Just Learning, Can't Play

Zheng Qin returned to his rented apartment. He went to the bathroom first, turned on the faucet, and washed his face. Then he raised his head and gazed at his reflection in the mirror.

"I've won three straight in the preliminaries. I just need to keep this momentum going and win all the way!"

Zheng Qin let out a long breath, then left the bathroom. He prepared a bowl of instant noodles, carried it to his bedroom, and turned on the computer.

As usual, he logged into his "Shoutan Chunqiu" account.

Shoutan Chunqiu was the hottest online Go platform. Most amateur enthusiasts chose it to find opponents and test their Go skills. Even Professional Go Players would occasionally play there.

Besides that, Shoutan Chunqiu also featured plenty of the latest news from the Go world.

The Ten Dan Championship had come to an end. Zhuang Weisheng the Ten Dan defeated Li Junxian the Nine Dan and successfully defended his Ten Dan title! Who could break the undefeated legend of Zhuang the Ten Dan?

The New First Dan Championship was about to begin. The battle for the strongest first dan had arrived, and a wave of young talent was already surging in!

Congratulations to amateur player Han Fang on winning the championship of the Second Amateur Go Player Open and advancing to Amateur Eight Dan! From auto mechanic to Amateur Eight Dan—the legendary road of Han Fang!

The annual preliminaries for the Go Professional Qualification Tournament had begun. In this contest known as the Go college entrance exam, who would claim this year's Professional Go Player slots?

Zheng Qin ate his instant noodles while reading the latest news from the Go world.

Before long, he finished his noodles, stretched, moved the mouse, and clicked to match with an opponent.

"I haven't played online in ages. Since I've won three straight, I'll reward myself with a game."

Zheng Qin had played a few games online before, but later found his opponents far too weak. They gave up at the slightest opportunity—even abandoning huge groups—so he gradually stopped playing online.

Although opponents became stronger after reaching a higher rank online, the process of advancing took quite a bit of time, and Zheng Qin was too lazy to climb.

As a result, he had played only twenty-four games online in total, maintaining a perfect record.

It didn't take long for Zheng Qin to be matched with an opponent.

"Is the ID 'Just Learning, Can't Play'?"

Zheng Qin glanced at the opposing ID and found it somewhat amusing.

But when he opened the opponent's detailed profile, he couldn't help pausing slightly.

"Thirty-eight games, and the win rate... one hundred percent?"

"This is called 'Just Learning, Can't Play'?"

Zheng Qin wasn't particularly surprised.

After all, every kind of strange person existed online. There were plenty of people who clearly knew how to play Go yet claimed they didn't.

It was like encountering Gold and Platinum players in a Bronze game. The higher the rank, the fewer people there were who came to low-level games to bully beginners.

As the saying went, "A full jar doesn't slosh; a half-full jar does."

"Still, running into me means your luck has run out."

The corners of Zheng Qin's mouth curled up. He had been randomly assigned the black stones, so he moved the mouse, right-clicked, and played a stone at the upper-left Star Point.

"Just Learning, Can't Play" quickly responded with a white stone.

Seventeenth column, sixteenth row: Mokuhou.

Both sides played rapidly, and before long, they had made more than twenty moves.

"His play... really isn't bad!"

Zheng Qin stared at the computer screen, his expression filled with surprise.

In these twenty-odd moves, every response from "Just Learning, Can't Play" had been solid. Zheng Qin couldn't find any major flaw.

"If I had to point out something, it would be that his choice of variations is a little slow. They're all old-fashioned responses from a long time ago. Not many people still play this way nowadays."

"That's because as long as Black plays precisely enough, White will be slightly behind during the opening."

Zheng Qin pondered for a moment, then moved the mouse again and left-clicked to place a stone.

Just as Zheng Qin had predicted, because White's responses were somewhat slow, Black quickly gained a certain advantage in the opening, and the game gradually began transitioning toward the middle game.

Zheng Qin's expression also changed from his initial indifference to growing seriousness.

Although he had gained quite a bit in the opening, once they departed from the joseki, White answered several moves with remarkable ingenuity. A few moves had even exceeded his expectations.

Thus, he had been unable to widen his advantage quickly. Black still held a firm lead, but White remained capable of putting up a fight and could not be underestimated. In the end, the winner would still have to be decided in the middle game!

Just then, White placed a stone on the computer screen.

Seventeenth column, seventh row: Hane!

"White... is attacking!"

Zheng Qin's expression changed slightly at the move.

After thinking for a moment, Zheng Qin finally moved the mouse, clicked the left button, and placed a black stone.

Before he knew it, Zheng Qin—who had originally planned to play just one casual game as a reward to himself—had thrown himself completely into the online match.

Time passed second by second. The only sound in the room was the constant clicking of the mouse.

Finally, twenty minutes later.

Zheng Qin slumped back in his computer chair as if all his strength had left him. His face was covered in cold sweat.

"I lost..."

He stared blankly at the computer screen. The Go Board was already densely covered with Go Stones, and his throat felt dry.

"I thought that Cut wasn't that severe, but after he Cut and played the variation with a peep, I suddenly... suddenly just..."

It was true that he had held some advantage during the opening.

But once the game entered the middle game, both sides completely left the joseki patterns behind and began fighting tooth and nail. From that point on, the game had entirely slipped beyond his control!

Even though he had held an advantage in the opening, he had still been slaughtered in the middle-game battle, nearly unable to fight back at all!

White had forcefully ripped through his shape with an almost unstoppable momentum!

He had been completely... powerless to resist!

That feeling reminded him of the second game he had played against Yu Shao at Shanhai Chess Hall that afternoon.

After he had played that Reverse move, the situation had not improved in the slightest. Instead, it had immediately taken a sharp turn for the worse, and he had been completely crushed by his opponent!

The helplessness he had felt then was almost identical to what he felt now.

After a long while, when his time was nearly exhausted and the countdown began, Zheng Qin finally came back to his senses.

He immediately moved the mouse and clicked to resign. Then he right-clicked his opponent's avatar and sent a friend request before posting a message in the public chat.

Heaven Rewards Diligence: Are you a Professional Go Player?

The opponent did not answer.

Before long, Zheng Qin saw the other player's avatar turn gray. He had already gone offline.

Zheng Qin opened his friend list again, but "Just Learning, Can't Play" was nowhere to be found. Clearly, the friend request had not been accepted either.

"Who... exactly was he?"

Zheng Qin stared blankly at the completed game on the computer screen.

A sixteen- or seventeen-year-old boy who looked like a high school student was reviewing the game they had just played on his computer.

"My opponent played really well. Even I felt pressured. I haven't felt this way in a long time."

The boy's eyes were filled with amazement.

"The reason I was able to win that game was entirely because of reading and overall board vision. I won by fighting in the middle game."

"But if I were facing an opponent with Go strength close to mine—well... someone who wasn't much weaker than me, like Fang Xin playing the middle game—I might not have won!"

"After more than a century of development, Go has actually produced so many completely new joseki and ways of playing. Komi has even become part of the rules. There's still so much I need to learn..."

"In today's Go world, I might be able to play to my heart's content!"

Just then, an impatient middle-aged woman's voice suddenly rang out from the living room.

"Su Yiming, you're still playing on the computer at this hour? Don't you have school tomorrow? Hurry up, take a shower, and go to bed!"

Su Yiming immediately shut down the computer and replied, "Coming!"

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