"Hello everybody. Can anyone tell me why some people (like Prof. Chen Zhixing for example) always call the Game GOE instead of GO? Where does this word (or the letter E on it's end) come from and which group of persons does use it? I had thought that the Game is called Wei Qi (or Wei Chi) in China."
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The great patron of go in general and of computer go in particular was Mr. Ing Chang Ki of Taiwan.
Mr. Ing Chang Ki set up a fund with his own money which donated a million dollars per year to the game of go. At my suggestion, plus the suggestion of the Late, Great Manfred Wimmer, Ing Chang Ki held the first computer go tournament ever.
However, Mr. Ing Chang Ki was a little bit crazy and part of his nuttiness was that, like God, he wanted to re-create the game of go in his own image. If you wanted to get part of that million dollars per year, you had to play under his rules (which were different from the standard rules) and on his own specially designed go set (also non-standard) plus more than that he insisted on changing the name of the game from go to "goe".
Go World magazine, which also benefited from his largesse, was under pressure to change its name to "Goe World" magazine.
Mr. Ing Chang Ki died two years ago and before his body was even cold in the ground, almost everybody stopped playing go under the Ing Chang Ki rules, almost nobody used the Ing Chang Ki go sets any more and, almost everybody went back to spelling the name of the game as "go" rather than "goe".
Prof. Chen Zhixing is apparently in a time warp over there in China and still spells it "goe", but there may be another reason for this because, in principle, even though Mr. Ing Chang Ki is dead, his foundation, which still had millions of dollars in it, should still be in existence.
I have posted two obituaries and a photo of Mr. Ing Chang Ki on my web site at:
http://www.ishipress.com/ing.htm
http://www.ishipress.com/ing-obit.htm
Sam Sloan
Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 21:24:07 +0800 (GMT)
From: cesczx@zsulink.zsu.edu.cn (Chen Zhixing)
Subject: Re: Names of the Game Go
Hi,
Why I prefer the word goe? There was a story.
When I started to write my program, I went to our library to search literature about computer go. I focused in the keyword 'go' but found nothing except a paper entitled 'Where's the Computer Go'. I was glad to find it, and impediately send a card to the author to ask him a reprint. The reprint did reach me, but I saw the title is 'Where the Computers Go'.
Go is a widely used verb in English. It is unsuitable to name the board game with black and white stones, otherwise it will lead to confusion. I thought there may be a more suitable name instead of 'go', such as 'surround chess'. However, it is nonsense without public recognition.
I know the word goe after I organized the 1996 Ing Cup Computer Goe Congress, but I did not know at that time that goe was suggested by Ing Changki. I confirmed it in 1997 Ing Cup computer Goe Congress at Sanfrancisco, where the co-sposor is American Ing Goe (note that the name contain 'goe'). In 1998 Ing Cup Computer Goe Congress, the word 'goe' was also used. I was eager that the word go will be substituted by a suitable one, no matter it is igo, weiqi, or weichi. As Ing Changki had changed weichi into goe in the name of his foundation (Ing Changki Weichi Education Foundation -> Ing Changki Goe Education Foundation), I am glad to accept the word 'goe'.
I hope the word goe will be recognized by the public.
Chen Zhixing
www.wulu.com