You may have seen the title of a Korean research paper: "Baduk (the Game of Go) Improved Cognitive Function and Brain Activity in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder." If your child has ADHD, that sounds like news worth acting on. Maybe your child already likes chess or board games, and you wonder whether Go lessons could help with focus.
This column reads that 2014 study closely. What did the researchers do, what changed in the children, and what stayed the same? We also check research on chess and board games, a major US pediatric guideline, and Go's place in Korean childhood. The short answer: parents rated inattention lower in one small study, but its design cannot show that Go caused the change.
What did the Korean study do?
Go is a two-player game played with black and white stones on a 19-by-19 grid. In Korea it is called baduk (바둑). Kim and colleagues recruited children through ads at elementary schools in Andong, Korea, and published the study in Psychiatry Investigation in 2014.
Seventeen children, ages 7 to 12, had ADHD diagnosed by a psychiatrist. None had taken ADHD medicine or had behavioral therapy or any other ADHD treatment. The team left out children with other psychiatric diagnoses, seizure disorders or severe illness, and children who already knew Go. It added 17 children without ADHD, matched by age and sex, as a comparison group.
All 34 children took the same lessons: a beginner course for ages 7 to 12, taught by an instructor for two hours a day, Monday to Friday, for 16 weeks. The classes ran as an after-school activity at two elementary schools and a public library. That adds up to about 160 hours if a child attended every lesson (our calculation; attendance is not reported).
What changed, and what stayed the same?
Before the lessons and again after week 16, the team collected several measures. Parents rated symptoms on the ADHD Rating Scale, an 18-item checklist that scores inattention and hyperactivity and impulsivity separately. Children took a number recall test and a timed trail-making test, and the team recorded their brain waves (EEG). In the table, "differently" means a statistically significant gap, one unlikely to come from chance alone; a smaller p-value means chance is a less likely explanation.
| Measure | Children with ADHD | Comparison children | Did the groups change differently? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent-rated inattention | Lower | No change | Yes |
| Parent-rated hyperactivity and impulsivity | No change | No change | Not reported |
| Number recall, forward (working memory) | Higher | Higher | No |
| Timed trail-making test | Faster | No significant change | No |
| Forehead brain-wave ratios (EEG) | Lower | Lower | One measure, p=0.04 |
Inattention ratings fell, but hyperactivity and impulsivity ratings did not change, so "ADHD symptoms improved" says too much. Forward number recall, a test of working memory (holding information in mind for a moment), rose in both groups. So the study does not show that Go raised working memory in children with ADHD.
The brain-wave results are the hardest to read. Ratios of slower to faster waves at the forehead fell in both groups, and only one gap between the groups was significant (right forehead, p=0.04). The paper set a stricter bar for EEG results: p below 0.05 divided by 10, or 0.005. By our reading, that gap misses it, though the paper does not say how it applied the rule.
What can this study show, and what can't it?
The authors named two limits: the number of children was "not large enough to generalize," and the EEG covered only the prefrontal cortex, the front of the brain. They still wrote that Go "would be effective" for children with ADHD. Our reading of the design finds four more limits.
- No ADHD group skipped Go. Everyone took lessons, so this was not a randomized controlled trial. The study cannot separate Go from other changes over 16 weeks, such as growing older, practice from repeating the same tests, an instructor's attention or parents' hopes.
- Parents rated the symptoms, and they knew about the lessons. The paper describes no blinded rater, meaning someone who does not know which group a child is in.
- Nothing was measured after week 16. We cannot tell whether any change lasted.
- The children with ADHD had no other treatment. The study cannot say what Go adds to medicine or behavior therapy, or how it compares with them.
A 2013 meta-analysis in the American Journal of Psychiatry pooled randomized trials of diet and psychological treatments for ADHD. Ratings from the people closest to the treatment showed significant benefits for all of them, but with the best probably blinded ratings, most benefits shrank to non-significant levels. By our reading, parent ratings like those in the Go study belong in the first group.
Has anyone repeated it, and what about chess and board games?
Our PubMed search in October 2026 found no other study that taught Go to children with ADHD, and so no repeat of this one (we did not search other journals). A 2025 selective review of Go research in the same journal cites this study as its ADHD example.
Chess and board game studies in young people with ADHD are mixed, and none used Go.
| Study | Who took part | Design | What it found |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blasco-Fontecilla et al., 2016: chess | 44 children with ADHD, ages 6 to 17, Spain | 11 weeks of chess; no comparison group | Parents rated symptoms lower; the authors urged caution |
| Estrada-Plana et al., 2019: board games | 27 children with ADHD, average age about 9.5 | Randomized to games or a wait-list; not blinded | Better verbal short-term memory and fewer conduct problems right after; not significant at follow-up, though effect sizes were large |
| Rodrigo-Yanguas et al., 2023: chess | 104 people ages 12 to 22 with ADHD, stable on medicine | Randomized to 12 weeks of chess, a chess-based video game or weekly phone calls | No clear gain on the main measure, a parent questionnaire on executive function (planning, self-control); the chess group improved on emotional control and inattention measures |
| Zhou et al., 2025: 42 randomized trials | 1,981 children and teens with ADHD | Compared seven non-drug treatments | Board games had no significant effect on inhibitory control (holding back automatic reactions) |
We read only the abstract of the 2025 analysis, so we cannot say how many board game trials it pooled. A 2026 review of board games at all ages, not only ADHD, called the evidence "not yet sufficient to support a strong recommendation" but "promising."
What does the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend?
For children ages 6 to 11, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2019 guideline tells clinicians to prescribe ADHD medicine approved by US regulators, along with parent training in behavior management and/or behavioral classroom interventions, ideally both. It never mentions Go, chess or board games. It does say some non-drug approaches, including cognitive training, have "either too little evidence to recommend them or have been found to have little or no benefit," and it does not say whether Go counts as cognitive training.
The Korean authors also call medicine and behavioral interventions the standard treatments, and they suggest Go "may be an alternative and complementary therapeutic method." We found no evidence that Go can replace medicine or behavior training. Our column on taekwondo found that the guideline is silent on martial arts too.
Where does Go fit into childhood in Korea?
Korea passed a Baduk Promotion Act (바둑진흥법) in 2018. It says the state and local governments "shall endeavor to increase opportunities for Baduk education." Its stated aims are leisure time, a "sound spirit" and taking Go global, not child development or ADHD.
In December 2021, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (문화체육관광부) announced a Baduk Promotion Basic Plan for 2022 to 2026. Its press release says 103 elementary schools ran Go classes in 2021, six of them with ministry support. The target is 60 supported schools by 2026, which would put Go classes in at least 157 elementary schools. We found no report on whether it was met.
The release also says young adults show little interest: about 30% of Go players are in their 60s or older, and only about 9% are in their 20s and 30s. It names no survey or year and gives no figure for children. It calls Go a "brain sport" that greatly helps childhood brain and character development, a policy view that cites no study and never mentions ADHD.
The Korea Baduk Association (한국기원) says it has expanded Go classes in the elementary school curriculum's "creative experiential activities" (창의적 체험활동) since 2020, and Go programs in the Neulbom School (늘봄학교) initiative since 2024. That is the association's own February 2025 announcement, without counts. The official sources we found present Go as a school and leisure activity, not an ADHD treatment.
Could you copy the lessons at home?
We found no study of a home version, so there is nothing to copy exactly. This is what the researchers did:
- An instructor taught the lessons, using a beginner course built for ages 7 to 12.
- Children played two hours a day, Monday to Friday, for 16 weeks.
- No child had played Go before, and all could attend every session.
We also found no study of lighter schedules, play beyond 16 weeks, or Go alongside medicine or behavior therapy. If your child enjoys Go, that is a fine reason to play. As a way to support attention, the evidence so far is one small study from 2014.
The short version
- In a 2014 Korean study, 17 children with ADHD who had never taken ADHD medicine took instructor-led Go lessons, two hours a day, five days a week, for 16 weeks.
- Parents rated inattention lower afterward. Hyperactivity ratings did not change, and forward number recall rose in children without ADHD too.
- With no ADHD group that skipped Go, no blinded rater and no follow-up, the study cannot show that Go caused the change. We found no second Go study in children with ADHD.
- Chess and board game studies in ADHD are mixed. The AAP's 2019 guideline for ages 6 to 11 recommends medicine plus behavior training and never mentions Go.
- Korean official sources describe Go as a school and leisure activity backed by a promotion law, not as an ADHD treatment.
This column is based on the 2014 Psychiatry Investigation study by Kim and colleagues, the other research named above, the AAP's 2019 ADHD guideline and ADHD web page, Korea's Baduk Promotion Act, a December 2021 culture ministry press release and a February 2025 Korea Baduk Association news item, all checked October 2026. It is general information, not medical advice — talk to your child's doctor (or the relevant office) before making decisions.