The Way of the Blind Girl Chess Saint

"Normal chess players count the points vertically, shaking their heads from top to bottom, but... I know, you're shaking your head when you count the points."

"Huh!?" Ji Yingting's words puzzled everyone. Putting aside how she, as a blind person, knew Zhou Hansheng's horizontal markings.

Thinking about it carefully, Zhou Hansheng's movements when playing chess were indeed very uncoordinated, and he probably didn't even realize it himself.

Zhou Hansheng tested it out and found that he was indeed more used to nodding his head than shaking his head. "Senior, if I may ask, is there any special connection between these two?"

"Of course! Vertical point counting proves that a player's board sense is vertical, while horizontal point counting, as far as I know... is only calculated this way by artificial intelligence. A meticulous, left-to-right computational approach."

"After the junior high school league ends, you should also go to a semi-professional training center to study, although with your skill level you might have to start from the bottom of Group B or even Group C."

Ji Yingting's conclusion made Zhou Hansheng's expression somewhat gloomy. Was he really not as good as Luo Xinglu?

"However, you can go find a senior sister named Luo Qiu'er. Let her teach you what real...computing ability is."

Whether you can truly transform yourself depends on how strong your determination is to become professional Go players.

Ji Yingting kindly said that, to her, the students of Jingliu Zhai were just insignificant passersby.

However... if she truly wanted to become a professional Go player, it would be her inescapable duty to enlighten the two of them.

The path to a professional career is open to all, and only a legendary place that treats everyone equally and is open to everyone will attract all chess players who aspire to the professional chess world.

Chapter 495: The Clown's Flirting

After the incident with Ji Yingting, the morning passed quickly.

The five members of Jingliuzhai were also much more serious than before, and they seriously discussed the game of chess that afternoon.

Minghai Ji will face Bailu Middle School, Heli Middle School will face Ziyuan Middle School, and Jingliuzhai will face Ruoying Girls.

"Oh? I really want to play against a professional Go player too!" Guan Caiyan, with her long, peach-pink hair and full of enthusiasm, said coquettishly.

She had no interest in the boring Jingliu Zhai, but she was somewhat interested in the dominant Beaver Middle School in Huangyue City.

........

"A semi-professional chess academy..." Bai Chang'an stood in front of the bathroom mirror and washed his face. His fair and delicate face showed a little disappointment, and his long black and white highlighted hair hung listlessly down to his waist.

After hesitating for a moment, she gripped the hair clip and combed her long black and white hair into low pigtails.

Recalling her game against Zhou Hansheng, she realized that she had made many mistakes because she hadn't thought things through carefully, and even after capturing so many pieces, she still hadn't gained an advantage.

Through Ji Yingting's evaluation of Zhou Hansheng, Bai Chang'an also understood his own level.

"Xiao An, what's wrong with you? Your hairstyle looks so pessimistic!" Xiao Hongye walked into the bathroom while singing, still indulging in Ji Yingting's power and feeling quite proud to be a member of Minghai Ji.

"It's nothing, I'm just a little upset about losing the game this morning."

"Huh? I think Xiao An played quite well. He managed to wreak havoc against such a strong player, although it's a bit of a pity he lost in the end."

but……

"Who told me my goal is her?" Bai Chang'an was somewhat confused. With his own skill level, he wasn't even qualified to join a semi-professional dojo, let alone catch up with her skill level.

While Xiao An remained silent, a beautiful girl with long, light green hair, Senior Ji Yingting, also entered the restroom. Looking at it so directly... her school uniform size was ridiculously small.

Xiao An and Xiao Hongye secretly peeked a few times; the children simply couldn't handle such a stimulating scene.

What does Sakuraba-nee think?

"Hmm?" Ji Yingting let out a soft exclamation, as she hadn't heard what the two had been talking about.

Xiao Hongye stared at Ji Yingting's white-stockinged legs for a long time. "Xiao An, her chess skills aren't actually that bad, are they? It's just that her opponent is quite strong."

After thinking for a while, Ji Yingting pondered and said, "Hmm, your obsession with checkmate moves is quite impressive, but unfortunately... Go is ultimately a game won by points. Falling into the trap of checkmate moves, your opponent's few moves that leave you completely disoriented, will throw you into disarray."

"........."

Ji Yingting wet her small hands and fiddled with her long, light green hair. "I heard you played a game of chess with Yufei. You should understand, right? Her talent, and the brilliant light hidden deep in her heart, make her unique."

But... I see absolutely no hope or light in you, as if you are shrouded in shadow.

Therefore, the one thing I absolutely don't want to hear from you is the phrase "wanting to become a professional Go player."

"Sister Sakuraba is so mean!" Xiao Hongye said awkwardly in a low voice, blaming herself for starting this topic.

Xiao An's lips trembled slightly, but she didn't know what to say to help her.

A few moments later, a few tears fell from Bai Chang'an's cheeks. With a sob in her voice, she said aggrievedly, "I can't help it. I don't want to be so pessimistic, but I just can't understand it! I can't understand why she's better than me, why she was so far ahead of me from the very beginning of learning Go! We're clearly the same... We both have the same talent when learning other things!"

"I wanted to give up Go so many times! I was afraid of her, afraid of my older sister who was so much more talented than me. It was from the time we started learning Go that we became like strangers. She was very disappointed, very disappointed that I was so weak! I regret it, I wish I hadn't learned Go!" Xiao An cried, swinging her pigtails.

“No two chess players are the same!” Ji Yingting opened her pale green eyes, turned around and said.

Bai Chang'an's words made her a little angry, and she accidentally flicked Xiao An's head with her long hair. The long-awaited storm of forgiveness made Xiao An cry out in pain.

"Do you feel fear because others are better than you? Do you feel jealous because you think others are more talented than you? You don't become stronger to make others expect more of you; you become stronger so that others will expect more from you."

"..."

"If I'm not mistaken, your older sister should be Bai Yongye, right?"

"Huh? Does Sakuraba-nee know her?" Koya asked, somewhat surprised, while sobbing.

"All the Go academies are paying close attention to their prospective professional players, so of course I know her! Her record in Group A this month is 47 wins and 9 losses! To be honest, that's not a good record for a player aiming for the professional Go world. But all nine losses were against the same person!!"

"How is this possible... that a semi-professional dojo has an amateur player who can suppress my sister?"

"Now, do you know the difference between you and your sister? Because even if she loses a lot, she will challenge again without any distractions, while you will just cry and say that you two are clearly the same, and then blame yourself for not having enough talent to learn Go?"

"I……"

"A chess player's tears that aren't genuine are meaningless. If you really want to cry, wait until you've truly given it your all, then let out a good, unrestrained sob. Unfortunately, right now you're just chasing after Bai Yongye's shadow, merely... a clown's charade."

Ji Yingting turned her head, tossing her long, light green hair. Her beautiful face remained gentle, showing no sign of anger. However, her domineering words frightened Bai Chang'an so much that he held back his tears and stood there dumbfounded.

"Xiao An..." Xiao Hongye gave Bai Chang'an an apologetic wink, then followed Ji Yingting out of the restroom.

At this moment, perhaps only Xiao An can reflect on her actions.

"Sakuraba-nee, what about me... do I have any flaws or strengths?" the girl with long crimson hair asked cautiously.

"Little Red Leaf? Your only good point is that you're so cute! I wish you could stay cute forever. Come into your big sister's arms."

Ji Yingting lifted Xiao Hongye high in his arms, leaving Xiao Hongye feeling rather helpless. Was he ignoring her?

Actually, she misunderstood. In Ji Yingting's eyes, the evaluation of chess strength is meaningless for players below the amateur fourth dan level.

Before one's chess skills are fully developed, and even the style of play cannot be determined, the best way is to study and practice diligently, improving one's strength by solving life-and-death problems and playing against others.

Judging by her speed of advancement, Xiao Hongye is quite a talented child.

In the second training match, Minghai Ji Middle School faced off against Bailu Middle School. Compared to the other schools, this should be a slightly advantageous contest.

"Let's do a debriefing after it's over," Ji Yingting thought, showing no interest in watching. She circled around the group from Jingliuzhai. Facing the Ruoying girls, who were also from a top Go school in Mingyue City, their expressions were much more serious than in the morning.

Luo Xinglu will play against Guan Caiyan, an amateur 5-dan player, and Zhou Hansheng will play against Ling Zhiqi, also an amateur 5-dan player. Pan Renqiu's opponent is an amateur 4-dan player... His skill level is indeed much lower than the previous two.

"You all need to be serious. The Ruoying girls are incredibly strong. Those who perform poorly in this training camp will be eliminated from the main competition!" Zhou Hansheng said in a low voice, and everyone's expressions changed slightly.

The fat man put down his snacks with some trepidation. He had just been defeated by a professional chess player that morning. Hearing the captain say this, he immediately became much more serious. Sitting opposite him was a cute young lady with black hair.

But... she seemed a little uncomfortable, a little out of sorts.

"Strange, is it because I ate an ice cream at noon, Captain? My stomach hurts a bit!" Just as the game was about to begin, one of the players from Ruoying Girls stood up from her seat and whispered a few words to Guan Caiyan.

"Diarrhea? Then you go ahead, let the substitutes play this game first." Guan Caiyan waved her hand, and also waved to the substitutes sitting in the rest room.

"It seems like Sister Xiaonan has some special circumstances. Who wants to go up and play chess?"

"That fat guy is an amateur fourth dan, right? We probably can't beat him!" Several girls chattered excitedly.

At the same time, the girl with long pink pear-shaped curls stood up from her seat, clasped her fair hands together in front of her chest, and asked softly, "Seniors, would you mind letting me play a little round?"

"........."

"What??"

"Hey, are you serious?"

"Wait, shouldn't we go ask the captain first? Don't go out on your own!"

The girls' eyes narrowed slightly as they stared in disbelief at the pink-haired girl walking out of the chess room.

Caiyan only saw this scene when the girl lifted her skirt and sat down at the chess table. She shook her head helplessly and said, "Play if you want, just don't mess things up for us."

"Don't worry, after all, I'm somewhat interested in him~"

The pink-haired girl chuckled softly and pointed at the fat man, asking a question.

"I watched your game. You really enjoy building up territory, don't you? Although there are many ways to play Go, building up territory is the purest way to win, isn't it? It must be fun to watch your stones increase little by little and your score grow little by little, right?"

"…………"

"No, I just find combat more troublesome, but I am indeed better at aerial combat..." The fat man blushed and touched his nose after being praised by such a cute little girl.

Unexpectedly, there was such a gentle and kind girl in the Ruoying Girls' Team, which they were competing with.

After Guan Caiyan and Luo Xinglu finished guessing who would go first, Ruoying's move order was white, black, white, black, white. Because the pink-haired girl sitting last in Ruoying's seat had the white piece in her arms, she smiled and glanced at the fat man.

"Let the game begin!" Jiang Gu, the host of this training camp, announced, and everyone pressed the timer at the same time.

Snap, snap, snap, snap...

At the same time, the pink-haired girl picked up a chess piece and a faint smile appeared on her lips. As the fat man placed the black piece in the star point, he also placed the white piece in the high point of the upper right corner.

"What!? Gao Mu..."

The fat man's second move was also at the star point, a double star point... but the pink-haired girl's second move was also at a high point. A high point mistake!

This wasn't some random game of online Go; an opening even rarer than the "eye-out" opening actually appeared in a formal match between an amateur fourth dan player.

Not only the fat man, but Ji Yingting, who was watching the game, frowned slightly, his light green eyes narrowing into slits. When did this guy learn such an exaggerated opening?

"So what if I have a high score? As long as I don't go for the corner!" With this half-baked idea in mind, the fat man quickly placed his pieces.

But what exactly is going on with her move...? I couldn't help but be attracted by the girl's graceful chess-playing posture. Her delicate hand gently held the white pieces, and when her two fingers overlapped and smoothly moved across the chessboard, it was like a butterfly fluttering in the air.

With a hint of satisfaction in his eyes, which seemed to bloom like ice lotuses, the white chess piece fell onto the chessboard with a thud.

Her ambition and desire to encircle the territory were far stronger than his own! The fat man was secretly on guard. Even though she had a cute and innocent appearance, judging from her opening moves, she didn't seem like a substitute player for Ruoying.

Snap, snap, snap, snap, snap...