Ranka talked with translator and interpreter Juan Samper after his victory over Natasa Malinic of Bosnia and Herzegoviina, one of three games he won in the KPMC. Here’s what he said.

I learned to play seven years ago, in Bogota, after watching the movie Pi. The main character played go with his mentor, and they talked a lot about how the ancient Japanese thought of the go board as a microcosm of the universe. In fact go was one of the main themes in the movie. The characters were very smart, and I thought that if smart people play go it must be a difficult game, so I’ll learn it and show everyone that I’m smart too. That’s not exactly how it turned out, but I made shodan in about three years. and recently made 3 dan playing online.

The main go club in Bogota is the Salto del Mico, the ‘Monkey Jump.’ Its location is the Casa de la Historia–House of History. This is an establishment run by a well known radio personality who is also a historian and talks a lot about Colombian history. Her idea was that it should be a place for promoting many different cultural projects, and Salto de Mico became one of them. We meet every Saturday at 5:00 p.m. Typically five to twenty players show up. We also hold national national tournaments there and sell go boards and stones that are made in Colombia. Because of the high cost of importing boards and stones from the Far East, two of our members invested some money, talked to some local manufacturers, and gave them the specifications for a go board, and now they manufacture the boards and make inexpensive plastic stones. I think the two investors have already recovered their investment.

Now there is also a go club at the National University in Bogota, which is the biggest university in Colombia. In the last few months that club has really taken off, attracting a lot of young people. There’s also a club in Cali that is teaching young people, and there’s another club in Medellin. All told I’d say Colombia has about 100 go players, of whom about 50 are active, at least from time to time. The big news is that a 12-yead old kid has just won the Colombian National Championship. His name is Juan Ramirez; he’s our secret weapon for the future.

You can find out more about Colombian go here.