novelraw Chapter 450: The Oppressive Pressure from Go AI
Chapter 450: The Oppressive Pressure from Go AI
Time continued to flow relentlessly.
On the board, black and white stones alternated with the passage of time, constantly being placed.
Han Xiu watched the board with intense concentration. With every stone placed, he could almost see the hidden blades and sword shadows lurking within.
"Indeed... Black is playing extremely steadily. Even in positions that clearly allow deeper penetration, he absolutely refuses to enter the fray, instead continuously reinforcing his own thickness."
Everything unfolded exactly as Han Xiu had predicted. Lee Jun-ho's play this game was steady to the extreme, giving White no opportunity to exploit weaknesses, desperately avoiding the formation of overly intense exchanges, wanting to prolong the battle lines.
Soon, Yu Shao picked up another stone and swiftly placed it!
Tap!
Column 8, Row 13 - jump!
Seeing this move, Lee Jun-ho's eyes turned serious. After careful consideration, he finally picked up a stone and placed it on the board!
Column 17, Row 14 - press!Yu Shao immediately followed with his move.
Column 16, Row 13 - extension!
Tap, tap, tap...
Soon, both sides exchanged over ten more moves.
Watching from the side, Han Xiu's frown deepened the more he watched.
At this stage, both Black and White were playing excellently.
Since Black refused to penetrate deeply, White had to push aggressively to compress Black's potential thickness. This was an open strategy - White either had to accept it or fight back fiercely.
Black was psychologically prepared for this. Having chosen defensive counterattacks, he committed to this path completely, not changing strategic direction despite White's relentless pressure, trying to minimize losses through solid exchanges.
At this point, if things continued this way, the battle lines would become extremely prolonged. White would hold a slight advantage, but Black's position remained acceptable. In the complex endgame stage, through persistent fighting, there were still chances for victory.
But if things remained merely like this, it was still far from the "overwhelming dominance" his friend had described.
"Good, everything is proceeding exactly as I envisioned!"
Lee Jun-ho clearly thought the same, looking at the board with barely contained excitement.
"Although I'll be behind by some points entering midgame, because the board remains scattered with many fighting opportunities, I still have plenty of chances. If one opportunity fails, there's always a second."
"This way, I won't be completely wiped out in a single engagement. Even if I ultimately can't close the gap, I can still reach the endgame and won't lose by much!"
"This is enough!"
Lee Jun-ho quickly picked up another stone and placed it again.
Yu Shao's face showed no emotion as he gazed down at the board. After a moment of contemplation, he finally picked up another stone and gently placed it!
With the crisp sound of stone placement, a white stone landed decisively on the board!
Column 1, Row 11 - invasion!
"Inva... invasion?"
Seeing this move, Lee Jun-ho's hand, which had just reached into the go bowl to pick up a stone, froze instantly. Then his eyes slowly widened in disbelief.
"Invasion?!"
Not just Lee Jun-ho, but all the surrounding watching players' faces showed deep incredulity as they stared at this newly placed white stone!
At this moment!
The left side of the board was densely packed with black stones, interconnected like an inescapable net. Yet this white stone had resolutely, single-handedly plunged into Black's formation!
Even someone who didn't understand Go would find this move visually striking based on appearance alone. For these players, the impact was utterly overwhelming!
Because this invasion not only penetrated Black's formation, but also completely ignored Black's previous threats. The white stones in the lower left corner instantly became dead stones!
"How... could it be an invasion?!"
Han Xiu stared intently at the board, completely unable to believe his eyes: "After invasion, Black clearly has atari with sente potential. White can indeed gain sente here, but how dare he?!"
"If White cannot use this sente to immediately crush Black, then White's position will collapse completely!"
"Unless we're in an extremely complex late midgame where all variations have been calculated, allowing one decisive push to crush Black - then such a move would naturally be an unparalleled strong play. But..."
Han Xiu looked at the board, which had only seen about fifty moves and remained incredibly open.
"But we've just entered midgame!"
The so-called sacrifice attack involves sacrificing stones to gain offensive momentum. While White indeed gained sente with this sacrifice, the board was too open - even if he wanted to attack, there was no direction to attack!
Unless someone could truly calculate all possible variations from this position and find the direction.
But...
This was beyond human capability!
With only about fifty moves played on the entire board, it was impossible for anyone to calculate all subsequent variations!
Even Yu Shao couldn't possibly do it!
Han Xiu completely failed to understand. Not just Han Xiu, but Lee Jun-ho sitting across from Yu Shao felt the same.
After a long time, Lee Jun-ho finally regained his composure. Taking a deep breath, a fierce glint appeared in his eyes as he finally picked up a stone and swiftly placed it!
Tap!
Column 8, Row 10 - cut!
Black finally stopped retreating. Having decided to strike, he immediately played a move questioning White's life and death!
Because White's invasion, with its unreasonable attitude trying to forcibly cut Black's vital stones, had exceeded the boundaries of Black's tolerance. If Black retreated now, his position would instantly collapse!
Black absolutely had to punish White immediately - this was essentially a forced response!
Seeing Lee Jun-ho's move, Yu Shao also picked up a stone and swiftly placed it!
Tap!
A conflict initiated by White spread across the entire board with lightning speed!
Everyone was completely surprised - the game that had been calm moments ago had suddenly escalated to astonishing intensity in the blink of an eye. Black mobilized his entire army to cut off White's retreat!
Tap, tap, tap...
Stones began alternating rapidly again.
But the more they watched, the more confused everyone became.
They had thought that Yu Shao's bold move might have found an attacking direction after the sacrifice, but... there was none.
White's dead stones seemed to have died meaninglessly. Black had gained absolute advantage, and all White could do now was make a desperate last stand.
Ten moves, twenty moves, thirty moves...
Finally, after about forty moves, the expressions of those watching gradually changed. Han Xiu stared blankly at the game's development, his face filled with disbelief!
Lee Jun-ho's forehead was now covered with fine sweat beads.
"The central fighting has almost become one continuous sequence. Black's diagonal move was proper, but White unstoppably invaded the upper area! Black's shape has developed weaknesses! After spanning over forty moves..."
Han Xiu looked with shock toward the lower right area of the board, at those white stones sacrificed over forty moves ago.
If one looked back at the entire game now, that "invasion" move connected the whole board. Through precise exchanges and utilization of sente, it ultimately created this astonishing sacrifice attack after forty-plus moves!
"But... is this possible?"
Han Xiu stared blankly at the board.
"Perhaps it's just that the skill gap is too large, so Yu Shao managed to utilize the dead stones' potential through subsequent play..."
Someone beside Han Xiu whispered: "Of course... even so, that's still extremely, extremely impressive."
Regardless, they couldn't believe that Yu Shao had calculated the current position over forty moves ago. If this were true, then the World Championship wouldn't need to continue.
Yu Shao would definitely be champion;
it was impossible for him to lose a single game.
Because that wasn't a move any human could make.
No, not even a "god" could do it!
At that time, the board wasn't complex enough to leave few options. Quite the opposite - while scattered, the position wasn't particularly complex, meaning White had at least ten possible moves for each play.
Among these ten moves, after White chose one, there might be ten more choices, then ten more after that, branching out endlessly like tree limbs. If someone could calculate all subsequent variations from that point...
It would be almost equivalent to enumerating all possible Go variations.
The number of possible Go variations exceeds the total number of observable atoms in the universe. No one could possibly calculate them all.
Even if someone could actually do this and play this invasion move, such a move absolutely shouldn't appear unnoticed in this game!
Lee Jun-ho gritted his teeth, entering deep thought.
Across from him, Yu Shao watched the board, quietly waiting for Lee Jun-ho's move.
Indeed, he couldn't calculate all board variations. He also couldn't possibly calculate all remaining variations across the entire board in just over fifty moves, even if not calculating from move one.
However, this "invasion" move was indeed something he intentionally played over forty moves earlier. It wasn't about realizing positional changes midway and turning dead stones into sacrifices that eventually guided the game.
This was simply a move AI had played in similar positions in his previous life. He knew this move was possible, hence he could play it!
Unlike the 3-3 point strategy or diagonal approach... this wasn't a fixed pattern or routine, nor even some profound Go understanding. It was AI's adaptive response to changing circumstances.
This was AI having calculated that in similar positions, similar ideas and moves were possible. But with slight positional changes, this idea and move might become unworkable!
Therefore, such moves cannot be learned systematically. Only through actual face-to-face games with AI, through extensive matches against AI, can one discover and play such moves during games!
Without extensive games against AI, no one could find this move.
This was his greatest advantage.
Because such moves, aside from him, were destined to be unplayable by anyone else.
Many people believe AI's strength lies in completely new understanding and perception of Go, in overturning and innovating existing patterns. For human players before AI's emergence, this was tremendously impactful.
AI's fundamental strength ultimately lies in its profound calculation depth!
Understanding can be learned, patterns can be learned, innovation can be learned. The reason AI could overturn countless old established patterns and develop completely new understanding of Go fundamentally rests on cold calculation!
This is why human players can never defeat Go AI!
Previously encountering similar positions, even if he knew such moves might be possible, he usually wouldn't play them. Because while such moves might work, one misstep meant complete disaster with no retreat options.
But after the National Hand Championship, he had changed his thinking, no longer leaving himself room to maneuver at all times. Manifested on the board, this meant an additional fierceness, or rather ruthlessness, compared to before!
This was the gap called "era."
This was the oppressive pressure called "despair" from Go AI!
In his previous life, he had personally experienced this suffocating pressure countless times, paying with blood to obtain answers, or rather, to forge his Go intuition!
Yu Shao gazed at the board, his eyes sharp as swords: "I'm waiting for you!"
Time passed minute by minute.
Finally, after a long time, Lee Jun-ho, pale-faced and gritting his teeth, finally picked up a stone from the go bowl and placed it with difficulty.
Although the situation was already lost, being in the World Championship arena, he still wanted to fight desperately however possible!
Lee Jun-ho's face had turned deathly pale, his body trembling slightly.
He wanted to pick up stones and continue, but felt that no matter how he played, the situation was already beyond recovery.
"No... how is this possible?"
"How could..."
He gritted his teeth, staring intently at the board, racking his brains trying to find Black's survival path.
"The board is still so open! There must be a way!"
Time ticked away.
The surrounding crowd looked at Lee Jun-ho with mixed emotions.
They could all see that this game was essentially decided. No matter how Lee Jun-ho played, it was just desperate resistance, a dying struggle. However he played, Black had no chance to reverse the situation.
Normally, in this position, most players would already resign gracefully.
But seeing Lee Jun-ho refusing to resign, wanting to continue playing, as fellow players they couldn't bring themselves to criticize him, because they understood his feeling.
This was the World Championship, the stage all players dreamed of. The moment of resignation was equivalent to personally killing one's own dream!
But ultimately, Lee Jun-ho didn't pick up any stone. Instead, he lowered his head and said in a faint voice: "I..."
"Resign."