The Go World That Hasn't Been Interrogated by AI

Meanwhile.

Yu Shao returned home and after finishing his homework, the game he played with Zheng Qin at the Go club that afternoon couldn't help but resurface in his mind.

"That game actually had a risk of losing. While it was mainly due to underestimating the opponent, I still have significant shortcomings in attacking and killing moves."

In his previous life, Yu Shao was well aware of his weakness: he wasn't good at attacking and killing. His playing style was dense and solid, often aiming to be invincible first, waiting for the opponent to become vulnerable.

He excelled at overwhelming opponents with positional pressure, subtly gaining territory through invasions and exchanges, and slowly strangling them. His aggressive, all-out attacking style was indeed a major weakness.

Actually, there's a counter-intuitive phenomenon in Go: in most games, the player who attacks frequently is often the weaker one.

This is because in Go, offense isn't always the best strategy, as it can expose weaknesses in one's own formation. Games between two top players are often subtly terrifying, with winding and complex processes.

This is because top players have deep foresight and plan extensively, excelling at strategic maneuvering and global planning. The saying, "He who does not plan for eternity cannot plan for the present," illustrates this principle.

However, due to their focus on global planning, top players' games often don't appear overtly aggressive, as they aren't focused on immediate gains but on long-term strategy, aiming for overall control.

When such players initiate an attack, it either means the situation is unfavorable and they are falling behind, or they have completely calculated the situation and are ready to launch a decisive attack.

Of course, there's another type of player: the pure attacking and killing type.

They might not have the same grasp of the overall game as players like Yu Shao, but they possess an extremely keen sense for attacking and killing, and a superior understanding of dead stones and thickness.

They can precisely identify key points on the board and launch fierce, storm-like assaults that overwhelm opponents, thereby controlling the game and its tempo.

However, such players are quite rare among high-ranked players, and their record against players with a dense style like Yu Shao's is at best a fifty-fifty split.

This is because even if your attacking and killing ability is outstanding, when facing opponents of similar skill, the fiercer your attack, the greater the openings you expose, making you more susceptible to counter-attacks.

Yu Shao felt his lack of skill in attacking and killing was in comparison to these players. Otherwise, if today's game had truly devolved into a battle of internal strength, Zheng Qin wouldn't have even had a chance to retaliate.

As for players who possess both meticulous global planning and the most ferocious attacking and killing abilities, Yu Shao knew of only one: the Go AI.

When studying Go AI game records, one often sees the AI simultaneously considering the overall game while also engaging in fierce battles.

Especially in games between two Go AIs, they often attack each other relentlessly, making human players sweat.

Thinking of this, Yu Shao suddenly recalled the strange reactions of the people at the Go club after he played the 3-3 Point.

"Could it be that Go AI hasn't actually appeared in this world yet?"

Yu Shao mused to himself.

The technological level of this world was very similar to when he transmigrated from his previous life. It had computers, smartphones, and VR glasses, so Yu Shao never considered the possibility that this world lacked Go AI.

Yu Shao thought for a moment, then walked into his study, turned on his computer, and began searching online for various information about Go AI.

However, after browsing several web pages, Yu Shao found no news related to Go AI.

The only thing even remotely related to Go AI was a post on a Go forum asking if a computer could beat human players at Go.

The replies were overwhelmingly negative.

[I Conquer Heaven Half a Move: Brother, how is that possible? Maybe with other games, but definitely not with Go!]

[Memories of My Deceased Wife: Let's analyze rationally. Do you know how many variations there are in Go? 10 to the power of 170! The number of variations is even greater than the total number of atoms in the known universe! Your computer would smoke itself trying to calculate them all.]

[Strategist Enters the Game Himself: Go is too complex. For other board games, computers can easily calculate all variations, but not for Go. Thinking about it, people who play Go well are truly amazing.]

"There really isn't any?"

Yu Shao was a bit stunned. He was too familiar with the comments on the forum. Before the advent of Go AI, everyone generally believed that Go AI couldn't beat human players, for reasons identical to those given on this forum.

The reality was indeed that even the top Go AIs in his previous life were far from exhausting all possible variations in Go.

However, Go AI didn't actually need to exhaust all possible variations in Go. It didn't need to be the absolute best; it only needed to be better, and that would be enough to sweep the entire Go world and make all human players bow down.

Yu Shao, unwilling to accept this, started searching online for various Go joseki.

The final result was—

All the joseki and playing styles from the AI era had not yet appeared. Many joseki that were eliminated in the AI era were still considered mainstream joseki in this world!

This was a Go world that had not yet been tested by Go AI!

Yu Shao stared blankly at the computer.

In the Go world where Go AI already existed, he could break into the world's top five. In this world without Go AI, wouldn't he be able to crush everyone effortlessly?

However, to Yu Shao's surprise, he didn't feel that excited.

Admittedly, he could rely on the playing styles from the AI era in his mind, combined with his own Go skills, to easily dominate this era. But what was the real meaning of that?

Go is only interesting when there are evenly matched opponents. After all, one person alone can never create a masterpiece game.

"No, not exactly..."

A thought suddenly occurred to Yu Shao!

Attacking and killing had always been his weakness, mainly because he was actually hesitant to attack and kill. In his previous life, he bore the expectations of too many people; he couldn't afford to lose, nor could he lose.

But in this life, could he strive to become an attacking and killing player to overcome his shortcomings?!

"If I did that, would my Go skills reach a whole new level?"

In his previous life, although he had wanted to overcome his weaknesses and reach a higher level, he inevitably chose his most proficient playing style in important matches.

But this rebirth, perhaps it was an opportunity to start anew?

Become an attacking Go player?

Yu Shao was stunned for a long time, then suddenly blinked.

"No, what was I just thinking?"

"I played Go my whole life in my previous life. Now that I'm reborn, of course I should enjoy my youth first!"

"I must have caught something from Zhou De; my brain isn't quite right."

Yu Shao shook his head, stretched, then stood up, turned off his computer, and prepared to take a bath and go to sleep.

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