Go in America

Originally published as “Go in America” in The Proceedings of the First International Conference on Baduk, Department of Baduk Studies, Myong-Ji University, Seoul, Korea, 5-11-12, 2001. Updated November 2026.

The First Games of Go in America

When gold was discovered in California in 1849, young adventurers from China began arriving in San Francisco. Some Chinese businessmen discovered that their countrymen’s labor was its own virtual “gold mine” and opened businesses supplying Chinese laborers for various enterprises. Starting in 1858 these concerns began advertising in China. By the end of the US Civil War in 1865, there were an estimated 60,000 Chinese residents on the West Coast.[1] Some of these young Chinese pioneers must have brought playing equipment with them; others surely found ways to make do with local materials. As they stayed on and made their home in Asian-American communities on the West Coast, they probably constituted the first significant group of players in America.

By 1900 or so a few clubs had popped up on the West Coast, especially in San Francisco, where the notorious “Little Tokyo” club featured gambling, fights and even murders. By 1920 two separate Japanese clubs had been formed.[2]

Western Eyes Get A First Look

On June 16, 1860, an item appeared in The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin describing a visit to Philadelphia of an entourage of diplomats and statesmen from Japan. Commodore Perry had recently opened Japan to the West, and this visit was the start of international relations between Japan and the US. After concluding their first American state visit, the group took the opportunity to tour the East Coast. When they arrived in Philadelphia, the local chess club invited them over and asked for a demonstration of shogi. The reporter concluded that Western chess “[is] a puny and dwarfed offspring of the grand original.” The report goes on: “They described to us another Japanese game, somewhat similar to draughts, played on a board nineteen squares in every way.” After puzzling over the board for a few moments, the Philadelphia chess players returned to shogi. This brief, uncomprehending encounter was probably America’s first exposure with the game.

Prior to the 20th century, Go was probably played informally in Asian-American communities, but it seems to have remained totally obscure to mainstream American culture until the 1920’s. The history of Go in North America really begins with a momentous encounter in Berlin, shortly after the turn of the century.

Dr. Edward Lasker Discovers Go

1905 was a remarkable year in Europe. In Zurich, Albert Einstein published some ruminations on “relativity” that would change the world forever. In Vienna, Sigmund Freud wrote three essays that would begin a revolution in the West’s basic concept of the person.

Nearby in Berlin, a master player was about to discover a game that rivaled his great passion, chess. Dr. Edward Lasker, a distant cousin of World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker, was also one of the top players of his time. When Lasker was a student, his friend and fellow chess master Max Lange showed him a headline in a magazine about Eastern culture, proclaiming ”The Game of Go: A Competitor of Chess.” Writing for Go Monthly Review in 1961, Dr. Lasker recalled what happened next:

“We naturally did not believe that there was a game which could remotely compare with chess. . . . After playing over a few sample games given in the article, we dropped the game again because we could not discover any feature in it which put it in a class with chess as far as intellectual attraction was concerned. “One day we . . . noticed a Japanese gentleman reading a Japanese newspaper. . . . The back page of the paper revealed a Go diagram, and we realized that Japanese newspapers carried Go columns just as German newspapers had chess columns. When [he] left, we examined the paper he left behind.”

A few days later, the Japanese gentleman returned to the café. He explained the game and told them Black had resigned the game described in the paper. “[Dr. Lange and I] were dumbfounded. We thought Black had such an obvious advantage that if anyone should resign, it should be White.” Dr. Lange finally found a twenty-move variation that ended in the capture of a large Black group. “This was proof to us that the game really was a competitor of chess and that deep strategic maneuvers were possible in it.”

Lasker and Lange found a Japanese player to teach them more about the game and began showing it to other chess players. “Most of them only shrugged their shoulders and thought it was ridiculous that we should claim that there was a game in any way comparable to chess.” But by now they had established friendly relations with the Japan Go Association (Nihon Kiin), which gave at least one of them a shodan diploma.

When Lasker’s famous uncle Emanuel visited Vienna the next year, he quickly picked up the game, soon playing Edward and his friends on even terms. One day a Japanese mathematician and strong player passed through, and the two Laskers arranged to play him simultaneously. When he suggested that they take nine handicap stones, they thought “There isn’t a man in the world who can give us nine stones. We’ve been studying this game for a year.” They lost badly, failing even to make the quick-playing Japanese player stop and think. Emanuel Lasker turned back to chess, but Edward was determined to get to Japan and study with the masters. Learning that his company only employed English-speaking engineers in Japan, he transferred from Berlin to London, to learn English. When World War I broke out, he found himself a “civilian prisoner of war,” narrowly avoiding five years in a British concentration camp.

Lasker moved to America in 1914 and forgot about Go, living in Chicago until 1925, when he moved to New York. He had met Lee Hartmann (editor of Harper’s magazine), Karl Davis Robinson (a nationally recognized authority on photography, lithography and the graphic arts), and a few other New Yorkers before and had managed to interest them in the game. Now they formed a small club which met weekly at Chumley’s, a famous Greenwich Village speakeasy and bohemian hangout. This meeting formed the beginnings of what would later become the New York Go Club. Later Lasker arranged for the NY Go Club to occupy the basement of the Marshall Chess Club on East Tenth St.

In 1934, Lasker wrote what he called “an elementary book on Go.” Go and Go-Moku was not the first English-language book on Go, but it achieved considerable popularity. Lasker began to receive inquiries from all over the country. With this list of names and addresses Lasker, Robinson, and Hartmann formed the American Go Association in 1935.

The San Francisco Go Club

Meanwhile, another center of activity was evolving on the West Coast. The San Francisco Zen Temple had been established in an historic building, the first synagogue in San Francisco, a building that had survived the devastating 1906 earthquake. In 1931 Isobe, the temple priest, invited the two local clubs to unite in one location. Eventually, the Temple itself at 1881 Bush St. became the home of the San Francisco Go Club. The SFGC survived the Temple itself, continuing to meet there until the 1990’s when the building was taken over by a Jewish historic preservation society. One of the Club’s early benefactors was the captain of a postal ship sailing between Yokohama and San Francisco, Mr. Yokotta. Although the Nihon Kiin as a whole had little interest in international Go at that time and no overseas contacts, Mr. Yokotta appealed to the more internationally-minded members of the Nihon Kiin Board on the San Francisco Go Club’s behalf. Finally in 1936, the San Francisco Go Club became the first International Branch of the Nihon Kiin.

On hearing the news, Meijin and Honinbo Shusai, the last hereditary master of the house of Honinbo, was inspired to produce a large-scale example of his masterful calligraphy, which still hangs in the club. Mr. Yokotta also helped the club to acquire first-rate equipment for its facilities. He would take club funds with him to Japan, purchase the equipment, and then store in his tiny room, sleeping on the boards to save on shipping costs. Tragically, the San Francisco Go Cub lost this great benefactor in 1942, when his ship was sunk by the American Navy.

Getting Stronger in the Relocation Camps

With the outbreak of war, the San Francisco Go Club closed for several years. A professional in residence, Fukuda 6-Dan, was fortunately allowed to return home rather than detained in West Coast “relocation camps.” However, most of the club’s Japanese members were “relocated.” The club closed, and the building was used as a homeless shelter.

In the camps, many Japanese-Americans became stronger players.[3] “Since many activities were limited and the remote location of the camps made diversions scarce, players found a great deal of time to devote to the game. Many played morning, noon and night, using paper, cloth or home-made wooden boards. “Stones were a problem. They tried making stones of clay, but due to the vigorous snapping down of the stones they were continually breaking. Finally, the players bought black and white buttons for stones.”

After the war, the San Francisco Go Club reopened and has continued to serve as a focus for activity on the West Coast. In 1985 the club hosted an historic game between Nie Wei-ping and Cho Hoon-hyun, their first encounter and first official game in history between a Chinese and a Korean professional player.

Help from the Japan Go Association (Nihon Kiin)

Looking at the history of friendship and support between Japanese and American Go associations, it is hard to believe that the nations ever had less than cordial relations. Starting in 1940, the Nihon Kiin sent a series of professionals to the West to teach Go. The first such teacher was Fukuda 6-Dan, a student of Shusai himself, who arrived in New York and worked his way across the country, ending up in San Francisco. His stay there was cut short by the outbreak of war. After the war, the Nihon Kiin began a sustained effort to help Western players. In addition to frequent tours by professional players, starting in 1961, the Nihon Kiin published Go Monthly Review, with English-language instructional material for serious players all over the world. When the Nihon Kiin sponsored the formation of The International Go Federation and began hosting the World Amateur Go Championship, it provided American players a goal to aim for.

Postwar Growth of American Go

After World War II, The American Go Association resumed operations in 1949, when Lester and Elizabeth Morris led the AGA’s publication of the world’s first English-language magazine, The American Go Journal. Now for the first time, American players who had mastered the basics could study professional games and read instructional material for more advanced players.

Production of diagrams posed special problems for The American Go Journal in the early days. Lester designed a special magnetic board with numbered metal stones. Machinists at Bell Labs made it to order so that positions could be set up and photographed.

By the 1960’s, groups of players had arisen along both coasts, and to a lesser degree throughout the US. In Cleveland, Noble Carlson began teaching some fellow businessmen. In Washington Square Park in New York’s Greenwich Village, players met every evening for friendly competition, exposing large numbers of passersby to the game. At Bell Labs in New Jersey, scientists who worked on historic projects such as the transistor played in their spare time. At Carleton College in Minnesota, a group of talented players would eventually produce America’s first professional player. Go teams from IBM and Bell Labs met each to compete for a prize known as the “Rotten Hatchet.” Carleton student James Kerwin moved to Japan in the 1970’s and earned his professional credentials in 1977, going on to win his section of the Kisei Tournament in 1979. Kerwin has returned to the Twin Cities area and teaches actively, there and at workshops throughout the country. At Princeton University, Dr. Ralph Fox provided a site in the university library for a treasure trove of old materials, the DeWitt Collection.

Learning the Basics

Small, stable groups of players were forming and growing around the US, but it was hard to get stronger without instructional materials in English. Aside from Go Review, an English-language monthly published by The Nihon Kiin, there only a few introductory volumes by Otto Korschelt, Arthur Smith, Lasker and Shukaku Takagawa.

In the early 1960’s, Richard Bozulich, a math student at the University of California in Berkeley, moved to Japan to produce books in English for serious players. He established Ishi Press, which later transformed into Kiseido, still in operation with over 50 years of service to English-speaking Go lovers around the world. With the help of James Davies and others, he brought out the seven-volume Elementary Go Series in the late 1970’s. In 1977, when the Nihon Kiin stopped publishing Go Review, he and John Power began production of Go World, a review of top professional play that was published from 1977 to 2012. Kiseido followed the Elementary Go Series with the nine-volume Get Strong at Go series. By the time the twelve-volume Get Strong at Go series appeared in the early 2000’s, a complete road map to top level could occupy every aspiring player’s bookshelf. Today all of these books, and many more, are available from Smart Go Books in digital form.  

A National Movement

In 1959, the AGA established the first national championship. Bob McAllister in New York and Richard Dolen in California worked out a protocol to conduct telephone matches between the East Coast and the West Coast. The first such match was held through the services of the Bell Telephone Labs. The strongest American player at that time was undoubtedly Takao Matsuda, who won fifteen US Opens between 1959 and 1975. He published The Matsuda Letters in the 1960’s, the first high-level instructional material written and published in the West. By the time AGA President Paul Anderson revitalized the AGA in the mid-1960’s, 35 or so chapters were in operation. By 1974, New York-based players John Stephenson, Matthias Thim and Terry Benson had resumed publication of The American Go Journal. As AGA President and Journal publisher for the next ten years, President Terry Benson struggled to bring the AGA together in new ways, made possible when players from all over the country started getting to know one another at the annual Congresses.

By 2000, the American Go Association had become a 501c(4) tax exempt corporation accepting credit card payments, operating the first Summer Go Camp in the Western world

The US Go Congress

In 1983, Washington-based pianist Haskell Small attended a European Go Congress and thought, why not here? He and Terry Benson worked together to produce the first US Go Congress in 1984 with 64 participants. The Second Congress in Seattle in 1985 attracted more than 200 attendees, including many prominent West Coast players as well as organizers from the East Coast-based AGA. The Annual Meeting conducted at that Congress was the first encounter among principal organizers from all over and served to coalesce the truly national organization that we have today. The US Go Congress is a blend of competitive play, instructional opportunities, and pure fun. Each morning features a round in The US Open, the largest tournament of the year. Afternoons offer a wide array of teaching events – game analysis, simultaneous play with professionals, and lectures. Each evening highlights a special event, lightning tournament, a small board tournament, Pair Go, international friendship events, and “Crazy Go” — a night of unusual variants such as rengo kriegspiel (blindfold team play), three-dimensional, cylindrical and oversize boards, multiplayer games with four colors. US representatives to the World Amateur Go Championship, The The World Youth Championship, The World Pair Go Tournament and other events win their places at he Congress

The Internet

Americans led the way for players around the world to play on the Internet. In 1992 a group of programmers in the San Francisco Bay Area led by the enigmatic “tweet” created the first Internet Go server. By the mid-1990’s, other servers started popping up. A group of IGS’ers broke away to form a server for which they could think of no name, so it became the “no name go server. (nngs)”.

In 2000 The AGA also began publication of a weekly electronic newsletter, The American Go E-Journal, distributed for free to anyone who requests a subscription by writing to journal@usgo.org. As of this writing, more than 10,000 players receive its mixture of news, announcements and Go-related writings.

For a while, it seemed as if Internet play would replace face-to-face games altogether. Clubs reported lower attendance — their members were sitting home, playing opponents from all over the world. Some Chapters even closed. It seems that these concerns, like predictions that the Internet would replace the printed word, were exaggerated. In fact, just as the Internet has given birth to a vast new array of Internet-related books and magazines, in the end it seems to help, rather than hurt. People who learned to play on the Internet wanted to meet opponent face-to-face. With more than 100 chapters, the “IRL” world of Go is stronger than ever.

Ratings

Many game and sport rating system used a relatively fixed, mechanical mathematical system. Players are awarded points for winning and if they lose, points are taken away. In contrast, the AGA rating system, implemented in the early 1980’s, uses a sophisticated statistical model uses large data sets from multiple tournaments to estimate the likely outcome of each pairing, then weights the result accordingly. Canada, the Internet Go Server and various European nations adopted rating systems based on this "“percentage expectancy” model.

The American Go Foundation

In 1984 Roger B. White, a prominent Cleveland industrialist, established the American Go Foundation. White discovered Go when he was in his forties. He wasn't a top player, hovering in the neighborhood of 9K, but when it came to love of the game, he was a match for anyone. In the 1980's White was the AGA Club Coordinator and he, his wife Bonnie, and their dog Lady, traveled the country in an RV visiting Go clubs large and small. The thousands of miles he traveled earned him the nickname "the Johnny Appleseed of Go". He guided and underwrote the creation of the first computer program to play Go across telephone lines. He was the principal editor, driving force, and funder for the development of The Way To Go, and worked to broaden the presence of Go in Western society in every way he could. He provided the initial funds for the AGF and, at his death in 2002, he left a generous bequest to keep it strong. Today, the AGF is active than ever:

·      They developed and host The Kids Go Server, a chat-free secure environment for young children to learn and play.

·      When The KGS Go Server, an early playing site for English language players (originally developed with the help of Kiseido Press and called The Kiseido Go Server) was in danger of closing, the AGF stepped in and maintains it.

·      $1000 College Scholarships are available to qualified applicants.

·      The winner of the annual Teacher of the Year attends the US Go Congress and delivers a lecture on their teaching program.

·      To encourage youth participation, the AGF covers Congress playing fees for all North American youth (under 18).

·      American professional players sponsored by the AGF provide lectures, simultaneous play and game review at the US Go Congress.

·      Teachers, including non-players, who provide instruction in schools and after-school programs receive financial support and free and discounted equipment from The AGF Store.

·      American professional players travel to special events throughout North, Central, and South America at AGf expense.

·      Various youth tournaments receive prizes and additional support including:

o   The Redmond Cup

o   The Girls’ Cup

o   US Go Congress Youth Team Go Tournament

o   American Go Honor Society tournaments

·      Serving as a tax-exempt “fiscal agent” enables schools, community organizations and clubs to raise funds.

Ing Grant

From 1993 to 2003, the AGA received yearly grant by the Ing Chang-ki Wei-ch’I Educational Foundation, founded by the eponymous Taiwanese industrialist and philanthropist. This enabled us to develop a number of events, programs and initiatives, which continue to the present day:

•  The North American Masters Tournament

•  The North American Ing Cup

•  The Redmond Cup

•  Development, production and distribution of a variety of materials for organizers (starter sets, demonstration boards, instructional materials, promotional brochures, etc.)

•  Sponsorship of various tournaments and events throughout the US 

Thanks to these programs, Go is thriving in the US as never before.

The Iwamoto Go Centers

Of the dozens of Nihon Kiin professionals who toured the West, none was more enthusiastic than Iwamoto Kaoru 9-Dan, a great champion in more ways than one. He undertook many teaching tours throughout the Western world, and his book Go for Beginners was the first book in English that really explained how to play in complete detail.

In 1990, Mr. Iwamoto sold his Go club in Tokyo and donated the proceeds – the equivalent of several million dollars – to The Nihon Kiin to spread go internationally. The Nihon Kiin provided funds to establish two American Go centers, in New York and Seattle.

The Seattle Go Center continues operations as a 501(c)(3) public charity, with the formal name of Nihon Ki-in Go Institute of the West. Featuring a Japanese style tatami room, and a larger American style playing room with display boards for teaching, the Go Center provides a quiet and uncluttered space for studying and playing Go. The Center also has a reference library with books and periodicals in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean, filling more than 96 feet of bookshelves. The essential beginner’s books and equipment are also offered for sale. Two public computer stations are set up with a variety of go programs. A digital projector is available for lectures."

The New York Go Center was housed in a four-story brownstone at 323 East 52nd St, in Manhattan. The Center occupied in the first and second floor, as well as a room in the basement. The third and fourth floors were residential rental properties intended to generate income for the Center. With special activities including a series of resident instructors, Japanese pros or strong amateurs who would visit the Center for three months at a time, the NYGC got off to a strong start. However, as time went on, the Center began to languish. Its location was relatively inconvenient for commuters, and the Center made few efforts to reach beyond the Japanese community. In addition, the large Asian population of New York had formed other popular clubs in Chinese and Korean communities, and many Japanese players preferred to play at the Nippon Club on 57th St in Manhattan. By 2010, the building was so rundown that the upstairs apartments could no longer be utilized as rental properties. The Board of Directors was comprised principally of Japanese players, and the minutes of meetings were taken in Japanese. Finally, on November 30, 2010, The New York Go Center ceased operations and The Nihon Kiin sold the building, donating some of the proceeds to establish The Iwamoto North American Foundation for Go (INAF). One of the INAF's principal missions is to provide ongoing support for The National Go Center in Washington DC. 

The Nihon Kiin also provided funds through the Iwamoto Foundation to establish Go centers in Amsterdam and Sao Paulo, Brazil. The Brazil Center appears to have ceased operations around 2004. The Amsterdam building became The European Go Cultural Center, which closed in 2019. The Seattle Go Center and the National Go Center in Washington are the only surviving embodiments of Mr. Iwamoto’s passion to bring Go to the West.

Professionals in America

Although many professionals visited and toured the US, the first professional to live here was home-grown. James Kerwin of Minnesota, having achieved professional status in Japan, returned to the US and began teaching in 1980. California-born Michael Redmond entered the pro ranks in Japan shortly thereafter in 1981. He has gone on to become unquestionably the strongest Western player of all time, reaching the ultimate rank of 9-Dan in 2000.

In 1985, a legendary master teacher moved to the US from Shanghai. Yi-lun Yang, trainer of many of China’s top players, devoted himself to improving the quality of American Go. Another American achieved the distinction of professional status in 1987, this time in Korea. Janice Kim is still the only US-born woman to have earned professional status. in 1993 when a real tournament star, Zhu-jiu Jiang, arrived in San Francisco. Jiang had made his name in the First Japan-China Super Go Tournament in 1985, when he defeated five Japanese professionals in a row. Living in San Francisco, he taught at the San Francisco Go Club and the American Ing Institute. A few years later, after a series of reversals, Jiang was joined by his wife, Nai-wei Rui, one of only two 9-dans in the world at that time. A few years later, the other female 9-dan, Feng Yun, also arrived and set up a thriving practice as a teacher.

An American Professional System

The American Go Association (AGA) professional system certifies professional Go players in North America through qualification tournaments managed under the North American Go Federation (NAGF).

Overview of the System

• Establishment: The system was established in 2012 to create a formalized professional ranks structure outside of traditional Asian Go associations.

• Ranks: Professional rankings span from 1-dan to 9-dan (often denoted as 1p through 9p), which remain distinct from traditional amateur ratings (which range from 30 kyu up to 7 dan).

• Qualification: The NAGF Pro Qualification Tournament is held periodically (such as the multi-day event hosted at the National Go Center) to certify new professional players from eligible North American applicants.

• Role of Professionals: Certified professionals help promote the game, provide lectures, conduct game reviews, and play in simultaneous exhibition games during events like the annual US Go Congress.

Go in Western Culture

Why isn’t Go more popular in the West? Despite widespread cultural exchange since Marco Polo first visited the East in 1274, Go remained completely unknown outside of the Orient until the 20th century, and remains relatively obscure. Global gaming industry analysts say that demand for screen-free social entertainment is driving steady multi-billion dollar growth in the popularity of board games, but go seems to have been left behind. The US Chess Federation has more than 100,000 active members, while the AGA languishes at fewer than 3000. Some intriguing thoughts on the subject can be found in The American Go Foundation’s newly created AGF Library.In a paper presented at The 2003 International Conference on Baduk,  Ulrich Schadler of the Swiss Museum Games argued that it is incongruous with Western preferences for short games involving movement, diverse playing pieces, and themes of hunt, battle, or racing.  Peter Shotwell sees a much deeper divergence, which can be found even in basic differences in the relative structure of Western and Eastern languages. One thing is certain: Westerners who understand and play Go are members of an elite fellowship.

Go made its first significant literary appearance in Western media with the translation of Kawabata’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Master of Go. In 1979, the spy thriller Shibumi by Trevanian featured a hero schooled in the arts of Go as well as the martial arts. Go was a central feature of Darren Aronofsky’s award-winning first film, Pi. A new generation of Western millennials learned of the game with the English language publication of Hikaru No Go, a popular manga and anime about a Japanese boy who awakens the spirit of a Go master who helps search for “the perfect move.” To learn more about Western cultural references to Go, visit the “Creative Arts” section of The American Go Foundation Library.

A Bright Future

The American go-playing community has played a leading role in bringing Go to the West. Nearly all English-language books about Go are produced by American publishers in the US and around the world. The strongest Western player in the game 5000-year history, an American, plays today as a 9-Dan on the Japanese professional tournament circuit. The distinguished San Francisco Go Club was the first international chapter of the Nihon Kiin and has hosted historic matches. The American Go Association is the oldest such association in the West, even older than the associations in China and Korea. Americans created the first online playing site, the Internet Go Server, published the first English-language Go magazine, and promulgated the first professional tournament on the Internet. Nowhere in the West today is anyone working harder to bring Go into the mainstream of popular culture.

The title of this essay, “Go in America,” was chosen intentionally. Citizens of our neighboring countries on the North and South American continents remind us they, too, live in “America.” However, Go arrived in the US first, spread more broadly. Today, the US go-playing community has developed to such a degree that we can, and do, help our fellow players in other “American nations,” who subscribe to The AGA E-Journal, attend our tournaments, and receive sponsored visits from our professional players.  

In order to grow the presence of Go in mainstream Western culture, we need to strengthen our children’s programs, and educate more parents, schools and the public on the game’s value for growing young minds. We need to strengthen our tournaments by building mutually beneficial relationships with sponsors. We need to focus on helping new players climb the steep initial learning curve, when the game seems so open and formless as to be incomprehensible. If these things happen, Go will reach a new level of prominence in the America.

REFERENCES
1. Ambrose, Stephen, Nothing Like It In the World: The Men and Women Who
Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869, Simon and Schuster, New
York, 2000.
2. “A Brief History of the San Francisco Go Club”, The American Go Journal,
Volume 19 No 3, August 1985, pp. 13-14.
3. Lasker, Edward, “From my Go Career”, Go Monthly Review, 1961 #7, pp. 51-
52.
4. Lasker, Edward, “From my Go Career”, Go Monthly Review, 1961 #9, pp. 62-
64.