Seeing that Yu Shao had just given up the vital stone and allowed White to connect into a single, thick group, Lai Yu’s expression visibly changed.
Soon, Lai Yu plucked out another stone and placed it on the board.
Sixteenth Column, Fourth Row — Capture!
After placing the stone, he quickly reached out and removed the captured black stone from the board.
With that stone eliminated, the two White groups that had been split were now connected, forming a solid wall—thick and nearly unassailable.
Clack.
Yu Shao looked at the board, then calmly picked up another stone and played.
Fifteenth Column, First Row — Atari!
Seeing Yu Shao’s move, Lai Yu showed no surprise.
The two White stones above were now White’s new vital shape—absolutely critical and could not be lost.
So Lai Yu swiftly responded, placing a stone lightly:
Seventeenth Column, Fourth Row — Connect!
“Now that it’s co to this… White’s shape is practically flawless!”
Everyone watching was filled with confusion.
After capturing the black keystone, White’s position had beco terrifyingly thick—impossible to attack. And White’s developnt potential remained decent, without being forced to low lines.
In contrast, Black’s territory was mostly along the second and third lines, and even then, the outer black stones were still thin. Black had to spend a move reinforcing them—or else White could launch a sudden assault!
As everyone expected, Yu Shao did indeed pick up another stone and placed it slowly onto the board:
Twelfth Column, Second Row — Tiger’s Mouth!
When this move landed, a chill ran down everyone’s spine.
“The local battle has co to an end!”
“This life-and-death struggle sparked by the Large Diagonal ended not with a bloody mutual kill, but with Black gradually retreating. After just a few more moves, the fight was over.”
“In this upper-right battle between Black and White, it seems… White ca out ahead!”
Still, no one knew why—but despite how obvious the situation appeared, they couldn’t help but include a cautious “seems” in their judgnt.
Even Jiang Changdong, one of the most experienced among them, had that sa uncertainty.
Because he’d studied so many of Yu Shao’s gas, even he no longer dared to trust his own positional judgnt when it ca to this board!
Among the crowd, Chu Jingfeng suddenly looked away from the board and turned to Yu Shao. As he stared at Yu Shao’s youthful face, his eyes grew heavy with thought.
“I’m still young,” he thought, “but my talent… already has a ceiling.”
“Go is filled with uncertainty—but also holds certain truths.”
“For instance, when most people agree one side is ahead, that becos the consensus. That’s positional judgnt.”
“But after studying enough of his gas… I started to wonder…”
“What if the ‘correct’ judgnts we’ve always believed in… are wrong?”
“What if he is the only one who’s right?”
“I don’t want to believe that. I really don’t. But the problem is… he keeps winning. And he keeps advancing down the road of professional Go with a speed none of us can match.”
Ga after ga flickered through Chu Jingfeng’s mind, his expression growing more solemn.
“So if he’s wrong… then how do you explain all those victories?”
“Right or wrong… at this point, no one dares to say for sure.”
He glanced at Jiang Changdong beside him, who still frowned intently at the board.
“Maybe it’s not just Jiang Changdong…”
“Even Master An Hongshi, if he were here, probably wouldn’t dare to be certain.”
“If everything we thought we knew about evaluating positions is wrong… that is what would truly shake the foundations of Go.”
Chu Jingfeng looked up at Yu Shao again, haunted by a question that had lingered in his mind for a long ti:
“If he really is the only one who’s right…”
“…then who is he?”
“Human knowledge is built on experience. But he’s completely defied four thousand years of it.”
“Is that… really sothing a human being can do?”
“To pull this off… he must either be a monster…”
“…or a god!”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Black and White continued to place stones on the board, weaving across the grid. The entire hall was silent, everyone utterly focused.
The Large Diagonal in the upper right had been resolved. While White had the advantage in thickness and potential there, the ga was far from over—the rest of the board was still wide open.
Ti passed in rhythm with the sound of stones landing.
“…Wait.”
As the observers continued to watch, at so point, their expressions began to shift to stunned confusion.
After the top-right settled, White, now in an advantageous position, began playing extrely conservatively. Not giving Black any room to counterattack, avoiding any risky complications that could cost their lead.
Once ahead, control the ga—navigate toward a clean endga. This required imnse composure—not every player could manage it.
But at least in this ga, Lai Yu had demonstrated excellent control.
“Even so—”
One young man stared at the board in disbelief, his vision growing blurry.
“White’s position… is sohow deteriorating!”
Among the crowd, Chu Jingfeng too stared at the board, that old question rising once more:
Right or wrong.
He couldn’t be sure anymore.
After a mont, he shifted his gaze back to the upper-right corner, staring at that intricate variation from the Large Diagonal.
He wasn’t the only one—Jiang Changdong and the rest turned their eyes to the sa spot, replaying the fierce battle between Black and White.
Because every White move afterward had been solid. Black hadn’t made any particularly brilliant plays either.
If White’s position had sohow worsened… it could only have happened during that skirmish in the upper right!
It was possible…
That their understanding of the Large Diagonal had also been wrong!
Right and wrong—polar opposites.
If Yu Shao was truly right…
Then everyone else’s moves were wrong.
Not just today’s players—but every Go player across four thousand years… had completely misread the board?
That thought was too terrifying. Terrifying enough that no one even wanted to think it—much less believe it.
Then, after another seven or eight moves, when Yu Shao placed yet another stone, Lai Yu stared at the board and stopped moving.
“I haven’t lost yet.”
He too looked at the upper-right corner. Though the position now was eerie and perplexing, and he didn’t yet understand how it turned out this way, a strange calm had settled over him.
His gaze shifted to the center of the board.
“If I keep playing steady here, I won’t get any chances. But the center is still wide open—there’s room to stake it all!”
Feeling the cold stone between his fingers, he ran through countless future variations in his head. Then—
Lai Yu’s gaze sharpened. With a loud clack, he grabbed a stone and slamd it onto the board.
Twelfth Column, Ninth Row — Large Knight’s Move!
“Large Knight’s Move?!”
Everyone blinked in surprise.
But after a mont of thought, their expressions turned to shock. They raised their heads to look at Lai Yu in disbelief.
“Teacher Lai Yu just abandoned the bottom right corner—he’s letting Black devour it whole!”
“Teacher Lai Yu is going all-in for the center!”
“That corner is huge—so many points! He’s just… letting it go?!”
“What a brilliant move! No wonder he’s reached the Title Match Main Tournant three years in a row!”
Yu Shao looked calmly at the board.
“A Large Knight’s Move, huh?”
It was indeed a good move.
Possibly the best move available right now.
Abandoning territory to seize the center could work—but it was also the hardest place to manage. It would be attacked from all directions. There was no shortage of invasions and reductions waiting to happen.
If Lai Yu could truly secure the center, he might save a lost ga—maybe even turn defense into offense, collapsing Black’s formation with sheer force!
But...
Yu Shao lowered his gaze to the board and thought for a mont.
Clack.
He reached into the bowl again.
A black stone dropped gently.
Thirteenth Column, Twelfth Row — Extend!
Lai Yu, as if expecting it, quickly responded:
Fourteenth Column, Eleventh Row — Clamp!
As soon as White’s stone landed, Yu Shao imdiately followed:
Eleventh Column, Ninth Row — Attach!
Tap!
The stone hit the board with a crisp sound.
The mont that move landed, the room fell dead silent. Lai Yu stared at the board, stunned by this just-played black stone.
Then, the room exploded.
“Attach?!”
“What… what does that an?!”
“Invading the center is expected—but… attacking with an Attach? White will definitely Extend, won’t that just make White’s wall stronger? Once it’s sealed off, how is Black supposed to invade?!”
“I don’t get it—what’s he doing?”
Even Jiang Changdong and Chu Jingfeng were shocked.
Go’s variations were endless and profound.
This Attach was undoubtedly a strong attack—but it seed reckless. It threw away global positioning.
Because in attacking, Black would make White thicker and thicker.
Right now, both sides were fighting for the center. The center was the Tianwang Mountain—the most critical battlefield.
White had just made a high-risk move with the Large Knight’s Move to take the center, a move extrely easy to invade.
But if Black tried to force an attack, White would grow thicker with every move. Then, no matter how well Black surrounded the outside, it would be almost impossible to break into White’s influence and reduce its territory.
In short, White had leaks. But with Black attacking like this, White might just fill them in using Black’s own pressure!
Soon, Lai Yu responded:
Eleventh Column, Tenth Row — Extend!
Yu Shao imdiately answered:
Eighth Column, Twelfth Row — Small Knight’s Move!
Everyone instinctively clenched their fists, eyes locked on the center of the board, watching this fierce clash!
Tap!
Tap!
Tap!
Stones kept falling.
Everyone was fully imrsed, watching White grow thicker and thicker, taking over the center. Their minds were filled with confusion.
Black didn’t seem to have any follow-up.
White was growing stronger by the move. The situation was beginning to swing back in White’s favor!
But then, as more stones were played, Chu Jingfeng’s expression suddenly shifted.
“Wait—sothing’s not right!”
His eyes darted from the center to the upper right, then back again—back and forth.
“This… this is…”
Then he jerked his head up and stared at Yu Shao in disbelief, eyes fixed on that youthful, handso face still tinged with youthful innocence.
At that mont, Yu Shao placed another stone.
Chu Jingfeng finally looked away from the board and turned to Jiang Changdong beside him.
But the mont he saw Jiang Changdong’s expression, the words he’d been about to whisper… got stuck in his throat.
Jiang Changdong’s brows were no longer furrowed.
He stared at the board, lost in a daze.
Chu Jingfeng knew Jiang Changdong well—they’d been close friends for years. But in all that ti, he had never seen this look on Jiang’s face.
Shock. Confusion. Disbelief. Doubt…
As the ga continued, beads of sweat ford on Lai Yu’s forehead. And slowly, others in the room also began to see the truth behind the position.
One person’s eyes widened—they covered their mouth to stop from gasping out loud.
Another just gaped silently, stunned to the core.
One by one…
“Bro… what’s going on?”
Finally, soone who hadn’t caught on furrowed his brows and asked his neighbor in a low voice, “Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”
The other man didn’t even turn his head. Eyes still locked on the board, his voice trembled: “Just look carefully. Look at the board again.”
“…Carefully?”
Still puzzled, the first man took another look at the ga, trying to reassess.
Suddenly, his expression changed.
A wave of shock flooded his heart.
“Yes…”
The man who had been asked replied softly, not even sure if he was answering or talking to himself.
“White has gotten thicker and thicker… Black can’t invade anymore.”
“But—”
“But…”
“But after all that effort in the center—”
“White only secured five or six points.”
“White got stronger—”
“But also weaker.”
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