Sduff / Players Pledge

I was asked to deliver the Player's Pledge at the 2000 NEC Cup. I couldn't find a reference to one on the wiki, so using the Olympic Player's Pledge as a model, I came up with the following. Please let me know if you find it useful.

We play Go for many reasons. Some play after being taught by friends of family members. Others may start playing because of their interest in Asian culture and history. And there are others who have had their interest tweaked by seeing references to Go in movies such as Pi, A Beautiful Mind, and even cartoons like Hikaru-No-Go.

Then there are others who simply enjoy the game as an intellectual pursuit - a game of simple rules, that has been played by millions of players for thousands of years. For me, my interest in the game was the fact that these simple rules lead to a game so complex that is equivalent to some of the most difficult problems in the field of Computer Science, where I do research.

Whatever our interest in playing, we all see Go as an enjoyable challenge. Today, may we all strive to challenge not only our competition, but ourselves. On behalf of all participants, may we all play with the values of good sportsmanship and fairness at all times, treating all players with respect.