Riding the wind of rebirth

"If Black captures the ko, White can then capture these five stones, creating a super powerful ko threat!"

"What do you mean?" Yu Bin and Nie Qisheng were taken aback. The changes on the chessboard were too complex, and neither of them had expected such a turn of events.

“When White captures, if Black resolves the ko, White will capture these five stones.” Ma Xiaochun said while playing White, “Roughly speaking, after Black gains the initiative, Black can use moves 3 and 5 to make the large group in the lower left corner live. That’s how it works.”

“Yes, the large black group in the lower left corner has indeed made a living group, oh wait!” Yu Bin saw the problem: “But after White 2 captured five black stones, this area became incredibly solid, especially since it was originally an isolated group. When White 6 plays another move, this large black group, which was originally not in any danger of dying, will be in a bad situation!”

This change is truly a dramatic transformation, perfectly showcasing the beauty of the game's unpredictability and variability. If Black were to lose this large group, White's advantage would instantly return.

Therefore, Black absolutely cannot resolve the ko at this point.

If the ko is not resolved, Black must choose to connect. After White captures the ko at the second move, Black can choose to play a thrust, which is also a good ko threat.

White must respond; otherwise, Black will push in the center, cutting off White's large group of stones in the lower right corner.

After White responds to the ko, Black plays move 5 to capture the ko. White's move 6, which only captures a small group of Black stones, is insufficient. Therefore, White 6 must continue searching for ko threats, aiming for the large Black group in the center. This would also allow White to turn the previously isolated six White stones into reinforcements. At this point, Black 7 must resolve the ko, and then White 8 plays a move to encircle the large Black group in the lower area.

However, this would make the situation more complicated, because although a large group of black stones is surrounded by white, black has a position to choose to cut, which is a trick that will give white a headache.

Then both sides will continue to be entangled in a battle shrouded in mystery, wondering whether it will be easier for Black or White to play. To paraphrase a line from the "Memorial to the Throne," "Success or failure is difficult to predict."

"Don't let the calamity pass, don't let the calamity pass..." Now it was everyone's turn to pray for Chang Shentong, who was deep in thought.

After much deliberation, Chang Shentong ultimately concluded that the game was too complex and needed to be simplified through ko elimination and exchange.

The 140th move, dispelling the calamity!
Everyone in the chess room sighed.

The game then entered a period of stagnation. Although there were some exciting local skirmishes, they were no longer relevant to the outcome.

Chang Shentong lost twenty points by simplifying the game, which almost completely negated the advantage of his previous "three-nose top" move. In the later endgame, Xiaozhi, who can basically make zero mistakes, will naturally continue to expand his advantage.

In the end, Chang Shentong narrowly lost the game by two and a half points.

After the battle, it was time for a debriefing session. Kong Jie and Chang Shentong spent another half hour in the chess room.

However, this review is different from previous ones because in the past Kong Jie knew the intention behind each step, but this time his identity is "Chuanqi Boy", so he also needs to access Xiao Zhi's analysis in the system to review the situation.

This is a remarkable learning process; high-level Go players often improve during this stage. As they emerged from the small Go room, everyone gave Chang the prodigy a warm round of applause; the game was truly spectacular.

Chang Shentong walked up to Nie Qisheng and said, "Master, I was wrong."

Nie Weiping laughed and asked, "Where did I go wrong?"

"115's move was too impulsive and he fell into the opponent's trap."

Nie Weiping waved his hand: "Humans can't compete with machines in calmness. I don't think that's a problem. We can't lose our style because of winning or losing, just like a painter can't ignore the spirit in order to achieve a likeness. It's the same principle. Without that nail-stabbing move, we wouldn't have been able to force out the 'three-nose top' move later. In the end, the gains outweigh the losses. Not bad, not bad."

"So, has the WildFox core program passed the acceptance test?" Zhou Zhi asked.

"Let's go to the conference room and talk about the future of the Go website," said Nie Weiping.

Everyone sat down in the conference room. Mai Xiaomiao first introduced the upgrades made to the latest generation of core programs. Of course, the professionals from the chess academy couldn't understand the details, so the focus was on the effects of these upgrades.

The effects of this upgrade are already quite noticeable. For example, at the start, Wild Fox Xiaozhi abandoned the local battle in the lower left corner and started early, instead consolidating his position in the upper area. This is because the system upgrade has optimized the prediction and emphasis on future advantages in the overall game.

For example, the seemingly supernatural "testing move" is a test of skill. After the introduction of the convolution algorithm, the system has a more perfect means of imitating and analyzing the nonlinear state of chaotic situations. It even gives people the feeling of "human brain processing", which is what Nie Weiping called "becoming supernatural". This is also a huge improvement.

However, this system is not perfect and there is still a lot of room for improvement. For example, when Chang Shentong led the battle into a localized battle, the system ignored the overall assessment and was almost turned around by that divine stroke of genius from the top of his nose.

Overall, Wild Fox Xiaozhi has made significant improvements compared to the second version. It has now reached the level of suppressing top-tier players and is more than capable of being used as the core for the Go academy's "electronic sparring partner".

However, system construction is quite complex. After the core program is developed, a great deal of peripheral development is still needed to make it an excellent application.

To give you a simple example of the difficulty: Go is a very time-consuming sport, and currently, to play online, you need to use a dial-up phone line to connect. This "internet fee" is quite expensive.

How to solve this problem? There are several methods. The first is to establish a local area network (LAN). This method is suitable for chess academies because there are no internet access fees on a LAN. However, everyone has to log in to the system from the chess academy.

The second method is to establish Go clubs in various places. The clubs and Go academies are connected through modem dial-up lines or dedicated lines. Since the signal transmitted by Go is only the location of each move, the amount of information running on the line is very small. Therefore, one line can handle the signal transmission of dozens or even hundreds of games. This way, the method of playing Go online has been extended to Go clubs in various cities.

The third option is for home use. In this case, you can choose between slow chess mode and fast chess mode. Fast chess mode allows you to design a series of rules to limit the game to one game within two hours, which is affordable for internet fees.

In slow chess mode, the network can be interrupted while thinking, and after deciding on the next move, the connection can be re-established and the player can make their move. Once the opponent receives this move, the connection is broken, and a new handshake signal is initiated before the next move is made. After the connection is established, the next move is sent. (End of Chapter)