The work of the Go master

"Then, this ranking competition shall begin!" Xia Fuying shouted from the stage.

Fireworks burst forth outside the chess academy, and everyone surged forward.

"I wish you good luck, senior."

"Shared destiny".

The two of them then blended into their respective groups of people.

The blue flames of fighting spirit had already quietly ignited in his heart.

......

......

Flames then burst forth!

"My name is Naka Ryozo. Nice to meet you."

"My name is Ke Zhiguang." Ke Zhiguang nodded and shook hands, adding "Youlou Xigu" as well.

"What? You're Ke Zhiguang?" The student named Zhong Liangsan was so shocked that he immediately pulled his hand back.

"Am I that famous already?"

"Nonsense, nonsense. So, you challenged the Four Heavenly Kings of Peach Blossom Village last month not to make a name for yourself?"

"Are you that well-informed?"

In Ke Zhiguang's view, with such poor information flow nowadays, and these people being a group of chess players who study chess records in seclusion, where would they get so much gossip?

“This isn’t a matter of being well-informed or not. Any ordinary student would hear your name if they just listened a little. You killed the Four Heavenly Kings at the same time, didn’t you? And you were Saito’s disciple, weren’t you?” Naka Ryozo said with a mournful face, the psychological pressure he felt in the face of Kazuhiro was unprecedented.

And indeed, that's true; this person is a green-level player.

Just as the two were about to continue their boasting, the referee suddenly walked by, pointed at the chessboard, and started yelling: "You two are still chatting here? With your attitude, you want to be professional chess players?"

Under pressure, the guessing game began immediately.

......

......

"Alright, today we'll talk about Go!" Naoka Kuranosuke shouted from the commentary platform in the hall.

"Mr. Naosaka seems unusually excited today. Is there some special reason?" Naosaka's longtime partner, Reiko, asked from the side.

An older player who is semi-retired and a rising female commentator formed a father-daughter duo, and the show was quite entertaining.

“Since there’s a game played by Koichi Hikaru today, it’s my duty to provide commentary,” Naosaka said.

"You think so highly of him? You seemed quite interested in him when you were commentating on the team match last time."

"I've already invested all my savings in Kezhiguang's stock, and its future market value is sure to skyrocket," Naosaka praised enthusiastically in front of the camera.

He maintained contact with Saito and secretly kept track of Koji Mitsuaki's progress and his future.

Of course, even without Saito, based solely on those few games in the team competition and the feat of defeating the Black Chamber, he would be willing to be a spiritual shareholder.

"Alright then... let's continue explaining his game this time."

After making several moves according to the chess manual, Naosaka saw something new again: "As expected, Koji Mitsuaki has given us some eye-opening new things again."

In the early stages of the game, Naosaka placed Koji Hikaru on the large board as Black's seventh move, and after connecting the corner, he extended back to the side of the star point.

"That's a really interesting position, it's quite similar to the Chinese style," Naosaka commented.

As the name suggests, the Chinese style is a school of opening that originated and flourished in China. Its essence lies in placing a piece on the lower side of the edge star, emphasizing the speed of the opening, the development of the shape, and the consideration of the terrain.

According to historical records, during the friendly exchanges between China and Japan in the 60s, when faced with a large influx of Japanese players, Chen Laozu and his teammates used this opening strategy, the "One-Split Horse," to catch the Japanese players off guard. This is how the "Chinese Style" got its name.

Although it's called the Chinese style, this opening wasn't created by Chinese people. It was created by a famous Japanese amateur Go commentator named Yasunaga Hajime. However, in Go, the naming of a style is never about who invented it first, but about who popularized it. Kobayashi style and Shusaku style were not created by the namers.

In the official history of this era, Go is still relatively unpopular in the homeland, and no one has yet promoted it. However, the name "Chinese style" has been preserved because the Japanese Go player who created this opening style said that the inspiration for this opening came from medieval Go, a common move in the Double Dragon era.

“There are different levels of Chinese martial arts. The lower level focuses on practical matters, while the higher level focuses on external influences. In recent years, there have been more and more young people, and everyone is increasingly fond of fighting, so the higher level is considered the current mainstream, while the lower level is relatively rare... As for his approach, I have never seen it before.” Naosaka shook his head and laughed.

"Actually, it's more likely that this is just his recent habit, and he's still a long way from reaching the level of a true master," Reiko said.

"That's true, but the origin of a style is simply habit, whether it's a sword style or a chess style... Let's put it this way, in this ranking tournament, each player will play at least 20 games on average. If he can consistently play the same opening moves as Black and still maintain a high winning percentage, then we can consider it a style created by Ke Zhiguang, how about that?"

"18 games... Are you going to talk about 18 games in a row?" Reiko said with a wry smile.

"Huh? Is that not allowed?" Naosaka was taken aback, and looked around at the various Go fans, audience members and media in the audience with a questioning gaze.

"If it's good, it might not be a bad idea..."

On the chessboard, rising steam swirled around the chess pieces, like an iron plate that was constantly heating up.

Nakajiro felt a burning pain all over his body, and was uncomfortable with this unfamiliar start.

Every move felt like being branded with a hot iron, burning my hand.

The shape looks very similar to Kobayashi's style, so I tried to deal with it using the same methods as dealing with Kobayashi's style, but I can't quite put my finger on where things went wrong. It seems like the balance of power is constantly tilting in my opponent's favor.

Is this the strategy employed by Saito 9-dan's disciples?

He could occasionally spare a glance to look at Ke Zhiguang's expression and steal a look at his opponent, gleaning tons of information from the opponent's subtle expressions—an essential off-board tactic for every professional Go player.

Ke Zhiguang yawned, his mouth wide open.

—Damn it, why is this guy yawning?

—Are you that confident?

Thinking about all the accolades surrounding Ke Zhiguang, Zhong Liangsan felt even more pressure.

After yawning, Ke Zhiguang's expression became much more serious. He sat sideways, facing the chessboard.

How should I describe this layout style...?

Actually, this is just a mini-Chinese style, a new genre created by a group of Koreans in the 90s. It advocates violence and speed, and surprisingly, it works quite well.

But in this world... yes, it really was Saito who came up with it, and it's quite perfect. He said he planned to use it as a big move in next year's Dragon Throne title battle, but after thinking about it, he felt it wasn't safe and handed it over to Koji Mitsuaki.

"You, help me test this out at the competition and see if it works well," he said, then turned and went to Hawaii.

This person is indeed carefree and not afraid of having their pre-prepared items exposed.

Koji Mitsu also felt that Saito might have felt he could no longer wield the great sword, but couldn't bear to let it go to waste, so he sent it away in advance, hoping it would be more magnificent when it first appeared.

Perhaps this is a case of "the person is like the chess piece," living up to its reputation for being flamboyant and unrestrained.

Under the influence of his state of mind, Ke Zhiguang gripped the chess piece tightly.

Then, the key cutoff point is captured, and the piece is then smashed onto the special effect point on the chessboard.

Battle begins—

Then it came to an end.

"That was fantastic. I lost. It truly lived up to its reputation." Nakajiro rubbed the back of his head and smiled wryly.

Thank you for your guidance.

"Let's review the game..."

After a game of chess, if both players are in a good mood, it is indeed a matter of etiquette to review the game and summarize mistakes on the spot.

“Okay.” Ke Zhiguang naturally nodded in agreement. As always, as long as the quality of the game is not bad and the opponent is willing, he will review the game with the opponent.

But as serious as they may be, whether they can adopt the attitude of a master player, reviewing the game with their opponent, pointing out their mistakes, and teaching them a lesson that makes them question their existence is another matter entirely.

.....

.....

In another game room at the Go Academy, Yabu's game with his opponent also came to an end.

"I give up." Yabu's opponent patted his head, still relatively optimistic in the face of defeat.

This is just the beginning of the ranking tournament. It's easier to accept initial losses, but in the later stages, losing a game will require you to lie in a chair for a while to recover.

He was also aware of his opponent's strength. Suga 9-dan's disciple. Although Suga was not considered strong, he was still a 9-dan. Being recommended as a 9-dan's disciple to participate in the competition, his skill level was certainly not bad.

"Let's review the game..."

Before he could even ask the question, Yabu had already pushed the chessboard aside and walked outwards, making quite a bit of noise that might affect the thinking of the other players.

"Huh?" Yabu turned around and looked at his opponent in surprise.

Seeing the other party's disdain and not wanting to disturb others, the opponent could only reluctantly shake his head to indicate that he hadn't said anything.

Then Yabu pushed open the door and went out.

The referee watched all this, shaking his head and sighing, "Just like the rumors say, he's an incredibly arrogant spoiled brat. It's unbelievable that someone like him has such incredible talent..."

Yabu's hearing was always very sharp, and he caught these lines.

But he didn't say anything, and his resolve remained unshaken.

His only thought now is to skip all procedures and go straight into hand-to-hand combat with Ke Zhiguang.

Just then, two chess players in suits walked up to him in the corridor, looking him over with great interest, just as they had been waiting for Yabu.

Both were professional Go players, one a sixth dan and the other a seventh dan, and they were frequent participants in tournaments. Of course, Yabu knew them.

“Those things that could truly be considered cheating, you can’t bring into the competition.” — The words of the castle chess envoy echoed in Yabu’s mind again.

This statement also has another layer of meaning: there are security checks or similar measures in place.

Yabu swallowed hard, clutched the pills in his pocket tightly, and walked over with his head down.

As he brushed past the two chess players, he whispered a greeting to them, his arrogant attitude immediately softening considerably.

"Greetings, Yabu-kun." The seventh-dan Go player greeted him jokingly.

Even after Yabu passed between the two men, their gazes remained fixed on his back until he turned the corner, at which point they heard the sound of someone running away.

"Hey, did you feel it? It seems like he's carrying something unusual." Sixth Duan asked.

"But it only stays at the level of being unusual. If it were even just a tiny bit more unusual, we would be able to call security." Seven shrugged.

There's no way around it, that's the fighting power of intellectuals. In crucial moments, you still have to rely on security guards to subdue a teenager.

"It's basically right on the deadline, it's like it was designed specifically for the competition, where did he get this thing from?"

"I don't know. Maybe it came from his teacher. What those old dan masters love to do most is to firmly grasp power, the path to advancement, and these inexplicable things."