Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Go in New York City and Stamford, CT

For a couple of months now I have been semi-regularly attending the classes of the IgoAmigo Go Club/School. I mentioned in a previous post that I accidentally stumbled into one of their classes at the New York Go Center on my first visit. I had originally thought that it was part of the NYGC, but actually it's a completely separate organization. They used to meet twice a month on Saturdays at the NYGC, but due to some disagreements with the NYGC (I don't really know the details) they have moved their class to Columbia University. It's really a shame that in the small circle of NY Go players, it's not possible to reach some sort of amicable solution that would enable the club to meet at the only dedicated go facility in the city. At any rate, I have decided for the time being to try to continue attending.

If anyone is interested in attending, the daily fee is still going to be $7, I believe. The teachers are 7d and 1d. Most attendees are Japanese but there are also English speakers and both teachers speak English fairly fluently.

I also am on the brink of finding some players to play with in the Stamford area. I have been looking for an opportunity to play in person somewhere around my home to no avail. Last Saturday, I randomly dropped by Starbucks in Stamford, near the Ferguson Library and came across a few chess players. I had my laptop and a book on Go which I started reading. One of the players noticed and asked if I played a lot. I learned that he was close to my level (he said 10k) and that he had a friend that was looking for people to play with. Another kid there said he used to play with his mother when he was young but didn't play anymore. Well, counting myself, the guy and his friend, the kid and his mother, and one other acquaintance, I know of 6 Go players in the Stamford/Greenwhich area. It also turns out that the 7d player from IgoAmigo also lives in Rye which is not too far.

I have also been exchanging mails with a guy named Mark, who also has a daughter near the age of Alyssa and a Go Blog. He lives in CT, but a bit far so it's unlikely I will be able to play him, but one can hope.

It would be awesome to play in Stamford so I am going to start hanging out at the Starbucks in my free time to try to stimulate some local interest. I think I'll need to hang a sign out that says "Ask me to Teach You, 5 minutes to Learn, a Lifetime to Master" or something like that.

5 comments:

mike spaner said...

Thanks for the igoamigo information (the link in your post was dead but google + translate got me to the interesting site).

Please let me know if you do set up a club in the Stamford area. Be sure to setup up a website/google group and I will be sure to add the link to the Connecticut Go room on KGS. I can also create a subdomain at goplayer.com for your club, if you would like. I did this for the new haven club by creating newhaven.goplayer.com which links to their google group.
-mike

Koji said...

I will definitely let you know if I manage to start anything up. Thanks for the heads up on the dead link. It's been updated.

Anonymous said...

My son is 4 and half years old, I am not sure how to measure a level, but he is aware of the chess moves and coins ---he is a beginner,

Please advise if you can teach him or are aware of any other teachers in Stamford..I did not understand ur post completely, are you teaching in starbucks in the Stamford mall--

thanks
mini

Koji said...

Hi Mini, your post is about 5 years too late! I would suggest you bring your son to the Chess Club of Fairfield County. You are in luck, it's one of the nicest chess facilities in the Tri-State area.

Anonymous said...

thanks koji
can you please provide me the address and phone number of Fairfield county chess club ? My son started playing chess from the age of 3 and half years, but I haven't spent much time with him to improve his skills
I want to take a right step atleast now --mini

Wider Two Column Modification courtesy of The Blogger Guide