I really don’t want to play Go!

Chapter 361 Yu Shao blasted open the hall of Go, only to find it empty!
As time went by, the game entered its final endgame battle.

Da da da……

After a long time, both sides finally finished the endgame, and the outcome of the game was finally revealed on the chessboard.

The outcome has been decided.

"Black has lost by half a point after making komi."

Yu Shao stared at the computer screen, having already calculated the final score, and murmured softly, "Shiau has won this game."

In Go, the number of points in the final game is often not a reliable standard for measuring the difference in skill level.

When you have a significant advantage on the board, you need to control the board and close out the game to avoid overly aggressive changes that could create other variables and lead to a loss.

Therefore, sometimes a half-point difference in victory or defeat can be even greater than a mid-game dragon-slaying victory.

However, this game was different. The two sides were evenly matched from beginning to end, and White gained the advantage in the middle game.

In the middle and later stages, Black displayed astonishing strength, ralliing to catch up and narrowing the gap between the two sides.

Although White was trying its best to control the board, the gap between Black and White continued to narrow. Unfortunately, after finishing the final endgame, Black was still half a point behind.

"That was a brilliant move."

Yu Shao stared silently at the game, never expecting to see such a game online that even made him cheer. The two sides played without any dull moments and competed until the very end.

He was the only observer in this game of chess.

Seeing this chess game, he couldn't help but feel a strong urge to play a game with these two people.

Yu Shao took a deep breath, moved the mouse, and prepared to send a challenge to Shiau.

However, just as Yu Shao moved the mouse over shiau's ID and was about to right-click, shiau's ID turned gray, indicating that he had gone offline.

"Have they logged off...?"

Yu Shao was slightly disappointed, then turned his attention to the ID "Just Can't Learn" and, seeing that the other person was still online, right-clicked to request a battle.

However, Yu Shao waited for a long time but the other party did not agree.

"never mind."

Yu Shao shook his head and quickly logged out of the 19 Go platform.

"Since they have this kind of strength, one day in the future they will have the opportunity to face each other."

……

……

On the other side, Jiangling.

Su Yiming stared silently at the computer screen, looking at the chess scores on the screen.

"Lost..."

He doesn't particularly enjoy playing online chess, but after watching the main tournament of the National Masters Tournament between Yu Shao and Zhuang Weisheng, he suddenly felt like playing a game, so he impulsively matched with an opponent online.

Previously, he played Go on the domestic Go platform "Shoutan Chunqiu" with the ID "Gang Xue Bu Ke Xia". Later, he learned about the 19 platform and registered an account there as well. Since he couldn't type Chinese, he chose to use Pinyin.

Because he didn't really enjoy playing online chess, he only played about forty games in total.

He never expected that this online Go game would ultimately end in defeat.

He doesn't like playing Go online. As a Go player, he prefers to sit face-to-face with another person, holding the pieces and talking. But as long as it's Go, no matter how he plays, he will give it his all.

Even so, he still lost to his opponent named Shiau.

More than a hundred years ago, a game of Go often took several days, and sometimes even a month. Online Go, on the other hand, is a super-fast game with a move every sixty seconds, and he was not used to playing so fast.

However, even in blitz chess, if he loses, he loses; he never makes excuses or refuses to admit that he has lost.

"It's not Yu Shao."

"I know Yu Shao's moves better than anyone."

"If it were him, facing my small knight in the middle game, he would definitely sacrifice a large piece. He wouldn't be concerned with gains and losses in terms of points and ground, but would always keep the overall situation in mind."

"I lost to...the others."

Su Yiming was silent for a moment, then suddenly thought of something, moved the mouse, wanting to play another game of chess with Shiau, but found that Shiau had already logged off.

……

……

Meanwhile, in Seoul.

"Professor An Hongshi, were you playing chess online just now?"

A young man of about twenty-five or twenty-six years old walked into the chess room, sat down opposite An Hongshi, and asked curiously while tidying up the chess pieces.

"Yes, after watching Zhuang Weisheng and Yu Shao's game of chess, I suddenly felt like playing a game myself."

An Hongshi nodded absentmindedly and replied.

"That game of chess was truly breathtaking!"

Upon hearing this, the young man became excited and exclaimed in admiration, "This is truly incredible! The whole thing gave me goosebumps. Even Zhuang Weisheng lost to Yu Shao, and that's Zhuang Weisheng!"

"Like you, Zhuang Weisheng is the goal of almost every chess player. Although Yu Shao is strong, I always felt that he couldn't beat Zhuang Weisheng, but he really did!"

The young man became more and more excited as he spoke: "And the change at the top of that point was incredible. As soon as that game ended, I immediately called you to review it together."

"In a while, it will be summer again, and major international tournaments will begin one after another. I might even have to play against Yu Shao then. Honestly, the pressure is immense that China has produced such a player!"

"I've even seen Chinese media reports online saying that Yu Shao might lead the third era of Go. Although I feel a little uncomfortable about it, I'm truly convinced!"

Upon hearing this, An Hongshi remained somewhat absent-minded and simply gave a soft "hmm".

The young man realized this as well and asked, somewhat puzzled, "Professor An Hongshi, what's wrong?"

An Hongshi snapped out of his reverie, shook his head, smiled, and said, "It's nothing."

“You don’t seem to be in a good mood. Haven’t you always been very concerned about Yu Shao?”

The young man glanced at An Hongshi with some curiosity, then his eyes fell on the computer next to the chessboard. Suddenly, he seemed to remember something, and his hand, which was tidying up the chess pieces, abruptly stopped.

"Professor An Hongshi...you..."

The young man looked incredulous and stammered, "You didn't...you didn't lose that game of chess you just played online, did you?"

An Hongshi was taken aback, then shook his head and said, "No, I won."

"call--!"

The young man breathed a sigh of relief, patted his chest, and said exaggeratedly, "You scared me! I was just saying, how could you possibly lose at chess online!" "Why couldn't I possibly lose online?"

An Hongshi shook his head and said.

"Don't even mention playing chess online. Even in professional matches where the best players in the world compete, if you lose a game, it will be news!"

The young man smiled and said to himself, "How many chess players spend their entire lives aiming to defeat you even once? There's a saying that goes, if you can beat An Hongshi in one game, it means you're a top-tier chess player."

"How can it be that exaggerated?"

An Hongshi couldn't help but chuckle, shook his head, and said, "I'm still far from good enough."

"Oh dear, you're still far from perfect?"

The young man said exaggeratedly, "There's something even more outrageous. Back then, you couldn't lose a move like 'split two,' so when other players saw you play that move, they wouldn't care about anything else and would just rush in to force a fight."

"I was young at the time. When I saw you remove the edge, others could just touch it directly. I was completely stunned. I thought to myself, is this a master? How can someone remove the edge and touch it directly? It's terrifying."

"I later found out that it wasn't others who were scary, it was you who were scary."

Hearing this, An Hongshi couldn't help but chuckle and said, "You're such a smooth talker."

"Isn't what I said the truth?"

The young man smiled and put the chess piece back in the box, saying, "Who in the world doesn't know the name 'Thousand Hands'?"

"Most people have their own unique playing style, but your playing style is unpredictable, like a thousand hands. One hand is solid and stable, while the other is elegant and unrestrained. One hand pursues territory, while the other builds shapes. There is no fixed path. It changes with the situation."

“Every time I play chess with you, I feel immense pressure. I feel like all the senior chess players are standing behind you, including myself.”

Although he knew the young man was flattering him, everyone loves flattery, so An Hongshi shook his head with a chuckle and said, "Alright, alright, let's start the debriefing."

Upon hearing this, the young man's carefree expression vanished, replaced by a serious one. He picked up a chess piece, quickly placed it down, and began to review the game between Yu Shao and Zhuang Weisheng.

As An Hongshi watched the young man make his moves, he couldn't help but recall the online game he had just played.

"In that game, I only won by half a point. It wasn't because I controlled the board by half a point, but because even if I tried my best, I could only win by half a point at most."

"Until the final score was tallied, I didn't even know if I had won or not."

"In this kind of game, winning by half a point is luck, winning by one point is terrible, and winning by one and a half points is heaven..."

"So, luck?"

As An Hongshi considered each of his opponent's moves, his expression grew increasingly serious.

"His playing style feels somewhat familiar, but I can't find a player similar to him. His understanding of terrain, thickness, speed, and timing is extraordinary."

"He is somewhat similar to Yu Shao, but he is definitely not Yu Shao."

“Some of his handling of certain parts feels very old-fashioned, such as the fixed pattern of leaning on the cover, which is a very ancient method, but sometimes some of his methods are completely unheard of.”

"I feel like he's trying something new, seeking change within the old framework. More importantly, without a doubt, his mid-to-late game strength is superior to mine..."

"So, did I really win?"

……

……

The sensation caused by this national champions' match was beyond imagination. That night, almost all Go forums were flooded with posts about this game, and netizens could be seen discussing it everywhere.

In particular, Yu Shao's novel variation of the "pointed top" move in this game was a revolutionary change that almost overturned the chess world.

The scary thing is that if you can't thoroughly study the apex, you might not even dare to hang the apex when facing a star position in the future!

If the opponent doesn't even dare to approach the corner when playing the star point, then Go in the past and Go now are completely different things!
Inside a Go (Weiqi) tutoring class in San Francisco, USA.

It was daytime in the United States at this time. A group of Go teachers were gathered around the Go board, constantly reviewing the game between Yu Shao and Zhuang Weisheng in the main tournament of the National Go Championship.

All the Go teachers analyzed every move of this game repeatedly, and their minds were far from calm.

One of the men, a burly and tall man, kept smoking one cigarette after another, his head buzzing non-stop for a second.

"My God, this is incredible! This is truly a new era of Go!"

A bespectacled man, his face filled with shock, couldn't help but exclaim, "The spire is truly real! And it's irresistible, like divine punishment, like the scourge of God!"

"Impossible. If the star position cannot be aligned with the corner and is truly irresistible, then Yu Shao himself would not be aligned with the corner when facing the star position!"

Someone shook their head and said, "There must be a way!"

"There might be a way, but we simply can't find it on our own. We have to ask a professional Go player!"

The burly man took a deep drag on his cigarette, finally stubbed it out in the ashtray, and said, "Although we are Go teachers, we really need to relearn Go!"

Upon hearing this, the Go tutoring class fell into a deathly silence.

The group of Go teachers looked at each other, bewildered.

They are all Go teachers themselves, yet they have to relearn Go. How exaggerated and absurd is that?
Everything they knew before was wrong!

"Haven't you realized it yet?"

The burly man said in a deep voice, "From the 33-point mark, to the later 'wrong small eye without worry' angle, then to the three difficult-to-solve fixed patterns, and now to the pointed top, actually—"

"Compared to a year ago, the way Go is played has undergone tremendous changes!"

"Thickness, lightness, heaviness, speed, emptiness, reality, terrain... these fundamental aspects of Go have actually all changed!"

The burly man became somewhat agitated: "If you look at those chess records from a year ago now, you'll have a very strange feeling, like they played... completely wrong!"

Upon hearing this, everyone was taken aback.

Then, everyone's expressions changed.

It would have been better if these words hadn't been spoken. Once they were, they belatedly realized that it was indeed true, and their perceptions had been subtly altered.

Now, they wouldn't feel the slightest bit unsettled when they see a 3-3 point, and they wouldn't be shocked by the terrifying complexity of two players playing a dramatic opening sequence!
Now, when they see someone betting on Demon Blade and Avalanche, they even frown. Even if they see someone betting on Big Diagonal, they feel it's better to bet on other variations!
They suddenly recalled the boastful words Yu Shao had made during the China-Japan-Korea Go League—

Before me, there was no game that could be called a good game!

At this moment, they even felt the same way!

"Whether we like it or not, a new era for Go has truly begun."

After a long silence, the burly man slowly spoke: "Chess players who fail to step into the new era will only be abandoned by the times."

"This Go player from China has shattered the temple of Go."

"I just realized that the hall of Go is completely empty."

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)