The work of the Go master

Chapter Eight: It really does have to start with gang warfare.

In the afternoon, after class.

Accompanied by Shuicheng Xiyue, Ke Zhiguang arrived at the entrance of Yunjing Go Club—a gymnasium.

Common sense dictates that only basketball or volleyball teams use gymnasiums as activity rooms. It's quite unusual for a Go team to use such a place as an activity space.

"Our school's Go club is really strong, it's a top-tier club. They often win rankings in national competitions. The basketball and karate clubs have always wanted to reclaim their territory, but they've failed because their performance in major competitions isn't good enough," Mizuki Yuzuki introduced with some pride.

Upon hearing this, Ke Zhiguang secretly sneered.

Luckily, I brought pepper spray, so I'm not afraid of these guys in white uniforms.

"Of course, there's no need to worry about them coming after us. They still have a lot of martial ethics." Seeing the smirk on Ke Zhiguang's face, Mizuki explained, feeling that he was thinking something absurd.

Last night, after playing a Double Dragon-like game with Qiu Sheng, he lay in bed thinking a lot. He faced three paths: ① Buy books and study on his own.

② Enroll in a Go (Weiqi) class.

③ Join a club or organization.

Although he was very confident in his Go talent, the thought of the dense text in the textbook made his head ache, not to mention that he didn't know which textbook to start with.

I don't have the money to enroll in classes.

Going to see Harujima Kaoru again doesn't feel right. I'm still playing half a game with her, and it feels strange to ask her for advice. She might even glare at me with her fierce little eyes.

In the end, only the clubs are left. Since ancient times, there has only been one path in sports anime: first join the club, then go to training camps, first compete in the prefectural tournaments, then pass the national tournaments, and finally, in the world championships, the fighting system collapses. —Scratch that last sentence.

Fortunately, he had heard of the strength of his school's Go club, which was one of the best in the country and had the largest number of members in the entire school, which was enough to show its strength.

In fact, based on the impressions of ordinary anime, his understanding of clubs often starts with the scenario of "facing the disbandment of the club due to insufficient members".

"When is the next match?"

"The next competition is actually starting soon, in about three weeks, it's a team competition," Mizuki Yuuki answered truthfully, unaware that Koji Mitsuki's expression changed slightly when he asked the question.

“Three weeks…” Ke Zhiguang rubbed his chin, calculating the time.

should be no problem.

If you have enough talent.

"Hey Ke, do you really want to join the Go club?" Mizuki asked worriedly.

"Of course! You've been urging me to join a club, otherwise I won't get enough credits."

"I did say that, but I really didn't expect you to choose to join the Go club. I thought you would join a sports club or something."

"It doesn't matter, mental exercise is still exercise."

"That makes sense... but let me make this clear first, Go is not as simple as you think. If you're not interested, learning it can be very boring."

Despite repeated attempts to dissuade him, to no avail, Mizuki Yuuki still pushed open the door to the Go club for Ke Zhiguang.

What appeared before Ke Zhiguang was a somewhat spectacular scene: hundreds of students were gathered there, sitting cross-legged on cushions, playing chess in pairs, with senior students providing guidance.

Several tennis nets were set up between the crowd, dividing them into groups of different levels. On the podium in the venue, adult Go teachers stood in front of a large Go board, giving lessons to some of the students.

It's clearly a thriving Go school, a place that evokes memories of the Edo period.

"These are our beginners. They're playing a game of capturing pieces, which starts in the center of the board. Whoever captures all five of the opponent's pieces first wins," Mizuki Yuzuki explained to Keiji Hikaru.

The "Killing Stones" game can be considered an essential step for Go beginners. It helps them better understand the rules of Go and learn basic board patterns. It's quite simple and casual, and can be played just like Gomoku (Five in a Row).

A female beginner stood up happily, clearly having won the game, while her opponent slumped dejectedly on the board.

Just then, a tender bud appeared behind the female student, accompanied by a warm glow.

[Symbolic Spirit: New Branches and Sprouts]

[Note: We need to take good care of its growth.]

Perhaps it was because winning this game brought him joy that this happened?

Most beginners have such buds floating behind them, but the degree of opening varies. Some are just peeking out, some have already bloomed into flower buds, and some are simply seeds.

There are also some saplings that are withering, their leaves falling one by one, which may indicate a loss of interest in Go.

"This is our intermediate class. They are currently playing a game on a 13x13 chessboard."

People usually understand Go as a large 19x19 board, which is certainly correct. However, before students are introduced to a 19x19 board, experienced teachers often have them play on a smaller 13x19 board first. Once they are accustomed to this smaller board, they can then challenge the larger 19x19 board.

At this stage, the symbolic spirits behind the students began to differentiate significantly.

They have baby foxes, baby snakes, baby fish, and baby kittens, giving you the feeling of walking into a newborn pet store.

But there's something strange: there are no puppies.

Actually, Ke Zhiguang prefers dogs to cats and has always wanted to get a Border Collie, but he can only do so when he has the money, as the cost of raising a dog is much higher than that of raising a cat.

"Over there is our advanced class, and that's also my class. The teacher's name is Cang Yuqiao. He's an amateur 5-dan player who has been teaching Go here for a long time and is very experienced in teaching." Mizuki Yuzuki pointed to the group having class on the podium.

However, no symbolic spirits appeared on these people, and they were quite clean in appearance.

It's probably because they weren't actually playing a game; they were just following along on the chessboard in front of them, listening to the explanation.

Speaking of which, when watching the match on TV yesterday, Ke Zhiguang didn't see any symbolic spirits behind the two professional chess players.

Perhaps only when the chess players are in front of us and playing on the chessboard can we see the symbolic spirits behind them.

Ke Zhiguang thought this way and tried to understand his own "golden finger" (a powerful ability or advantage).

"Is the chess game they're talking about the one from NHK yesterday?" Ke Zhiguang glanced at the large chessboard on the podium and suddenly felt that the game looked familiar.

"Even you know that?" Mizuki Yuuki was quite surprised.

"I happened to see it yesterday. The two people fighting were Taketaka Forging, 4th Dan, and Naosaka Kuranosuke, 8th Dan, right?"

"Yes, Taketo 4-dan is a player who only started to show his talent last year. He is still very young, only 17 years old. His opponent, Naosaka 8-dan, is also a very strong veteran player who is semi-retired. He is 55 years old this year. After winning this championship, Taketo 4-dan should be able to advance several dans."

In the realm of professional Go players, the numbers preceding the rank largely represent honor rather than actual skill. Based on Ke Zhiguang's own past experience, many unknown young players at the third or fourth dan level had the feat of defeating numerous strong opponents in major tournaments, winning championships, and directly advancing to the ninth dan level.

Young people rely on this kind of vigor and the advantage of being a new face, such as others not knowing them and not having to bear too much pressure.

"Wait a minute, there are no names of the players on this chessboard. How do you know this is the game from yesterday?" Mizuki Yuuki suddenly realized this problem.

"Didn't I say I watched this game yesterday?"

"No, no, no, what I mean is—you only looked at yesterday's game and recognized that the game set up here is from yesterday?"

“Yes, isn’t the logic quite clear?” Ke Zhiguang turned his head in surprise to look at Shuicheng Xiyue beside him.

He thought this logic was normal, just like a normal person who happens to see a beautiful female celebrity on TV, and in real life, most people can recognize her at a glance.

"this....."

Shuicheng Xiyue couldn't utter a single word for a long time.

Chess games aren't like those beautiful female celebrities you might bump into and glance at one day, only to remember the whole thing the next.

In the world of Go, even someone who has studied Go for a whole year may not be able to perfectly review a game that was just played an hour ago.

The memory for Go is unique. Many excellent professional Go players can remember the correct order of a game from many years ago, but experiments have shown that their memory is actually average, except that they remember Go games particularly accurately.

"Report, Teacher Cangqiao's chess notation is wrong. He missed placing a 'ban' in the lower left corner." Ke Zhiguang said, looking at the chessboard on the stage in the distance, noticing that the game did not match his memory.

"Is it set up wrong?" Mizuki Yuzuki was taken aback. She didn't notice anything wrong with the chessboard layout.

Although she had watched yesterday's game, her memory only remained at the level of some vague local battles; no one could remember such a small detail so clearly.

Soon, Mr. Cangqiao, who was lecturing on the podium, also realized that he had missed two moves and went back to make up for it.

Sometimes, when explaining a game, getting too engrossed in a local variation can cause one to forget some of the finer details on the board.

"Then comes the rush, the cut, the ko, the replacement cut..." Ke Zhiguang continued in a low voice, matching the chessboard in the distance with the chess game in his memory step by step.

Every time he made a move, that move would actually be made on the chessboard, as if some mysterious force was controlling it.

As Shuicheng Xiyue listened to Ke Zhiguang's precise analysis of each step, her expression became increasingly speechless.

What kind of monster was standing next to her?

"Climb, press, pull, pull again... This is the last move. Naosaka Kuranosuke, 8th dan, resigns," said Ke Zhiguang, and the Go board on the podium stopped its debriefing.

Chapter Nine: Going Through the Procedures to Calm Down

After the advanced class ended, Mr. Aohashi, who was in charge of the lecture, left quickly. The club activities were also coming to an end, and the students relaxed and discussed where to go that evening.

Several years ago, the education system became more relaxed, and nightlife became more abundant for both adults and students.

The Heisei era is great! This generation will surely grow into outstanding adults, right?

Mizuki Yuuki approached the vice president in charge of club admissions and expressed Koji Hikaru's desire to join the Go club.

The vice president was a girl with a cool and aloof appearance, wearing a long braid, and with a forest-like look. She exuded an aura that made her difficult to approach.

Ke Zhiguang was so sizing her up that he didn't dare to say a word.

If the vice president is this capable, what level must the president be at?

"I'd like to join the Go club, that's not impossible..." The vice president sat across the table, looking at Ke Zhiguang's profile, a ballpoint pen twirling between his fingers.

This data isn't very good; the scores are so low it's making you frown.

If the vice president remembers correctly, Ke Zhiguang has also been drifting along all along.

If this were an ancient Go school, they certainly wouldn't accept this disciple, as he is neither qualified nor virtuous enough.

But this is just a high school Go club. Although it has inherited the strict and hierarchical system unique to Japan, it is not so arrogant as to kick out students who are interested in Go.

Do you have a realistic understanding of your own chess skills?

"I learned a little Go back to my hometown and did some life-and-death problems, but I've never played on a large board." Of course, Ke Zhiguang wouldn't say that he only learned a little last night.

"I've never played a complete game of chess, but I've done life-and-death problems. What a strange learning path."

Liberties are the most basic rule in Go, and the life and death of Go stones is the manifestation of this rule on the board. The two are related as essence and appearance.

As any ordinary person knows, a piece of chess is dead when it is completely surrounded, and it must be removed from the chessboard.

Whether a group of stones is alive depends on whether it has two eyes, also known as "two-eye live".

The vice president mentally envisioned what Ke Zhiguang meant by "doing life-and-death problems".

It's probably just the most basic life-and-death shapes like curved three, straight three, T-shaped four, square four, knife handle five, plum blossom five, and grape six. It's far from being a life-and-death problem; it can only be said to be the basic unit that constitutes a life-and-death problem.