Seeing Black's stone land, Yu Shao also reached into the stone box and picked out a white stone.
Click.
Column four, row sixteen—Star Point!
The moment Yu Shao placed his stone, the boy sitting opposite him picked out another black stone and placed it on the Go board almost right after the white stone.
Column sixteen, row seventeen—Mokuhou!
"He actually chose Mokuhou?!"
Everyone was slightly startled by this move.
Although the Mokuhou opening was extremely solid and sturdy, it could also easily scatter the board and create a fine-grained game. Such games often developed into complex, unpredictable positions where one move affected everything else.
For that very reason, the slightest carelessness in a Mokuhou opening could result in total defeat. It was extremely unfriendly to beginners and put a great test on a player's reading, judgment, and control of the game.
In all the games played that morning, no one had chosen a Mokuhou opening. After all, everyone wanted to win. As amateur players, they were unwilling to choose such a complicated opening that made the situation difficult to control.
"Choosing this fuseki in a competition doesn't seem very wise."
"He used to be a Professional Go Player hopeful, so he should be able to handle Mokuhou, right?"
"No. He may be able to handle it, but he isn't a professional Go Player after all. To be safe, it would be better to use a simpler fuseki. He should know that..."
"It's precisely because he knows that very well that he chose Mokuhou." At that moment, Zheng Qin suddenly spoke from within the crowd.
The people around him froze slightly.
He knew that very well, yet chose Mokuhou anyway?
That didn't make much sense.
Zheng Qin gazed at the game, the board reflected in his eyes, and spoke again. "He...