I really don’t want to play Go!

Chapter 471 has reached a point where it has become art!
"Who...won?"

The notary, standing to the side, was still staring blankly at the chessboard not far away. Even though the endgame was over, she still couldn't be sure who had won.

Not only her, but everyone else was the same.

This game of chess has been completely played out, even the endgame moves have been finished, and it is truly over.

However, the board is extremely complex, with pieces densely packed all over the board, making it dazzling. Even at the end of the game, the pieces seem to be evenly matched.

Only the tightly intertwined chess pieces tell the story of the earth-shattering battle that once took place on the chessboard.

"One eye, two eyes, three eyes..."

The notary composed himself and began to carefully count the number of points on the white stones on the board.

"White has surrounded the empty space by a total of forty-seven points."

After she finally counted the points of the white stones, she couldn't help but lick her slightly dry lips, and then began to count the points of the black stones: "One point, two points, three points..."

"Forty...three."

As she counted to this point, she felt an unprecedented sense of pressure, and a fine sweat broke out on her face, slowly sliding down her cheeks.

"Forty...four."

"Forty-five!"

"Forty-five and a half eyes!"

"Black, including the komi, has a total of 45.5 points in the final area it has surrounded!"

Only then did she finally learn the outcome of the game, and she couldn't help but swallow hard.

"White has won by one and a half points!"

"The winner is Araki No. 9 Dan!"

Even now, after counting the points, she still can't believe the result. Or rather, even if she counts that the winner is Black, she still can't believe this other result!

Su Yiming stared blankly at the chessboard.

He also calculated the final outcome of this game.

To be honest, in this game, knowing full well that Araki's skill was extraordinary, he went all out from the very beginning, and every move he made was what he considered to be his best move.

In other words, the outcome of this game is determined by nothing else, and there is no excuse for being in a bad state; it depends solely on the strength of each move made by both sides!

But in the end...

He lost.

One and a half glances.

This feeling of losing despite giving it your all is something he has never experienced before, except for the years more than a hundred years ago when he was honing his chess skills. This is the first time in over a hundred years that he has felt this way from anyone other than Yu Shao.

Although he had lost online before, those were online games after all. He couldn't say he wasn't serious, but there's a big difference between that and a real face-to-face chess game.

He never imagined that he would lose to someone other than Yu Shao in a chess match.

More importantly, he had told Yu Shao at the Phoenix Cup opening ceremony that he would not lose.

As long as Yu Shao doesn't lose, he won't lose.

He will keep moving forward until he encounters Yu Shao again ahead, and then he will fight Yu Shao.

Because he was confident that Yu Shao would win, he had to win no matter who his opponent was. As a result, he performed even better than usual in this game!

But in the end, they still lost this game.

Su Yiming gritted his teeth, his expression filled with resentment, but in the end he lowered his head slightly and slowly said, "I lost..."

Upon hearing this, Araki simply stared silently at the chessboard in front of him, offering no reply. His face was pale and bloodless, as if he had not won at all.

There was complete silence all around.

The whole world was silent.

……

……

"ended."

Go reporter Ding Huan looked at his laptop, his eyes welling up with tears: "Truly... an unprecedented game..."

A moment later, Ding Huan wiped his eyes and began frantically typing on the keyboard, writing furiously, as if he had a thousand words in his heart, trying to express them all through his pen!

"Since ancient times, people have judged heroes by their success or failure, hence the saying 'the victor is king, the loser is villain'!"

"Su Yiming lost, but I don't think he lost either!"

"I can hardly imagine how Black could have turned the tide and survived under such a situation, given White's incredible strategy of killing a living group with a dead piece!"

"Is that possible?"

"But Black did it!"

"In the middle and late game, Black's unpredictable and ingenious moves turned the tide and seized a major position, ultimately turning the tide and saving the collapsing empire. I'm utterly stunned!"

Ultimately, Black lost because it didn't anticipate White's amazing idea of ​​killing living stones with dead ones, not because it lost in the chaotic battles in the middle and late game!

"You could even say that Black won the game the moment he made the inexplicable decision to abandon a key stone and ultimately entered the endgame with only a slight disadvantage!"

"However, this victory cannot completely make up for the gap left by White's killing of its living stones with dead stones!"

"Therefore, Su Yiming is still honorable despite his defeat!"

"Moreover, because of this game, I also realized that while chess players may have national boundaries, the pursuit of the strongest move knows no national boundaries!"

"Even when I see a foreign player make a move that far exceeds my expectations and is beyond my comprehension, I can't help but feel surprised and excited!"

"That man is back!"

"Over the past decade, he was once the loser of his era, but now he has made a comeback with an invincible momentum that is astonishing and may bring a new storm to the chess world today!"

"I must say, Mr. Araki is truly extraordinary. This game of Go was dazzling and awe-inspiring!"

"However, in the winners' bracket, there is still Teacher Zhuang Weisheng and Yu Shao, while in the losers' bracket, Zhu Huai'an and Zhang Dongchen have also defeated their opponents and advanced to the next round!"

"Although Su Yiming lost to Araki and fell into the loser's bracket, climbing from the loser's bracket to the finals was undoubtedly extremely difficult, but who can really say that Su Yiming has no chance to make a comeback?!"

In short, the outcome is still uncertain.

"Who will ultimately win the Phoenix Cup World Championship remains to be seen. Let's wait and see!"

……

……

Tokyo Go Newspaper, Japan.

"I can hardly describe how I feel about this game of chess!"

"My hands are trembling uncontrollably as I write this copy!"

"From the opening moves, both sides were locked in fierce competition, staging a battle in the upper right corner that, though not outwardly aggressive, was fraught with hidden tension. Every move made was the fruit of cunning and thorns!" "In the subsequent middle game, every move by Black was precise and sharp, forcing White's stones in the lower right corner into a desperate situation. It seemed that White was doomed, but in a stunning move, White sacrificed a stone to make a living group!"

"At this point, even if the rest of the game just goes as expected, it would already be a good game. But I never imagined that this was just the beginning!"

"The subsequent moves elevated this game from a good one to a masterpiece, even a legendary deadly game!"

"Black's extension revealed its profound skill, aiming to exploit White's stones. White naturally retaliated immediately. However, in subsequent moves, Black's seemingly reckless attack was actually a calculated move. Ultimately, Black successfully strengthened its center and launched a decisive attack on White's large group of stones!"

"White, in a desperate situation, fought back with all its might, but ultimately failed and was defeated!"

"I thought it was over, but I never expected that this would ignite the most intense clash of the entire battle!"

"Ladies and gentlemen, from this moment on, I can only kneel in submission—"

"White actually used a dead stone to kill a living one, and in the end, it really did come back to life, launching a full-scale, all-around attack across the board!"

"Black shockingly sacrificed a key stone, using a jump to maintain the overall complexity of the board, and miraculously developed external influence, standing shoulder to shoulder with White, and wrestling all the way into the endgame!"

"Getting down here has become art!"

"This game of chess is breathtaking at every turn, and every move is exquisite; it's beyond the realm of the human world!"

"This game of chess was epic and magnificent!"

"I never expected that after ten years of silence, Araki-sensei would make a comeback and appear before the world in such a way. This makes me even more excited!"

"It's all back!"

"I believe that in this World Championship, Mr. Araki will definitely sweep away all his opponents and win the World Championship title!"

……

……

Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

"Arakino-sensei, he's actually... that strong."

A young man stared at the computer screen in disbelief, muttering to himself.

The two or three friends behind him are still staring blankly at the screen, unable to recover from the huge shock.

What will be the outcome of this World Championship?

……

……

Jiangling, Southern Chess Academy.

"Arakino, you've won."

Ma Zhengyu stared at the computer screen, falling into a long silence.

The cigarette between his fingers had burned to the end.

……

……

Inside a chess academy in Marseille, France.

"This game will go down in the history of chess!"

One of the young men finally couldn't contain his excitement and slammed his hand on the table, shouting, "It's so beautiful!"

"Indeed, it was so exciting, I didn't dare blink at all!"

"My scalp tingled the whole time. It was like watching a god play chess. I never dreamed that this game would go to this level."

"Yes, so many times I thought the game was already decided, but I was wrong every time. This game has produced so many miracles!"

Inside the chess hall, the others seemed to have been set ablaze, exploding into a heated discussion, relishing every exchange of the game.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing what the next game will be like, and who will be the final winner of this world championship?"

"Will Arakino face off against Yasuhiro again, just like ten years ago? If they do, who will win?"

"And what about Yu Shao? I'm really looking forward to the duel between Yu Shao and Araki. It's sure to be a great showdown! Maybe they'll even have a more exciting game than this one!"

"Although Su Yiming lost, I have to say, he's incredibly amazing. I actually felt he was amazing because he lost, which is a really strange feeling..."

……

……

After a brief silence, the whole world erupted in chaos!
Yu Shao was completely unaware of everything happening in the outside world.

"Su Yiming... lost."

Among the crowd, Yu Shao quietly gazed at the chessboard. He had never imagined that Su Yiming would ultimately lose to Araki.

No... saying that would be disrespectful to Araki.

Araki deserves to win this game.

Of course, even though he lost in the end, Su Yiming and Arakino showed him a game of chess that even he couldn't help but be amazed by.

In his previous life, Yu Shao had played countless famous games and witnessed numerous peak duels between masters, but this game was one that even he found beyond reproach.

He had heard of many games hailed as "peak showdowns," but in his opinion, most of them did not live up to that title. But this game deserved the title of "peak showdown"!

Yu Shao finally turned his gaze away from the chessboard, raised his head, his eyes utterly calm, and looked at the man sitting opposite Su Yiming—

Arakino!
Ten years ago, the player who single-handedly pushed Go from the classical era of "whole-board balance" to the era of competition of "strength and calculation" was the "loser" of the An Hongshi era!
"The competition has ended. All participants, please assemble. I will announce the list of players who will advance from the winners' bracket and losers' bracket."

Finally, the silence of the competition venue was broken when Zhao Zhengyang's voice suddenly came from the loudspeaker.

The game between Su Yiming and Araki took far too long. All the other games had already ended, and this was the last game to finish. Therefore, when this game ended, the day's competition naturally came to a close.

Upon hearing Zhao Zhengyang's voice, the participating chess players and the audience finally snapped out of their daze and turned their attention away from the game between Su Yiming and Araki.

However, although no one was watching the game anymore, everyone's thoughts were clearly still on it.

The participating chess players had very mixed feelings. They took turns standing in the competition venue, waiting for Zhao Zhengyang to announce the results of today's competition.

As Zhao Zhengyang waited for the chess players to gather one after another, he couldn't help but look at Araki and Su Yiming in the crowd, his heart also filled with unease.

He was naturally one of the spectators at this game. Perhaps because he was the oldest among them and had seen more games, this game had a greater impact on him than on the others.

This World Championship has been completely unexpected for him.

He had initially thought that An Hongshi's chess skills might have declined after two years of recuperation, but after watching a few games, he was greatly surprised and felt that An Hongshi seemed to have become a different person.

Higashiyama Kaoru faced Kimura Go in the first round, and Kimura Go was defeated. Higashiyama Kaoru, on the other hand, fought her way into the top 64. It seemed that she was about to shine, but she was defeated by Araki No in the first round of the top 64.

Araki, who had long since faded from the Go world, has now surprisingly displayed unimaginable Go skills, engaging in a fierce battle with Su Yiming, and ultimately together they have played this earth-shattering game.

What will be the final result of this year's Phoenix Cup?
Even he couldn't say for sure...

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)