The world of film and television begins with Hikaru no Go

Evening, at the temple's dining hall.

Honghe was slurping down a bowl of noodles.

Shen Yilang sat opposite him, with a bowl of porridge in front of him, but he hardly touched it.

"Ichiro, why aren't you eating?" Honghe looked up, noodles still hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"I have no appetite."

"Still thinking about that game of chess this afternoon?"

Shen Yilang paused for a moment, then nodded.

This afternoon, according to the previous group match schedule, his opponent was Yue Zhi.

They lost by a mere half a point.

"I could have won that game. In the middle game, I miscalculated a variation."

"If you miscalculate, you can just get it right next time," Hong He waved his hand dismissively. "It's no big deal."

"You don't understand." Shen Yilang shook his head. "The variation I miscalculated was the most basic life and death problem. I've studied chess for so many years, and I still managed to miscalculate the most basic life and death problem..."

Everyone makes mistakes.

"Yu Liang didn't." Shen Yilang raised his head, his gaze complicated. "In the game of chess he played against Zhang Rui today, although he lost, he calculated every move very clearly."

Honghe opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but didn't know what to say.

He put down his chopsticks, scratched his head, and then sighed, "Ichiro, are you too nervous?"

"What?"

"The ranking tournament," Hong He said in a low voice, "Are you already thinking about it?"

Shen Yilang's body stiffened involuntarily, and he did not answer.

"Let me tell you," Honghe leaned forward, "Thinking so much now is useless. The professional qualification tournament is still a few months away, and you're already this nervous. What will you do then?"

"I'm not nervous—"

"Your palms are sweaty."

Shen Yilang looked down at his hands, then silently loosened his clenched fist.

"Ichiro, you are stronger than me, stronger than most people in the dojo. What you lack is not strength, but confidence."

"I see."

Shen Yilang remained silent for a long time, then picked up the bowl of porridge and began to drink it sip by sip.

Honghe looked at him, grinned, and then continued to eat his noodles.

In the office on the first floor, Ban Heng was sitting at his desk organizing the students' information.

Zhu Dayong pushed the door open and came in, carrying two bottles of wine, which he placed on the table.

"Hey Boss, wanna have a drink tonight?"

Ban Heng raised his head, glanced at the two bottles of wine, and then looked at Zhu Dayong.

"Are you treating?"

"When did I ever ask you to pay me?"

Zhu Dayong sat down casually, unscrewed a bottle of wine, and poured himself a glass.

Ban Heng put down the documents in his hand, picked up a cup, and poured some water.

"What do you think of Zhang Rui's game today?" Zhu Dayong asked, taking a sip of his drink.

"You mean the game he played with Yu Liang?"

"Otherwise what?"

Ban Heng thought for a moment, then pushed up his glasses: "Zhang Rui's chess... is becoming increasingly incomprehensible. I didn't even know how to explain it to my students this morning."

"Nonsense, as if I could understand it."

"Before, when we looked at his game records, although he was skilled, we could at least understand his thought process—the opening, the middle game, the endgame, every move was traceable." Ban Heng paused, picked up his wine glass and took a sip, "But these last two games, really..."

"Who cares?" Zhu Dayong downed his drink in one gulp, then slammed the glass on the table. "Anyway, he's one of our people."

Ban Heng smiled but didn't reply.

"Oh, right," Zhu Dayong suddenly remembered something, "what are you planning to do with Yu Liang?"

"What arrangements?"

"He was supposed to be a sparring partner for a group. Didn't Zhang Rui say he'd play with a group? Now all sixteen games are finished, what's next?"

"It depends on Yu Liang's own decision. If he wants to continue coming, we certainly welcome him."

"We have to pay him, right? We can't just let Yu Xiaoyang's son, a 9-dan professional sparring partner, come and train with us for free."

"I'll discuss this with Zhang Rui. He has a share in the dojo, so he shouldn't object."

"That kid..." Zhu Dayong shook his head, recalling Zhang Rui's uninterested attitude towards everything. "Forget it, you talk to him. I can't persuade him anyway."

Ban Heng smiled, picked up his wine glass, and slowly finished it.

Time flies. Due to the impact of SARS, the LP Cup schedule was adjusted, and only the Fujitsu Cup was held as scheduled.

In the first round of the Fujitsu Cup, Zhang Rui faced the North American representative—a Chinese amateur Go player who entered the main tournament through a recommendation from the North American Go Federation.

There was no suspense in this game. Zhang Rui, playing black, forced his opponent to resign in just ninety-three moves.

The second round will be on April 14th, with the opponent being Japanese player Naoki Hane, 4-dan.

Although he is known as a strong player who won the Honinbo title in Japan in 2002, this game was only slightly more suspenseful than the first round.

Naoki Hane tried a new opening move during the setup phase, attempting to disrupt Zhang Rui's rhythm.

Zhang Rui glanced at it, then made his eighth move as white, placing the stone at the 3-3 point.

Naoki Hane was clearly caught off guard by this move. After thinking for nearly ten minutes, he finally chose a relatively conservative response—to place a blockade.

White easily made a living group in the corner, then turned to occupy another large area.

Although Black's outer influence is solid, Zhang Rui's White stones are like a slippery eel, impossible to catch no matter how hard you try.

In the middle game, Hane Naoki attempted to launch a strong attack on a small dragon of white stones, but Zhang Rui neutralized the attack in just three moves and incidentally built up more than ten points of territory on the other side.

On move 117, Naoki Hane resigned.

June 7th, Fujitsu Cup quarterfinals.

Zhang Rui will face off against South Korean Go player Yoo Chang-hyuk 9-dan in a match held in Beijing.

At the start, Liu Changhe played very aggressively, with Black initiating a complex joseki variation in the lower left corner, attempting to lead the game into chaos.

Chaos is his home turf. He is known for his aggressive style. If the game devolves into a complex battle of attack, Liu Changhe is confident that he can compete with anyone.

But Zhang Rui didn't give him that chance; instead of getting bogged down in the local battle, he broke away first.

Top left corner, dot 33.

Another three-three?

Liu Changhe paused slightly, stared at the chessboard for a few seconds, and then placed a black piece, "镇" (zhen).

Zhang Rui responded quickly. After White made a living group in the corner, he played a "shoulder strike" in the center.

The situation that followed was not much different from the game Yu Liang played. Black occupied a large area of ​​territory on the board, but White's shape was very light and loose, seemingly scattered, but actually hiding a deadly trap.

On the 139th move, another "digging" move was made, which seemed ordinary, simply cutting off the connection between the two black groups.

But the moment Liu Changhe saw this move, his expression changed.

He calculated for a long time that if he responded here, White would gain an advantage by moving first, and then turn around to collect big endgame moves; if he did not respond, two groups of Black stones would be cut off, and one of them would face a life-or-death problem.

In the end, he had no choice but to resign.

After the match, Liu Changhe said in an interview with South Korean media: "Zhang Rui's game is no longer a matter of 'strong' or 'weak.' His playing style has completely overturned my understanding of Go. I don't know how to describe it... I feel that a new wave in Go is about to arrive."

This interview was translated into Chinese and Japanese, and sparked widespread discussion in the Go world of the Three Kingdoms. The Go magazine "World Go" used a headline: "Zhang Ruiliu: The Prototype of the Future of Go?"