I Really Didn’t Mean to Play Go!
Chapter 268: Yu Shao, I Too Understand This Path

Inside the review room, after a moment, Qin Lang finally snapped out of it and was the first to withdraw his gaze, turning back to the game board in front of him.

After a brief silence, Qin Lang slowly opened his mouth and said, “The Unassailable Corner is indeed extremely solid, its defense is stable, and it was even once seen as a ‘once and for all’ move.”

“Shoulder hit against the Unassailable Corner presses on its development, and it actually strengthens the influence of the Unassailable Corner. It’s not a bad move.”

“The reason why the shoulder hit is considered bad is because after that, Black’s stones become too scattered and look isolated without coordination, not very valuable—it just seems greedy and full of empty influence.”

“But if those two high-placed stones can be put to use, then when facing the Unassailable Corner, this shoulder hit might even be called…”

Qin Lang paused, stared at the game board, then spoke again, “...the best move.”

Everyone fell silent after hearing Qin Lang's assessment.

Like how the Ten Guidelines of Go emphasize “enter cautiously,” favoring steady invasions or defense, the shoulder hit seems overly aggressive, too risky, and runs counter to Go theory.

“This game is exactly like that.”

From the crowd came Le Haoqiang’s voice: “But… how could he be so sure that this stone would end up being useful? That’s a huge risk.”

Le Haoqiang stared tightly at the TV screen. Even now, he still felt a chill from that black stone’s sudden outburst—this ambush hidden for most of the game, now suddenly revealed like a dagger from a scroll, sent chills down his spine.

“High risk doesn’t mean it’s infeasible.”

At this moment, Su Yiming suddenly spoke.

Everyone was stunned for a moment and immediately turned their gaze toward Su Yiming.

“It’s because the risk is too high that this stone must be put to use. It’s our subconscious aversion to risk that makes the shoulder hit seem bad.”

Su Yiming stared at the TV screen and said, “But if you go in determined that this stone must be useful—otherwise you lose—and push the game into full-board combat, then the dynamics change completely!”

As he spoke, Su Yiming’s expression grew more serious, and he continued, “It’s not that, in hindsight, this stone suddenly became valuable—but rather, because you had to make this stone valuable, that you played this way.”

“It’s just that by the time this stone finally proved its worth, the move had already spanned most of the game.”

Hearing this, everyone felt a jolt in their hearts.

They looked at the board again, and in front of their eyes, like a lantern slideshow, every single black move up to now floated into their minds.

“This is…”

The expressions on everyone’s faces gradually changed, their hearts trembling.

In the battle in the lower right corner, although Black lived, they were at a disadvantage. Then Black left the variation in the lower right unresolved and tenuki’d to attack White on the upper side. The mutual kill there remained undecided.

Thinking carefully, Black had consistently provoked complex mutual kills from the very beginning, pushing the game into full-board combat—all with the goal of making that shoulder hit worthwhile!

Local losses weren’t actually losses—they could be offset by the whole board!

If your board vision falls too far behind, then no matter how exquisite or subtle your calculations are, it all feels tragic—like a hero at the end of their road, struggling in vain against fate.

When playing for the whole board, even if your calculations aren’t as sharp as your opponent’s, even if your attacks lack killing force and you suffer locally—it’s acceptable. Because under overarching momentum, no matter how accurate your opponent’s reading or how fierce their attack, they’ll eventually have no choice but to kneel!

Win through influence!

In this game, Black and White may appear to be fighting brutally, but underlying everything is Black’s overarching strategy of overwhelming the opponent with momentum!

White could keep profiting locally, but as long as Black steered the game into a position where the shoulder hit came into play, the entire board could flip in an instant!

Black stood high in the heavens, unmoved like a god—

Silently watching White walk into a dead end!

After a long time, on the board, White finally moved again.

Tap, tap, tap...

Everyone quietly watched the TV screen.

This was White’s final desperate struggle under the tide of momentum!

No one knew how long had passed. Under everyone’s gaze, two White stones slowly dropped onto the board.

White, midgame resignation!

Seeing this, everyone in the review room felt their hearts surge, unable to calm down.

Su Yiming, however, closed his eyes. After a moment, when he opened them again, his expression had become incredibly calm.

“I’ve now fully mastered modern joseki. In two years, I’ve absorbed all of modern Go. This path has come to an end.”

In Su Yiming’s mind, all of Yu Shao’s game records surfaced—the High School Go League, the Professional Qualification Tournament, the preliminaries, Hero’s Pride Cup, the Challenge Match…

To this day, every game had been seared into his mind—he would never forget them.

“But if it’s just that, it’s not enough to beat him. Even if I could win, at most I’d take one or two games out of ten—and that doesn’t even count as evenly matched.”

“If both of us were playing at our best, I’m afraid I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“To truly be evenly matched, I have to keep going, even if there’s no road ahead.”

“If there’s no path, then I’ll carve one out myself!”

“This is indeed hard—”

Su Yiming looked at the nearby TV screen, his gaze sharp like a sword.

“But just as it happens, Yu Shao, I know this path too!”

…

…

On the other side.

In the U.S. team’s review room.

“Lu Yihong lost to him too.”

Ayn stared at the TV screen. Not until the live stream cut to black did he finally murmur, “It’s not that Lu Yihong is weak—he’s just too strong…”

Beside him, Zeng Jun withdrew his gaze from the screen and looked at the board in silence.

“Zeng Jun, you’re the only one left.”

Ma Jie looked at Zeng Jun, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke: “He’s really strong. Do you think you can win?”

“It’s not about whether I can win.”

Zeng Jun stared at the board and said, “It’s that I must win.”

Everyone around them fell silent.

Indeed, in the history of the Challenge Match, a nine-game losing streak had never happened before. Although they hadn’t yet looked at the foreign internet comments, they were likely already being roasted. If the last game was lost too...

Winning the Challenge Match would basically become impossible.

Even though Zeng Jun was strong, he absolutely couldn’t beat ten in a row. Even if his Go strength was high, his stamina couldn’t keep up.

Ma Dong silently looked at the board, his heart full of mixed feelings.

Though he knew Yu Shao wasn’t to be underestimated, the fact that Yu Shao had beaten nine people in a row still far exceeded his imagination—he didn’t think he himself could do that.

Winning a single match wasn’t too difficult for him. But back-to-back Challenge Matches? He might even perform worse than Zeng Jun, because Zeng Jun was at least young.

One intense Go match consumes more energy than two football games. Sometimes, players lose ten pounds in one game—it’s not a joke.

If someone had told him before that someone could win nine Challenge Matches in a row, he would never have believed it. But now the facts were right in front of him—he had no choice.

At first, he couldn’t understand how Yu Shao could play so many games in a row without showing much fatigue in his play—how, if anything, he seemed to grow more imposing with each battle.

Now, after watching so many games, he finally understood.

It was board vision.

In what looked like intense kill fights, there was a hidden weight of influence crushing the opponent.

When battles stretch across the whole board, the calculation requirements become deeper—but likewise, the difference in board vision gets infinitely magnified.

In Yu Shao’s earlier games, the kill fights were too intense, making people unconsciously overlook the “momentum.”

At this moment, Zeng Jun suddenly looked away from the board and spoke: “Tomorrow’s my turn. With so little time left, continuing the review won’t help much. I’m going to rest.”

With that, Zeng Jun turned and left without looking back.

“Zeng Jun.”

Just then, Ma Dong suddenly called out and stopped him.

Zeng Jun froze, turned his head to look at Ma Dong.

Ma Dong also looked up from the board and said to Zeng Jun, “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”

After a moment of silence, Zeng Jun clenched his fist and nodded. “I know.”

…

…

That night felt much longer than usual.

Because the tenth Challenge Match was about to begin.

No matter who you were, the feelings right now were incredibly complicated. Even the top players watching this match felt the same.

Yu Shao’s name had been etched into everyone’s hearts.

Nine consecutive wins in the Challenge Match—something most couldn’t even imagine—had actually happened.

Tomorrow, Yu Shao’s opponent would be Zeng Jun—the strongest among the new generation of American players.

Across the internet, a sense of looming tension filled the air. Everyone suppressed their emotions, waiting for this final match.

As dawn broke through the clouds, tens of millions of users had already flooded into the official Challenge Match live stream, waiting for the final three hours before the match began.

Time passed slowly.

With only half an hour left before the match, Yu Shao arrived at the Handtalk Room entrance, pushed open the door, and walked in.

Soon, Yu Shao sat down at the board, pulling out a chair and taking a seat.

Ten minutes later, Zeng Jun also entered the Handtalk Room.

He sat down across from Yu Shao, surprisingly calm-faced.

Time ticked by.

Watching the two players seated across from each other in the room, the recorder and the two referees grew increasingly uneasy inside—and they weren’t alone in that.

At that moment, the whole world seemed to fall into silent anticipation.

Finally, after a pause, one referee looked at his watch, slowly stood up, and said: “The tenth Challenge Match—Zeng Jun, 6-dan plays Black. Yu Shao, 2-dan plays White.”

“Each player has five hours. One-minute overtime countdown. Black gives 7.5-point komi.”

The referee looked at the two players, steadied his nerves, and said in a deep voice: “Now, the game begins!”

Clack!

Just as the referee finished speaking, came the sound of stones being picked.

The next second, Zeng Jun picked a stone from the Go bowl and quickly played the first move.

Tap!

Column 16, Row 3—komoku!

…………