MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Event

Dec 9, 2025
The Origin of the Game of Go

Abstract

This talk examines early traditions about the origins of Go and the puzzles that still surround its beginnings. Ancient legends link the game to Emperor Yao and raise the question of whether Go was first created for astronomy, mathematics, or divination. References to “mystic numbers” suggest that it may once have served as more than a pastime.

Archaeological and textual evidence shows that early Go boards often had 17×17 grids. These appear in Chinese sources up to the sixth century, and Tibet also preserved 17×17 boards, although their rules differed. By the seventh century, however, this format disappears and the 19×19 grid becomes standard—a transition that remains unexplained.

The changing number of star points on Go boards adds another puzzle: five in early China, thirteen in Tibet, seventeen in Korea, and nine in Japan. What motivated these shifts, and what do they reveal about the game’s original purpose? This talk explores these enduring questions.

The game of Go

Biography

Since March 2003, I have been teaching as a professor in the Department of Baduk Studies at Myongji University. I mainly teach courses such as History of Baduk, Baduk Culture, Sociology of Baduk, Artificial Intelligence and Baduk, and Baduk English.

I have published several English books on Baduk, including Go Terms, the series of Baduk Made Fun and Easy (volumes 1, 2, and 3), and Contemporary Go Terms. I have also authored Korean books such as History of Baduk and Society and Culture of Baduk. Among these, History of Baduk is currently being translated into English, and with research funding from the Hangzhou Qiyuan in China, my new book Baduk in Korea is scheduled to be published in Chinese next year. 

At the age of 15, in 1990, I became a professional player through the 1st Women's Professional Qualification Tournament in KBA and have been playing for 30 years before retiring in 2020.

In 2023, I served as the head coach of the Korean national Baduk team at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games, where the team won two gold medals (men’s individual and men’s team) and one bronze medal (men’s individual) out of three gold medals in total. Based on this experience, I organized the 1st International ParaGo Tournament in Korea earlier this year. Furthermore, together with representatives from participating countries, we established the International ParaGo Federation, where I currently serve as Secretary-General.

I also initiated founding the International Society of Go Studies (ISGS) in February 2023 and have since been serving as its president, currently in my second term since March this year. We published 5 academic journals until now (twice a year) and organized 3 international conferences (once every year.)

Nam Chihyung profile

 

 

Organizer(s)
Address
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Room
Zoom/Online Meeting Platform
Contact and Registration

We welcome both internal and external guests. For more information about the lecture, please contact Daniela Trinks. For more information about the colloquium series, please contact Jacob Schmidt-Madsen.

Zoom link: https://eu02web.zoom-x.de/j/68564259061

Feel free to distribute information and Zoom link widely.

About This Series

Asia is home to some of best known and longest surviving board games in the world. Backgammon originated in West Asia, Chess in South Asia, and Go in East Asia. The list goes on and can be expanded to include hundreds, if not thousands, of games that most people have never even heard of. Yet the history of their transmission, translocation, and transcreation across the Asian continent remains little explored and poorly understood. This owes in part to obvious barriers of culture and language, but also to a lack of communication between board game scholars. Even a cursory glance at the sources – whether textual, visual, material, or ethnographic – shows that they speak a common language that we as researchers do not.

The 2025 ASTRA COLLOQUIUM series, entitled "The Ludic Languages of Asia: Sources and Terminologies", brings together board game scholars working with primary sources in a variety of Asian languages. It asks them to present their sources and discuss questions of context, structure, content, and language use. The goal is not only to establish connections between specific games and game cultures, but also between researchers and methodologies. The series is rooted in a larger project to build a database of ludic terminologies across linguistic glossaries in Asia.

2025-12-09T11:00:00SAVE IN I-CAL 2025-12-09 11:00:00 2025-12-09 12:00:00 The Origin of the Game of Go Abstract This talk examines early traditions about the origins of Go and the puzzles that still surround its beginnings. Ancient legends link the game to Emperor Yao and raise the question of whether Go was first created for astronomy, mathematics, or divination. References to “mystic numbers” suggest that it may once have served as more than a pastime. Archaeological and textual evidence shows that early Go boards often had 17×17 grids. These appear in Chinese sources up to the sixth century, and Tibet also preserved 17×17 boards, although their rules differed. By the seventh century, however, this format disappears and the 19×19 grid becomes standard—a transition that remains unexplained. The changing number of star points on Go boards adds another puzzle: five in early China, thirteen in Tibet, seventeen in Korea, and nine in Japan. What motivated these shifts, and what do they reveal about the game’s original purpose? This talk explores these enduring questions. Biography Since March 2003, I have been teaching as a professor in the Department of Baduk Studies at Myongji University. I mainly teach courses such as History of Baduk, Baduk Culture, Sociology of Baduk, Artificial Intelligence and Baduk, and Baduk English. I have published several English books on Baduk, including Go Terms, the series of Baduk Made Fun and Easy (volumes 1, 2, and 3), and Contemporary Go Terms. I have also authored Korean books such as History of Baduk and Society and Culture of Baduk. Among these, History of Baduk is currently being translated into English, and with research funding from the Hangzhou Qiyuan in China, my new book Baduk in Korea is scheduled to be published in Chinese next year.  At the age of 15, in 1990, I became a professional player through the 1st Women's Professional Qualification Tournament in KBA and have been playing for 30 years before retiring in 2020. In 2023, I served as the head coach of the Korean national Baduk team at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games, where the team won two gold medals (men’s individual and men’s team) and one bronze medal (men’s individual) out of three gold medals in total. Based on this experience, I organized the 1st International ParaGo Tournament in Korea earlier this year. Furthermore, together with representatives from participating countries, we established the International ParaGo Federation, where I currently serve as Secretary-General. I also initiated founding the International Society of Go Studies (ISGS) in February 2023 and have since been serving as its president, currently in my second term since March this year. We published 5 academic journals until now (twice a year) and organized 3 international conferences (once every year.)     Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany Zoom/Online Meeting Platform Daniela TrinksJacob Schmidt-Madsen Daniela TrinksJacob Schmidt-Madsen Europe/Berlin public