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3 <!-- Mirrored from users.eniinternet.com/bradleym/GoHist.html by HTTrack Website Copier/3.x [XR&CO'2014], Sun, 06 Nov 2022 07:03:34 GMT -->
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5 <title></title>
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7 <body text="#000000" link="#0000ff" vlink="#551a8b" alink="#ff0000" bgcolor="#c0c0c0">
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8 <a name="The Nature And History Of Go">
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9 <p><hr>
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10
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11 <br wp="br1"><br wp="br2">
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12 <p><strong>The Nature And History Of Go</strong>
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13
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14 <p><strong>© 2002 Milton N. Bradley</a></strong>
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15
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16 <p>Go is one of the supreme accidents of human creation! Now universally recognized as the
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17 premiere strategic board game of all time, it originated in China during the Bronze Age about
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18 4000 years ago. As might logically be expected of a game of such incredible antiquity, Go play is
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19 governed by a surprisingly few simple rules which can be learned in only a few minutes even by
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20 young children. But don't be deceived by this! While one might reasonably expect that a
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21 strategic board game with such an astonishingly simple structure would lack the depth and
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22 challenge of more modern and superficially complex games like chess, in reality exactly the
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23 opposite is true!
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24
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25 <p>In this regard (only) Go resembles mathematics, because from its few elegant rules there derives
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26 an almost unbelievably complex structure of tactics and strategy which not only challenges all
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27 that the best human minds can offer, but which also remains far beyond what even the fastest and
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28 most powerful supercomputers can handle.
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29
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30 <p>But trying to explain the almost unbelievable beauty and fascination of Go to someone
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31 unfamiliar with it is an essentially impossible task! In a very real sense, it's much like that of a
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32 music critic describing a concert, but with a serious complication. If the reader of the criticism is
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33 familiar with the music, then the critic's analysis of the performance exists in a context which
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34 gives it meaning. But just suppose that the reader not just unfamiliar with the music, but has also
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35 been deaf since birth! In that context, attempting to describe the eloquence and beauty of the
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36 composer's conception and the skill with which the orchestra and soloist rendered it can have
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37 little or no meaning. One can admire the skill with which the critic expresses himself and his
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38 obvious knowledge of the subject, but any visceral, emotional connection with the concert he
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39 describes must necessarily be absent.
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40
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41 <p>So it is with Go and what I'm trying to do here.. Until one gets beyond the stage of rudimentary
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42 knowledge of its elegant concepts even the slightest inkling of the immense attractiveness and
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43 fascination of its incisive tactics and profound strategy and the pleasure which playing it gives its
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44 devotees is hard to imagine for all but an exceptional few. One of those exceptional individuals
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45 who could instantly grasp why Go is the most fascinating purely intellectual pastime ever created
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46 was former World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker, and his introduction to Go is described
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47 below in the section of this web page entitled How Go Came To America.
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48
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49 <p>What follows in the remainder of this web page emphasizes the value of Go in the development
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50 of children's transcendently valuable Reasoning skills rather than its fascination and the pure
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51 intellectual challenge and pleasure derived from playing it, but this should not confuse the reader.
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52 This emphasis was deliberately chosen because it provides a practical justification for skeptical
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53 parents and school teachers and administrators to encourage children to learn and practice Go.
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54 This has regrettably proved necessary because in the intense competition for children's already
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55 scarce "free time" perceiving Go as just another pleasurable leisure time pursuit won't "cut it" in
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56 today's highly competitive school environment. But be assured, once learned Go will provide a
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57 lifetime of the greatest purely intellectual pleasure conceivable, and after 48+ years of Go
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58 experience I can personally attest to that!
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59
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60 <p>For those who would like to find out a bit more about the background of Go and its place in
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61 history, the following web references are suggested:
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62 <a href="http://www.usgo.org/resources/whatisgo.html">
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63 <p>The AGA's "What Is The Game Of Go?"</a>
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64 <a href="http://www.well.com/user/mmcadams/gointro.html">
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65 <p>Mindy McAdams "What is Go?"</a>
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66 <a href="http://ltiwww.epfl.ch/~warkent/go/index.html">
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67 <p>Ken Warkentine's Go Page (includes the fabulous Go Pages Index)</a>
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68 <a href="http://www.cwi.nl/~jansteen/go/history/china.html">
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69 <p>"Go in Ancient China" by John Fairbairn</a>
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70 <a href="http://www.honinbo.freeserve.co.uk/">
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71 <p>Andrew Grant's Go History Pages</a>
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72 <a href="http://www.goban.demon.co.uk/bookmark.htm">
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73 <p>Harry Fearnley's Go Pages Links (even more fabulous than Ken's!!!)</a>
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74
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75 <p>But please remember to return to my web page after you've visited them!
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76
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77 <p><a href="Mind.html"><Font Color="#0033FF"><strong>Continue</strong></Font></a>
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78
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79 <p>Click Here To Return To<a href="index.html"><Font Color="#0033FF"><strong> Milt's Go
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80 Page</strong></Font></a>
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81
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82 <p><hr>
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83
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84 <br wp="br1"><br wp="br2">
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85 </body>
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86
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87 <!-- Mirrored from users.eniinternet.com/bradleym/GoHist.html by HTTrack Website Copier/3.x [XR&CO'2014], Sun, 06 Nov 2022 07:03:34 GMT -->
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88 </html>
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