"Turn your fear into courage!"

I've been dabbling a bit studying go, a strategy board game hugely popular in Japan, China, Korea, etc. In go, you place stones and try to surround more territory than your opponent. Anyway, it's very different from chess, but similar in that both games take planning, calculation, and technique - and in that both are complex and wonderfully difficult. I recommend learning the rules and giving it a try, if for nothing else than a change of pace. :)

I'm also in the middle of a Japanese manga series about go, titled Hikaru No Go, which is the story of a boy named Hikaru and his journey as a go player.

The series is getting better as it progresses - I'm getting more and more invested in the characters.  And, interestingly, I've learned a lot about the psychology of competition and improving a skill - lessons that I can apply to my tournament chess play. Hikaru and Sai (Hikaru's go teacher and a ghost, but we won't get into that here...) are good teachers for people competing in any type of game/sport, not just go!

So, I thought I'd throw in a couple of sample pages to illustrate what I mean. The title of this blog entry ("Turn your fear into courage!") is also a quote from Sai in this part of the book.

Anyway, it could just be me, but the series is inspiring me to press on in my chess improvement and reach for new accomplishments and milestones!