All About : Go (Weiqi,围棋)

[tamarind]

bengbeng:

My child has learned Weiqi for 4+ years. From my experience and what I observed on other Weiqi kids, they have very good school performance, especially in math.

I don't have any statistic analysis results for these Singapore Weiqi kids, what I can show you are only some examples of these real kids. During last several years, I have also collected information regarding why and how Weiqi can improve children's intelligence, concentration, memory ability. I would like to share it with everybody in the thread later on. Interestingly, all the principle learned during Weiqi training can be applied to children's daily life, you can image how strong a kid’s mental will be after trained to face so many failures and still willing to have continuous challenges.

As my daughter is in primary 5, so I am more familiar with these Weiqi kids who are primary 6 and primary 5 now. I give you some examples:

Kheng Hun, GEP student, scored 272 in 2010 PSLE, accepted by RI via DSA, strong in Weiqi, gold medal in NUS High Olympiad Maths when he was in P4, P5, P6 for 3 consecutive year.
Likai, GEP student, very strong in Weiqi (in P6 now, still spend time for Weiqi training during weekend in Singapore Weiqi Association). He has received lots of Olympiad Maths medals in the past years (like Gold for 2009 AMC8). Piano 8 grade, and is the 1st in National Mathematical Olympiad of Singapore 2010 (NUS high Olympiad maths)(http://oas.highsch.nus.edu.sg/NMOS/NMOS%20Prize%20Winners%202010.pdf )
Xiangyu, lots of Champion in primary school Weiqi competition, Champion of Shoutan Cup in P5, Top student in his school, National Award in 2010 AMC8, Gold medal in National Mathematical Olympiad of Singapore 2010 (NUS high Olympiad maths) (http://oas.highsch.nus.edu.sg/NMOS/NMOS%20Prize%20Winners%202010.pdf )
Yifei,is a real Weiqi lover, very strong in Weiqi, the 4th in 2010 World Youth Goe Championship, Bronze medal in ACS Olympiad Maths.
HuangQi, GEP student, lots of Champion in primary school Weiqi competition, 1st runner up in 2010 Singapore national Ladies Weiqi Open Group. Also strong in Olympiad Math (I don’t have details about this).
Aiyun, Top student, lots of medal in primary school Weiqi competition, Champion for 2010 Singapore national Ladies Weiqi Junior Group. Also strong in Olympiad Math (I don’t have details about this).
Shuwei, Top student in her school. Lots of champion in primary school Weiqi competition, Champion of 2010 Singapore national Ladies Weiqi Open Group. Now in P5, Distinction in English and Writing, Science in ICAS, high distinction in ICAS Math. Bronze Medal in 2010 AMC8.
Kangzeng, GEP student, lots of medal in Primary school Weiqi competition, High distinction in ICAS Maths

I don’t have all the detailed information, this information were learned during causal chat with parents. Weiqi lovers from NUS, NTU, RGS may also have their own story, unfortunately I don’t have enough information. Maybe, in future somebody should spend time to conduct a comparison research. But what I can feel is most of the Weiqi trained kid are humble, intelligent, have strong memory and logic analysis ability, I will show you some research results to support my opinion and also some interesting facts about Weiqi.
I strongly suggest you introducing Weiqi to your kinds, don’t miss it and you will not regret. Actually, it will never be too late to learned Weiqi. I learned Weiqi in middle school, and if you visit Singapore Weiqi Association, you can meet with Weiqi lover over 80 years old, still have very good memory and strong analysis, calculating skills. I believe that it is Weiqi keep them in good mental health.

Honestly, I do not think that the examples that you have given are sufficient to prove that Weiqi can improve children's intelligence. I am sure that all those GEP kids are already very smart in the first place, that is why they are good in both Weiqi and Maths.

I will need to see examples of children who score 70 marks in Maths, then after learning Weiqi, score 90+ marks

Anyway, I agree that Weiqi is definitely very good for children. It is definitely many times better than playing computer games.

Is it possible to learn Weiqi on our own ? Is it necessary to go to classes ?

[tumeric]

One of my child’s classmate was school representative for Weiqi, won many prizes, never score 90+ for maths but clinched Gold award for SMOPS. Got in one of the top sec schools through DSA by Weiqi & SMOPS. This child’s PSLE score was less than the COP of the sec school.

[bengbeng]

tamarind:

bengbeng:

My child has learned Weiqi for 4+ years. From my experience and what I observed on other Weiqi kids, they have very good school performance, especially in math.

I don't have any statistic analysis results for these Singapore Weiqi kids, what I can show you are only some examples of these real kids. During last several years, I have also collected information regarding why and how Weiqi can improve children's intelligence, concentration, memory ability. I would like to share it with everybody in the thread later on. Interestingly, all the principle learned during Weiqi training can be applied to children's daily life, you can image how strong a kid’s mental will be after trained to face so many failures and still willing to have continuous challenges.

As my daughter is in primary 5, so I am more familiar with these Weiqi kids who are primary 6 and primary 5 now. I give you some examples:

Kheng Hun, GEP student, scored 272 in 2010 PSLE, accepted by RI via DSA, strong in Weiqi, gold medal in NUS High Olympiad Maths when he was in P4, P5, P6 for 3 consecutive year.
Likai, GEP student, very strong in Weiqi (in P6 now, still spend time for Weiqi training during weekend in Singapore Weiqi Association). He has received lots of Olympiad Maths medals in the past years (like Gold for 2009 AMC8). Piano 8 grade, and is the 1st in National Mathematical Olympiad of Singapore 2010 (NUS high Olympiad maths)(http://oas.highsch.nus.edu.sg/NMOS/NMOS%20Prize%20Winners%202010.pdf )
Xiangyu, lots of Champion in primary school Weiqi competition, Champion of Shoutan Cup in P5, Top student in his school, National Award in 2010 AMC8, Gold medal in National Mathematical Olympiad of Singapore 2010 (NUS high Olympiad maths) (http://oas.highsch.nus.edu.sg/NMOS/NMOS%20Prize%20Winners%202010.pdf )
Yifei,is a real Weiqi lover, very strong in Weiqi, the 4th in 2010 World Youth Goe Championship, Bronze medal in ACS Olympiad Maths.
HuangQi, GEP student, lots of Champion in primary school Weiqi competition, 1st runner up in 2010 Singapore national Ladies Weiqi Open Group. Also strong in Olympiad Math (I don’t have details about this).
Aiyun, Top student, lots of medal in primary school Weiqi competition, Champion for 2010 Singapore national Ladies Weiqi Junior Group. Also strong in Olympiad Math (I don’t have details about this).
Shuwei, Top student in her school. Lots of champion in primary school Weiqi competition, Champion of 2010 Singapore national Ladies Weiqi Open Group. Now in P5, Distinction in English and Writing, Science in ICAS, high distinction in ICAS Math. Bronze Medal in 2010 AMC8.
Kangzeng, GEP student, lots of medal in Primary school Weiqi competition, High distinction in ICAS Maths

I don’t have all the detailed information, this information were learned during causal chat with parents. Weiqi lovers from NUS, NTU, RGS may also have their own story, unfortunately I don’t have enough information. Maybe, in future somebody should spend time to conduct a comparison research. But what I can feel is most of the Weiqi trained kid are humble, intelligent, have strong memory and logic analysis ability, I will show you some research results to support my opinion and also some interesting facts about Weiqi.
I strongly suggest you introducing Weiqi to your kinds, don’t miss it and you will not regret. Actually, it will never be too late to learned Weiqi. I learned Weiqi in middle school, and if you visit Singapore Weiqi Association, you can meet with Weiqi lover over 80 years old, still have very good memory and strong analysis, calculating skills. I believe that it is Weiqi keep them in good mental health.

Honestly, I do not think that the examples that you have given are sufficient to prove that Weiqi can improve children's intelligence. I am sure that all those GEP kids are already very smart in the first place, that is why they are good in both Weiqi and Maths.

I will need to see examples of children who score 70 marks in Maths, then after learning Weiqi, score 90+ marks

Anyway, I agree that Weiqi is definitely very good for children. It is definitely many times better than playing computer games.

Is it possible to learn Weiqi on our own ? Is it necessary to go to classes ?

Unfortunately, I cannot find a comparison research to answer your particular question (score 70 marks in Maths, then after learning Weiqi, score 90+ marks). You can find two research results showing the difference before and after learning Weiqi (from Korea and Japan) in my previous thread. It will be good if somebody can conduct a comparison study in Singapore.


The possibility of Weiqi is as big as 361*360*359*358*......*2*1, excluding the \"提子\" and \"打劫\". For a young kid, there is no such a situation in real life needs them to face a very complicated calculation, they need to think about different scenario, evaluate them and make a decision. If a child has a chance to have this training from 5 years old, he definitely will be superior to other child in the intelligence development.

There is lots of ways to learn Weiqi, you can read a book, taught by parents, learning from web, taking course. But the atmosphere is very important. It is better to play with the same age child, it is a competition, and they will enjoy the feeling of beat his class mates or he definitely want to win it back if he loses.
For adult, you can read a Weiqi book and learning it from Web, but if you don't play with a real component, you cannot feel it’s real fun. I think you will agree.

[tamarind]

bengbeng:

The possibility of Weiqi is as big as 361*360*359*358*......*2*1, excluding the \"提子\" and \"打劫\". For a young kid, there is no such a situation in real life needs them to face a very complicated calculation, they need to think about different scenario, evaluate them and make a decision. If a child has a chance to have this training from 5 years old, he definitely will be superior to other child in the intelligence development.

For many average 5 year old kids who still cannot add 2 numbers together easily, parents will pull out their hair trying to teach these difficult concepts

For kids who are already very smart, then Weiqi is definitely good for them. I do hope that more kids learn to play Weiqi, and throw away computer games.

[bengbeng]

tumeric:

One of my child's classmate was school representative for Weiqi, won many prizes, never score 90+ for maths but clinched Gold award for SMOPS. Got in one of the top sec schools through DSA by Weiqi & SMOPS. This child's PSLE score was less than the COP of the sec school.

I also hope every student learning Weiqi or after learning can be the top student. Unfortunately, it is not realistic, your point makes sense.

My suggestion for Weiqi is because of my interests and experience from my daughter (don't ask me direct evidence, :D). My daughter was in the 11th best class (:oops:, totally 12 classes) when she was enrolled in P1, Since P1, she never stopped learning Weiqi, and almost spend half of her spare time on it. But her school performance didn't worsen. In P2, she moved to the 4th best class, in P3, she move to the best class, in P4, she hit the top with a total score of 374 (average 94). Weiqi at least contributed 2%, not 100%, I admitted (:D ).
It doesn't mean Weiqi can improve school performance. But it is really good enrichment training if your child is in early Primary.

[bengbeng]

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_HMiNb2rBhjo/TTMFT_RDjcI/AAAAAAAAADA/U-J3q6DUMe0/s912/IMG_0324.JPG\">


http://lh6.ggpht.com/_HMiNb2rBhjo/TTMDwj5YdOI/AAAAAAAAACw/e_Pg8uT1MSQ/s912/IMG_0181.JPG\">

[bengbeng]

shanring some pictures of these Singapore kids in Go Goodwill tournament in Thailand

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_Pxz9j3NxVdE/TVd76mqJlFI/AAAAAAAAAYI/BDFYdmqAoMk/s912/20110208_052.jpg\">

[bengbeng]

The 2nd Runner-up in High Dan group, it is very tough to compete with Korea, Japan and China player, but we did it,


https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_Pxz9j3NxVdE/TVd8KMdhm6I/AAAAAAAAAYs/5jaC9dBHvbo/s576/20110208_061.jpg\">

[bengbeng]

coaching during the tournament

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_Pxz9j3NxVdE/TVd9owocIVI/AAAAAAAAAcA/SKprMhSHWa4/s912/20110208_112.jpg\">

[bengbeng]

Singapore player \"fighting\" with teenager,

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_Pxz9j3NxVdE/TVd-8f2Od7I/AAAAAAAAAfA/eUjja9RsIPI/s912/20110209_002.jpg\">