The Power of the Department of Go Studies & the International Society of Go Studies

Chihyung Nam / August 17, 2025

At the International Society of Go Studies, we present the “Promotion Award” each year during the annual academic conference to honor individuals and teams dedicated to promoting the game of Go.

This award was proposed by Professor Daniela Trinks, Vice President of the Society and former professor of the Department of Go Studies. Every year, three teams are selected for first, second, and third place. This year, the first prize went to Guatemala, second to Bulgaria, and third to Japan.

Despite the Society’s limited resources, prize money of KRW 500,000 / 300,000 / 200,000 is awarded. If the recipients cannot attend the conference in person (held this year in Warsaw), the prize is sent via PayPal or another method.

However, the first-place winners from Guatemala happened to be visiting Korea for the “Kuksu Mountains Cup” and asked to receive their prize in Korean won during their visit. Since that was simple enough, we agreed right away.

Let me briefly introduce what the Guatemala team has been doing: as shown in the photos (applicants for the Promotion Award typically submit a video under 8 minutes), they’ve been teaching Go to girls at an educational institution run by a convent. These students mostly come from underprivileged families.

Now, here’s the twist: although it’s not visible in the photos due to my poor photography skills, the students were using 21-line Go boards (not all, but most of them) with the star points marked at 5-5 intersections. Also, since they didn’t have actual Go stones, they were using buttons and other items as substitutes.





When I saw their video for the first time in Warsaw (as the Society President, I don’t select award winners—Professor Daniela appoints the judging panel), I truly thought, “If only we had a bit more money, I’d love to send them real Go boards and stones.”

Their visit to Korea became a golden opportunity—no need for expensive overseas shipping! So, I reached out to the network of alumni from the Department of Go Studies. (All I had to do was move my fingers a bit… haha.)

While I couldn't attend the Kuksu Mountains Cup in Mokpo myself (still recovering from a trip to Europe, haha), I asked Hsiao-Yin, a PhD graduate of the Department and a current board member of our Society who led the Taiwan team, to find the Guatemalan team and deliver the prize money.



At the same time, I contacted Mr. Jongmin Kim, another Go Studies graduate and current officer in charge of Go at the Health Promotion and Sports Development Team of Shinan County Health Center. Since he was also in charge of the entire event, I asked if he could possibly donate any extra Go boards or stones to the Guatemala team.

And he did—he donated five brand-new Go sets! Jorge from Guatemala sent a heartfelt message of thanks!



Isn’t this a wonderful outcome, all thanks to the collaboration between the Department of Go Studies and the International Society of Go Studies—and just a few finger taps?

Huge thanks to Mr. Jongmin Kim, Dr. Hsiao-yin Chang, and of course, Professor Daniela Trinks, who initiated the Promotion Award and made this all possible.

By the way, we’re looking for someone willing to donate just KRW 1 million a year to support the Go Promotion Award. 😄




The winner's video is available here: https://youtu.be/vtSYvLHHNdg