Chapter 463 Reluctant Admiration
On the other side, a group of people gathered around table number 16, concentrating on watching the game between Yu Shao and Ishida Norio. Naturally, they had no idea what was happening in the game between Toyama Xun and Arakino.
The game between Yu Shao and Ishida Norio is coming to an end.
Even at this point in the game, both sides are still fighting fiercely, and every move counts.
Overall, Yu Shao has a slight advantage with white pieces. Although Ishida Norio is at a disadvantage, the difference in points between black and white pieces is not that big, just seven and a half points, which is not enough to cover the score. It seems that he may catch up at any time.
but……
Even though the gap was very small, all the Japanese players in the crowd had gloomy faces. It was obvious that they were not optimistic about the situation of the black chess pieces.
Because this not-so-big gap has been maintained for too long, from the middle game to the endgame. It can be said that this gap...has lasted almost the entire game.
Throughout the entire game, there were no major highlights, no brilliant moves, and no endless tricks. However, because there were attacks and kills based on complex calculations, this game could not be described as dull.
But it just so happens that when each move, which was neither good nor bad, was combined together, the gap remained throughout the entire game.
"The gap was small from the beginning to the end. It seemed like the situation could be reversed at any time, but no matter how hard we tried, we just couldn't close the gap..."
A young man couldn't help but glance at Ishida Norio with a puzzled expression, thinking silently, "For Black, rather than being like this now, perhaps White would prefer a greater advantage?"
As soon as this thought came to his mind, he couldn't help but feel that the idea in his mind was absurd.
After all, the one playing black chess is Norio Ishida, the throne!
How could he think that as the king, he would rather let his opponent gain a greater advantage and defeat him directly?
But then, another thought emerged in his mind.
Perhaps it is precisely because he is the throne that he would rather be defeated by his opponent?
Throughout history, all the wise and capable emperors were obsessed with the art of immortality. Perhaps they simply preferred to be stabbed in the chest by a rebel rather than be powerless in the face of birth, old age, sickness and death.
For the black chess piece, what is happening on the chessboard now is nothing more than birth, old age, sickness and death.
Thinking of this, he fell silent.
Ishida Norio's forehead was covered with sweat, his teeth were clenched, and his face was full of unwillingness. He stared at the chessboard, frantically calculating the subsequent changes.
After a moment, Norio Ishida finally took out the chess piece again and dropped it.
Yu Shao quickly took out his chess piece and responded.
clatter!
clatter!
clatter!
…
Finally, I don’t know how long it took.
On the chessboard, all the official pieces have been collected!
What remains are only some small official moves. Although there are many small official moves and it is extremely easy to make mistakes, but now that everyone has seen this, they already know that White should not make mistakes.
Continue playing until all the small officials are collected. The final number will have no meaning.
Norio Ishida's hair was soaked with sweat. He looked at the chessboard in front of him and knew that the game had finally been decided.
In the end, he still couldn't say the three words "I lost", but reached into the chess box, the chess pieces clicked, and he grabbed two black chess pieces from the box and slowly placed them on the chessboard.
This action already represents the investment.
White wins the endgame.
Seeing Ishida Norio surrender, Yu Shao immediately bowed his head to Ishida Norio, and Ishida Norio also bowed his head, then stood up without saying a word.
"Teacher Ishida Norihiro ultimately lost to Yu Shao, this rising star... and being defeated in this way must have been very complicated."
Seeing the end of the game, the young man finally withdrew his gaze from the chessboard and couldn't help but look at Ishida Norio who had just stood up. He wanted to know what Ishida Norio's expression was after losing to Yu Shao, so as to get a glimpse of Ishida Norio's inner thoughts.
However, when he saw Ishida Norio's expression, he was a little stunned and felt a little unbelievable.
There was no sign of frustration, regret or unwillingness on Ishida Norio's face. Apart from some residual sweat, he appeared very calm, as if he was just playing a game of chess with a friend in his spare time.
"It seems that Mr. Ishida Norihiro doesn't care too much about losing to Yu Shao..."
The young man watched Ishida Norio walk away and was about to look away, but he saw that Ishida Norio suddenly stopped halfway.
The next moment, the young man saw Ishida Norio, who had his back to him, turned his head, slightly tilted his face, gritted his teeth, and cast his gaze again at Yu Shao who was still packing up the chess pieces.
The young man was stunned for a moment.
It was a look filled with countless emotions, including unprecedented unwillingness, deep pain, and anger. Besides that, there was even... a hint of extremely unwilling admiration!
But soon, Norio Ishida withdrew his gaze and walked straight out of the competition venue.
Many people were following Yu Shao's game online. When the game ended, the live broadcast room was instantly in an uproar and full of heated discussions.
"Handsome, it's quite beautiful!"
"Strong, indeed strong, I'm convinced."
"I thought it would be a fierce battle, but in the end, although the situation was stalemate, it wasn't fierce at all. It was just that the stalemate lasted for so long that I was always nervous watching it."
"That's amazing, Yu Shao, you're worthy of being my idol. Damn, I clenched my fists just watching this!"
"Indeed, maybe Yu Shao can really win the championship this year. Winning the championship in his first World Championship would be history, right?"
"It's so great that such a genius is a chess player from our side. I can't even imagine how desperate it would be if it was a chess player born in North or South Korea."
Everyone in the live broadcast room was extremely excited and felt a little emotional.
They thought Yu Shao would win, but they never expected that facing a strong enemy like Ishida Norio, Yu Shao could win so beautifully, which was completely beyond their expectations.
"By the way, how are the games going at the other tables? How's the game between Toyama Xun and Araki No going?"
"Let me switch to the live broadcast room to check... Oh? It's over already?"
"Arakino-sensei wins by slaying the dragon?"
"Zhao Panfang, 8th Dan, is reviewing the game live now, go check it out."
Everyone in the live broadcast room was a little surprised. Some people went to look at the chess records, and many people directly jumped into the live broadcast room that was originally broadcasting the chess game between Arakino and Toyama Xun to watch the professional chess players' review.
…
…
Inside the competition venue.
After Yu Shao put away the chess pieces, he let out a long breath and then looked towards table number 10 where Su Yiming was sitting, but saw that there was no one on both sides of table number 10.
"Is it over?"
Yu Shao was a little surprised. He had not read too many chess records of Zhu Huaian, but based on the few he had read, Zhu Huaian's level was definitely extremely high. Even Su Yiming would probably have to engage in a fierce battle with Zhu Huaian.
Of course, all this is based on the premise that both players perform normally. Yu Shao did not consider the possibility that one side would make a big mistake, nor did he know that Zhu Huaian made a big mistake in this game.
Because it was the round of 64, there were a lot of people watching the game, and every table was packed with people. Yu Shao took a look but did not see Su Yiming and Zhu Huaian.
However, Yu Shao didn't care too much. He quickly looked away, thought for a moment, and then walked towards An Hongshi's table. It took him quite some effort before he managed to squeeze into the crowd.
Yu Shao was actually a little uncomfortable with the fact that the Go World Championship allowed so many people to watch the game live. Like in his previous life, he was afraid of disturbing the players and even wanted to not have referees or scorekeepers.
But on second thought, because chess is very popular in this world, everyone has a strong awareness of "watching chess without saying a word". Even with so many people, the competition venue is still quite quiet, so Yu Shao is not surprised.
An Hongshi's opponent is no ordinary person. He is Zhu Junze, a veteran 9th dan player from North Korea and South Korea. He is about 30 years old and once won the Tianyuan title for one year. Even if he did not hold on to it later, it was still very impressive.
In this game, An Hongshi played black and Zhu Junze played white.
"Black is winning."
Yu Shao quickly assessed the situation and identified the key points of the board's rise and fall: "The key to victory or defeat lies in how the isolated black piece in the lower left can be successfully brought alive within the white formation. As long as it is alive, white loses."
"Also, although I haven't done too much calculation, even just looking at the chessboard, Black has a good chance of surviving. In other words, as long as Black doesn't make any mistakes, he'll survive."
After realizing this, Yu Shao fell into deep thought. Since the black chess piece was winning, he tried to stand in the white chess piece's perspective to see if the white chess piece had a chance to come back to life, that is, how to encircle and suppress the black chess piece.
Of course, in a way, this can still be seen as standing from the perspective of black chess, because if black chess wants to make the white formation alive, it must also consider how white chess will attack itself.
The saying "the one who knows you best is your enemy" is exactly this truth. This is especially true in Go. If you want to win the game, you have to know your opponent better than he does.
"In the next move, even if White jumps, it may be difficult to get out. Even if it touches, it will be counterattacked by Black."
Yu Shao's expression became more focused. "So, the strongest response for White in this situation should still be—"
"dig!"
The next moment, Zhao Junze picked up the chess piece and dropped it quickly!
Twelve columns and seven rows, dig!
"pretty!"
Yu Shao couldn't help but cheer for Zhao Junze in his heart.
This digging move is a bit hard to find, but if you don't find it, White can win the game immediately.
However, it is not too surprising that Zhao Junze could find this trick. After all, Zhao Junze is also a chess player who has defeated many opponents and won the title.
"Then, facing this digging move, Black can either 'cut' or 'pounce'. If it cuts, White can use its own remaining momentum to move with a block. If it pounces, White's piece will be longer, which is also very clever."
Soon, An Hongshi picked up another chess piece and slowly dropped it.
Ten columns and fourteen rows, pounce!
"I've pounced. I can't capture the piece now. Facing the black chess's sacrifice, although it is troublesome, I can only grow." Yu Shao thought silently.
Just as Yu Shao thought, Zhao Junze quickly placed his chess piece.
Fifteen columns and ten rows, long!
"Black, turn!"
Yu Shao looked at the chessboard and thought to himself.
The next moment, the black chess piece fell and turned.
"Then, White sticks."
White chess piece falls on the board, sticky!
clatter!
clatter!
clatter!
In this way, Yu Shao kept calculating various changes in his mind, as if he could predict the future. Every move he thought of coincided with those of Zhao Junze and An Hongshi.
Even if there are some non-overlapping areas, there are other variations that have been considered, such as "lifting" or "piercing" a certain part. Naturally, this situation cannot be fully judged.
"White, next move, pull!"
Zhao Junze picked up the chess piece and dropped it quickly!
clatter!
But this move was no longer the push that Yu Shao had thought of, but seven columns and twelve rows, retreat!
Seeing this, Yu Shao couldn't help but frown slightly.
"If we retreat, it seems like we'll kill two birds with one stone. Not only will we block the Black pieces' outward movement, but we'll also set up an ambush, which can serve as reinforcements for future encirclement."
"If a localized fight really breaks out, these seemingly inexplicable pieces are often necessary."
"But the problem is..."
"What if Black touches it directly?"
Click!
The sound of grabbing the child rang out instantly.
The next moment, An Hongshi placed his chess piece.
Fifteen columns of five elements, bang!
Seeing this move, the people around who were originally concentrating on watching the chess game were suddenly stunned, and then their expressions changed slightly in an instant.
“…Good move!”
In the crowd, Hans, who was also watching the game, pushed his glasses up on his nose, his expression extremely serious. "If White still loses the initiative and we ignore it, White's territory will be broken up by Black, so we must respond."
"I can't figure out how to respond."
Hans glanced at Zhao Junze, whose ears had turned red. "Zhao Junze, a 9th dan player, must be the same as me, that's why his ears are red too..."
"This move has a certain air of irrationality. According to chess theory, 'touch' is too radical and should be used with caution, but this one is perfectly timed, with such force that the bricks fly!"
"Teacher An Hongshi is still as strong as ever, or perhaps even stronger, to be able to pull off this move."
"Unfortunately, my form was so poor in this World Championship. I was defeated in the single-elimination round by Jiang Hanen. I didn't even have the chance to compete with Mr. An Hongshi in the World Championship. It's really a pity."
"Seeing such a beautiful move, I couldn't help but want to sit across from Mr. Yasuhiro Ishi and play a match with him. Although we can still play after the match, the World Championship is still the World Championship after all. The mentality is completely different, and the chess played is also different."
Zhao Junze had a heavy expression on his face, and he pursed his lips so tightly that veins on his temples were faintly visible. He picked up the chess piece again and dropped it.
An Hongshi looked at the chessboard, pondered for a moment, then picked up the chess piece and placed it down again.
clatter!
clatter!
clatter!
Finally, after more than a dozen moves, Zhao Junze clenched his fists, but finally relaxed and said, "I lost."
On the chessboard, the black piece has been brought alive, which is a foregone conclusion. This is the key point of life and death. Since the black piece has successfully brought it alive, it is meaningless to continue to persist, which is just a waste of time.
"it's over."
Yu Shao was not surprised to see Zhao Junze resign. It was not just because Zhao Junze did not make that move, but more importantly, this was already a dead end.
Even if Zhao Junze really makes a move, under that board situation, it will probably be difficult to stop the black pieces from making a move, even though it seems that the black pieces are in a very narrow position!
(End of this chapter)
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