Welcome to the Berkeley Go Club!

This photograph of the building was shot and edited by Jason Alan Pfaff, who did our original web pages.

The Berkeley Go Club is conveniently located at 3051 Adeline, above The Fifth String music store, on the NE corner of the intersection of Adeline and Essex, straight across Adeline from the AshbyBART station, which is open until 12:30am every night.  AC Transit lines 9, 18, and F stop near the club. There is ample on-street parking near the club. When you arrive, come in the front door,  up the stairs, and all the way to the back.

We are a group of people dedicated to playing, teaching, and promoting the ancient game of Go, which is known as Igo in Japanese, Wéiqí in Chinese, and Baduk in Korean. Whether you're new to the game or a seasoned veteran, we have something for you. We offer free instruction to beginners, reviews by professionals, an extensive library with a few of the books available for sale, and always plenty of snacks.

While people new to the game are welcome to come and learn for free at any time, we provide instruction for beginners each Sunday from 2:00 PM.

Each month our club's most special event is a game review lesson with Professional 7 Dan Mingjiu Jiang. Beginners through top amateur Dans are welcome to attend. These lessons are subsidized, so you don't need to pay to attend, but if possible, please bring records of the beginnings of some of your games.
The next lesson is scheduled for February 11, 2012 at 7:30 PM.

To receive email regarding special events at this club including the monthly professional lessons, send us your email address. It will not be shared with anybody, and you may leave the list at any time.To get on or off our announcement mailing list, send email to: berkeleygoclub at gate dot net.

We currently have about 20 active members, ranging in strength from complete novice to amateur 6-dan, and in age from under ten years old to over seventy.
Our officers are Mark Harris -- President;  and Ted Christen -- Treasurer. 

Our club dues are:    By the month -- $20;    Six months at a time -- $100;    Twelve months at a time -- $200;    Please join!
Sustaining members pay $300 or more per year.

There is a nonmember day fee of $5;   And for nonmembers coming more than once in a weekend, a $7.50 weekend rate. 
Kids under 18 and beginners pay half price;    and your first club visit is free.

For tournaments and other special go events in the Bay Area please check the well maintained web pages of the Bay Area Go Players Association -- http://www.bayareago.org/

We encourage you to also come to Games of Berkeley  at Center and Shattuck across from the Berkeley BART station which sells a wide selection of excellent go books and go equipment.  At Games of Berkeley our club has a presence every Monday evening from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM, with one table conspicuously in the middle of the sales floor so that customers can see go players having fun. Although mainly aimed at introducing the game to beginners, players of all strengths are welcome. You may also enjoy the Berkeley Campus Go Club , which currently which meets at Games of Berkeley on Thursdays from 6:00 pm-until after closing in a private room downstairs. --

For information about both local go clubs,  call me (Herb Doughty)  before 10:00PM at (510) 843-3784 (home). It is OK to leave a message.
Or you may send an email to:   herb at lmi dot net. 

You may be surprised to find at the remarkable Art Gallery of the Internet Go Server  a painting of me by Rembrandt (with help from my very talented friend at IGS):   http://www.pandanet.co.jp/English/art/herb.html> Especially note the go board under the papers! 


Here is my brief history of go in Berkeley --

Go was played in Berkeley long before there was a Berkeley Go Club. By 1962 Professor Scott Taylor in the Cal Math Department was rated Amateur 4 Dan, and was said to be the strongest Caucasian go player in the world. Please let us know if you have more information about early go in Berkeley.

When I began working on the Berkeley Campus in August of 1967, a game room near the old bowling alley under the student union, and  the math grad student lounge, then in Campbell Hall, were the two main places where I could find a game of go.

To the best of our knowledge  the Berkeley Go Club founded October 12, 1967 by Walt Mckibben and me was the first go club in town. For about 10 years, I was president, and we usually met on the fourth floor of the Cal Student Union, other times at my home on Hillegass. In the late 1970's we moved to the Mens' Faculty Club. We hosted the US championships in 1977 and 1979.

In 1988 led by Ned and Joanne Phipps, we hosted the annual United States Go Congress.

In October of 1992, the original Berkeley Go Club celebrated its 25 anniversary with a simultaneous exhibition by 9 Dan Professional Jiujo Jiang (Mingjiu's brother), but in 1995, after 28 years, it was gone.

Since the early 1980's we had tried supplementing our large Thursday evening meetings with small gatherings at cafes on other nights, and more.

Then David Wolfe and Yari (Jada) Lesky started the East Bay Go Association to meet the other six nights of the week, first on 8th at Parker St. then at the other end of the same block. In the early 1990's the East Bay Go Association moved downtown to an upstairs space at 100 Berkeley Square. Mark Rampel (club President) and I ran the club until '97 when Mark Harris took over.

Inspired by the Chess in the Schools programs and especially by the success of Ernest Brown's Go program in the San Francisco Schools, for a few years in the early 1990's, I ran a Go in the Schools program in Berkeley and Oakland, and also taught go at the East Bay Chinees School. Unfortunately, heart problems forced me to give both up. Grad students David Wolfe and Nick Kersting were a very big help.

In 1999 The East Bay Go Association  lost its space at 100 Berkeley Square. People from the EBGA then started both of the two present clubs, The Berkeley Go Club, Founded by Mark Harris at our present location upstairs from the Fifth String Instrument store on Adeline at Essex Street; and the Berkeley Campus Go Club, Founded on the Cal campus by then student, James Chien, 7 Dan, which now meets at Games of Berkeley on Thursday evenings and currently includes another 7 Dan student, Matthew Burrall. I have enjoyed playing Matthew since he was five years old.

Very recently go is also starting to be played on Wednesday evenings at Berkeley's famous Caffe Med on Telegraph.-- http://www.caffemed.com/home Craig Becker, the owner, an old friend of mine who now spots me 3 stones, provides go sets, and you may also bring your own.

Berkeley's most significant contributions to go have not directly involved the local go clubs, but rather, have been contributions by Berkeley people to bringing go together with leading edge academic research in artificial intelligence and in the mathematics of decision making; and also in the founding of the tradition of internet go servers, providing old folks like me with a delightful way to keep our minds alert, and far more significantly, providing young kids everywhere a wonderful opportunity to become native speakers of excellent thinking, rather than going through life with an accent, like most of us who didn't really have much experience with excellent thinking until we were a little too old. See:

Mathematical Go: http://www.math.berkeley.edu/~berlek

Computer Go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Go

and Internet Go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IGS_Go_server

What is Go?

While much has been written on the subject, the Wikipedia entry offers a comprehensive overview of the game, history, philosophy, and rules.

Online Tutorials for Beginners

  • The Interactive Way To Go - This excellent Java-based tutorial will have you understanding the rules and ready to play in no time.
  • KGS Tutorial - Another tutorial offered from one of the premiere Go servers, KGS.
  • GoProblems.com - A collection of interactive problems at all skill levels, good for beginners and dans alike.

Other Regional Clubs

The American Go Association

Membership in the American Go Association has many benefits. For one, you receive regular newsletters with news, announcements, and commented games in SGF format. For another, you show your support for Go in the US. And perhaps most importantly, most tournaments require it. Once registered, you'll be able to track your progress and have an official rating.

Play Go Online

  • The KGS Go Server - KGS is prehaps one of the more approachable Go Servers available, with players of all ranks, plenty of teaching rooms, tournaments, and weekly lectures by professionals. You can play with a downloadable client, through a quick Java webstart, or from your mobile phone.
  • The Internet Go Server - An older and well-established server, IGS attracts mostly stronger players, and is playable through a client or telnet.
  • Dragon Go Server - For those who don't have the time to play a game all at once, DGS is a turn-based web system, similar to playing Chess by mail.

While the three listed above are the most popular, there are countless other servers available. Please refer to the Sensei's Library page for a more comprehensive listing.

Books and Equipment

Our club has an extensive library of hundreds of books and magazines, both old and new. We have books for beginners, life & death compilations, the latest Hikaru No Go omnibus, and a whole lot more. Books are free to read in the club and most can be borrowed with a deposit, extra books can be purchased. For your own equipment, refer to the following retailers:

Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Go

Sensei's Library is the definitive online Go resource. This wiki-based site contains thousands of articles, lessons, problems, discussions, and a whole lot more. Be careful, many have reported signs of SL Addiction.

I will soon add more pages, including links to more go resources on the web.

If you play go, or are just curious about the game, please come to our club!