Episode Details

This episode is from All Things Go, a podcast about the board game Go, also known as Baduk in Korea and Weiqi in China.

In this episode, Travis speaks with former Korean professional and Go studies professor Chihyung Nam about the origins and historical development of Go, including its spread from China to Korea and Japan and the evolution of the 19x19 board. The episode also explores differences in professional dan promotion systems across countries and why rank alone may not accurately reflect playing strength. It closes with BenKyo discussing burnout, rest, varied study, and the value of staying adventurous while improving.

Full transcript, related episodes, and additional resources:

https://allthingsgogame.com/2026/07/27/chihyung-nam-history-of-go-dan-ranks-burnout/

Join the All Things Go Discord community:

https://discord.gg/uf3jgEAA4J

Theme music by UNIVERSFIELD & background music by PodcastAC

• The board game Quarto
• President Nam Chihyung with the International Society of Go Studies (ISGS)
• Netflix's Captivating the King
• Confucian Text Chunqiu
• Kibi no Makabi
• Sunjang Baduk
• The father of Korean Go, Cho Nam-chul
• Other pro players: Hsu Hao-hung, Lee Sedol, Cho Hun-hyun, Ichiriki Ryo & Cho Chikun
• The Ing Cup
• Japanese Go Association
• Korea Baduk Association
• Korean professional players Lee Sedol, female Kim Eunji and Chinese female Hua Xueming
• The Fujitsu Cup
• Video games Genshin impact and Zelda: Breath of the Wild
• Polish Pro Mateusz Surma and his site polegote.com
• BenKyo's league and website

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Contact: AllThingsGoGame@gmail.com