History of the former New York Go Club

Go players in New York met through the years under the name New York Go Club. At times over the years, the Club was simply organized as a meeting on a particular night in a restaurant or bar that permitted us to play. At other times, a formal management provided Go players with a dedicated place to meet and play.

Founded in 1927 with the help of Iwamoto-sensei, the first New York Go Club was hosted by the Marshall Chess Club at the behest of Edward Lasker, a famous chess master. Edward and his distant relative Emanuel Lasker, a World Champion of chess, begin to play Go at the same time. They found an article from a Japanese newspaper reviewing a game in progress and analyzed it together up to the point where play stopped. Both agreed that one side won. When they received the next issue they saw that their analysis had been wrong and in fact it was the other side that won.

In the 1930s Edward Lasker and other Go players regularly played at Chumley's speakeasy in Greenwich Village, where his picture is still on the wall. It was during one of their meetings that Edward and some others founded the American Go Association. Around 1965, on the recommendation of the AGA, Edward Lasker received an Honorary 5th Dan diploma from the Nihon Ki-In.

In the 1960s, Takao Matsuda and his wife operated a Go studio where there were usually about a dozen players, but it was not financially successful and eventually closed. In the late 1950s and early 1960s go players were invited to play at the Nippon Club on East 96th Street and on 57^th Street where the Nippon Club is now located. Many players regularly played there. It was their club manager, Horiguchi-san that made this possible. Other players used to come together in Washington Square Park and during the winter they met in various coffee shops in the Village or at "Go parties" in peoples' homes.

In the late 1960s The New York Go Club was reestablished meeting in a hotel across from Lincoln Center. This was also arranged for and managed by Horiguchi San.  It remained there until about 1971 when it moved to a room in the Chess House on 72nd Street. This was arranged for by Paul Anderson, a past President of the American Go Association, who also helped arrange for The New York Go Club to return to the Marshall Chess Club one or two years later.

In the early 1980's, the club was upstairs of a Korean restaurant on W 32nd St. Then President Marvin Wolfthal moved the club to a coffee shop on 26th St and 2nd Ave. Michael Simon took over and moved it to 5th Ave and 23rd St in 1988, and then in 1991 to 49th St between Lexington and 3rd Avenues.

The last New York Go Club closed in 1995. Most of its members joined The New York Go Center at that time.

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