- You were good at martial arts. What made you leave it off and play Go?
- I’ve been practicing martial arts since 1988 and I have founded my own Wushu School. We never left Wushu art. Of course, from the outside, it could look like that. But in our own conception it’s isn’t so.
As time goes by martial arts should undergo certain transformations with you. If there isn’t any you should think of it. Think and try to understand if you are developing.
There are different stages of our development. Say, if to “switch on” legs you need to do certain exercises it is one stage. If it is enough just to walk down a street to “switch on” legs and in some time they “switch on” themselves it is another stage. What does it mean “to switch on legs”? That means to make them live, full of energy limbs that are able to carry us, think of the way, positions of feet and bars. Legs that don’t hinder while walking. They give strength. The longer you walk the more strength you get. Are these good legs? Aren’t these legs a martial art? Is it worth reaching of this stage?
Actually, I think if a person is in good shape, if s/he is fast and tireless s/he is in the state when it is possible to use martial arts. I know a lot of examples when people go to a gym but are in a shape which is not enough to speak about using martial arts. In fact, a person can train martial arts regularly but be in a bad for these arts shape. Sometimes s/he can be in a bad shape even during trainings. His/her state is the same as in a daily routine. It doesn’t rise energetically. Just imagine, a person entered the gym and started showing pictures to his friends, speaking to them, joking… Is it a training of martial arts? Of course, it isn’t. It is a service club.
- What was in the very beginning? What difficulties did you face?
- With the same that every person faces. With the difficulties of a human that come from you and people surrounding. With the difficulties that comes from the level of fate. With the difficulties coming from health, society, close friends… With these difficulties we face and will face not only playing Go or training martial arts but in every activity. In short, it was as difficult for me as for you.
- What did Go lack before you started playing it? How did you manage to renew your interest to this ancient strategic art?
- Before, everything was clear in Go. It lacked oddity. We’ve made it obscure. I think, we’ve succeeded in it.
Go was a very understandable game. Before go was a game that was played on a board. One should play as much as possible and solve life&death problems. The winner’s a fine fellow. The loser knows who s/he is. The win should be rewarded. If you win many games stop playing for nothing. You should develop and increase your rating. Everything was understandable and very easy.
- Did the Go amateurs greet the new ideas with fervor?
- Of course, at the beginning it was so. People like new ideas. Then the enthusiasm decreased as they were complicated. Nobody likes complicated ideas. If ideas are new they should be understandable for “all people”. As before Go was developing towards something understandable we had to speak about something obscure. Perhaps if Go had been obscure we would have had to speak about something understandable and… simplify it. For example, we could have turned it into a table game (laughing).
