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Comment by pmontra | Hacker News Reader

That's debatable. Maybe shogi is superior to chess because it's a longer game and pieces can change side. Or maybe Chinese chess are better because they are a faster game with less pieces and more movement.

Go is definitely better than all of them though, at least for me, and yet it's less popular than any game of chess in any country.

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I don't understand why people compare Go with Chess or Shogi like this. It's not a competition, they're entirely different kinds of games, and for the most part there's loads of people who play both anyways! Real "Trek vs. Wars" nonsense

What?

Go is not less popular than Chess in China or Korea

Anecdotally I saw many people playing Chinese chess on streets all around China but I never saw anybody playing Go/Weiqi. I saw people playing Mahjong and games of cards (long thin cards.)

I don't know which game of chess is popular in Korea, western or Chinese ones? Or is there a Korean variant? About the popularity of Go/Baduk there I was told that it was because of the three years of mandatory military service and the availability of go boards in the barracks.

what I mean is that in China, Chinese chess > go > western chess in popularity

Korea has its own variant of Chinese chess, with some interesting rules like the Elephant being allowed to cross the water. Go (Baduk) is absolutely more popular than Chinese/Korean Chess in Korea and definitely more than western Chess

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