A few recent photos from Beijing.
( Chilly, looks like not snowing yet. )

For some reason I thought of Peter, Paul, and Mary.

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Ed, what event are these taken from?

Hi cdy,

This is a forum/conference hosted by the Tsing Hua university Weiqi Foundation.
They invited people to discuss how to improve Go in the western countries.
I think Mr. Martin, president (?) of the EGF (?), was there. AGA's president Mr. Andy Okun and vice president Mr. Peter Freedman were there, too.

I also have been trying to find the name to this event, but have not succeeded. I would've included the name in the title of this thread.

Winters in northern China can be very dry as well as bitterly cold.

EdLee, is there a place where we can find out more about this event? Up until now it has been the Japan Go Association that has been promoting the game in the West on a widespread basis.

Tekesta, good question. Potential candidates to get more info: Andy, Peter, Martin (?).

Isn't it ironic that this very event that aims to improve Go in the west has such an interesting marketing strategy ? ( We don't even know its name ?!? )

Well, the tall Western guy in the upper right corner is Karl Irwin, a good friend of mine who is fluent in Chinese. I'll ask him for details and report back what I learn.

Chris

Oh, good, Chris. Please let us know.

I think "Martin" refers to Martin Stiassny, indeed president of the EGF.

And there is the cooperation between EGF and China sponsoring the EGF pro system, I guess this is also in the category of promoting go in the west? There are some info about this on senseis:
http://senseis.xmp.net/?CEGOAcademicSys ... on20142015

Have you been involved in Western Go in the last 5-10 years? Before that maybe this was the case, but recently Korea and China have done it too, sending pros on teaching trips, supporting the new pro systems in the USA (Korea) and Europe (China). wBaduk sponsored the recent Oxford Cambridge varisty match and also on online league for top European players iirc. Then there are the numerous go schools and summer go camps in China and Korea (Kim Sung Rae even did one in Hungary for some time too). I don't know if he got support from the KBA, but An Younggil is helping to promote Go in Australia and worldwide through gogameguru.com, as is Myangwan Kim in the US. And let's not forget the long support of the Ing foundation from Taiwan.

So I have spoken with Karl who was an interpreter for the event. Apparently this was from the China-Europe-North America Go Symposium held recently at Tsinghua University. Most of the discussion was around the CEGO training program for top European players, aspirations to send more Chinese pros abroad, and starting some programs to bring Western youth players to China for training. The event was separate from the Sport Accord Mind Sports Games.

The pictures you saw were of a meeting sponsored by CEGO. CEGO is formed by a group of Chinese to support the development of Go in the west. They currently have a ten year project with the EGF (European Go Federation) aimed at helping strong young players to become professionals. The program includes training in the best Go school in China, located in Beijing, as well as on-line training. This meeting was a symposium on supporting Go in the west. On Thomas Hsiang's initiative with CEGO's principals, Andy and I are discussing a possible relationship between CEGO and the AGA. While discussions are on-going and on CEGO'S request we are not reporting on specifics other than to the AGA board and key parties. I am very impressed with the interest in Asia from China, Korea, and Japan, in helping western Go grow in general, and in particular in helping our strong players become stronger and hopefully pros that can compete well in Asia.

Two of the symposium participants talked with Andy and I after the meeting after dinner about their own particular interests in supporting western Go, including one fellow who was interested in running a team Go competition at the US Go Congress...In which two teams play a game on one board - super rengo if you will...Should this gentleman want to proceed it will be something the Board and the Congress organizing committee will have to chew on.

Peter Freedman