On the afternoon of Saturday, May 5th, nearly 10 players of the Argentine Go Association (AAGo) joined at the Main Hall of the lovely Japanese Garden of Buenos Aires to teach kids of all ages the game of go, in the celebration of Kodomo No Hi (Children’s Day in Japan). The room was nicely arranged by the staff of the garden to make the experience a great one for everyone, having an exposition of classic Japanese toys and tables with games to play or drawings to colour. Next to these tables, a huge, long one was set, with fifteen 9×9 go boards and stones, and instructors wandering around, waiting for the kids. When they arrived, the fun begun and soon the parents were as excited as the little ones, though a bit slower at learning the rules. Mainly, the teaching consisted of how to play atari-go, and getting the children to play it as soon as possible, to grasp the basic mechanics of the game. A group of them actually ended up playing 9×9 go. There were also a few that knew how to play go, and played 19×19 with some instructors. The speed at which the little ones progressed in the game was really astonishing. The big star was a colourful Korean board, all green with glass stones in four different colours, which every assistant wanted to use. In the opinion of this humble reporter, surely a group of kids of the nearly 70 that attended the event will continue playing and, probably enough, surprise us in a few years.

Report by Luciano Salerno (AAGO). Photo: Mario Nakazato (Jardín Japonés).