Hikaru no Go: I taught you Go, and you made the Kisei cry?

……

Chapter Thirty-Six: A Move Beyond the Predecessors! Sai's Response!

"Stand up?"

As Su Ran made his move, a strange light suddenly flashed in Sai's eyes as he stared quietly at the white piece that seemed to radiate light.

He fell into deep thought.

The thirteenth of the nine, stand.

"What an amazing move! Even Inoue Gen'an didn't notice this brilliant move back then, but this young man from Tang Dynasty pointed it out..."

"Su Ran, this child with shining eyes and unlimited potential, has now turned his knife on me."

"So sharp, so pointed, even I have to be on high alert."

"Is attacking me with a move that Inoue Gen'an didn't see a provocation?"

Sai slightly shifted his gaze to Su Ran.

Su Ran sat upright in her chair, waiting for Hikaru Shindo to make his move, her face calm and expressionless.

"No... it should be curiosity, right? He wouldn't know I exist, nor would he know that the person he's playing chess with right now is the same person who taught Torajiro and Inoue Gen'an how to play chess back then."

"He's curious about my chess skills..."

"Stand up..."

Sai pondered this move quietly for a long time, his expression gradually becoming serious. The more he thought about it, the more he could understand what it contained.

Murderous intent.

A silent killing intent.

In exchange for giving up the four black stones in the center, they instead committed all their forces to the formidable defense of the left flank.

Like a spider's web, Su Ran laid an impenetrable trap there, quietly waiting for her prey.

If you make even the slightest mistake, you will be doomed!

"Should I get off at Dafei? Fifteen out of ten..."

"No, if there were no rules about marking targets, then that might be a good move."

"However, now there's a komi... the black pieces need to win by more than six and a half points..."

"That kind of burden is indeed a great trouble when facing this boy named Su Ran..."

Hikaru Shindo stared blankly at the chessboard, then at Sai Fujiwara, who was deep in thought beside him, his heart filled with complex and unsettling emotions.

"Sai, is this Su Ran really that strong? Even you..."

Sai nodded and replied, "Hikaru, Su Ran is no opponent to be underestimated. His playing style is unpredictable. He can play fast and aggressively, or he can engage in a close and meticulous battle with me, like a gentle drizzle..."

"He is really strong, in no way inferior to those masters who challenged me in the Edo period."

“Even more so…”

"He is like a tiger lurking in the jungle... gradually suffocating his opponent."

"With a sense of smell as keen as a hunting dog, he would pounce fiercely at the slightest hint of blood, tearing anything in his path to shreds."

Sai gripped the fan handle tightly, gazing at the standing figure of Nine-Thirteen.

"Whether this kid wants to play a game without komi or not, since there's a komi rule now, I'm going to beat him with a six-and-a-half-point advantage!"

"It won't work if we don't pursue stronger and more powerful moves..."

"Su Ran, a chess player from the Tang Dynasty, you've given me a difficult problem."

The crowd around was amazed by this unexpected move.

"Unexpectedly, White actually played this move! At first glance, it seems unremarkable, but it completely blocks Black's possibility of cutting off the side and attacking the center. It was truly a brilliant move!"

"Although this move allowed Su Ran to lose four black pieces, he regained the initiative in the contest on the left flank... If the contest continues, it's really hard to say who will win in the end."

"But in that case, Shirako won't be able to use that game-changing move anymore. It seems... Hikaru Shindo also needs to change his tactics!"

Su Ran was the first to change his move on the 126th move.

This means that from this moment on, the game will completely move into a new game where there are no game records to memorize, where it is purely a test of individual strength and where true skill must be revealed.

One wrong move, and the whole game is lost.

Hikaru Shindo's long deliberation this time was to be expected, and no one raised any objections.

Like Hikaru Shindo, they had long been deeply entangled in this complicated game of chess.

"Su Ran, he changed his tactics on his own initiative. This move is truly ingenious..."

“I remember that Wu Qingyuan, a modern Go master, once said that in the famous game of “Ear Red”, when the game had progressed to the 126th move, White could have made a flying jump on the side corner, but Su Ran chose to make a stand on the left side.”

"Mr. Gu Dian, in your opinion, how does Su Ran's standing move compare to Master Wu Qingyuan's jump?"

"I don't know. I analyzed that game for a long time, but I still didn't fully understand it... Maybe the only person in the game who could see the difference between the two is Xiao Liang?"

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone's eyes turned to Akira Touya.

Akira Toya did not answer their questions.

He stared intently at the chessboard, at that particular move, his teeth clenched, his fists clenched so tightly they were trembling slightly.

"There was actually this move... Father's opinion is the same as Grandmaster Wu Qingyuan's. They both believe that on move 126, White's only option is to make a jump to avoid being completely devoured by Black..."

"But who would have thought that, besides jumping, there was another completely new solution to this game!"

"Why, why can't I see it? And even Father and Senior Wu Qingyuan..."

“Stand, there’s actually a move here called ‘Stand’.”

"Su Ran, what level has your chess skill reached? Have you completely surpassed me and many of your predecessors?"

"In a place so high up, so high that even when I try to look up, I can't see his back."

"Hikaru Shindo, what about you? Do you feel the same way? If you were playing white, could you see that 9/13, excluding the jump, and stand?"

"And facing Su Ran's unexpected move, a variation beyond the millennia-old masterpiece, can you come up with a foolproof countermeasure?"

"Do you want to place the bet at 16/8?"

"Or, where?"

A moment later, Sai gently pointed to a point on the chessboard with his fan, his tone serious.

"Xiao Guang, column 9, row 14, pong!"

A hint of joy flickered in his eyes; the long-awaited pleasure of playing and contemplating chess excited him.

"Uh……"

Hikaru Shindo paused, realizing that while Sai was deep in thought, he had noticed something else.

He kept thinking about how the game would develop if he placed his piece at that particular spot.

“Sai… doesn’t seem to have seen that spot…”

Hikaru Shindo opened his mouth hesitantly, wanting to say something, but in the end, he gave up his impulse and, following Sai's words, placed the next black stone on the board.

Nine columns and fourteen rows, bang!

Hikaru Shindo placed his white stone right next to Su Ran's.

When there are no pieces of your own to support you, placing a piece right next to an opponent's piece is called a "pong"!

……

Chapter Thirty-Seven: They are all pursuing the realm of the Divine Hand.

"Hey, shall we touch it?"

"I want to see how Bai Zi responds, and adopt a wait-and-see attitude."

"A test?"

With Hikaru Shindo's response to this move, the black stone fell, causing quite a stir.

Akira Touya, who was listening to the whispers of the crowd, opened his mouth hesitantly.

He had something to say, but the words seemed stuck in his throat, and he couldn't get them out. He clenched his fists even tighter.

"No, no, it's not entirely a test move, Kuroko... Kuroko isn't unsure how to deal with that move. He chose to touch it to test how his opponent would respond, and also to seek change, more intense and complex change!"

"Those two are lunatics!"

"They all want the game to develop in a more complex and varied direction, they..."

"They all want to see clearly where their opponent's limits really lie!"

"How is that possible? There are two of them?"

Akira Touya stared blankly at the chessboard, a myriad of thoughts flashing through his mind. The chess games he had played with Su Ran and Hikaru Shindo earlier flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

The seventh column and the twelfth row.

After Su Ran saw Hikaru Shindo place a piece, he raised his wrist, picked up the white piece, and gently placed it down.

Each move seemed to possess an invisible power!

"Xiao Guang, seventh column, fourteenth row, jump."

This time, Sai didn't ponder for a long time again. It seemed that during his long deliberation just now, he had already calculated what Su Ran would do next.

And Su Ran's side was the same.

In an instant, both sides made their moves with lightning speed, just like at the beginning of the game, leaving the onlookers dazzled.

"This is incredible... We've already played over 130 moves, but this young man shows absolutely no sign of running out of ideas."

"They're too strong, they're just too strong. No wonder Touya Meijin considers Su Ran his opponent. You know, he just fought Akira for two hours straight. How can there be such a freak?"

"Terrifying calculation ability, genius-level adaptability, these two, and Xiao Liang... they will surely shine brightly in the future chess world."

As the pieces fell like stars, the game gradually became clearer.