Going for Go

It's nice to know there are some Americans who have taken up this ancient game of strategy.

Corvallis teen excels at Go

By Wendy GeistGazette-Times

Last modified Monday, August 27, 2007 12:00 AM PDT

Every Wednesday evening members of the Corvallis Go Club meet at New Morning Bakery for a few friendly matches of an ancient but still relatively unknown game.

The local club, though small and also little-known, has a claim to fame — one of its members, 17-year-old Landon Brownell of Corvallis, is one of the top Go players in the United States and the top rated youth player in Oregon.

Brownell received an all-expense-paid trip to play at the recent national Go tournament in Lancaster, Pa., where he won the top award in his age division.In addition to his recent win, Brownell traveled to North Carolina last year where he won the national championship in a variation of Go that Brownell said requires players to have a little more than skill and strategy on their side.

“You have to be lucky,” he said. “I won it, but I was really lucky.”

The traditional version of the strategic board game is played by two players who alternately place black and white stones on a board marked with grid lines. The object is to control territory on the board. A stone or group of stones is removed if surrounded by the opposing color.

Go is estimated to be more than 2,700 years old and originated in China. The game is played extensively in East Asia and has only recently gained popularity in the U.S.

Brownell, also an avid chess player, began playing Go in 2001 and said he found Go easier to learn in the beginning than chess, but that Go becomes more difficult with advanced play.

Last Wednesday, Brownell was engaged in a game of Go with Jim Levenick, who teaches computer science at Willamette University in Salem. Levenick travels back and forth between Portland and Corvallis to play in local Go clubs.“

Jim likes to play fast to confuse me,” Brownell said, though the comment wasn’t taken too seriously, because Brownell, a much higher rated player, was beating Levenick in nearly every match.Brownell is also an advanced chess player. He won the national high school chess championship in 2006.

He and other local Go fans are looking forward to next year, when the national Go Congress will be in Portland.

For more information on Go and how to contact the Corvallis Go Club see http://www.usgo.org/.