Not long after, with a creaking sound, the door to the Go room was pushed open once more, and a man in his early thirties finally stepped inside.

"Master Fu Shunan."

Upon seeing Fu Shunan, a referee immediately greeted him.

Fu Shunan stood at the doorway, giving Su Yiming a deep look before withdrawing his gaze. He nodded slightly at the referee who had greeted him, then walked straight to sit opposite Su Yiming.

"I remember our last match was during the Torch Battle," Fu Shunan said as he pulled out his chair and sat down. "Now in the blink of an eye, you're sitting in a title challenge match. Truly remarkable."

"Last time was a doubles match," he continued, "but this time, it's an official game."

"You said you're determined to win the Great Go Player title. Unfortunately..." Fu Shunan paused, his eyes flashing with dangerous light as he looked at Su Yiming across the board. "I have no intention of letting anyone take this title from me either."

Though Fu Shunan's tone remained calm, the air in the Go room seemed to grow tense, thick with the smell of gunpowder.

Su Yiming didn't respond, quietly gazing at the board before him as if he hadn't heard Fu Shunan's words at all.

Seeing this, Fu Shunan's expression darkened slightly, but he didn't press further, simply sitting back in his chair to wait for the match to begin.

After several more minutes, a referee checked his wristwatch, took a deep breath, and announced solemnly: "This match is the first game of the Great Go Player Tournament challenge series, following a best-of-five format!"

"In this five-game series, the first player to win three games will claim the Great Go Player title. This game's colors will be determined by nigiri, with players alternating colors in subsequent games!"

"The players may now begin nigiri!"

At this, Fu Shunan reached into his bowl first, grabbing a handful of white stones, while Su Yiming took a single black stone and placed it on the board.

Soon, the nigiri result was decided - Fu Shunan would play white, Su Yiming black.

After exchanging bows, the game began.

Facing the empty board, Su Yiming couldn't help but recall Yu Shao's games from the National Hand Championship. He had studied those games almost daily, memorizing every move by heart.

"He's clearly stronger now..."

After a moment of silence, Su Yiming finally picked up a stone and made the first move.

Click!

Sixteenth line, fourth row - star point!

Seeing Su Yiming's move, Fu Shunan quickly followed suit, placing his stone with swift precision.

Click!

Fourth line, sixteenth row - star point!

Though Su Yiming's eyes were on the board, his mind wandered elsewhere.

"If I don't improve quickly, I'll be completely outmatched when facing Yu Shao."

"Those games showed me the gap between us, but they also revealed the path forward, showing me how much further I can go."

Finally bringing his focus back to the game, Su Yiming's gaze shifted before he decisively placed another stone.

"Therefore, I must make up for what I lack and play even better moves!"

Click!

Fourth line, sixteenth row - star point!

"Twin-star formation?"

Fu Shunan's expression became intensely focused, not daring to underestimate his opponent.

Though he projected calm outwardly, having watched Su Yiming's progress through the qualifying rounds, he knew full well that his opponent was no ordinary player but a formidable rival requiring his full effort.

"Better not respond with twin-stars - that's been played too much. If I want to find opportunities, I should avoid making the board position too straightforward."

Having decided, Fu Shunan quickly placed his stone.

Click!

Fourth line, third row - komoku!

Almost immediately after the white stone landed, Su Yiming picked up his next stone, his gaze as steady as bedrock.

"Then, let's begin!"

Click!

The stone struck the board.

At this move, Fu Shunan couldn't help but blink in surprise, while the nearby referee and recorder involuntarily widened their eyes.

On the board—

Sixteenth line, tenth row - star point!

Black had formed a three-star formation!

......

....

In the broadcast room.

"A three-star formation?!"

Zheng Qin stared at the screen in shock before hurriedly placing a white stone on his demonstration board. "This is completely unexpected!"

Everyone in the broadcast room wore varying degrees of astonishment on their faces.

Almost instinctively, all eyes turned to Yu Shao sitting across from Zheng Qin.

Though many famous games had featured the three-star formation, nowadays the first thing anyone thought of upon seeing it was that memorable game between Yu Shao and Su Yiming during the Yingjiao Cup!

The three-star formation wasn't particularly rare - it had actually been quite popular a decade ago.

When real territory and the third line dominated Go strategy, the three-star formation's emergence had caused quite a stir.

The three-star formation valued influence over territory, prioritized the fourth line over the third, and emphasized development toward the center rather than the sides. Most three-star games focused on building influence along the fourth line.

Because this style disregarded ground play in favor of controlling the central "cosmos," it revolutionized traditional Go concepts and became known as the "cosmic style."

After reaching its peak, as the game evolved, more professionals found the three-star formation difficult to master - placing stones on high points facing the center seemed to violate fundamental principles.

Thus, the three-star formation declined in professional play, with most players returning to emphasize territory and the third line.

However, the formation's grand, imposing structure and focus on influence and attack, making it easy to build frameworks and create complex, dazzling battles, still attracted many amateur players.

But after the Yingjiao Cup, this strategy seemed to fade completely. That match between Yu Shao and Su Yiming was hailed as "the three-star formation's last swan song."

The reason was simple - in that game, even with the three-star formation, Su Yiming had still lost in the end. What better epitaph could there be?

No one expected that now, in the Great Go Player challenge match, Su Yiming would revive this long-absent strategy in professional play!

Across from Zheng Qin, Yu Shao also felt surprised.

He studied the board, deep in thought.

"The three-star formation..."

Indeed, it wasn't ideal.

Yu Shao understood this better than anyone.

Because the three-star formation had to maintain efficiency of the side star-point stones, there was only one path - building a grand framework facing the center. This made it problematic.

While imperfect, claiming it was unplayable would be wrong. Even though most Go AIs considered it slightly disadvantageous, there were still instances of AIs winning after playing it.

Playable or not, the formation's high-point placement created constraints - something Yu Shao knew well, and something Su Yiming should have realized after the Yingjiao Cup.

Yu Shao frowned slightly, puzzled.

Just then, seeing a white stone appear on screen, Yu Shao refocused and mirrored the move on his board.

Click!

Fourteenth line, seventeenth row - small knight's approach.

"Master Fu didn't play the 3-3 point but chose the more common small knight's approach?"

Wu Zhixuan beside Yu Shao studied the board thoughtfully before asking, "Yu Shao, do you think responding to the three-star formation with the 3-3 point or small knight's approach is better?"

"Each has its merits."

Yu Shao pondered before answering: "The 3-3 point leads to fewer variations, with both sides focusing on center invasions. The small knight's approach creates more complex positions affecting the whole board."

"Master Fu clearly wants to avoid oversimplifying the position, thinking he might not find opportunities otherwise. He wants to create complexity to challenge Su Yiming directly!"

Zheng Qin took a deep breath. "It seems Master Fu is going all out too!"

As discussions about the game's development continued in the broadcast room, the commentators kept placing stones in sync with the televised match, creating a mix of analysis and clicking stones.

On screen, black and white took turns placing stones, first testing positions in the lower right before moving to the upper left in a tangle of moves.

"Here in the upper right, Master Fu chooses the push-and-extend. Su Yiming's connection here is inevitable, but what will Master Fu do next?"

Zheng Qin stared at the board, lost in thought.

"He might tenuki to the upper right to settle the shape."

A cool voice spoke from the group.

Everyone looked up toward Xu Zijin, Yu Shao included.

Facing their gazes, Xu Zijin calmly continued: "Since black played the three-star formation, once white roughly settles the corner, all that remains is focusing solely on reducing black's framework."

Having said this, Xu Zijin looked away from the board to Yu Shao.

Yu Shao blinked, then nodded. "That's indeed a good approach. If it were me, I'd probably choose the same."

The others studied the board following Xu Zijin's reasoning, nodding in surprise.

"Tenuki?"

"Truly an excellent idea."

"Rather than keep tangling with black in the corner, better to simply settle the corner shape - not seeking advantage but avoiding mistakes. Then white can invade black's framework, testing black's responses!"

As they discussed, hands moved across the board showing possible variations.

Then Zheng Qin glanced at the screen and suddenly stiffened, eyes widening in shock.

"Wait!"

"Su Yiming... Su Yiming didn't connect! He made a large knight's move in the center!"

At this, all conversation ceased abruptly as everyone turned to the screen.

Yu Shao also looked, staring at the new black stone that had appeared.

On screen—

Seventh line, sixth row - large knight's move in the center!

The upper left corner followed the standard push-and-extend joseki. By definition, joseki represented fixed sequences in corner battles.

This meant that in a given joseki, amateur and professional moves would be identical, as both sides followed the established pattern.

In the push-and-extend joseki: black approaches high, white pushes, black extends, white retreats, black connects, white jumps or makes a knight's move, black extends along the side - these moves were practically mandatory!

Their earlier discussion had focused on white's strategies after black's side extension.

But in this game, facing white's retreat, Su Yiming didn't follow joseki by connecting—

Instead, he made a large knight's move right in the center!

"This..."

For a moment, no one could speak.

All eyes remained fixed on the screen in awe.

This move wasn't bad nor hard to understand.

In fact, at first glance, everyone grasped its intention and sensed its brilliance.

The move seemed incredibly floating - placing a stone in the wide-open center so early created tremendous visual impact!

Viewed in isolation, it would be a mistake. But with black's three-star formation, this seemingly floating center stone now appeared... ethereal!

Someone stared at the screen unblinking, murmuring: "So imaginative... Not even twenty moves in and already developing the center directly..."

The sentiment was universal.

After all, this position came from an extremely common joseki!

Yu Shao's expression turned serious as he watched.

The difficulty wasn't in finding this move.

Any professional could find it given the idea.

True, placing a stone so early in the empty center created striking visual impact - truly spectacular.

But was it really better than following joseki by connecting?

Not necessarily.

At best, it wasn't worse - clear in purpose, unified in goal, with good shape. But definitely not clearly better than connecting, possibly even inferior.

The real challenge lay in having such unconstrained imagination.

The courage to break conventions and seek new possibilities within established joseki!

"Su Yiming must know I'm watching this game."

Yu Shao's eyes gleamed as he stared at the screen, as if he could see through it to where Su Yiming sat before the board.

"In this Great Go Player match... what kind of game does he want to show me?"