The Way of the Blind Girl Chess Saint

Although it was indeed a brief moment, he still wondered if he was seeing things.

In the blink of an eye, Ji Yingting's black stone landed heavily in the very center of the board—the center point!

[A little science lesson! The origin of Imitation Chess]

Imitation chess is a game in which one player moves pieces on the symmetrical side of the board as the other player moves, eventually creating a game where black and white are completely symmetrical.

Also known as "Dongpo Chess".

It first appeared in a game between Showa-era Go master Wu Qingyuan and Go grandmaster Kitani Minoru.

The origin of "Dongpo Chess" is as follows: Su Shi, courtesy name Zizhan, pen name Dongpo Jushi, was exceptionally intelligent. He was not only a great literary figure, proficient in poetry, lyrics, and prose, but also ranked among the four great calligraphers of his time. However, he was not good at chess.

Su Shi's youngest son, Su Guo, loved playing chess and was very good at it. No matter what Su Shi did, he always lost to Su Guo.

Once, Su Shi was playing chess with his son. Su Shi made his first move by placing a piece on the center point, and then followed his son's move diagonally across the board.

After several dozen moves, the game had become a close-quarters contest. Su Guo asked in surprise, "What kind of game is this?" Su Shi smiled and said, "This is Dongpo Chess."

Chapter 33: The greener a woman's hair is, the more...

Tengen... If you want to break the mimicry game by playing black, you must use Tengen to break it. However, the timing of moving Tengen is also very important and requires careful consideration.

“I understand that if I use Tianyuan at this point and he changes his strategy, I will be at a disadvantage. Tianyuan should be used at a more important moment, leaving him with no way to retreat.”

Ji Yingting slightly opened her pale green pupils, deep in thought.

However, I impulsively placed my piece at the center of the board earlier.

"Indeed, I still have many shortcomings, and I must be more rigorous in my thinking in the future," she thought to herself, shaking her long, light green hair.

Although this is not a major flaw in her, because even many professional chess players make careless moves during a game.

"Unreasonable moves" refers to moves in Go that cannot withstand scrutiny. This is relative to Go players of a certain level. The term "unreasonable" is relative; if you catch it and punish it, then it is an unreasonable move.

And you might not dare to use it so easily next time; if you don't catch it, you can't call it an unreasonable move, it just means you're not familiar with this kind of move yet; if you suffer a loss, you have no right to call it an unreasonable move.

To put it bluntly, it's like "random punches" in martial arts—moves that don't follow any rules, regulations, or logic.

Skilled fighters often severely punish such haphazard moves, but incidents of "a novice punching a master" also frequently occur.

However, if the opponent dares to give up playing the imitation game at this moment, it is equivalent to giving up the last chance to face Ji Yingting.

Because... the difference in their chess skills was like that between immortals and mortals.

"..."

She seized the center point so early? Well, let's just play normally for the rest of the game then.

The dwarf monkey scratched its cheek in annoyance and slowly picked up a white piece from the chess box.

pat.

Ji Yingting's first three moves were very ordinary, and he was a little unsure how to attack. After observing for a long time, he chose to defend the corner with a small flying move.

pat.

The dwarf monkey's expression faltered for a moment. In that instant, before he could even fully retract his right arm that had placed the piece, the green-haired woman in front of him had already placed the piece.

"Little Fei guarding the corner... is he trying to imitate my move? No, impossible. That would be no different from Black moving first at the center and then imitating White. Black can't win by imitating."

The dwarf monkey shook its head to calm itself down, then *thud*.

He then used a small knight's move to defend the corner, and the white star point immediately transformed into a double, swallow-shaped formation.

"pat"

……

Black also has two pieces, a flying swallow?

No way, is this woman really going to play a copycat game with me?

A bead of sweat slid down the short monkey's cheek. He looked at Ji Yingting with some suspicion and uncertainty. Her long, light green hair was being blown about by the breeze outside the window, making it quite eye-catching.

Was she laughing just now? Was she laughing the whole time?

Because she is so beautiful, it would be a little awkward to look at her directly, so I never paid any attention to her.

But... I feel like she really did start laughing just now.

"You're not kidding, are you?" The dwarf monkey's voice was very weak, more like he was talking to himself.

"...Don't worry, although your opening strategy is terrible and your skill level is very low, I will try my best to imitate you until the endgame."

Ji Yingting spoke softly, her voice even weaker than his, yet it seemed to carry a strange magic, flowing into his ears through the air.

"Of course! If... your finishing skills are just as terrible as your overall strategy, then you'd better admit defeat now!" Ji Yingting reminded him, playing with her light green hair.

Although her voice was as gentle and clear as a stream in a secluded valley, a chill ran down the short monkey's spine!

"Cancel the imitation only in the final stage...? Don't pretend to be high and mighty, are you looking down on me?" The dwarf monkey fiercely crushed a white chess piece with a crunch.

He ignored the intense pain emanating from his yellow teeth and, with a snap, placed the chess piece into the black double, Flying Swallow's 33.

Ok?

Ji Yingting frowned her light green eyebrows, and her bangs were blown up by the breeze, making her two crescent-shaped eyebrows almost squeeze together.

A few seconds later, Ji Yingting hesitated for a moment before raising her right hand, which was holding a white piece, and gracefully placed it on the chessboard.

pat...

"Hey, didn't you say you were going to play a copy chess game? Why did you capture this piece of mine?"

After making a few more moves, the dwarf monkey looked up in shock. How could she go back on her word?

After she played her own 33 and then played her own 33, she surprisingly didn't play her own 33 in return, but instead chose to kill the white pieces.

"Hmm... Who told you to play such a terrible game? I couldn't help but accidentally kill you. I'm sorry... Please forgive me this time!!" Ji Yingting stuck out her tongue sheepishly and pressed the timer.

With two stars in the position and a flying swallow shape, when there are no enemy pieces nearby, if you directly attack with a 33, your own second rank will be vulnerable to an enemy 33 attack, which will inevitably result in the death of the enemy 33.

"Damn it!!! They went back on their word!! They even said they'd play a mimicry game until the endgame!! I actually believed them and was terrified?! Are women really this scary?! I need to be careful of these scheming women from now on, especially the ones with the greenest hair!!!"

The dwarf monkey gritted its teeth and gripped the chess piece in its hand. In the opening stage, a large corner was completely wiped out, which made Black's advantage virtually irrecoverable.

Moreover, she has already seized the star point. If she continues to play imitation moves locally under these circumstances, I will have absolutely no chance of winning!

"Hmph, I lost..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the dwarf monkey stood up unwillingly, revealing a mouthful of ugly yellow teeth and snorting coldly. He didn't even bother to pack up the chess pieces before swaggering around and walking out.

"Wow, really? It hasn't even been four minutes, has it? Someone has already given up?"

The dwarf monkey's loud admission of defeat instantly drew everyone's attention in the hall.

Even if a chess player is focused on the game and completely absorbed, it is still too shocking for them to admit defeat in just three minutes. They couldn't help but care, and they all turned to look at Ji Yingting's position, where she was still happily rubbing her light green twin ponytails.

"Great, finally I don't have to see his face anymore."

"Commander, what exactly happened?"

The other four students from Jinyuan Middle School were completely stunned. They stared at the dwarf monkey's dashing departing figure, unsure of what to say. Even the members of Minghaiji Middle School were dumbfounded.

They conceded defeat in just over three minutes... How many moves did they even make?

Today's update might be a little late.

I'm about to catch a flight to the state where my university is located. I should arrive there around midnight Beijing time, and by the time I get to the hotel it might be past midnight. I'll try to finish updating before morning, but if that's not possible, I'll update twice tomorrow.

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Chapter 34: Jiang Gu [Chapter 2 should be released tonight]

"Oh? Has one of the teams already finished their match? That was the fastest group."

Seeing the last group begin to pack up their chess sets, the referee stood up from his chair and slowly walked over.

"Let me see, is it Minghaiji Middle School versus Jinyuan Middle School? What's your record?" Seeing the last Jinyuan Middle School student leave the venue impatiently, the referee had already guessed the winner.

"Five wins...right?" After closing the chess box, Xin Yufei silently raised her head. Her black bangs covered her eyebrows, and there was no trace of joy on her youthful face.

Sakuraba-senpai said it before... I'm very strong today.

Therefore, winning against a weaker opponent isn't really something to be happy about.

"Okay, Minghai Middle School 5-0 Jinyuan Middle School, right?" The referee lowered his head and started writing in his notebook.

"Congratulations, your match is over for today. Please leave the venue."

5-0, the members of Minghaiji Middle School are quite good at Go... It's a pity that this is still not enough. Yongyue City hasn't had a dominant genius for several years.

The referee thought to himself, then shook his head helplessly.

"Yufei, you did a great job! You won, didn't you?" As they left the venue, Ji Yingting suddenly grabbed her black braid.

"Yeah, it was an easy win," Xin Yufei turned her head and smiled happily.

"Yes, keep it up," Ji Yingting patted Xin Yufei's head.

She finally found a girl shorter than herself, which is why she pats her head every day. After all, it wouldn't be good if Yufei grew up to be taller than her.

"Phew!" Wang Xi, who was walking at the front, breathed a sigh of relief. Xin Yufei's performance in the past few days had been so dismal that it had left a deep impression on her.

Now that Xin Yufei had finally won a victory, there was no happy expression on her face just now. Wang Xi thought that Xin Yufei had been so excited that she had a nervous breakdown.

As long as you can keep a good mood... the first round of the junior high school league has just ended.

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Aratsuki City - Junior High School League Venue.

The venue was packed with people; nearly seventy middle school students had come to participate in the junior high school league. In addition, many passersby who loved Go came to watch the games. It was much grander than the small venue in Eigetsu City.

"Huh? That's strange. Why isn't Lian Hezhou from Beaver Middle School here? I don't recognize the fifth person," an old man with a rooster-like hairstyle said, pointing around.

"Yeah, I came to watch his match too. Does Lian Hezhou really disdain participating in this kind of team competition? That's impossible, right?" Many people started discussing.

“He Zhou… he really didn’t come?” A red-haired boy squeezed into the crowd, glanced silently at the location of Beaver Middle School, and lowered his head in silence.