I really don’t want to play Go!

Chapter 329 Does the Great Slant still exist?
Yu Shao quietly gazed at the upper right corner of the chessboard.

Black piece with small eye, white piece with small flight, white piece with large flight cover.

For centuries, countless chess players have focused intently on the chessboard, creating countless complex, intense, and dazzling attacks and defenses around this local area, resulting in numerous world-shaking games!

The infamous diagonal opening, now played out in this game of chess!
"It still went down a steep slope..."

Yu Shao lowered his eyes and stared at this familiar yet unfamiliar routine, his gaze somewhat inexplicable.

The three most difficult opening moves in Go—the Great Avalanche, the Demon Blade, and the Great Diagonal—were renowned in the previous life, captivating countless Go players.

However, since the emergence of Go AI, the Great Avalanche has been destroyed, the Demon Blade is dead, and of the three major unsolvable joseki in Go, only the Great Diagonal is still stubbornly holding on.

Yes, Da Xie... is indeed still alive.

Although the Big Diagonal opening still exists and retains some vitality, it has been greatly simplified since the advent of AI, losing its former prestige and rarely used by players in competitions.

Simply put, the reason why the Big Slash is regarded as one of the three most difficult fixed patterns is that the Big Slash has a thousand variations and is fierce in that it risks one's own life to save others!

However, nowadays, many of the deadly moves in the Big Slash have been negated, many intense betting methods have disappeared, and new, incredibly simple betting methods have emerged. Naturally, the Big Slash has lost its myriad variations.

Therefore, in a sense, the Great Oblique also no longer exists.

"The next move, a direct push, is certainly a viable strategy. This would make the game more intense, but—"

Yu Shao looked at the chessboard, finally made up his mind, and reached into the chess box.

"Click!"

Finally, the metallic clang of the chess pieces colliding rang in everyone's ears once more.

The next moment, Yu Shao picked up a chess piece from the chess box and quickly placed it down.

Hey!
Fifteen columns, four rows, pointed!
"Instead of leaning, it chose the sharp point!"

Everyone was slightly surprised by this move.

"He chose a relatively less complex, sharper variation?"

Like the "pike" (or "lean"), the "pike" is one of the basic moves for facing a large diagonal angle. The difference is that the variations of the "lean" are particularly complex and intense, while the subsequent variations of the "pike" are relatively simple.

However, as one of the three most difficult joseki in Go, the large diagonal is a move that, even if the player chooses the point move, has many branches afterward. It is not as simple as just avoiding the large diagonal!
Soon, the sound of chess pieces colliding rang out again.

The next moment, Lai Yu picked up a chess piece without hesitation and placed it on the chessboard!
Fifteen columns, five rows, turn!
"Turn it on."

Yu Shao stared at the white piece that had just been placed, his face showing no surprise.

Faced with Black's sharp move, White's move to block is the only and only skillful move. Apart from this, any other move will quickly put White at a disadvantage, and may even lead to a collapse!
"The next move, one possible move is a tiger's den, then white can only press, black crawls, white continues to press, black continues to crawl..."

"With White pressing down four times on the fourth rank and Black crawling three times on the third rank, Black can then break free and seek another opportunity. This large diagonal joseki is now complete!"

Yu Shao stared at the chessboard in front of him, already calculating the possible changes after more than a dozen moves.

Yes, the seemingly complex and dangerous Big Diagonal, if he plays the Tiger in the next move, and the black and white pieces exchange territory and influence, after a few simple moves, at least in his view, the Big Diagonal opening is finished.

"If White is unwilling to give up and continues to entangle in the upper right corner, even if he gains a local advantage, he will be controlled in the whole game!"

"Of course, this tactic is based on the premise that the opponent has a good overall view and can consider the whole situation, giving up on continuing to entangle in the upper right corner."

"This is one of the reasons why the large oblique opening moves are so common!"

Yu Shao stared at the upper right corner of the chessboard, calculating the gains and losses in his mind.

This approach is certainly good. As long as the opponent's overall strategic vision is not good, it can easily gain the upper hand. Even if the opponent's overall strategic vision is very good, Black can still hold its own against White.

Moreover, he felt that it was unlikely that anyone would have such a strategic vision, and this method of subduing the enemy without fighting was exactly in line with his chess style in his previous life.

"However, there is another way to play this game."

Yu Shao raised his head, glanced at Lai Yu opposite him, and then looked at the crowd surrounding him.

"If this move had simply been a simple trap, they would probably have been somewhat disappointed, wouldn't they?"

Yu Shao lowered his head, looked at the chessboard, and his gaze changed slightly.

"In that case..."

Click!

With the sound of chess pieces colliding, the pieces are held between the fingers!
"Let's do it this way!"

The next moment, the chess piece was placed!

Hey!
Fourteen columns and five elements, cut!
A black stone falls between the white stones' cut points, directly splitting the white stones into two pieces, instantly making the situation extremely sharp and intense!
"Break..."

Upon seeing this move, everyone was stunned at first, then suddenly shocked, staring in disbelief at the black piece that had just been placed on the chessboard!

"It broke here?!"

This move surprised everyone and seemed completely unbelievable!
but!

At this moment, no one in the room spoke; they were all staring intently at the chessboard, their hearts pounding in their chests!
quiet!
The entire room became even quieter!
"In the next move, White retreats alone, Black attacks, White extends, and Black blocks again. Then White's next move, a sharp point, will be very severe!"

Sweat beaded on one person's face; they were a mix of fear, excitement, and disbelief: "White's sharp move threatens to capture the black stones in the corner!"

Looking at this move that he could hardly comprehend, an uncontrollable thought arose in his mind—

"Will this move be the final lament of Da Die?"

Not only him, but everyone else had the same thought in their minds!

This move was truly unbelievable, earth-shattering, and utterly absurd and laughable!

But with the avalanche and the destruction of the demon sword in front of them, no one could laugh at this moment!

This move clearly seemed like a suicide move, yet at this moment they actually felt that Da Xie might be doomed, even though they didn't know what the intention behind it was!
Among the crowd, Jiang Changdong's expression also became extremely solemn, as he calculated the subsequent changes in his mind.

"White retreats alone, Black attacks, White extends, Black blocks—these are all inevitable moves. But after that, White has a strong, sharp move!"

"If Black blocks White's point, White can play a tiger's mouth, and Black will be unable to force a kill on White in the next move. If Black forces a block, White will cut off and attack Black's vital point directly!"

“If Black connects, White will capture its key stones. If Black extends, White will attack it from both sides. Black will have difficulty escaping both, and thus Black will collapse!” Jiang Changdong stared at the chessboard, as if pieces were constantly falling on it. He quickly deduced another complex variation.

“If Black doesn’t block White’s sharp point and instead directly captures it, that won’t work either.”

"White simply connects, and if Black blocks inside, White crawls away, much like before!"

"If the black stones block the outside, the white stones will crawl towards the corner. The black stones will extend, and the white stones will crawl again. In this ko fight, it is clear that the black stones cannot defeat the white stones!"

Jiang Changdong's brows furrowed more and more as he deduced another complex change in an instant.

"Faced with White's sharp point, if Black stands, White's simplest option is to crawl directly into the corner and launch a strong attack on Black. If Black tries to block... that won't work either. Even if Black has incredible strength, it is no match for White in a fight."

Jiang Changdong slowly raised his head, looked at Yu Shao, and couldn't help but narrow his eyes.

"No matter how you look at it, this move cannot even be called a slow or unsophisticated move, but rather a bad move."

Standing nearby, Chu Jingfeng seemed to hear Jiang Changdong's inner thoughts.

He suddenly murmured to himself, "But why did he do that?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Changdong remained silent, gazing at the chessboard, waiting for Lai Yu to make his move, or rather... waiting for Yu Shao to give his answer!

Lai Yu stared at the chessboard, watching Yu Shao's move. He couldn't help but glance up at Yu Shao, then looked back at the chessboard, lost in thought.

Time passed slowly, and the more Lai Yu pondered, the more his brows furrowed, until finally, his brows were completely knotted together, and he still couldn't understand Yu Shao's intention.

"Click!"

After a long while, Lai Yu finally reached into the chess box, picked out a chess piece with the sound of the pieces colliding, and slowly placed it down!
Hey!
Fifteen columns, six rows, retreat!

Everyone thought that Yu Shao's next move might be amazing, echoing his previous inexplicable cut, but Yu Shao's next move was beyond everyone's expectations!
Seeing the white piece fall, Yu Shao immediately grabbed a piece and followed suit!

Hey!
Thirteen columns, four rows, fire!
Lai Yu then picked up a chess piece and placed it down.

White's pieces, fourteen columns and three rows, are long!

Black, thirteenth column, three rows, block!

Up to this point in the game, everything was within everyone's expectations, and it was the best local response that could be seen at a glance. However, after Black made this blocking move, White now also had the strongest killing move in the local area!
"Click!"

Amid the clatter of chess pieces, Lai Yu picked up a piece and placed it down almost without hesitation!
Hey!
Fifteen columns, two rows, pointed!
Upon seeing this move, everyone held their breath, sensing the astonishing killing intent that was no longer hidden but erupting directly from the board!
With this move, White has completely revealed its true intentions: to launch a strong attack on the Black stones in the upper right corner, aiming to achieve victory in one decisive battle and fight Black to the death!
Just then, Yu Shao looked at the chessboard and picked up a chess piece again.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, the black piece gently landed.

Hey!
Fourteen columns, two rows, hit!
Upon seeing this move, everyone felt as if they had been hit hard on the back of the head, and their minds went completely blank!
This move...

beat?!

Even Jiang Changdong was shocked as he stared at the black piece that had just been placed on the chessboard.

"Fire on the second flank?!"

He had previously considered several ways for Black to respond to White's sharp move, but whether it was blocking, playing on the third line, or placing a piece, none of them could compete with White.

But he hadn't considered this two-lane attack strategy at all.

Or rather, no one would consider doing this, even if the change is not complicated at all.

Because this move, attacking from the second line, doesn't look like a game at all.

Even a quick glance reveals that this variation is unlikely to work; the white stones only need to connect to the black stones to launch a counterattack.

This black stone is the key stone. Black can only connect to it. After Black connects, whether White makes a turn or captures, Black will collapse immediately!

This move, attacking from two directions, not only failed to answer the previous interruption, but actually made everyone even more confused and bewildered!
Lai Yu was also stunned when he saw this two-way attack.

After a long while, Lai Yu finally picked up a chess piece again and quickly placed it down.

Hey!
Fifteen columns, three rows, paste!
This move combines escape and attack; the white piece not only escapes but also threatens to kill the black piece's key stones, leaving the black piece no choice but to respond!

But the next moment, when Yu Shao placed his piece, everyone was completely stunned by the location where the black piece landed!
Faced with a hopeless situation where the key stones are about to die, Black's move is not to connect, but rather—

Sixteen columns, two rows, fire!
Black has sacrificed a key piece!

"Gudong!"

In the crowd, someone quietly swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Everyone stared at the chessboard in disbelief, their vision beginning to blur.

The key pieces are indispensable!
This may seem like just a single black stone, but it is actually a crucial stone, completely dividing two groups of white stones with a single move!

Once this key piece is captured by a white stone, the two previously separated white stones will become one, powerful and indestructible, with a thickness beyond description!
However, Yu Shao still discarded the key piece!
"Could there be another hidden meaning?!"

"Are there any other changes here since then?"

"Without any other changes, White can only capture the key stones now. If White places a stone, Black will inevitably connect it. White will capture the stone, Black will block it on the outside, and White will be killed!"

"But what if White captures the key stones?!"

Everyone was stunned and stared at the chessboard in disbelief.

Yu Shao slowly raised his head, his expression calm, and looked at Lai Yu opposite him, waiting for Lai Yu to make his move.

This is another variation of the break in the large oblique pattern!
In this series of changes, Black sacrificed a key stone, allowing White to connect its stones into a single group.

If the game continues like this, it was previously thought that after White captures the key stones, its strength will be unimaginable, almost unshakeable, and its development potential will be quite good.

On the other hand, the black pieces seem to be able to surround only the first and second lines, which doesn't seem very efficient and can't compete with the white pieces.

However, Go AI offered a completely surprising new interpretation of this—

In this local situation, Black not only doesn't lose, but White is actually at a disadvantage!
The white stones are indeed thick and difficult to move!
Dealing with a large force by encircling and annihilating them is extremely difficult!
Therefore, the best way to deal with a strong force is not to try to find a weakness in it and then launch an attack.

The most ruthless and powerful way to deal with a strong position is to make it even stronger!
Yes, it's even thicker than the original!
A solid foundation is inherently difficult to attack, so instead of forcing it, you should make it even thicker, turning the opponent into a solid block.

While you can no longer attack the opponent, the opponent's position is too strong, making the board layout repetitive and reducing the efficiency of your pieces!
This is what we call the gap of the times!
　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)