On April 24, Hiroro Square (Ekimaemachi, Hirosaki City) held the first Aomori Go Rookie Match for high school students and younger.

This tournament is sponsored by the "Sora-ku Go Club", which is engaged in Go promotion activities in the prefecture centering on Hirosaki City. The Go board played by professional Go players is called ``19 road board'' with vertical and horizontal lines of 19 × 19, but in the competition, in addition to the 19 road board section and 13 × 13 according to the children's go history. It was held separately in the "13 Roadbed" category and the 9x9 "9 Roadbed" category.

In the 19-road section, 6 participants participated in a round-robin battle, and Aomori City's third-year junior high school student, Akiyo Wakamiya, won all the wins. Mr. Wakamiya, who has been playing Go for nine years, said, "It was interesting that Go could be reversed until the very end. I didn't know when the final match would be overturned, so I couldn't stop feeling from beginning to end."

Awa Kudo, a 6th grade elementary school student from Kuroishi city, won the 13th road section, and Yusei Yamamoto, a 4th grade elementary school in the city, won the 9th road section. It is said that Yusei, who has been playing Go for three months, started to read the manga "Hikaru no Go", which prompted him to become interested in Go.

Konyu Furukawa (2nd professional chess player), referee chief of the tournament, said, “During the tournament, we found that every child was definitely stronger for each station. The tension of the tournament had a positive effect. Then, analyze. There is also a child who begins to cry with regret after losing in a game, "I can win and feel a sense of accomplishment, lose and feel frustrated, I can gain an important experience of life through Go. It's not embarrassing to cry."

Motoko Furukawa, the representative of the club (the highest honor of Go in Aomori prefecture), said, "Go is not a game that can only be played on the 19th road. With the achievement of the first 9th and 13th road prefectural tournament this time. , We were able to take a step further in the spread of Go in Aomori."