By the middle game, formations had yet to take shape and territory remained unsettled; the fighting was unfinished, yet strength was already divided.
The struggle at this point was not to seize territory or capture stones, but to preserve breath.
Breath was the stones' means of breathing.
While breath remained, all paths stayed open; when breath was blocked, the center died.
The perils of the middle game all lurked unseen; the anxieties of both sides lay concealed.
Thus it was said: the middle game was not the time to contend for victory, but the hour to seek survival.
Only those who survived could win; those who attacked in haste would perish first.
The Thirteen Chapters on Chess stated: "A skilled player does not worry over victory or defeat, but fears losing the advantage."
It also stated: "Those who are prudent and restrained gain much; those who are rash and greedy lose much."
The key to the middle game lay precisely in those two words: "be prudent."
Wei Nisheng and Shen Duan were both skilled players.
Shen Duan sought to make the Ministry of Personnel his breath; Wei Nisheng made the Crown Prince his.
Both knew that the middle game was not a contest over a single day's gains and losses, but over whose lifeline would be severed first.
Thus Shen Duan was in no hurry to capture Wei Nisheng, nor was Wei Nisheng in any hurry to overturn Shen Duan's board.
In the Warm Pavilion of the Shen Residence, the charcoal fire burned pleasantly warm.
Shen Duan reclined on a couch, a thick felt blanket over his knees, quietly reading the Court Gazette in his hand.
Shen Yi was already seated beside the desk, marking important passages for him with the Vermilion Brush, leaving several scarlet strokes.
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