Youth Profile on: ROBERT OTO
by None Redmond
Robert Oto is nearly 18 years of age.
Two years ago he did not play Go, now he is nearly 5 dan and moving steadily
into upper dan strength. How did this happen ?
It started with Gomoku, commonly called ‘Five in a Row’.
Robert played this at school but one of his friends who had been watching
Hikaru no Go told him that ‘Go’ was more interesting. So he bought a
beginners’ book on Go and started to play on Yahoo. His mother
Lori was friends with
Barbara Burrall whose husband and
children all play Go and so Robert discovered that Go was played in
Sacramento and if he wished he could play with real live people.
He and his friend continued to play Go at school using graph paper but while
on Yahoo someone told him that playing on KGS
was much better. Playing there he met a teacher called
Christian Pop who gave him lessons every
other week. Playing with Christian Pop and members of the Davis
Sacramento go club brought him up to shodan in about 8 months and he
went on to study with an amateur Korean teacher Oh
Pil Sang and became strong very quickly.
Robert graduates from High School this year and will go on to study at the
University of California at Davis. He teaches a Go class every week in the
local library and began a class at his school persuading the authorities
himself that this was a worthwhile activity for after-school hours. He is
a patient, clear teacher and a tremendous favorite with the children in the
library. Robert hopes that his studies at Davis will help him to find a job
such that he can continue to improve his Go game and visit Japan, a country
in which he has always been interested.
Good luck Robert !
May, 2004
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