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Why We Play: Nqua Xiong 1k, Alister Hake 12k

Nqua Xiong 1kAge: 28 Lives in: Minneapolis, Minnesota Home Club: Twin Cities Go Club Years playing go: 9 Favorite thing about go: “The adrenaline rush. It’s the whole game… being able to see all the different fighting variations that come out from different people."

Alister Hake 12k Age: 29 Lives in: Sedona, AZ, originally from Liverpool, England Home Club: Started a local one with friends, and the ASU Go Club Years playing go: 3 Favorite thing about go: "The subtlety to the way it moves.. it’s an amorphous game. It’s just the way it shifts. Things that are all dead come back to life, things that were alive die. That interchange, the way it just spins with the moves. It’s mind-boggling and at the same time enigmatic and intriguing and that’s the best bit about it. Especially when you watch pro games, like Andy [Liu 1P] and Myungwan [Kim 9P], you see the depth of thought and visual imagination and how powerful that is. That level of skill is just mind blowing." It's not just about the game for Alister. "It’s really friendly, everyone’s welcome. Everyone can just play and have a good time. It’s an overwhelming characteristic of the US Go Congress." - report/photos by Samantha Fede, E-Journal special correspondent, reporting from the 2016 U.S. Go Congress