What is Go?
Go is an ancient Asian board game dating back 4000 years. It originated in China and spread to Japan and Korea, becoming as infamous as chess is in the west. It now has fans in over 70 different countries worldwide. Other names of the game include weiqi (Chinese), go/igo (Japan), and baduk (Korea). In a typical game, two players take turns placing black or white stones on the intersections of a 19x19 grid, surrounding unoccupied intersections to control territory while also surrounding stones of the opposite color to remove in capture. The player with the most territory at the end wins.
Humble Beginnings
The Niagara Go Center started in 2015 with Scott Jankowski, of the former Wandering Go Club, and Henry Kayutkin, of the Buffalo Go Club, both sharing a similar dream to create a center to grow Go in the Western New York area. Along with their excellent team of Daniel Kwan, Melissa Harkins, Patrick Wesp, and Ilya Demyanenko they intend to expand that goal to make the NGC the foremost center for Go expansion in the United States, driven by competition, supported by structured education, and delivered with unrivaled professionalism and cordiality.