I learned it as a kid and played until my professor died.
I don't play either much but prefer it to chess.
I'd say the sudden traction comes from the tv show Counterpart: the opening credits feature a board of Go.
* spoiler alert *
If the show is definitely worth watching, it doesn't show much of the game itself. I would say this is a good way to tease gamers into (re)discovering it.
As to why it is featured, the game philosophy is about the uncertainty of a win, capturing your adversary is never a definite thing.
I think the show actually needed to introduce Go to explain it's depth.
There has been a big resurgence in Go interest after AlphaGo beat the world champion last year. That made a lot of headlines, and brought in a lot of interest.
The AlphaGo documentary on Netflix is worth watching, if you have an interest in Go, or AI.
And that's ironic because AlphaGo's achievement was proving/making Go too easy for a computer / hard for a human to play well enough to be worth investing resources in making a human good.
I don't play either much but prefer it to chess.
I'd say the sudden traction comes from the tv show Counterpart: the opening credits feature a board of Go.
* spoiler alert *
If the show is definitely worth watching, it doesn't show much of the game itself. I would say this is a good way to tease gamers into (re)discovering it.
As to why it is featured, the game philosophy is about the uncertainty of a win, capturing your adversary is never a definite thing.
I think the show actually needed to introduce Go to explain it's depth.
Hoping you will enjoy both :)