Pei Youyan quickly picked up a stone and placed it on the board.
Column 7, Row 14—diagonal!
"Diagonal?"
Seeing that move, Yu Shao's expression shifted slightly.
"Diagonal looks like a strong move, but here... Black has a passive-to-active tesuji! She misjudged!"
In Yu Shao’s mind, he rapidly calculated the possible variations to follow.
"If Black jumps, White can only connect. Then Black throws in a stone at White’s tiger’s mouth, sacrifices it, and White has no choice but to capture. After that, Black plays a tiger's mouth to patch."
"In this way, it may seem like White has the initiative, but in fact, there’s no way to break through Black’s position!"
"If that jump is played, Le Haoqiang might still have a chance!"
Le Haoqiang stared at the board. After a mont of thought, he frowned slightly, picked up a stone from the bowl, and slowly placed it.
Tap!
Column 6, Row 12—connect.
"He didn’t spot it."
After reading a few more moves, Yu Shao finally looked away from the board and walked over to Board 5, arriving behind Gu Chuan.
After examining the ga, Yu Shao was a bit surprised.
“Is this going to be a dragon slay?”
Gu Chuan and Shin Seokjae’s ga had broken into an all-out kill between two massive dragons, a wild and dazzling battle.
In the middle of this fight, Gu Chuan—playing White—had the upper hand.
Several groups of Black stones had already been cut off. If Shin tried to force life into his dragon, those isolated Black stones might be surrounded and killed by White—on the brink of collapse.
Gu Chuan’s advantage was even more decisive than Su Yiming’s ga. Unless sothing unexpected happened, he could score a midga dragon-slaying victory soon.
At that mont, Gu Chuan was still staring intently at the board.
“I’ve got the advantage now... but I can’t let my guard down!”
“The board’s too complicated. A single slip could lead to disaster!”
Soon, Shin Seokjae picked up another Black stone and placed it on the board.
Seeing the chaotic tangle of Black and White, Gu Chuan’s mind couldn’t help but flash back to that day—when Yu Shao and Su Yiming clashed in the Main Player Selection Tournant.
“I refuse to just stand behind them and stare at their backs!”
Gu Chuan reached into the bowl and picked up another stone.
“I want to fight like Yu Shao and Su Yiming did in that earth-shaking ga!”
The next mont, the stone dropped.
“I want to play that kind of Go too!”
Tap!
Column 14, Row 8—Large Knight’s Move!
"Fourteen-eight?"
Yu Shao blinked in surprise.
Monts later, his eyes lit up. “Interesting!”
"At first glance, this move doesn’t seem special, but the follow-ups... are actually fascinating!”
Because this ga had broken into a kill fight, the position was chaotic and full of potential moves. His first instinct had been to press, and he hadn’t even considered the high knight’s jump.
But now, seeing Gu Chuan play that large knight’s move, Yu Shao could feel its brilliance. His own press would’ve been simpler—but this move was just as good, maybe even better!
Shin Seokjae also froze slightly at Gu Chuan’s move. After thinking for a bit, he quickly picked up a stone and played it.
Tap, tap, tap!
Stones began falling fast.
After several moves, Yu Shao gave Gu Chuan a glance, a bit regretful.
That large knight’s move was indeed brilliant—but it seed Gu Chuan had played it purely on instinct, without fully grasping its depth. He hadn’t managed to unleash its full potential...
As a result, even though the move itself was excellent, it gave Black just enough breathing room—maybe even a foothold to counterattack.
Gu Chuan clearly noticed this too. He took a deep breath, adjusted his mindset, and calmly dropped his next move.
“Still okay…”
Yu Shao watched the board, ntally calculating the upcoming developnts.
"These moves are solid. Even though Black caught a breath, White still holds the advantage overall."
The stones kept falling.
A few more moves passed, and Gu Chuan played another.
Seeing it, Shin Seokjae’s face turned pale. He already knew that based on the current board state, this ga was probably dood for him.
“I’m not winning this one.”
Sweat beaded on Shin Seokjae’s forehead.
“How did the situation get this bad...? Was it because of yesterday’s ga?”
“A player I used to defeat with ease pushed into a corner. If he hadn’t blundered at the end due to ti pressure, I would’ve lost.”
“Did that shake my ntal state?”
Staring at the board in front of him, Shin Seokjae clenched his fists tightly.
“This ga... is even worse than yesterday’s.”
“I can’t win. Continuing to play is just futile resistance. With my skill, I can’t co back from this.”
“It’s fine. My ga wasn’t supposed to be the key one. I’ve always been the weakest. Like they say—five gas, one loss doesn’t matter…”
“I…”
At that thought, Shin Seokjae’s eyes changed. He clenched his jaw and shoved his hand into the bowl. Clack! He snatched a stone and dropped it with force!
“What the h*ll am I thinking?!”
Tap!
Column 8, Row 12—Cut!
Gu Chuan froze. “Cut here?”
Behind him, Yu Shao stared at the board silently.
To take, you must first give.
Black couldn’t live here—not directly.
But in this dead-end position, Black had found a narrow path—a chance to turn the ga around!
This was the danger left behind by Gu Chuan’s failure to fully capitalize on that large knight’s move.
Black’s only path now was to sacrifice the dragon, use the dead stones for leverage, and counter-kill White—to force a conversion!
To walk this road, one needed more than just skill and vision. It took courage—the audacity to sacrifice big—and the will to never give up!
Yu Shao hadn’t expected Shin Seokjae to find this move. And yet, he did.
This cut ant Black had stepped onto the path of life from death!
“He’s an opponent—but a worthy one.”
Yu Shao watched the board as the two continued to play, stone after stone.
And it wasn’t just Yu Shao. At that mont, every viewer watching this match around the world had their eyes locked on this Five-Player Showdown!
Everyone had thought the ga was over—until it suddenly took a dramatic turn!
Tap, tap, tap!
Stones rained down on the board!
Black—sacrificed the dragon!
But even though White had killed the dragon, it would still take many more moves to cleanly capture it. During that ti, Black had to rely on the dead stone leverage to fight back!
Both players’ expressions were tense. Every move ca from deep calculations, both trying every possible way to destroy the other!
Tap, tap, tap…
“Oh my god... Black actually used the dead stones to kill White’s dragon! A full-board conversion!”
“They’re in the endga!”
“This... this is a Five-Player Showdown?!”
Everyone was floored. Even the recorder and referee stood there, dumbfounded!
No one expected a Five-Player ga to reach such an extre level!
Ti passed minute by minute. The whole world seed to fall silent with this ga.
Finally, after what felt like forever—
The ga ended!
“I…”
Gu Chuan looked at the board. He opened his mouth, but no words ca out.
After a few more seconds, he finally lowered his head and forced out a whisper between gritted teeth.
“I lost... by one and a half points.”
Gu Chuan—defeated. Shin Seokjae wins.
He got reversed...
The recorder nearby stared at the board in silence.
Gu Chuan’s performance in the first half had been brilliant—he had clearly held the advantage.
He had been on the verge of victory. So close. And yet he still lost. That pain and frustration—only those who have experienced it could understand.
As a Go player, your whole life is a struggle against that kind of heartbreak!
“You played well.”
Just then, Yu Shao’s voice rang out behind him.
Gu Chuan, who had been hanging his head, froze—then abruptly looked back at Yu Shao.
“Even though you lost, it was a damn good ga.”
Yu Shao gave a faint smile, patted Gu Chuan on the shoulder, and said, “Much better than what you used to play.”
“I…”
Hearing that, a deep sense of guilt washed over Gu Chuan’s face. He wanted to say sothing, but no words ca. In the end, he just clenched his jaw.
Yu Shao didn’t say anything else. He gave Gu Chuan’s shoulder another pat and walked over to Board 4, now standing behind Le Haoqiang.
Seeing this, Gu Chuan imdiately stood up and followed, fixing his gaze on the ga.
This match had also reached the endga and was about to be decided.
Le Haoqiang had entered the endga at a disadvantage. However, Pei Youyan’s endga was slightly rough—allowing Le Haoqiang to claw back so points.
Still, even though he narrowed the gap, it wasn’t enough to flip the ga.
Le Haoqiang... lost by two points.
Frustrated, Le Haoqiang grabbed two stones from the bowl and placed them on the board—resigning.
Across from him, Pei Youyan finally let out a breath of relief, bowed her head, and said in Korean, “Thank you for the ga.”
“Thank you for the ga.”
Le Haoqiang clenched his fists and returned the bow.
Almost at the sa ti Le Haoqiang resigned, the ga on Board 2 reached its conclusion.
Yu Shao turned to look at Board 2—only to see Park Zhiguo looking defeated. He instantly knew the result.
Su Yiming—won.
Only three boards remained.
Which ant—the final three-player matches would decide the outco of today’s match!
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