The Lovely Heiress Is Actually A God Beast

Chapter 274: Chapter 274 Little Taotie Learns Go Chapter 274: Chapter 274 Little Taotie Learns Go Hua Jinyan took on the role of a little teacher and patiently instructed, “The Go board is marked with nine small dots, known as the star points, and the central star point is also called ‘Tianyuan’.”

“Go is a strategic two-player board game, known as ‘Yi’ in ancient Hua Country and is one of the four arts of the qin, Go, calligraphy, and painting, considered to be the most complex board game in the world.”

Hua Jinyan picked up a white piece and a black piece and handed them to Little Taotie, placing them in Little Taotie’s soft, tender palms.

“The pieces are divided into two colors, black and white, and are generally flat and round. There are normally 180 pieces for each color.”

“Each player holds one color, with black playing first and white playing second, alternating moves. Each turn, only one piece may be placed.”

Little Taotie picked up a black piece and placed it on the board then picked up a white piece and placed it on the board, mumbling, “Black first, white later.”

Little Taotie placed the pieces on the blank intersections of the grid, and Hua Jinyan moved the black and white pieces slightly, positioning them on the intersections, and explained, “The pieces are placed on the intersections of the grid. Once a piece is placed, it must not be moved to another position. Taking turns to place a piece is the right of both players, but either player may pass their turn by using a pass.”

Little Taotie nodded in understanding and again picked up the black and white pieces, first playing black and then white, with each landing on an intersection.

Hua Jinyan chuckled, “That’s correct this time.”

“When a piece is on the board, the empty points directly adjacent to it in a straight line are that piece’s–‘liberties’!”

“If there are pieces of the same color on the directly adjacent points, they connect to form an indivisible whole. Their liberties should be counted together. If there are pieces of the opposite color on these adjacent points, those liberties no longer exist.”

“If all the liberties are occupied by the opponent, the piece becomes without liberties. Pieces without liberties cannot remain on the board.”

Little Taotie stood stunned, then looked at the black and white pieces in his hand in amazement, “Do they also ‘breathe’?”

“You could think of it that way. They are all your soldiers, and if they run out of breath, they can’t live. As the general, you must ensure they all can breathe.”

“That’s really interesting!” Little Taotie tapped the little pieces and laughed, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’ll let you breathe. I won’t let you die!”

“The action of removing pieces without liberties from the board is called ‘capturing’.”

“So, collecting the bodies of soldiers who have run out of breath is capturing?”

Hua Jinyan was amused and nodded, “You could understand it that way.”

“There’s another situation on the board where if a player places a piece and it immediately becomes without liberties and at the same time cannot capture any opposing pieces, that point is called a ‘forbidden point’. A forbidden point prohibits the opponent from placing a piece there!”

“So it’s like a place that’s already out of breath, and going there is like seeking death? It’s forbidden to enter?”

“Right! It’s more or less like that! The game ends when both players agree that there are no more moves to make, or when one player resigns during the game. The game also ends when both players consecutively pass their turns. Since black has a certain advantage by going first, all rules adopt the komi system.”

“What’s the komi system?” Little Taotie tilted his head and asked.

“It means that because black goes first and has a certain advantage in the opening, for fairness, when calculating the amount of territory both players hold at the end, black must give up a certain number of points or stones.”

“That’s the basics. It’s really quite one-sided to just talk about it, it’s better to get a feel through actual play. Let’s play a game.”

“Great!” Little Taotie was already eager to try it out.

Ma Ming cracked open an eye to watch the two children, seeing them earnestly playing Go, with the little teacher teaching seriously and the student behaving nicely. Pleased at heart, he continued to rest with his eyes closed.

The Primordial Spirit, however, had already drifted to the film crew, standing beside Gu Yixing’s bed.

What the Primordial Spirit saw was a large white lion sleeping on the bed.

“Sure enough, it’s another lion.”