Journal►Events

Chinese New Year 2014 Mall Go Demo

Right (Top): Dragon decoration. Right (Center): Two banners with Chinese calligraphy. Right (Bottom): Performance stage at the center of the mall.

Some of you already know, but I went to one of the local malls and volunteered to teach go for the Chinese New Year 2014 celebration. As you can see in the little collage I put together above, there were nice decorations along with performances in the center of the mall. Definitely felt like Chinese New Year! Haha. And of course, how could you have a Chinese New Year celebration without go? (I might be a little biased though xD)

When I got there around 2pm, they had already finished setting up the booth. We had one large 9x9 demo board, a 13x13/19x19 board, and multiple beginner boards for new players.

This was a little later in the day, but you get the idea!

At each section of the table, we had multiple brochures along with “The Way of Go” booklets for anyone who showed any interest.

There weren’t too many people at first, so I got the opportunity to finally meet fellow local go player Kevin (seen below) and play a game with him. (Right before we started playing, I found out that he was 5 dan. Hyuk hyuk hyuk…)

Let the games begin!

The following is a kifu I recreated from memory later on that day. Other than one move (which I’m not 100% sure of, but I am 100% sure of the purpose behind it), this record is accurate and contains some pointers from when we review some of the game later on.

After the game, more people began showing up and we started teaching first capture and the rules to everyone. My big customer of the day was a little girl who was about 5. We played a couple games of first capture that went well, and it seemed like she had fun. =)

Here's a shot of her and her mom. They were both engaged and picked up on concepts like liberties and capturing stones really quickly!

Later on in the day, Kevin and I sat down to review our game. You can see his comments in the kifu above, but overall it was a great learning experience and eye-opening.

Here's us going over the lower left corner variations.

After kneeling on the ground for a while (teaching the little girl go), I needed a break and stood while Kevin talked about how he was surprised that I cut so quickly in the upper right corner.

Towards the latter half of the workshop, my family showed up to show their support! Haha. It was really kind of them and it was great having them there. In the shot below, you’ll see my dad and my brother playing an intense game of Connect 5 (which is probably the simplest version of “go” that exists).

Here are some group shots of the volunteers.

Pictured: Me (left) and Kevin (right)

Pictured: Me (far left), John, (second to the left), Yee (second from the right), and Kevin (far right)

Considering we weren’t in an ideal location in the mall, I thought the foot traffic we got was still pretty great and we had a number of interested people stop by to play and ask questions. Definitely a success in my book! It’s definitely got me thinking about doing more things like this in the future. Will be sure to add it to my long list of things to do. Haha. Hope you all enjoyed this post!

PS. Credit for all the amazing photos goes to my incredible girlfriend. =D