Quintin Connell

When I was a child growing up in South Africa a colleague of my father's was returning back to Canada and needed to unload various items, so I inherited a pair of binoculars, a book on Astronomy, a Chess board and pieces, and a book on Chess. At the end of this said book on Chess there was a chapter something along the lines "Games other than Chess" if I recall correctly they discussed Draughts, Bridge, Backgammon. But it was the section on Go that caught my attention the most. I was fascinated by the seemingly simple rules and the regular grid with its black and white stones. I was eager to find out more about the game. But I didn't know anyone who knew how to play.

Fast forward to the early- to mid-nineties and I've finished University and I'm at a flea market in Johannesburg and I recognise a miniature Go set in one of the stalls. I ask the person at the stall if he knows of anyone that plays the game. He said he didn't. But in a truly serendipitous way someone close by overheard the conversation and says that the last he knew there was a club that met at Rosebank Mall on a Tuesday evening. I made a mental note and moved on.

Then came all the tumultuous events of 1994 — the first democratic elections in South Africa to mark the end of Apartheid. Everyone will have seen the photos of the long winding snakes of a queue of people waiting to vote for the first time in their lives. The election day was extended for a second day to ensure everyone one who could vote, did so. Needless to say Nelson Mandela's ANC were victorious. His inauguration was to take place on Tuesday 11th of May. It was decided that this day would also be a public holiday with the formalities broadcast live on national television. Bill Clinton was there along with Yasser Arafat and Fidel Castro. At the end of the ceremony, what where then still the heads of the Apartheid-era Army, Navy and Airforce saluted their new President and the country took a collective sigh of relief.

Once it was all over, I felt a little at a loss for what to do. And that is when I remembered that there might be a Go club that meets in Rosebank Mall. So I headed out that way to find that the rest of the country, also at a loss for what to do on this unexpected and unplanned public holiday, had descended on the shopping mall, milling around, window shopping. And there I found, indeed, the Johannesburg Go club was in attendance and I learnt the rules of the game that night and played my first 9x9 game. Later that night when I got home, in my dreams I dreamt of giant Go stones. Which I suppose was a sign that this game would become part of my life.