What is your club's culture like?

[goTony]

I run the Fiery Rain of Go Stones club in Denver.

Usual attendance is around 6-8 players a session. We meet on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Sundays of each month at a restaurant (Mercury Cafe) that has graciously hosted us for 7 years now. Players ranks run from around mid-teens kyu to low dans (with an occasional perk around 4d showing up).

And... we play go... No clocks (though I bring one in case someone really wants to). If you are there the whole time you can get around 3 full-board sized games in usually. No dues, no fees, equipment provided (though a few folks bring their own) and we've left a few "house sets" at the cafe in case anyone happens to be there at other times and wants to play or show off the game.

I haven't done much promo lately, but we do appear on the cafe's event calendar and we are in the local paper's "club" listing section. I feel if we had just a few more regular attendees (even like 2-3 more as an average) I'd organize some short lessons or game reviews but with usually 3 games going most folks are busy just playing.

Bruce "Kyu Kyu Kachoo" Young

Love the name of the club!

[goTony]

Go and Chess Club.

This made me smile. As did seeing Boy George in better times.

Interesting topic, heres hoping pleanty of people from all over the planet share thier "club culture." Thanks for sharing yours. Feel am still to weak to attend go club (lucky for me am in an area that has both go clubs and fairly regular tournaments) but if that ever changes will be sure to post here about my findings.

Only ever been to chess clubs so imagine it something like this but with go boards and stones:

Is this wrong?

GO players are better dancers! But I like the giant Chess pieces, and maybe we all should wear swords to the club? It may improve our manners.

[quantumf]

I've been attending the Cape Town Go club (in South Africa) pretty religiously every Tuesday ever since I discovered the game about eight years ago. I've progressed from 30k to 2d, thanks largely to the incredible support and teaching from stronger players at the club over the years.

We meet every Tuesday evening, from about 7pm to 11pm. We meet at a restaurant called The Touch of Madness, and being near a university is a pretty relaxed venue. It recently changed ownership, and the new owners are not licensed to stay open til late, which is a shame, as I do recall games going on until 1am with the previous owners.

Members bring their own equipment, but most of us have boards and stones, so there's never a shortage. Our membership fluctuates as people come and go, generally between six and ten players can be counted. As Cape Town is such a popular tourist destination, we quite often have overseas players popping in for a game, which we always appreciate, not least because its a chance to calibrate our ranks to international ranks.

Although I would not say we are great at teaching complete newbies, we certainly enjoy teaching enthusiastic beginners, and love to see people progressing quickly.

I would say in general the players seem to prefer playing serious games, often with clocks, primarily I think because in South Africa, club games by default count for rating points (unless the players agree otherwise). So the club may seem a little serious and solemn at first glance. Having said that, we do sometimes look at commented pro games, or analyze a recent tournament game of a player, or have a stab at a few tsumego. However, playing games is definitely the typical behaviour. Invariably we'll review after the game, which I find very enjoyable and incredibly useful.

Our strengths are perhaps a bit top heavy at the moment (compared to the South African go population as a whole), as our regulars include two 3d's, a 2d, and a 1k. We do however have a few other SDK's and a couple of DDK's.

[goTony]

I've been attending the Cape Town Go club (in South Africa) pretty religiously every Tuesday ever since I discovered the game about eight years ago. I've progressed from 30k to 2d, thanks largely to the incredible support and teaching from stronger players at the club over the years.

We meet every Tuesday evening, from about 7pm to 11pm. We meet at a restaurant called The Touch of Madness, and being near a university is a pretty relaxed venue. It recently changed ownership, and the new owners are not licensed to stay open til late, which is a shame, as I do recall games going on until 1am with the previous owners.

Members bring their own equipment, but most of us have boards and stones, so there's never a shortage. Our membership fluctuates as people come and go, generally between six and ten players can be counted. As Cape Town is such a popular tourist destination, we quite often have overseas players popping in for a game, which we always appreciate, not least because its a chance to calibrate our ranks to international ranks.

Although I would not say we are great at teaching complete newbies, we certainly enjoy teaching enthusiastic beginners, and love to see people progressing quickly.

I would say in general the players seem to prefer playing serious games, often with clocks, primarily I think because in South Africa, club games by default count for rating points (unless the players agree otherwise). So the club may seem a little serious and solemn at first glance. Having said that, we do sometimes look at commented pro games, or analyze a recent tournament game of a player, or have a stab at a few tsumego. However, playing games is definitely the typical behaviour. Invariably we'll review after the game, which I find very enjoyable and incredibly useful.

Our strengths are perhaps a bit top heavy at the moment (compared to the South African go population as a whole), as our regulars include two 3d's, a 2d, and a 1k. We do however have a few other SDK's and a couple of DDK's.

Your pretty strong how strong is the dog? Is he a regular GO Club player?

[Ellyster]

Hello,
I am currently in Tokyo and searching for a friendly go-club.
Do you have to be a student at the University of Tokyo to go to the go club or is it open to anyone ?
KGS 7d sounds nice, because I am searching for strong players and I heard it is hard to find them in regular go clubs in Tokyo.

Mostly we are students from the University of Tokyo (is a really young enviroment, everyone is 18~24), except sometimes that we have some visitors from others universities, OB/OJ, ...

In Tokyo, there are Go salons with really strong amateurs, like the one in Shibuya (http://igo-club.net/), that is the one with the strongest players (probably).

[ShinFlash]

Hello,
I am currently in Tokyo and searching for a friendly go-club.
Do you have to be a student at the University of Tokyo to go to the go club or is it open to anyone ?
KGS 7d sounds nice, because I am searching for strong players and I heard it is hard to find them in regular go clubs in Tokyo.

Mostly we are students from the University of Tokyo (is a really young enviroment, everyone is 18~24), except sometimes that we have some visitors from others universities, OB/OJ, ...

In Tokyo, there are Go salons with really strong amateurs, like the one in Shibuya (http://igo-club.net/), that is the one with the strongest players (probably).

Thank you for your answer !
Actually I am 20 years old so that sounds perfectly fine or isn't it open to someone not studying in Tokyo?

[Ellyster]

Hello,
I am currently in Tokyo and searching for a friendly go-club.
Do you have to be a student at the University of Tokyo to go to the go club or is it open to anyone ?
KGS 7d sounds nice, because I am searching for strong players and I heard it is hard to find them in regular go clubs in Tokyo.

Mostly we are students from the University of Tokyo (is a really young enviroment, everyone is 18~24), except sometimes that we have some visitors from others universities, OB/OJ, ...

In Tokyo, there are Go salons with really strong amateurs, like the one in Shibuya (http://igo-club.net/), that is the one with the strongest players (probably).

Thank you for your answer !
Actually I am 20 years old so that sounds perfectly fine or isn't it open to someone not studying in Tokyo?

It's not officially close to outsiders of Todai, is just almost nowbody comes (since is inside the campus of Komaba), so feel free to come and visit. Right now, I'm not sure if we are in a break (for the exams).

[PeterN]

City of London Go Club

We meet on Friday evening's between 6pm and 11pm in the Melton Mowbray pub in Holborn. It's made up of a mixture of regular and semi-regular people, plus people who are in the area and drop by, typically getting around a dozen people a night I think.

The pub stores the equipment for us so no one has to bring anything and we typically play in the more secluded area upstairs. By and large it's a pretty informal setting, there are some clocks around for example but I've not once seen them used, and the main group of players are about 3k-7k or dan level players. I would know their ranks better, but to me there's not a massive difference between low dan and 9 dan By no means are weaker players unwelcome though, I was 11k when I started going and another regular was about 18k.

PeterN

[DrStraw]

City of London Go Club

We meet on Friday evening's between 6pm and 11pm in the Melton Mowbray pub in Holborn. It's made up of a mixture of regular and semi-regular people, plus people who are in the area and drop by, typically getting around a dozen people a night I think.

The pub stores the equipment for us so no one has to bring anything and we typically play in the more secluded area upstairs. By and large it's a pretty informal setting, there are some clocks around for example but I've not once seen them used, and the main group of players are about 3k-7k or dan level players. I would know their ranks better, but to me there's not a massive difference between low dan and 9 dan By no means are weaker players unwelcome though, I was 11k when I started going and another regular was about 18k.

PeterN

If you meet in a pub what is the difference in rank between 6pm and 11pm?

[EdLee]

Hi PeterN,

Nice to hear about the London club -- very good of the pub to keep the equipment for you!

to me there's not a massive difference between low dan and 9 dan

It's massive. May I ask how many stones do you take from your local 1d's ?
If your profile rating of 6k is about right, then you probably take about 5 or 6 stones from you local 1d's ?
Which means they cannot give you 9 stones, or at least 9 stones would be quite difficult for them against you.
In contrast, when you play against pros or near pro levels, then 9 stones are most likely insufficient for you.

The difference is massive.

[PeterN]

DrStraw: -

Tend not to drink too much, and most people are declining at similar rates I suspect, but I have heard murmurings of a beer handicap being equal to 30 points

EdLee: -

Agreed, it is nice of the pub. I think the weakest dan level player is 3 dan, I know there is a 6 dan who turns up from time to time, and there was an 8 dan there once. I know that there is a massive difference really, but against me the difference manifests as I lose, I get brutally beaten, or I get utterly annihilated!

PeterN

[Uberdude]

I think the weakest dan level player is 3 dan, I know there is a 6 dan who turns up from time to time, and there was an 8 dan there once.

Who is the 6d? There aren't many 6d Brits. Maybe a Chinese student? Or there's Shinichi Nao who's Japanese 6d but that's weaker than Euro 6d.

[drmwc]

I think the weakest dan level player is 3 dan, I know there is a 6 dan who turns up from time to time, and there was an 8 dan there once.

Who is the 6d? There aren't many 6d Brits. Maybe a Chinese student? Or there's Shinichi Nao who's Japanese 6d but that's weaker than Euro 6d.

I occaisonally turn up there, although I'm 5d not 6d. I haven't been there while a 6d has been there, but I'm quite lazy about attending. The Epsom Go club also meets on Fridays now, and I go there more often.

Epsom club write up: Meets on Fridays at a local player's house. It's a very friendly club, and a large number of children typically turn up. Their interest in playing fluctuates a bit over time. Attendance has also fluctuated over the years, and is in a bit of a dip at the moment. Player strength varies between 5 dan and 35 kyu - the median is probaly 1 kyu. Games at the weaker end tend to be on 9x9 or 13x13 boards. Paul is an excellent host for all those who turn up.

It's a relaxed, informal affair - thoroughly recommended. I suspect I typically drink more there than I do at London City. (I typically bring a bottle of something when I show up, which isn't as often as I'd like to...)

[Uberdude]

Cambridge is blessed with several Go clubs in a city of just 120,000.

On Monday during term-time from 8pm until 11:30 or so there's the university club, mainly frequented by students but others such as myself sometimes turn up. Strength is beginners all the way to high dan if there are strong chinese students around, with the current core of keen players being sdk. We used to meet in the buttery (cafeteria) or Clare College (because the grandfather of one former Cambridge player is a fellow there so we got the room free) but this year have switched to some rooms in Robinson College because that's where the current club president Ryutaro is and he doesn't fancy lugging the kit around (quite a chore I can attest to!). It has a friendly informal atmosphere and Ryutaro even brings snacks now.

On Thursday evenings in the university centre (a concrete monstrosity) there's a town club which is rather dull with the same 3 people playing (nominally 2d, 1d, 10k) in silence. It used to be more interesting but the guy who breathed some life into it left Cambridge a few years ago. It used to be in a function room, now in the bar.

On Friday and Sunday evenings from around 5 or a bit later until 9 (Fri) or 8 (Sun) there's the main town club in the CB1 internet cafe, pictured below (with some visiting players for Michael Redmond's teaching day last year), which is my usual club. It's more friendly and afterwards we go to the pub. The cafe is a bit hippy and has music. We have a few Go books and the sets stored there. There's around a dozen players who turn up reasonably often, 4 is a quiet day, 10 is busy. The core players are from 10k to low dan. I'm the strongest there now with the tragic death of David Ward late last year. Sometimes other cafe folk ask us about the game and we teach them and give them leaflets, but not many stick with it.

[goTony]

Thanks for sharing Uberdude, sounds like a great club, and I always enjoy when people share a photo.