On January 27th 2016, a Chinese man named Geng Wenbin announced that he can train adults with no prior knowledge of Go to become a 1 Dan level in just six days. It has shocked the Go World, with Geng shortly thereafter receiving the nickname, “真疯叔叔” (Translation: Real Crazy Uncle). He then partnered up with a Chinese reality TV show, The Brain (game show), and selected six candidates with super memory to participate his training.
Geng later appeared in Weiqi TV and other media explaining his logics and methods. Even after the one-hour long interview, the audience still had no idea how his training is different than regular Go dojo training. People wondered whether it just relies on people who had special abilities to start with. Geng claims that his methods have been tested repeatedly for the last five years and that he has seen success in October 2015.
The training will be hosted at a “camp” where candidates will study Joseki and Tesuji from morning to evening. Geng claims that the importance of Go is about understanding space and where to place a certain stone at the right time. (Most people’s reaction to this was, “Duh.”)
Former world champion Nie Weiping was invited to test the results of the candidates after training. The candidates who applied all have zero knowledge of how to play Go.
During a recent poll by the Chinese media, 59.6% of the population believe that it is impossible for even the people with photographic memory skills to achieve the 1D goal. 25.2% believe it is possible for people with special talent, but not for normal people. 15.2% believe that normal people can also achieve the goal in 6 days.
There isn’t any updated news about this challenge, or whether the training has started…. Many think it is just a PR stunt to gain publicity for his Go school. However, it has inspired many people to research teaching Go more efficiently. What do you think?
Geng later appeared in Weiqi TV and other media explaining his logics and methods. Even after the one-hour long interview, the audience still had no idea how his training is different than regular Go dojo training. People wondered whether it just relies on people who had special abilities to start with. Geng claims that his methods have been tested repeatedly for the last five years and that he has seen success in October 2015.
The training will be hosted at a “camp” where candidates will study Joseki and Tesuji from morning to evening. Geng claims that the importance of Go is about understanding space and where to place a certain stone at the right time. (Most people’s reaction to this was, “Duh.”)
Former world champion Nie Weiping was invited to test the results of the candidates after training. The candidates who applied all have zero knowledge of how to play Go.
During a recent poll by the Chinese media, 59.6% of the population believe that it is impossible for even the people with photographic memory skills to achieve the 1D goal. 25.2% believe it is possible for people with special talent, but not for normal people. 15.2% believe that normal people can also achieve the goal in 6 days.
There isn’t any updated news about this challenge, or whether the training has started…. Many think it is just a PR stunt to gain publicity for his Go school. However, it has inspired many people to research teaching Go more efficiently. What do you think?
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