The Bob High Memorial Library
Former AGA Membership Secretary and President Bob High, who played a crucial role in the AGA's development, liked to read and write about all aspects of go. Welcome to the Bob High Memorial Library, which houses a collection of original articles Bob would have enjoyed. Here you will find links to articles from magazines and newspapers, as well as original material that is not available elsewhere.
Downloadable articles are copyrighted, so material that is "checked out" cannot be copied, used or quoted, except for brief passages with adequate citation, without the authors' written consent. There is no fine for late return of checked out materials.
Hikaru No Go
A coming-of-age tale that has captivated Japanese youth. English version serialized in Shonen Jump magazine starting December 2003.
The Go
Kiburi Stories
by Bob High et al
He's back! Learn of the exploits of Go Kiburi, go player
extraordinaire, and his sidekick, Iki Jibiki.
The
Honinbo
by Bob High
A parodist's paradise! Bob High wrote this 43-page
adaptation of "The Mikado" for the world of go
The AGA
Songbook (3rd edition)
edited by Bob Felice
Dozens of go-theme parodies based on well-known American
songs. Click
here to dowload the 2002 supplement.
Francis Roads' Go Songs
The singer, writer and raconteur extraordinaire's new site presents dozens of European go songs, and you can play the melody if you don't know it!
The British Go Songbook
Even more European go songs.
Richard Bozulich on Kissinger on China and Go
In Kissinger's book On China, he claims that weiqi thinking guides military and political thinking in China. The founder of Ishi Press and author of many English-language go books disagrees.
Speculations About The
Origins of Go
by Peter Shotwell
A vastly expanded version of Shotwell's article for The Go Player's Almanac, with five appendices. Revised 2008.
Appendix I: A Synopsis and Commentary on Dr. Paolo Zanon's Discussion of Weiqi in the Warring States period and During the Han Dynasty
(Revised 2007)
Appendix IV: Some Thoughts About the Evolution of Early Go
(Revised 2007)
ABRIDGED VERSION of Appendix V: At nine pages, this shorter article summarizes Shotwell's more significant findings. For additional source material and more detailed discussion, see the full version of Appendix V above.
"Real" Go in Ukiyo-e: Some Artistic Aspects of The Physician Hua Tuo Scraping the Bone of Guan Yu to Treat an Arrow Wound by Kuniyoshi Utagawa
by Peter Shotwell
Wny does the gioban in Kuniyoshi's famlous ukiyo-e have 21x21 lines instead of 19x19? Shotwell explores this and other aspects of the print that appeared on the cover of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Go in Ancient and Modern Tibet
by Peter Shotwell
Shotwell traveled to Tibet in the early 1990's, on
the trail of the origins of go. Here is what he found. A
revised and expanded version of an article that appeared in
Go World #69.
Appendix I: Two Stone Tibetan Boards Discovered
Appendix III: The Possible Spiritualism of Tibetan Go
Doers and Dreamers -- Weiqi Players and
Poets
by Peter Shotwell
An expanded version of an article that
originally appeared in The American Go Journal.
The History of Go Rules
by Chen Zuyuan
A leading expert describes the evolution of the rules of go.
Behind the Rules of Go
At least three different counting systems can be used to figure out the result of a go game, all of which lead to the same result 99.9% of the time. There are at least five distinct "rule sets" of conventions and procedures. Charles Matthews thinks through some issues involved in creating a viable rule set.
Sufficient but not Necessary
Charles Matthews continues his review of fundamental concerns behind the rules, explicating the dilemmas posed by ko and seki, and how they are best resolved.
Go In World War II Internment Camps
by Chris Garlock, Janice Kim and Peter Shotwell
The story of how Japanese-Americans preserved their way of life while being held in American concentration camps during WW II.
Go Combinatorics: The Recent Work of Dr. John Tromp and His Colleagues on the Number of Possible Go Positions, Games and their Length
by Peter Shotwell
Shotwell describes Tromp's unique understanding of go -- "the winner is the player who plays the last move."
The Politics of Go in Old
Shanghai
translated by Roy Schmidt, edited by Peter Shotwell
Tales of intrigue in the early 1900's in Shanghai.
Translated by Roy Schmidt and edited by Peter Shotwell.
Go and Cognition
by Peter Shotwell
How do we learn to play go? What makes masters stronger than the rest of us? Peter Shotwell summarizes and discusses studies of go players that try to understand the nature of thought itself. Related chess studies are also discussed.
Appendix: Some Updates and Commentaries
A Time Line of Supercomputer Go: Temporal Difference Learning
to Monte Carlo Programing
by Peter Shotwell
The story behind recent stunning developments in computer play.
Appendix I: Interviews with the Authors of MoGo, Many Faces of Go, Fuego and Zen
Appendix II: 2011 Super Computer Go: Shih -Chieh Huang’s Erica
The Art of Black and White: Wei-chí in Chinese Poetry
This article originally appeared in The Journal of The American Oriental Society.
Notable Quotes
Great people say great things about the world's greatest game. Post them at the club; use them to spice up a press release for your next event; or just enjoy!
Some Quotes From Over Two Thousand Years of Go History
Some examples of what has been said about go throughout history , especially in China. Compiled by Peter Shotwell from his other downloads on this page.
Steganography In Games: A General Methodology And Its Application to the Game of Go
by Julio C. Hernandez-Castro et. al.
The authors describe how data can be hidden in game records, using their program STEGOGO.
Judge Dee and Go Steganography
by Peter Shotwell
Shotwell cites an example of go steganography from Robert Van Gulik's The Chinese Lake Murders.
The
Flavor of the Game
Bob High reflects on what makes go special.
Go: The Study
of Buddhist Ideals
by American Ing Goe President, Ernest Brown.
The Glass Bead
Game
Further reflections by AIG President Ernest Brown on the
essential nature of go.
Go As a
Model for Change
Dr. Robert Israel explores the metaphoric implications of
chess and go.
Go
in the Emerald City
by Michael Ryan
The origins of the Black Hole Go Club.
A Disturbance
at the Chicago Airport
Nakayama Noriyuki, Pro 7-Dan, master raconteur and the
author of The Treasure Chest Enigma, recalls his
encounter with a fearful opponent -- the Chicago airport,
as he was en route to the 2000 US Go Congress.
Deviant
Go
Bob High suggests some unusual things to do on the go
board.
Small Board
Go
Myron Souris finds surprising complexity on boards as small
as 2x2.
To Test a Powerful Computer, Play an
Ancient Game
Why can't computers play go? Despite years of effort, the
strongest programs are easily defeated by talented
children. New York Times science writer George Johnson
explains why.
On-Line Samurai Transform an Ancient
Game
New York Times writer Katie Hafner visits the world of
online go in this article from December 24, 1998. Available
online from The New York Times archive for $2.95.
All Systems Go
This article by David Mechner, which originally appeared in
The Sciences January-February of 1998 issue,
describes some of the problems the would-be go programmer
faces in even more detail.
Games of No Chance
More Games of No Chance
Richard J. Nowakowski, editor
Scholarly essays on a wide variety of "combinatorial games" of perfect information, where all possible moves are known to all players (unlike bridge, Stratego or Monopoly for instance). Each volume contains several interesting go-related articles such as "Loopy Games and Go" and "Go Thermography".
Go and Chess
Ethan Goffman compares two great games as vehicles for learning. This reprint made available by Knucklebones magazine.
Last Dango in Rochester
by Bob High
The only known crossword puzzle with a go theme. Click here to download the solution.
Life and
Death on the Go Board
An article by Peter Schumer of Middlebury College that
appeared in Math Horizons magazine.
A Chinese Way of Seeing the
World
An eight-part series of articles by a professor of
anthropology, showing how weiqi embodies the
Chinese point of view.
Learning from the Stones: A Go Approach to
Mastering China's Strategic Concept,
shi
David Lai, a professor at the US Military College, uses go
as a paradigm to illustrate some essential characteristics
of Chinese thought.
Go in North Korea
Can go bring North and South closer together?
An Interview with Go Seigen
Pieter Mioch talks with one of the great players of all
time. A three part series.
Going First
Charles Matthews explores some considerations involved in
calculating the value of the first move in various games,
focussing mainly on go. This article also contains links to
interesting information about other games that Matthews
discusses, including hex, nim, mancala, gomoku and shogi.
Combinatorial Game Theory
Elwyn Berlekamp, David Wolfe and others have applied
mathematical principles to analysis of the endgame in books
like Mathematical Go and Chilling Gets the Last Point.
Charles Matthews describes some of their thinking in this
article.
