Sunday, October 26, 2008

Flushing "Hanguk Kiwon" Go Club



Hanguk Kiwon Go Club
36-18 Union Street
Flushing Queens, New York

(Ratings out of 5 *'s)
Average Attendance: ****
Events *
Equipment ***
Beginner Friendly **
Player Strength ****
Store *
Refreshments ****
Study Recources **
Hours *****

Overall ***
Smoking: yes
Entrance Fee $10/day $5/students


This club seems rather intimidating to newcomers. There is no sign hinting at a Go club, at least not in English. It is located on the busy Union Street, amidst a stew of hair salons bakeries, and travel agents. However once you figure out where it is, and enter inside it still seems pretty un-inviting.



That is wrong however. Although there are no beginners in this club that I know of, the Manager will find you a game, or give you a lesson regardless of your ability. He speaks english well, so you should not worry about the language barrier. There are good opponents ranging from about 10kyu to about 6 or 7d



Although there is a teaching board in the club, I have never seen a formal lecture, I might be wrong, as I was only there 5 or 6 times. There are also a few Korean Language go magazines, but overall study materials are really few.

This club has an interesting feature of having free refreshments, including tea, coffee, juice, and even a little Asian* yogurt drink.



There is also a Mah-Jong room, but I was not allowed to take any pictures.

Just a warning there IS SMOKING in this club like most other Korean Go Clubs.


To sum it up This is a good club for playing, if you can tolerate smoke. The entrance fee is low, you will find an opponent, and they have a fair range of strengths. You won't find formal instruction, or books to study, but there are free beverages to keep your energy up while you play.


-end-

*This is not meant to be racist, this yogurt drink is sold in China, Japan, and Korea and I do not know where else. Also I am not sure where it is from.

4 comments:

Romain said...

You are talking about these drinks ?

http://thedailykimchi.blogspot.com/2006/07/yogurt-drinknot-your-typical-yop.html

Go Stoodent said...

Yeah!! thats the eaxact drink!

How did you find my page btw?

Romain said...

Just googling around.
These drink are strange the first time but after a few I became addicted...

It's nice what you do, the go club reviews. (even if I will probably never go to NY)

FrankMayhem said...

I don't mind smoke. Doesn't seem like a top notch place, but nevertheless I would love to have just that in my city.