Half a Year of Mastering the Way of Chess, One Game to Suppress the Sect

This day is a day off.

As usual, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai left the school and headed towards Qiantang County.

Once inside the city gate, the main street was bustling with activity. Green banners fluttered in front of each shop, pedestrians came and went, and the shouts of vendors rose and fell, interspersed with the soft, gentle Wu dialect.

After walking side by side for a while, Liang Shanbo suddenly stopped and said to Zhu Yingtai, "Brother, please go to rent a place first. I need to buy something."

Zhu Yingtai looked at him, then at the baggage he was carrying, and asked curiously, "Brother Liang, what do you wish to buy?"

Liang Shanbo smiled and said, "I won't tell you yet, my dear brother. You'll see when you see it. I'll go to your rented place as soon as I finish buying it."

Zhu Yingtai looked him over again, then stopped asking questions, nodded, and left with Yinxin.

The master and servant turned into the alley and entered the house rented by the Zhu family.

Not long after, Liang Shanbo arrived.

Liang Shanbo entered the main room and placed the things he had bought on the table.

Zhu Yingtai looked closely and saw that it was a Go set. The board, pieces, and container were all complete.

She paused, then asked in surprise, "Brother Liang, I've never seen you play chess before, why did you buy a set today?"

Liang Shanbo smiled slightly and said in a casual tone, "I want to learn how to play chess."

Zhu Yingtai then asked, "Brother Liang, do you know how to play chess?"

Liang Shanbo replied, "I only know the basics."

Zhu Yingtai, recalling his secretive demeanor on the street earlier, then asked, "It's just buying chess pieces, Brother Liang, why do you need to avoid me?"

Liang Shanbo said frankly, "If I go shopping with you, you'll probably have to pay for it again."

Zhu Yingtai was slightly taken aback, then laughed. It turned out Brother Liang wanted her to pay for it. She shook her head with a smile, but felt a warm glow inside. This Brother Liang, he even had to secretly buy a chess set himself.

The Go set that Liang Shanbo bought today, though not a particularly valuable item, was exquisitely crafted.

The chessboard was made of catalpa wood, with a pale yellow surface. Nineteen grids were drawn with ink lines, and black lacquer star positions were placed at the four corners. The center point was the "Tengen" point, and the lacquer was dark black.

The two chess jars are also made of wood, with a slightly constricted mouth and natural grain on the body.

The chess pieces are carved from stone; the black pieces are solid and glossy, while the white pieces are warm and lustrous.

This Go set cost a full thousand coins. This was after Liang Shanbo had haggled with the shopkeeper for quite some time. The shopkeeper initially asked for twelve hundred coins, but Liang Shanbo managed to negotiate a price down to a round number.

When he paid, he took out heavy copper coins from his bag, but felt that the money was well spent.

Playing chess can cultivate logical thinking, calculation ability, and strategic vision, allowing people to make calm decisions through deduction. It can also foster patience and concentration, and cultivate a mindset of not being arrogant in victory or discouraged in defeat. At the same time, it is also a refined hobby that allows people to make friends through chess and cultivate their character.

Liang Shanbo was unaware that Mr. Meng had already introduced him to Xie Xuan.

But he knew from his previous life that chess was very popular in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Xie An was particularly good at it, and Xie Xuan's chess skills were even better than his uncle Xie An's.

He thought that being proficient in chess would be beneficial to his life.

……

……

Upon returning to Wansong Academy that day, Zhu Yingtai asked Liang Shanbo to set up the chessboard.

In the outer room of the schoolhouse, the long desk under the south window was moved to a slightly different position, and a chessboard was placed neatly on it. Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai knelt down on either side of the desk, facing each other.

Liang Shanbo let Zhu Yingtai play the white pieces. The rule of chess in that era was that the player with white pieces moved first.

The two players first set up their pieces. Two white pieces were placed in the opposite corners, and two black pieces were placed in the other two corners, with the four pieces facing each other. This is the old system of chess playing since the Han and Wei dynasties, called the "piece system".

Zhu Yingtai picked up a white chess piece, slightly twisted her wrist, and placed it in the upper right corner of the chessboard, right next to her own white piece. The piece landed with a soft click. After placing the piece, her fingertips paused on the board for a moment before withdrawing.

Liang Shanbo picked up a black piece, looked down at the chessboard, and placed it next to his black piece seat in the lower right corner.

The two began to place their pieces. At first, the moves were relatively quick. Zhu Yingtai continued to move in the upper right corner, and Liang Shanbo responded in the lower left corner; Zhu Yingtai then made a move on the side, and Liang Shanbo defended in the corner. After a dozen or so moves, the four corners of the chessboard gradually took shape.

As Zhu Yingtai made her move, she observed Liang Shanbo.

Brother Liang moves very slowly, taking quite a while to think about each move.

Sometimes his fingers would gently move the chess pieces in the jar, yet he hesitated to pick them up; other times he would pick up a piece, hold it above the board, his brow slightly furrowed, think it over, and then put it back. He was very focused, as if he were doing something extremely important.

Zhu Yingtai found it amusing and thought to herself, "Brother Liang is usually quite modest, but today he said that he only knows the basics of chess. It seems that he really does know the basics. He can't even set up the basic opening moves properly, and he can't calculate the life and death of the corners. In the middle game, when things get chaotic, he doesn't know where to go."

The game ended, and Zhu Yingtai won.

Her white stones formed a large, solid encirclement in the center, while Liang Shanbo's black stones were fragmented into several pieces, scattered here and there, like a scattered army that could not be regrouped or connected.

Although she won, Zhu Yingtai's chess skills were actually only average.

She had studied at home and knew that in the opening, one should defend the corners and extend the sides; she knew the standard opening moves such as the double swallow and the large knight's move to defend the corner; she knew that life and death depended on having two eyes; and she knew that the endgame required meticulous finishing. She understood these rules, but she couldn't be considered an expert. She was better than a beginner, but far from being a real player.

At that moment, Zhu Yingtai patiently reviewed the game for Liang Shanbo, pointing out the flaws in his strategy one by one. She then used chess pieces to demonstrate the correct response of the Double Swallow move, breaking it down for him step by step.

Liang Shanbo listened attentively, nodding slightly from time to time, and occasionally asking a question, explaining his thought process when he made his move and asking if she was right. She listened, sometimes nodding, sometimes shaking her head, and sometimes unsure herself, so she said, "I'll ask Wang Shu tomorrow."

……

……

From then on, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai often played chess in the schoolhouse.

Besides playing chess with Zhu Yingtai, Liang Shanbo sometimes also played chess with Wang Shu, Gu Jun, Sun Yuangui, and others.

Wang Shu's playing style is fierce and swift, with a penetrating style that favors unexpected attacks, relentlessly pressing forward once a move is made. Gu Jun's playing style, on the other hand, is cautious and methodical, avoiding unnecessary risks.

Sun Yuan is very reckless. He often wants to fight with his large group of stones, and he often kills himself halfway through a game. Then he scratches his head and laughs.

After learning that Liang Shanbo was learning chess, Meng Wenlang, after finishing his lessons with Wang Shu, Gu Jun, and Liang Shanbo, deliberately kept Liang Shanbo at Songzha, saying he wanted to play a game of chess with him.

The master and apprentice knelt facing each other on a bamboo mat, with a chessboard placed on a low table.

Meng Wenlang made his move slowly, saying to Liang Shanbo as he placed his piece, "Shanbo, playing chess is like commanding an army; you can't just focus on one corner. Sometimes you have to put aside the gains and losses in the corners and look at the whole picture first. Look at these four corners, they are the foundation; these four sides are the shield; and this center is the world."

He picked up a white piece and placed it in the center of the board: "Once the foundation is solid, one should advance into the center. Concentrating on a corner will only result in a small situation. Those who contend for the world should contend for the heart of the board."

Liang Shanbo nodded, picked up a black piece, and placed it in the lower left corner.

Meng Wenlang picked up another white piece, placed it, and said with a smile, "There is another important point in playing chess: do not be greedy for victory. Those who are greedy for victory become impatient and restless, focusing only on capturing the opponent's large group, which only exposes their own weaknesses. You should always remember this in your future dealings. Be cautious when it is appropriate to play it safe, and be willing to sacrifice when necessary. Sometimes sacrificing a few pieces on the edges and corners can actually gain you a strong position in the center."

……

……

Time flies like water, and days pass by in a flash.

From January to February, and from February to March. The spring breeze arrives, the pine needles in the pine forest turn from dark green to tender green, and the banana trees by the courtyard wall sprout new leaves, lush and lovely.

Although Zhu Yingtai's chess skills were constantly improving, they were still far behind Liang Shanbo's.

Since March, she had been no match for Liang Shanbo.

That day, she lost again.

She looked down at her few captured white pieces on the chessboard, her brows furrowing slightly. Pointing to a crucial spot, she asked Liang Shanbo, "Brother Liang, how did you come up with this move?"

Liang Shanbo explained his thoughts to her.

She nodded after listening: "So there is such a method."

She looked at him, secretly amazed.

In the first month of the lunar calendar, he was still a terrible chess player who couldn't even set up a standard opening move, and every move he made was clumsy and awkward. Now, only two months later, he has surpassed her.

She knew very well that he didn't spend much time on chess; he only did it in his spare time.

His progress in chess wasn't just in terms of technique. His strategic vision, his ability to make choices, and his composure when at a disadvantage all made her vaguely feel that chess was more than just a game for him.

In fact, Liang Shanbo's extraordinary memory played a crucial role in his rapid progress in chess. He could quickly memorize chess scores; he could recall a game from beginning to end and remember it; sometimes he would even set up those games on the chessboard by himself and play against himself, pondering the gains and losses.

In April, Wang Shu played chess with Liang Shanbo and found it difficult to play.

One day in mid-May, the two set up a game in the school dormitory. A group of students, including Zhu Yingtai and Sun Yuangui, watched from all sides.

On the chessboard, two large dragons, one white and one black, are locked in a fierce battle, neither able to retreat even a fraction of an inch.

Wang Shu held a white chess piece, hovering it above the board for a long time without placing it. Then he put the piece back in the jar, looking at Liang Shanbo with a complicated expression: "I lost."

Liang Shanbo cupped his hands in greeting and smiled slightly.

By early July, it had been just over half a year since Liang Shanbo bought the Go set.

The cicadas' chirping in the pine forest gradually subsided, and the banana leaves by the courtyard wall lost some of their green, their edges turning slightly yellow. A hint of coolness had already crept into the morning and evening air.

On this day, after Meng Wenlang finished his lecture, he once again kept Liang Shanbo at Songzha to play chess.

After the game ended, Meng Wenlang looked down at the chessboard in front of him. The white and black pieces were intertwined and crisscrossed. His white pieces were firmly suppressed by the black pieces, and all four lines were cut off, leaving no possibility of a comeback.

He remained silent for a moment, then gently turned the white chess piece in his hand before finally putting it back in the chess jar. Looking at Liang Shanbo, a faint smile appeared on his lips: "Shanbo, your chess skills have surpassed your teacher's."

Liang Shanbo lowered his head and respectfully bowed.

He didn't speak.

The pine trees outside the window rustled in the wind, and the wind chimes under the eaves tinkled in the breeze, as if answering something for him.