Chapter 177: Victory or defeat, is it important?

The next day, another round of national team qualifiers will begin.

Yu Shao got up early in the morning, washed his face and brushed his teeth, then hurriedly left home.

After finding a steamed bun shop on the breakfast street near the community and buying a few beef buns and a bottle of yogurt, Yu Shao took a taxi to the Southern Chess Academy.

Today's game room is not the same as the day before yesterday. It is the one at the left rear of the chess academy.

Yu Shao came to the main hall of the chess academy, walked through the corridor, passed the chess academy lounge, and went straight to today's game room.

At this time, many chess players were eating breakfast in the lounge and waiting for the game to begin. Therefore, when Yu Shao passed by the door of the lounge, he instantly attracted a lot of attention.

The chess players watched Yu Shao disappear into the distance before they finally started discussing.

"He is Yu Shao? The Yu Shao who made the three-three move?"

"Yes, that's him, this year's first-dan chess player."

"I heard that his first professional match the day before yesterday was against Wu Shuheng, 3rd dan, and he won."

"I've heard that too. It's not uncommon for a newly-professional chess player to defeat a professional 3rd dan."

"Damn it, why are the newbies better than the last? It makes me so stressed."

"I have been called a Go genius since I was a child, otherwise I would not have become a professional Go player. After becoming a professional Go player, I realized that compared with these true geniuses, I am nothing."

“…”

In the lounge, listening to the discussions of the crowd, a young man about eighteen years old couldn't help but sigh slightly, feeling a sense of sympathy.

He has been regarded as a genius since he was young, or in other words, anyone who can become a professional chess player is a genius.

If you only have average talent, you would not even consider taking the professional path. Even if you do, you are destined not to become a professional chess player and it would just be a waste of time.

No matter how weak a professional chess player is, he is always a genius selected from one in a hundred thousand people.

But there are also gaps between the geniuses.

He was fifteen years old that year and stepped into the world of professional chess players with great ambitions, only to find that there were geniuses everywhere and talented people everywhere, and he was just an ordinary one.

Thinking about the bold words he had vowed to himself that he would be at the top of the Go world sooner or later, and now that three years had passed and he had only been promoted to the third dan, he felt extremely complicated.

Rank is not equivalent to chess ability, but if one stays in a rank for too long, then the rank is equivalent to chess ability. What's more, in addition to participating in chess competitions, he also participates in promotion competitions.

Even so, the rank still improves very slowly.

He had just played a game with Wu Shuheng a month ago, and he lost by four and a half points.

Then Wu Shuheng lost to Yu Shao again...

Of course, Go cannot be compared in this way. For example, if a 2nd dan player beats a 9th dan player, and the 9th dan player beats a world champion, this definitely does not mean that the 2nd dan player is stronger than the world champion.

Although he was very clear about this, he still felt a little confused.

"Du Shuang, who is your opponent today?"

Next to the young man, a boy wearing a baseball cap, about sixteen years old, asked the young man curiously.

"Four sections of the White River."

Du Shuang collected his thoughts and said, "Although I have defeated 4th-dan players several times, to be honest, those wins were very difficult. I'm afraid today will be a tough battle."

After saying that, Du Shuang looked at the boy wearing a baseball cap and asked, "What about you? Who is your opponent today?"

"The man who just passed by the lounge door."

Wang Yao raised his eyebrows, touched the brim of his baseball cap, and said with a smile: "After watching the Xinhuo War that day, I wanted to play a game with him. I didn't expect to have the opportunity so soon. That's great."

"Very good?!"

Hearing this, Du Shuang looked at Wang Yao in disbelief and said, "If you win three more games, you will be promoted to the second dan. At this juncture, how can you be lucky enough to play against him?"

"Although he is only a beginner, in the Xinhuo battle, after he made a new change of point 33, even teacher Zhuang Weisheng suffered a big loss. In his first professional battle a few days ago, he defeated Wu Shuheng, a third dan!"

"You are only a beginner, and—"

Wang Yao shook his head, interrupted Du Shuang and asked, "But even if you lose, you can still learn a lot. Is winning or losing really that important?"

Hearing this, Du Shuang froze where he was and was speechless for a moment.

Isn’t winning or losing important? “The new variation he made after hitting the 3-3 move really shocked me. Regardless of whether this variation is good or not, I never thought that Go could be played this way, so I really want to play a game with him.”

Wang Yao stood up and said with a relaxed smile: "So, it doesn't matter even if you lose. Okay, I have to go to the game room. I hope you can win today."

Du Shuang watched Wang Yao's back as he walked away. After a long time, he shook his head, stood up, left the lounge, and walked towards his own game room.

Is winning or losing important? No matter what, Du Shuang felt that it was not wrong for him to want to win, right? If so, how could winning or losing not be important? …

…

As the game time approached, a group of chess players came to the game room one after another and sat down in their respective seats.

However, unlike the day before yesterday, Yu Shao did not see a single familiar face in the game room today.

Yu Shao was not surprised by this.

There were a lot of chess players participating in the national chess qualifying tournament, so the competition times were also different. It was actually a coincidence that he met Wu Shuheng and Zheng Qin at the same time a few days ago.

Not long after, Wang Yao walked into the game room, and immediately looked towards table number ten where he was sitting, and soon saw Yu Shao sitting on the side of table number ten.

Seeing Yu Shao, Wang Yao couldn't help but take a deep breath and his expression became more serious.

Although he was extremely looking forward to this game of chess and was prepared to lose, this did not mean that he did not want to win. On the contrary, it was just the opposite.

Because he knew his opponent would be very strong, he wanted to win the game even more.

It's just that even if he loses, he can accept it calmly.

Wang Yao adjusted his mentality, quickly walked to the opposite side of Yu Shao, then pulled out a chair and sat down.

When Yu Shao saw Wang Yao sitting down opposite him, he nodded slightly at Wang Yao as a greeting.

Wang Yao also immediately nodded to Yu Shao without saying anything.

Because they know that they are rivals, they will fight to the death in the next game of chess.

Therefore, there was no greeting or communication between them, and in this silent atmosphere, tensions were already building.

It was not just Yu Shao and Wang Yao, the same was true for everyone else. Regardless of whether they knew each other or not, no one spoke a word.

Before the game, it is normal not to communicate with the opponent, using silence to implicitly express the importance of the next game.

It is certainly possible for the two to communicate before the game, but this kind of communication often has a certain purpose, such as the game between Ban Hao and Zheng Qin three days ago.

"It's time for the game."

Not long after, a referee looked at his watch and said in a deep voice, "Two and a half hours each, one minute countdown. Now, you can guess who will go first."

Hearing this, Wang Yao immediately reached into the chess box, quickly grabbed a handful of white pieces, and held them in his palm.

Seeing this, Yu Shao took out two black pieces from the chess box and placed them on the chessboard.

"I hope I can get the white piece..."

Wang Yao thought silently in his heart, then slowly loosened his hand.

Compared to black pieces, he prefers to play with white pieces because white pieces do not have to bear big handicaps. Although white pieces are more passive, his style of play tends to be to strike back after being attacked, and he does not like to take the initiative to provoke trouble.

Therefore, his winning rate when playing with white pieces is higher, and his winning rate when playing with black pieces is lower.

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Of course, there are also chess players who like to play black pieces because they are more proactive and can control the rhythm of the game. Some people don't care about this and think both are acceptable. It all depends on personal preference.

"Ten."

After counting the pieces, Wang Yao couldn't help showing a hint of joy on his face, and said, "I play white."

"I play black."

Yu Shao put the two black pieces on the chessboard back into the chess box, then bowed his head to Wang Yao and said, "Please give me your guidance."

"Please advise me."

Wang Yao immediately bowed his head in return.

The chess game has begun.

Yu Shao looked at the chessboard with a calm expression. He quickly took out a chess piece from the chess box and made his first move.

clatter.

Seventeen columns and four rows, small mesh.

Seeing Yu Shao make his move, Wang Yao took a deep breath and followed suit.

Four columns and sixteen rows, stars.

Ta-da, ta-da, ta-da…

The two sides placed their chess pieces one after another. The black piece placed pieces at small eyes in both moves, while the white piece placed pieces at star positions in both moves, forming a layout in which the black piece made the wrong small eyes, while the white piece had two consecutive stars.

At this time, it is Black's turn to play again.

Yu Shao picked up the chess piece again.

clatter.

Fourteen columns and three rows, big fly!

"Xiaomu, use Dafei to guard the corner?"

Seeing this, Wang Yao was slightly surprised.

"Isn't this Xiaofei's?"

In this move, you either don't defend the corner, or if you do, most chess players will use the flying piece without hesitation to create a worry-free corner in the upper left corner.

Since we are defending the corner but not establishing the Worry-Free Corner, what is the point of Black choosing the wrong small eye layout?

However, Wang Yao reacted quickly, thought for a moment, took out the chess piece from the chess box, and put it down again.

clatter.

Seventeen columns and fifteen rows, Xiao Fei is dead!

Seeing this move, Yu Shao quickly took out another chess piece from the chess box and slowly put it down.

clatter.

Sixteen columns and fifteen rows, pointed.

"tip?"

Seeing this move, Wang Yao was stunned again. He had never expected that Yu Shao would play in a sharp position.

This hand tip is a very ancient way of playing. It was very popular more than a hundred years ago when there were no targets.

However, although this style of play is solid, it is very slow and cannot afford large handicaps, so it was eliminated by professional chess players many, many years ago.

Maybe amateur chess players still use it occasionally, but professional chess players have already abandoned it. This trick is almost never seen in professional competitions.

Wang Yao looked at the chessboard, a little confused.

We've only made seven moves, how come two of them are completely incomprehensible?

Wang Yao frowned and shook his head before he put aside the mixed emotions in his heart, picked up the chess piece again and put it down gently.

Ta-da, ta-da, ta-da…

Soon, the two sides played more than a dozen moves, and Wang Yao's expression gradually became serious. He could finally understand these moves, and the black pieces were played very accurately.

At this time, Yu Shao looked at the chessboard, picked up the chess piece again, and put it down gently.

Three columns and fourteen rows, Xiao Fei is dead! "This..."

Wang Yao widened his eyes and stared at the chessboard in disbelief.

"Take it off first?!"

Wang Yao took a deep breath and bit the nail of his right thumb uncontrollably. He stared at the chessboard, feeling lost inside.

(End of this chapter)