围棋学校和弈游为进一同推出的围棋文化之旅可以让孩子们体验围棋的无穷潜能。

这次的活动包括围棋训练，围棋文化，千人赛及中国新加坡交流赛。孩子们每天的活动都排的满满的😁

欢迎大家前来报名，一起去美丽的南宁体验围棋文化之旅！☺️

⭕ 日期：6月13号 – 6月20号 （8天 7夜）（年中假期）
⭕ 招生对象：6岁以上，围棋零基础以上
⭕ 报名费：$850一位
⭕ 陪同费：$250一位
⭕ 推荐费：成功推荐一位学生，$100现金返还（无限次）

The Go Culture Tour launched by Guangxi Hope Star Go School and GocationSG allows children to experience the infinite potential of Go.

This event includes Go training, Go culture, 1,000-person competition and China-Singapore exchange competition. The children’s daily activities are fully booked 😁

Everyone is welcome to sign up and go on a cultural trip to the beautiful Nanning to experience Go! ☺️

⭕ Date: 13 – 20 June (8 days and 7 nights) (mid-year holiday)
⭕ Enrollment targets: 6 years old and above, Go basics or above
⭕ Registration fee: $850 per person
⭕ Accompanying fee: $250 per person

Please WhatsApp Benson at 81009466 for more information and registration.

Weiqi has an astonishing known recorded history of 4,000 years.

It is undisputedly the oldest board game in the world. No other game comes close to its history, even Chess.

The reason of its unwavering and unbeaten long historical record is likely due to its intellectual contribution to the human brain.

The game itself is extremely dynamic, meaning to say that its permutations are unlimited and it is almost unable to copy and repeat its winning moves.

Different strategies have to be applied to different games and different scenarios; forcing the player to rethink new strategies.

It’s lifespan of play could begin at the age of three and has no physical restriction to the human age. That means you can play it at anytime as long as you can breathe.

Even the game has such a long history, yet new methods are created and old methods are reformed to suit the style of play at this modern age.

No wonder this game is still flourishing in this internet information age.

The balance of Weiqi is probably one of the most difficult concepts of play in the game. It is simple to understand at the theoretical level but it becomes technically difficult when comes to play.

Too much territory loses control over the centre and affects mid game fights later on in the game. Whereas too much external influence usually begets a low territory count that may put you in an out-of-balance situation.

Therefore, it will be a challenge to teach and impart the concept to Weiqi learners. Yet if the concept of balance is well understood, the Weiqi learner will improve the game by leaps and bounds.

During the elementary days of our Weiqi learning journey, most of us were taught in basic lessons on taking territory above controlling the board’s centre influence. This is not a fully correct pre-learnt concept.

With enough playing experience and understanding, most matured high-level players knew that they must balance territory and influence.

Therefore, a good balance in the game is having a sufficient amount of territory with ample support of influence towards the centre of the board or vice versa.

This concept of good territory-influence balance gives the player a better selection of josekis 定石 (prefix formation of stones usually in the corner) right at the start of the game. Hence able to control the mid-game better.

On an additional side note to promote the application of balance in Weiqi into our real lives:

Sometimes, we have to make a radical or life-changing decision in difficult situations. Applying this concept of balance could sometimes paint a clearer or bigger picture (as in Weiqi’s influence) and declutter hidden dangers of immediate gain (as in Weiqi’s territory).

I hope we can all learn together the balance of Weiqi and apply this valuable concept in our lives.

Q: Why do parents send their children to Weiqi lessons in spite of computer AI domineering humans in the game in this age?

A: There are a few points to answer this commonly asked question.

1. Life values learned in the game.

Example as in the Ten Commandments of Weiqi 围棋十决

As in the list, all items are applicable to real life. I will give each an example in a later article.

2. Cultural values learned in this game. Manners, greetings, patience and respect.

These traits are not taught by computers nor by our mainstream school teachers and professors.

Our school teachers had taught us to excel in our academics but in human to human relationships, this area has failed miserably. This could be the fundamental reason why social problems are occurring in our society.

3. The true values of winning and losing.

This may look abstract but I think it is still not difficult to understand.

For example, a person may win in an argument with his friend or spouse in a short-term dispute, but he may lose this person’s friendship in the long term.

A very smart and intelligent guy may win arguments all the time, but he may not have a close friend at all as his way of debating may turn away many friends who find him domineering in conversation.

Learning Weiqi teaches us how to keep balance in the area of assessing winning and losing situation. In the first commandment of Weiqi, “Do not overly be greedy in winning”, teaches us to keep in check our attitude when comes to winning.

Overall, in summary, the trend of computers winning human may seem to have a negative impact on the development of promoting the game in the short term, but I believe the understanding of the intrinsic (or core nature) value of the game of Weiqi like its cultural and educational values will outlast and turn the trend eventually.