Meeting Go Seigen Sensei

In any trade or line of interests, there must always be someone who is legendary to that trade or line of interest. Think of John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, Akira Kurosawa, Herbert von Karajan, Jack Nicklaus, Rabindranath Tagore, Edith Piaf, the sort. In Go, the person is Go Seigen. He is legendary and he is so widely admired, even Tian Zhuangzhuang made a movie out of his life and the result is the movie THE GO MASTER. As such, being a Go player, I made sure to be there in the presence of greatness when I heard that Go Seigen will be going to Singapore as the chief judge for the Ing Cup Final between Lee Changho and Choi Cheolhan.

It is a dream come true to see the Master in real life, to be in such close proximity with him, to take a photo with him, to get his autograph on one of his most admired books, THE WAY OF PLAY FOR THE 21st CENTURY and most of all, to hear his commentaries and ideas about the game that the two players just played. It is just such an amazing opportunity which I suspect will be the first and last for me, to see Master Go Seigen.

Here are some photos from the event:

Master Go Seigen – Group Photo with the Malaysian Weiqi Association Team Members. Together with us is Yang Laoshi, 6dan professional (extreme right)

Master Go Seigen’s autograph on my book. Will keep this book safely for as long as I possibly can. It is priceless. Getting the autograph is so hard because the master is now 96 years old and can only autograph limited number of books.

Go Seigen observing the game between the two new masters, Lee Changho (who is the most superb modern era player) and Choi Cheolhan (another superb player form Korea). Go Seigen is still very sharp despite his age and his attacking moves are still very deadly, from the post-game analysis that he gave.

The two players:

The situation at the general observation room. There were lots of people and the place was fully packed, especially in the evening when a professional 9 dan player from Korea began the game commentary and analysis.

What a wonderful weekend!!