White Stones Forced Onto a Dead End

At this moment, Wu Shuheng finally approached Yu Shao's table again.

His expression was solemn, his eyes cast down as he studied the game. After a long while, he finally picked up a stone and placed it gently.

Tap.

"Column 11, row 14, connect!"

As soon as the white stone landed, Yu Shao picked up a stone and immediately placed it.

"Column 11, row 13, cut!"

Black and white stones alternated, falling one after another. Though they were just stones, it was as if a fierce tiger and a wild wolf were locked in a deadly embrace, the air thick with killing intent.

Soon, it was Wu Shuheng's turn to move again.

Wu Shuheng stared intently at the board, hesitating to place his stone, lost in thought.

"He's too sharp. The moment I connected, he immediately cut. He's not giving me any openings..."

After a long pause, Wu Shuheng took a deep breath, finally picked up a stone, and slammed it down heavily!

Crack!

"Column 8, row 16, extend!"

As this stone landed, everyone couldn't help but shudder.

"Extend! White chose to extend? But if he extends, the white stones on the right wing will be surrounded by black!"

"Is this a sacrifice?"

While they couldn't fully grasp the entire game, they could tell that if white extended, black would immediately gain the upper hand in this localized struggle, while white would be surrounded!

A student who understood Go stared at the board in shock, shaking his head and saying, "No... it's a sacrifice, but... it's not exactly a sacrifice either."

"What do you mean?"

Someone asked, confused, finding the statement contradictory.

"A so-called sacrifice involves intentionally giving up stones to create a favorable situation for an attack. However, in this game, it's clearly not like that..."

"Those white stones are already cornered by black. While white could choose to defend stubbornly, the situation is still precarious."

"That's precisely why white chose to sacrifice, but it's not an intentional sacrifice; it's a forced one, perhaps even akin to cutting off a tail to escape..."

He took a deep breath and said, "In other words, white was forced by black to sacrifice stones, desperately trying to break the situation open with an attack..."

"Otherwise, white would absolutely never choose to abandon that local group, especially since that area is so important!"

Hearing this, the surrounding crowd was deeply shocked.

When playing against students at other tables, Wu Shuheng had played with lightning speed, dominating every game. But now, in this particular match, he was pushed to the brink, forced to cut off his own tail to survive?

Seeing Wu Shuheng's move to extend, Yu Shao pondered for a moment before picking up a stone and placing it.

"Jump?"

Upon seeing this move, Wu Shuheng's expression changed drastically.

The students who understood Go in the audience couldn't control their expressions either, letting out involuntary gasps.

"He jumped?!"

The people around them looked bewildered, completely failing to understand the intention behind this move.

"What's wrong? Why the fuss?" someone grumbled, asking, "What's the big deal with this jump?"

"It's too slow! After white sacrificed stones, black should have immediately surrounded and eliminated those stones, then dealt with white's offensive. But this move is too slow; it gives white an opportunity!"

"So black made a mistake?"

"No, it's not a mistake!"

The person stared intently at the board, saying with shock, "This jump, while seemingly a move that gives the initiative to the opponent, is placed in such an ambiguous position. It perfectly creates a flaw within white's formation."

"Therefore, black likely has follow-up moves, creating a situation where they can seize the initiative later! This kind of play is terrifying when you think about it; the artistic conception is just... too profound!"

The surrounding crowd listened, feeling lost in a fog. Although they didn't quite understand, they somehow felt that this game was going to be incredibly exciting.

If only I knew how to play Go.

Many people suddenly had this thought.

The two sides exchanged another four or five moves. When it was Wu Shuheng's turn again, he didn't place another stone. He simply took a deep breath and moved to the next table.

Wu Shuheng continued to shuttle back and forth between the last three tables, placing stones.

Everyone could clearly see that compared to the games against Yu Shao and Xu Ziqin, Wu Shuheng was playing much more easily against the last remaining table.

Finally, the high school sophomore, under Wu Shuheng's relentless pressure, could no longer hold on.

"I forfeit."

He dejectedly lowered his head, choosing to resign, but at the same time, he let out a sigh of relief.

He had already given his all in this game, but in the end, he still couldn't withstand Wu Shuheng. Even with two stones given as handicap, by the mid-game, he was almost completely suppressed and could only desperately try to hold on.

Because of this, he felt very frustrated and even tormented playing this game. But now, the game had finally reached a point where he couldn't even defend anymore, and he could concede with a clear conscience.

Wu Shuheng nodded at him, then walked towards Yu Shao's table again.

"It's pretty good that I could last this long against a professional player."

This sophomore, who had just conceded, didn't feel too disappointed. He even felt he had played very well, as seven people had already conceded before him.

He looked at the game board, a smile appearing on his face.

"As expected of a professional player, too amazing. I had no chance to fight back at all."

"But I'm not bad either. I made him sweat. He must have put in a lot of effort to break through, right?"

"The other two should also be close to collapsing. After all, even I can only last this long now."

He tidied up his stones, and as he thought of this, he couldn't help but glance to his left and right.

Then, he noticed that all his classmates who had conceded earlier were now looking up, staring blankly at the big screen, as if questioning life.

"What's wrong?"

He was a little confused, so he also looked up at the board on the big screen.

Then, the smile on his face froze, and his eyes widened little by little.

At this moment, the big screen was showing the game between Wu Shuheng and Yu Shao.

"How, how is this possible?!"

"Black has completely suppressed White?!"

He stared with disbelief, his mouth agape. He subconsciously rubbed his eyes, as if he had seen something incredible.

Although the game was very complex at this moment, he could still see the situation at a glance.

Black and White weren't even in a fierce battle; it was almost a one-sided suppression in favor of Black, just like his own game—

White was so suppressed by Black that it couldn't move, couldn't even struggle, and could only desperately hold on. But even then, it was struggling to hold on!

However, unlike his game, in his game, he was the one who couldn't hold on.

And now, Wu Shuheng was the one who couldn't hold on.

Had the roles reversed?

"No... compared to me, White's situation is even worse!"

"White's formations are cracked in multiple places, completely constrained, while Black's attacks are countless!"

"Saying it's suppression is an understatement, because even when suppressed, White could at least struggle and still have moves to play. So, you could even say White is being crushed?"

He stared at the big screen, dumbfounded.

"How did it turn out like this?"

"That's a professional player! Even giving two stones, they are absolutely not something an ordinary player can contend with!"

ps: Please support with reads and data, esteemed readers! Support this little author!

Because Black and White keep switching, it's easy for me to get confused. If readers find any mistakes, please point them out, and I'll make corrections.