… In China, even during Confucius's time, it was considered one of the four things that a nobleman needed to master:  Go, poetry, music, and writing. It is played in Japan, China and Taiwan, and Korea.  MRI studies show that, whereas Chess just uses the left half of the brain (the sequential/analytical side), playing Go requires both halves of the brain! The right side being the global/creative/intuitive side. In order to help their children's brain development, Japanese parents are really pushi …