2008-09-27 10:01:00

Go

Go is the oldest board game with the history of three thousand years. The player tries to capture the largest part of the board to win the game. Originated in China, go is very popular in East-Asia where there are lots of go players and fans.

In the 1st World Mind Sports Games, for Go there are six events: Go Individual Men, Go Individual Women, Go Individual Open, Go Teams (Men), Go Teams (Women) and Go Pairs (Mixed).

Key Figures

60 million players

68 countries / 5 continents

Go is highly broadcasted in Asia:

(1)Go program once broke the record of TV viewers on CCTV.

(2)Japans National Station (NHK) organizes a go tournament running throughout the whole year which broadcasts for two hours every Sunday, attracting a very large audience.

(3)3 Korean TV channels are dedicated solely to go broadcasting.

International Go Federation

IGF was founded in 1982. It is affiliated to:

GAISF (General Association of International Sports Federations)

IMSA (International Mind Sports Association

(1)In China, the government are strongly for go sport in population and competition of go.

(2)In Japan, go is recognized as an instrument contributing to key elements of human life, such as young peoples education, leisure activities, mental care for the aged, promotion of culture, etc.

(3)In Korea, the demand for go is rising rapidly. A number of Korean youngsters are the top players in the world, and they are idols of the Korean peers. In many schools go is part of the curriculum.