Every 3 times a week, members of the Da Nang Go Club under the Da Nang Athletes Training Center, usually gather at the Bodhidharma Tea Shop at 36/17 Pham Van Nghi Street in Hai Chau District to play Go.

A Go practice session at the Da Nang Go Club. Photo: K.B

All most of the club members are people who have long experience in, and are passionate about, this kind of mind sports. Most notable among them are Do Khanh Binh, Nguyen Minh Thang, Tran Quang Duy, and Le Anh Quang.

Head of the Club Do Khanh Binh is one of the leading Go players in Da Nang, and Viet Nam as a whole. He has reaped numerous outstanding achievements at national and international Go tournaments.

Specifically, Binh has finished 9^th - 14^th places for individual category at the World Go Championships, and the 6^th, 8^th and 10^th editions of the Korean Prime Minister’s Cup in South Korea.

In addition, he claimed gold medals in the men’s singles category, and silver medals in the men's team category at the 1^st Southeast Asian Open Go Championship in Malaysia, and the LS - Viet Nam Go Championship.

As being a head of the Da Nang Go Club, Binh usually spreads the good values ​​of this kind of mind sports to people at different age groups, especially younger generations, through instruction and practice sessions at the Club.

“Such sessions create the good opportunity for participants to improve their skills, and for me to select talents for the city’s Go Club” said Binh.

Currently, the club is focusing on guiding children of primary school age, especially 3^rd graders and over, and those who have already demonstrated their talents in this kind of sports.

The Da Nang Go Club now has a total of 35-40 members, and each member tries to spread the game of Go to the community.

The city’s Go player Tran Quang Duy is a typical example. Duy has established the UDA Go Club at the Dong A University, and has organised online sessions to teach university students how to play Go during the city’s social distancing period.

Mr. Duy said: “The UDA Go Club has nearly 20 members. In the near future, we will organize more Go exchange sessions to facilitate club members to improve their performances".

According to Mr. Nguyen Minh Thang, a member of the city’s Go Team, Go brings surprising benefits to players. In particular, this mind game helps teach players to resolve arguments peacefully, deal with disappointment, practice patience and improve spirit of learning.

Mr. Do Khanh Binh pointed out some difficulties in training Go for teenagers and children today. Firstly, this kind of sports has not been popular and has not yet been facilitated for development as widely as other chess games.

In addition, many parents do not let their children follow the path of professional chess, but just want their children to learn Go as an after-school entertainment sports.

Mr Binh suggested that Go should be included in sports competitions for students, including the Phu Dong Sports Festival, in a bid to promote the development of Go in the near future.

Reporting by XUAN SON - Translating by M.DUNG