Sweating Profusely

After much thought, Yu Shao finally made his choice.

He reached into the Go box, picked out a stone, and placed it gently.

Then, Yu Shao began to wait patiently.

Meanwhile, Wu Shuheng had returned to Xu Ziqin's table.

When Wu Shuheng saw the board, he couldn't help but be slightly taken aback.

"A point?"

Wu Shuheng's expression grew a little more serious. After a moment of thought, he finally picked up a stone and placed it.

After Wu Shuheng played, Xu Ziqin followed suit immediately, placing her stone.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Soon, both sides had played over a dozen more moves.

Unlike Yu Shao's game earlier, Wu Shuheng and Xu Ziqin were not playing particularly fast. After placing a stone, both would pause to consider for a moment before playing their next move.

However, even so, Wu Shuheng didn't feel at ease.

He felt that his beautiful junior classmate played with incredible precision, and that move, the "point" after her long thought, had completely caught him off guard.

It was an incredibly subtle move, its effect only likely to become apparent in the later variations of the game. It was the kind of move an ordinary player would find hard to make.

Still, Wu Shuheng would rather play against Xu Ziqin because he would have more time to think, unlike his previous game against Yu Shao, where he sometimes had to rely on intuition.

Finally, after a few more moves, Xu Ziqin stopped again, beginning to ponder.

"Her skill isn't low. I'll have to take this game seriously."

Wu Shuheng glanced at Xu Ziqin, thinking to himself, and then walked towards another table.

Playing against others, Wu Shuheng felt much more relaxed. Even giving two stones, he was cutting through them like vegetables. Although two students played quite well, he quickly found their weaknesses and launched his attacks.

Therefore, it wasn't long before Wu Shuheng returned to Yu Shao's table.

Then, as Wu Shuheng looked down at the board, his eyelids twitched, and his eyes widened in an instant!

"He... invaded?!"

At this moment, the cameraman following Wu Shuheng also turned the lens towards the board, and the game was simultaneously broadcast on the large screen at the front.

Seeing this move by the black stone, Wu Zhixuan, sitting in the front row, instantly understood the intention of the black stone, her beautiful eyes widening.

"Invade? He wants to start a ko?"

A ko is a very special situation in Go. The black player's next move can capture a white stone, and after the black player makes their move, the white player's next move can also capture the black stone. This is a ko.

Because of this endless cycle, the game would never end. Therefore, according to the rules of Go, after one player captures a stone, the other player must first play in another location before they can recapture.

The location played in another position is called a ko threat.

This then involves an extremely complex issue of value trade-offs.

If the opponent feels that the position you played is not as important as this ko, they will not respond and will choose to resolve the ko, meaning you will not be able to recapture, and you will immediately fall into a disadvantageous position.

The entire process, from initiating the ko to finally resolving it, is called a ko fight!

Ko fights are often very intense and complex.

They severely test a player's ability to control the game, their judgment of local value, and their overall strategic vision!

This is because if either side is even slightly careless, they can easily fall into a situation from which there is no recovery!

"Black actually chose to start a ko at this moment?"

Wu Zhixuan stared intently at the board, her beautiful brows furrowed as she seriously contemplated.

On the other side, below the stage, Zhou De's body trembled upon seeing the current state of the game, and he stared at the board in astonishment.

His Go books from the past few days hadn't been read in vain. Although he still couldn't fully understand the game, he could tell that Black had chosen to start a ko.

"He's starting a ko directly? Is that for real?"

Zhou De's face was full of disbelief.

In a game of Go, opportunities to form a ko often arise, but it's important to remember that not all ko positions should be initiated immediately. Some kos even need to be deliberately avoided!

Whether to initiate a ko requires a comprehensive judgment based on the overall situation of the game, the number of ko threats available, and the relative importance of this ko to both sides!

Initiating a ko carelessly without thorough consideration can lead to a passive overall situation and a rapid collapse of the game!

At this moment, in Zhou De's view, Black's ko threats were clearly insufficient, and this local ko fight was extremely important. If the ko were resolved, the board position could collapse immediately!

On the stage, Wu Shuheng stared intently at the board. After a rather long period of thought, he finally reached into the Go box, picked out a stone, and placed it.

Tap!

Ten columns, seventeen rows, capture!

Next, Wu Shuheng picked up the black stones surrounded by white stones from the board and placed them in the lid of the nearby stone box.

Yu Shao lowered his head and looked at the board, his expression incredibly calm. He also picked up a stone and gently placed it down.

Clack!

Column fourteen, row ten, Ting!

Wu Shuheng's expression was extremely solemn. After thinking for a long time, he placed another stone.

Column fourteen, row nine, Duan!

He did not choose to resolve the ko, but instead responded to the black stone's Ting, which meant he judged the importance and value of this local situation to be higher than resolving the ko.

The two sides began to place stones continuously.

Those in the audience who could understand the current situation couldn't help but hold their breath, staring intently at the big screen.

Influenced by these people, even the other students who couldn't quite understand the game at this moment subconsciously lowered their voices, caught up in the tense atmosphere.

This time, Yu Shao's pace of play was clearly not as fast as before, because the situation was indeed quite complex, and even he needed to think a little more deeply.

However, compared to Yu Shao, Wu Shuheng took even longer to think. The ko Yu Shao initiated had completely exceeded his expectations, and caught off guard, he was at a slight disadvantage.

Finally, after more than ten moves, Yu Shao stopped playing and was truly deep in thought.

Wu Shuheng also breathed a sigh of relief at this moment and walked towards the next table. Even so, his mind was still constantly deducing the subsequent developments of Yu Shao's game.

Not long after, Wu Shuheng arrived at Xu Ziqin's table again.

Xu Ziqin had already placed a stone.

After Wu Shuheng looked down at where Xu Ziqin had placed her stone, his eyelids began to twitch uncontrollably.

Column fourteen, row eight, Jian Chong!

Black stones, sacrificing stones!

It was as if a hungry wolf had found an opportunity and firmly bit into the white stones, completely unafraid of the white stones' counterattack!

He had actually considered the variation of black stones Jian Chong and sacrificing stones before, but he hadn't thought Xu Ziqin would see this move. Even if she saw this move, he didn't think she would actually dare to play it.

Because after sacrificing stones, the situation would suddenly become fierce, and black stones would counterattack. As a professional player, he might very well counterattack black stones in the process!

However, Xu Ziqin had discovered it.

And she had played this move.

This was the variation he least wanted to face. Even though he was confident in his own skill as a professional player, this was a handicap game, and black stones had a huge advantage.

He started to regret it a little.

Why did he have to play a handicap game!

One initiated ko, one sacrificed stones to attack and kill – are they all doing this to me?!

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