Ranka spoke with Nurman Aylanç on the morning of the first day at the Korea Prime Minister Cup. He gave Ranka this account of his go career.

I learned to play go in 2003, the year they reopened the borders between North and South Cyprus. I live in the northern part, the Turkish part, where I teach music. There was a big joint concert to celebrate the reopening, through which I made contact with Dimitris Regginos, a music teacher from the southern part of Cyprus, the Greek part. We were both guitarists. He asked me if I knew about go. I was a chess player, but I had not heard of go, so he immediately taught me how to play. I liked the freedom of the game. It’s different from chess, where all the pieces have to move in set ways. I studied hard in my first year and got to about 7 kyu, maybe 5 kyu. In 2004 I opened a go club. At first several people came to learn, but now we’re down to just five. Two or them are Korean, and two are from Turkey, so I’m the only native-born Cypriot. There are more go players in the southern part of the island, about 15 to 20.

I’ve played in a couple of Korea Prime Minister Cups before. Every time I come I’m impressed by the improvements in the program and organization. They really make an effort, and it’s been a good tournament every year. The only problem is the short schedule, playing six games in two days and then departing the next day, but I think most players understand that this is for economic reasons. My goals this year are to win half of my games and to become stronger.