The work of the Go master

But one day, I don't know what I unlocked, and suddenly a hellish difficulty level popped up, which is an eye-catching purple color, commonly known as so difficult it's purple.

Seeing Saito's purple warning now brings back that thrill of first encountering the hellish difficulty of Dynasty Warriors.

Although I was terrified of the difficulty, I was also inexplicably excited and looked forward to it, so I couldn't resist clicking in to give it a try.

As for the period, Ke Zhiguang pondered it for a moment.

It might mean that after killing Saito, nothing will be revealed.

This aligns more closely with our intuitive understanding of the definition of a period.

Saito brought out a chessboard, and as he sat down in front of it, his demeanor was completely transformed, as if he were a Gundam pilot sitting in a Gundam.

A strong gust of air surged over.

He placed the first piece and began explaining the game in a debriefing manner.

"Now I'm going to give you a replay of one of my famous games from twenty years ago, the opening that made me famous. My opponent, like you, was someone who believed in establishing a firm foothold in the opening and then proceeding step by step. But against me, his moves were completely ineffective."

“Because he’s too slow.” Saito’s pronunciation was also slow.

A dozen or so moves were made on the chessboard.

In this game, Saito played black, while his opponent played white.

The small eye is wrong, the two stars are connected, and the first thing to do is hang the corner.

Take off first, then hang up.

When the pattern is halfway through, continue to remove the first edge.

The opponent added a corner attack, but Saito ignored it and continued to play defensively.

Koji Hikaru followed Saito's chess piece closely, his pupils moving left and right.

After about thirty moves, Saito had taken over the entire board with a rapid and aggressive pace.

It is a top-notch, gorgeous technique.

Also known as a bold opening strategy, it sacrifices weaknesses to maximize the efficiency of the pieces.

Ke Zhiguang frowned and pondered deeply as he looked at the chessboard.

"One plate isn't obvious enough, let me set up another one."

Saito got up and took out another Go board.

The new layout is scattered across the board.

"The third game."

With the third chessboard brought out, the entire coffee table was finally filled, and I believe there won't be a fourth chessboard.

Each chessboard contains no more than fifty moves, which is considered the completion of the opening moves.

Whether playing black or white, his moves are full of energy and speed, like a free-spirited steed galloping across the grasslands, almost soaring through the skies.

After all, they didn't suddenly and flamboyantly jump onto line 5; they were mostly deployed on lines 3 and 4.

The third and fourth lines are normal opening positions in Go.

"When you were learning chess, you must have heard the saying, 'Stand two lines and extend three, stand three lines and extend four,' but I don't like this kind of move. I prefer to extend one more line."

Ke Zhiguang does indeed remember this sentence.

Anyone who learns chess will go through this introductory period. The teacher teaches you how to make a small base with a piece on the third line. It's very simple: just jump two spaces to the left or right of the piece.

This is called splitting two. The teacher will use a very vivid analogy to explain this shape, just like two people standing together, stretching their arms out to each other, maintaining this tight space.

In that case, if the enemy were to infiltrate, any one of them could easily slap them in the face.

If one more road is dismantled, it will leave space for infiltration, making it impossible to build a small base.

However, Saito's approach to planning is based on this unconventional style, highlighting his unpredictable and illogical approach.

"This is what it means to be invincible from the very beginning," Ke Zhiguang uttered a line that was almost a mix of admiration and mockery.

The saying "Fifty moves into the opening and no opponent can stand against you" existed in my previous life, and it seems to have been used to praise the brilliant opening moves of a certain Japanese Go player.

Later, this phrase became the self-proclaimed title of the "Bridge Master of the Motherland".

Then the meaning of the sentence changed, taking on a slightly sarcastic tone.

After all, the more someone boasts about their strong start, the more they seem to be implying how badly they'll perform in the second half.

Fang Sheng in "Go Master" is even more exaggerated, claiming to be invincible for the first hundred moves, but... dude, if you're invincible for a hundred moves, how can you possibly lose later?

"Invincible from the start... That's a good title, I'll take it." Saito grinned, sensing the teasing tone in the other's voice.

But suddenly, Ke Zhiguang also made his move.

clatter--

He placed a piece on one of the chessboards, his expression always bearing an aggressive smile.

Praise is one thing, but doing it is another.

But it wasn't over yet; he continued to place his pieces, making a move on the other two chessboards as well.

They all played from Saito's opponent's perspective, launching attacks in their own preferred way.

After a moment of surprise, Saito was also inspired and entered a silent hand-play mode.

The ticking sound echoed back and forth on the chessboard, and the two played back and forth for three games.

Ke Zhiguang thought his approach was quite creative. He had seen one-on-three games before, but he had never seen one-on-one games played with three chessboards.

The pieces fall onto the board at a speed resembling flight, and both sides play freely.

Rather than playing based on first impressions, it's more accurate to say that playing is based on interest, much like how poets are inspired after drinking, and chess players also have one or two moments when they are in the mood.

Time had passed considerably, and the three games had progressed to over 80 moves, all transitioning from the opening to the middle game.

As the clouds churned, a scattering of light and shadow fell from the window, as if reminding Ke Zhiguang to stop there.

"I think I understand now. It's really impressive to be invincible for the first fifty moves." Ke Zhiguang put the chess pieces back into the box.

This game is indeed very difficult. Since Saito is confident in using these three games as typical positive examples, he must have considered these three games to be 100% successful and has made full preparations to deal with them.

"Like military strategy, chess also follows the principle of wind, fire, mountain, and forest. The opening is like the wind, which means spreading out the formation as much as possible and maximizing the efficiency of each piece. The middle game is like fire. With a magnificent opening as a foundation, it is easy for battles to break out in the middle game. At this time, don't worry about seemingly empty sides. Just attack wherever you need to. Finally, the endgame is like a forest. At this time, you need to keep a close eye on the entire board and spend time browsing it again and again. Otherwise, you might miss a big endgame move if you are not careful. If you really want to finish the endgame, it can take an hour."

"What about the mountain?" Ke Zhiguang keenly noticed that this was something he had missed.

"The saying 'a move is like a mountain' doesn't mean you should never regret a move. It means you should spend five seconds thinking about every move, even if you're captured on a key piece that you can't easily connect with. You should pretend to spend five seconds thinking about it. This can help prevent mistakes to some extent."

Saito held up five fingers to Koji Mitsuki, as if to emphasize the necessity of the five seconds.

Ke Zhiguang thought for a moment, then held up three fingers with his hand.

"Is 3 seconds okay?"

“This…” Saito was taken aback, and after a long pause, he couldn’t come up with a strong rebuttal. In the end, he could only compromise, “It depends on your personal preference.”

Chapter Eighteen: The Wind-Riding Divine Fox

The class lasted for almost an afternoon, and before we knew it, it was evening.

A sparrow darted past the window, its silhouette silhouetted against the setting sun across the chessboard inside the room.

The day's lessons were incredibly beneficial, and I felt a sense of strategic planning had been placed on my shoulders, ready to take flight at any moment.

In the planning stage, just take big steps.

My own playing style may also be affected, and I won't have to play those kinds of games where if I can't kill a piece, I'm doomed.

When faced with a difficult situation, one should discard the first move.

Anyway—

Just go for it!

Rather than saying it's as swift as the wind, it's more accurate to say that in martial arts, speed is the ultimate weapon.

Efficiency is the true essence of strategic planning.

Of course, the learning journey ahead is still long. Today's class can only be considered as an overview of the major that freshmen will encounter in their major courses. This class is equivalent to learning a table of contents.

Ke Zhiguang went to the window, took a sip of water to rest, and looked down at the street scene outside.

Don't be fooled by the fact that this is an elegant and quaint study; it's actually located in an office building in a bustling area, and on a pretty high floor.

The chess academy can be seen not far away.

The address is indeed still 7-2 Gobancho, Chiyoda-ku, but the appearance is completely different from the previous life.

In its previous life, the Japan Go Association was just an ordinary building, about the size of a hotel.

But now the chess academy has expanded significantly, almost swallowing up the surrounding land, like a huge stadium.

According to Ke Zhiguang's recollection, the most glorious period of Japanese Go in his previous life had only 960 million players, and the number of insei (professional students) was only 200 at its peak. However, the number of Go players in this life will far exceed that number, otherwise it would be impossible to support a professional scale of 1000 insei.

It is said that Go is quite popular in overseas markets. If you get a first or second dan professional certificate and speak fluent English, you can open classes in Europe and America and make money off others.

“The questions are laid out; you can start working on them now,” Saito said.

"coming."

After a short break, we returned to the chessboard for the evening lesson.

Just as he was about to sit down, Ke Zhiguang's eyes widened slightly as he examined the question.

There was no problem on the chessboard at all.

There are only two black stones located at the star point.

Saito had already assumed a chess-playing posture, sitting cross-legged, resembling a samurai about to go to war during the Warring States period.

“Oh, I almost forgot to mention, although I said beforehand that there’s no need for formalities or seniority between us, there’s one thing I think we can talk about.” Saito cracked his neck, making a sound as he stretched his limbs.

"For example?" Ke Zhiguang roughly understood what the other party meant and began to move his fingers.

As we all know, playing chess is like fighting. Before a fight, it's common sense to clear your joints.

"Actually, in our sect, there is an unwritten rule that if a student wants to become an apprentice, he must play a game of chess with the teacher, giving him a two-piece handicap."

"I actually know this rule, but I just want to say... does it mean that Saito-sensei is now confident that he can give me two sons?" A provocative smile appeared on Koji Hikaru's lips.