A Meaningful Game
Chapter 1 – An Unfortunate Reaction
“Mom! Dad!” Kosumi bounded into his house. He hadn’t stopped smiling since he left The Empty Corner. “I got my cutie mark!”
There was a clamoring sound that came from the living room as Kosumi’s parents rushed to see their son. Kosumi’s mom was beaming as she came into the foyer and Kosumi’s dad was rushing forward instead of demonstrating his usual reserved posture.
“Let us see!” Kosumi’s mom came over to her son and turned him so that his flank was facing her.
“It’s a go move! A diagonal play in the corner. Isn’t it awesome?” Kosumi hadn’t really thought about what his parents would do when they saw their son’s go cutie mark, but they were his parents after all. But he turned his head to see their faces.
Eyes wide, each of his parent’s wore a startled expression. Silence hung in the room for nearly a full minute. During that minute, Kosumi felt the smile being drained from his face.
Kosumi’s mother was the first to break the silence. “Kosumi, we—”
He didn’t want to hear it. Kosumi ran past his parents and up the stairs to his room, closing the door as tears streamed down his face. They hate it. I can’t believe I was so dumb. Of course they hate it. They never wanted me to play go. They hate go! Kosumi thought about thinking about the idea that his parent’s hated him too, but the thought never surfaced directly. He knew his parents loved him.
A knock came at his door. His father spoke. “Kosumi? It’s Dad. Your mother and I want to come in. Is that okay?”
Kosumi didn’t know what to say to that. He wanted to tell them “yes” and “no” at the same time. Instead he just managed a quiet “Whatever.”
The door opened and his parents trotted into the room. “Kosumi.” His mother sat down next to him and put her front leg around his shoulders. “Your father and I are very sorry. We shouldn’t have reacted this way. Getting your cutie mark is always a happy occasion and you should be proud and we should be happy for you.”
“But you aren’t,” Kosumi slipped out from under his mother’s hoof and curled up with his head on his pillow at the top of his bed. “You never wanted me to get a go cutie mark. You didn’t want that to be my destiny.”
Kosumi’s dad spoke next. “Son, we are happy with whatever you end up doing. We thought go was just a phase you were going through, but now that you have a cutie mark we know that this game is a lot more important than just a hobby.”
Shivering slightly, Kosumi shook his head. “You don’t understand.”
“Then give us a chance to,” Kosumi’s mother put a hoof on her son’s head and, when he opened his eyes, she was smiling at him. “Let’s go to this club meeting with you next week.”
Chapter 2 – A Typical Club Meeting
Kosumi and his parents made their way to the Empty Corner the next week. The young colt was happy that his parents were going to give go a chance and was looking forward to playing another game against the club members. He was still getting regular lessons from Mr. Komi, but he was hoping that soon he could actually win a game.
His parents were surprised to learn that their son received his cutie mark in go when he had never actually won a game. In particular, his father was somewhat skeptical, saying that he’d never heard of a pony getting a cutie mark in any kind of competitive game or sport without winning. Still, it was clear that his son’s destiny was supposed to be playing this game, so he and his wife decided to see what all the fuss was about.
Kosumi felt the club members greeted the mare and stallion warmly considering what had happened to him the previous week. “This is my mom and dad,” said Kosumi. “They’re here to learn about go.”
Naturally it was Atari who first thanked the two for coming and then she quickly asked Kosumi for a game which Kosumi accepted. “I wanted to play you last week,” she said. “But you left as soon as you finished that game with Cross-Cut.”
Kosumi smiled. “I wanted to play you too. Let’s get a game set up.”
Kosumi’s parents followed their son and Atari over to a board at one of the tables in the restaurant. Kosumi’s mom asked, “So, what exactly is involved in setting up a game?”
“Actually, not much,” Atari lifted the lid on the bowl in front of her and, seeing it had black stones in it, gestured for Kosumi to take out a hoof-full of white stones for the nigiri. “We choose for color if we haven’t played before, or don’t know the rank of one of the players, by taking out white stones and having the other player guess whether the amount is odd or even.” When Kosumi put his hoof on the table, Atari took two stones out of her bowl. She had guess wrong so they swapped bowls and Kosumi prepared to go first. “The board starts empty,” Atari continued. “Kosumi is black, so he’ll make the first move.”
Taking a deep breath at the thought of being watched by his parents, Kosumi drew a stone from the bowl and played it on the 3-4 next to Atari’s left hoof. Kosumi’s dad blinked. “How did you pick up the stone like that with your hoof?” Reaching his own hoof into the bowl, Kosumi’s father fumbled around for a second and only managed to get a stone to fall onto the table.
“I had to practice a lot,” Kosumi answered. “It was pretty much the first thing I learned about go.”
“Well, you’ve gotten very good at it,” his mother said, smiling. Kosumi’s father was still looking back and forth between his hoof and the stone on the table.
Atari played her own 3-4 facing Kosumi’s at the top of the board. Kosumi then played another 3-4 stone in the bottom right corner facing the bottom. Then, instead of playing the last corner, Atari did a low approach to Kosumi’s first 3-4 stone. This puzzled Kosumi for a moment, then he realized that Atari was preventing him from making the orthodox opening he had come to like. She thinks my enclosure would be too good. I wonder... Kosumi then played the last corner as a 3-4 facing the left. Atari, without missing a beat, played a low approach to Kosumi’s second corner stone again preventing an orthodox opening.
“This,” said Kosumi to his parents, “is what my cutie mark is showing.” Going back to the first stone he had neglected, Kosumi played the diagonal response to Atari’s approach, raising his stone to the forth line and giving some encouragement to his stone at the bottom right.
From that point forward Atari demonstrated a solid mastery of go fundamentals. After playing out a complex joseki in the bottom right she proceeded to build large potential on the top and, when Kosumi tried to invade her top side outright instead of reducing from the outside, she attacked him relentlessly. Eventually playing a move that would force Kosumi to choose saving a floating group left from the lower right joseki or completely lose his invasion group that had been run over half the board. When this move was played, Kosumi resigned.
“That’s it?” Kosumi’s father asked. “What even happened?”
“There was a large fight,” Atari tried to explain. “After Kosumi played this stone in my influence he was forced to flee to the center of the board. However, I had already built up influence on the left as well, so he was forced to run toward the bottom right. When I played that last move I was making a double threat that was too hard for black to deal with, so Kosumi had to end the game.”
Kosumi’s dad shook his head. “What time are you going to be home tonight, Kosumi?”
Kosumi stared at his father who looked frustrated and annoyed. Then, in a voice that matched his recent defeat, he said. “I should be home in a couple hours. I just want to get in another game.”
Nodding and then gesturing to Kosumi’s mom, the two earth ponies left the restaurant.
As Kosumi’s parents left, the young colt wanted to start crying again, but Atari lifted his head. “Don’t worry,” she said, giving him a light smile. “I know this is hard for you, but remember that your parents did come tonight and that says a lot.”
Kosumi nodded. “I suppose so. I just had hoped they would like go.”
“Not everypony likes the same things, Kosumi. I’m sure there are things your parents like that you don’t and that’s okay. The important thing is that your parents are trying which is more than some ponies can say.”
After that, the two reviewed the game that had just been played. In retrospect, Kosumi was able to see his mistakes much more clearly. After they finished, One-Point Jump, the unicorn who had invited Kosumi to the club initially, walked over to the table.
“Kosumi, right?” asked the brown unicorn.
“Yeah.”
“What is it, One-Point?” Atari had a slight bite to her voice. She clearly would not tolerate any comments about Kosumi being an earth pony tonight.
“It’s nothing like that, Atari.” One-Point seemed annoyed. Then, he looked at Kosumi. “Would you play a game against me?”
“Sure,” said Kosumi. He wasn’t totally sure about One-Point, but he was glad that the unicorn was willing to give him a game.
“Alright, I’ll go set up a board over there.” One-Point left and Kosumi turned to thank Atari again for the game review. However, he noticed that the mare’s mouth was wide open.
“What is it, Atari?”
She looked over at Kosumi and said, in a low voice, “One-Point Jump hasn’t played a game in over a year.”
Chapter 3 – One-Point’s Challenge
“What?!” Kosumi looked over at the light brown unicorn and then remembered Mr. Komi’s comment to him in the shop the previous week. “That’s why he left last week? And was only watching everypony else’s games tonight?”
Atari nodded. “We’ve been trying to get him to play again, but ever since...” Atari bit her lip. “He should tell you. It’s not my place. But there must be something about you that struck his interest. I don’t know what you did or said, but I’m glad you started coming to our club. I just hope you can help One-Point get out of this slump.”
Kosumi looked across The Empty Corner and saw that One-Point was already seated at a board. A part of Kosumi wondered if he should let One-Point win, but then again, Kosumi had never won before, so it probably wouldn’t be an issue. “I didn’t realize this was such a big deal.”
“Don’t let it be,” Atari put her hoof on Kosumi’s shoulder. “If you want to help One-Point get back to playing, then just play a game of go with him. Nothing special and nothing you wouldn’t play against anypony else. Celestia knows he doesn’t like it when people make a big deal about how he hasn’t been playing.”
Nodding, Kosumi walked across the restaurant and seated himself across from One-Point. “Do you want to choose for color?”
One-Point nodded and took a hoof-full of white stones out of the bowl. “Odd or even?” Kosumi took out one stone. He’d guessed correctly; One-Point had taken 7 stones out of the bowl, so Kosumi was playing black this game.
It didn’t take long for him to choose how to begin. He enjoyed the more territorial 3-4 opening and Atari herself had said that he should play this just like any other game. His hoof and stone made a nice clacking sound against the board as he played his first move.
One-Point, however, spent nearly 5 minutes looking at the board. Kosumi and the rest didn’t say anything. One-Point was considering a lot of things. For the first time in almost a year I’m actually going to try this. What if I lose to this colt? An earth pony colt no less? How do I want to respond to this 3-4? It’s been so long since I’ve answered this move. I like the star point response. Then again, Kosumi's opening is for territory. If I go for a moyo he might make the game territorial and not let me get anything big.
Finally, a stone was lifted out of One-Point’s bowl and hovered over the corner facing away from Kosumi’s opening move. It came to rest on the star point. Cross-Cut nodded. This is exactly what One-Point has always done with a 3-4 opening. I hope this still feels natural to him.
Kosumi had already chosen his response to this move. Without wasting time he brought the stone out of his bowl and set it on the 3-4 facing away from his first corner move. If One-Point let him he was going to make his corner enclosure next. He wasn’t sure why, but he enjoyed a more orthodox opening.
One-Point’s response was the star point in the last corner. Kosumi enclosed his first corner and then One-Point played the star point between his own stones. He considered splitting Kosumi’s formation, but he wanted to play for a moyo. After Kosumi played the star point on his half of the board One-Point was fine with the way the game was going. He decided to play a low approach to Kosumi’s other corner to break up the formation.
By the mid-game a fight had begun between two groups on the top half of the board. Both, however, had managed to settle and One-Point took the time to tenuki and play an extension to one of his side groups that also denied the extension to one of Kosumi’s. After that move he was sure that he was ahead. Kosumi’s opening hadn’t been bad, but One-Point had managed to make his own moyo considerable compared to Kosumi’s territory. If he was able to turn a decent amount of his potential into points he would win for sure.
Kosumi was hurt a bit by the big move that One-Point had played, but he began to ponder the fight that One-Point had left. It appeared at first glance that both of the groups were settled with easy ways to make two eyes. However, something about One-Point’s group didn’t sit right with Kosumi. It was missing a move to guarantee the second eye, but at the same time there was no obvious way that Kosumi could take advantage of this. It seemed like any move Kosumi played was indeed sente, but still allowed One-Point to make an eye. There is a move. I know there is. I just have to find it...
One-Point began to wonder what Kosumi was thinking about for so long. He saw that the colt’s eyes were fixed on the two groups at the top of the board, but he had read out and seen that both could easily make two eyes. Sure, he and Kosumi had forcing moves against each other, but in the end they were just wasted ko threats. The unicorn shook his head. Kosumi doesn’t know what he’s doing. Anypony can tell that there’s only end-game moves on that group. Instead One-Point began to ponder how best to solidify his own territory. He was strongly considering a move near tengen when Kosumi lifted a stone and, very slowly and carefully, brought it to rest at a point just beneath One-Point’s top group. What is that colt trying to do?
One-Point looked at the move more closely. The response was obvious. He just needed to block the stone from above. Kosumi would pull back, One-Point could play on top and force another extension and then he would make his second eye. It was one of the many sequences he’d read out before playing the tenuki. One-Point began to lift a white stone out of his bowl, then stopped. There was a lone black stone that was inside his group. A left over dead stone that didn’t even seem to have much aji associated with it. But as One-Point read deeper he realized that Kosumi didn’t need to pull back from One-Point’s block. He could hane and threaten to either cut off a part of One-Point’s group or turn his inside stones into a box-four – a dead shape worth only one eye. How did I miss this move? Why didn’t I read it out more? In his rush for victory One-Point had left Kosumi the opening he needed. Maybe a year has left me too out of practice. Now that One-Point’s group wasn’t guaranteed two eyes locally it would need to run. But the path to the nearest white group was long and Kosumi would build up influence on both sides of the march across the board. One-Point read and re-read every sequence to see if he had missed some way to get two eyes. But he couldn’t find it. So he didn’t waste time. One-Point brought out a stone and began to run his group out toward the center. Kosumi gladly replied and the game began to get difficult for white.
Even after the chase was over One-Point was still ahead. Kosumi had only narrowed the margin and now that end-game was approaching One-Point could feel his win approaching with it. But the unicorn had made one final mistake. Kosumi had been noticing the move for a while, but hadn’t wanted to play it before the end-game. It was such a rare chance and he knew now that One-Point had missed it. His previous move had been to solidify his points in the top left corner. A fine move that Mr. Komi said was worth 15 points, but not worth nearly as much as the reverse monkey-jump that Kosumi was planning. It’s value was a bit harder to assess than a regular monkey-jump, but One-Point shouldn’t have missed the dead stone resting perfectly in place to end up on a diagonal from the reverse monkey-jump. Maybe he’s never seen a reverse monkey-jump? Mr. Komi said they almost never happen so maybe he only thinks I can do a regular one.
Cross-Cut, however, had been staring at the reverse monkey jump for the last 5 moves. I can’t believe neither of them has seen this. This one move would turn the game back to black’s favor. It’s so perfect for black. Kosumi must not know the move, but I wonder if One-Point has seen it.
But Kosumi did know the move and when he played the second line stone One-Point was baffled. What the? Is this little pony trying to run his dead stone out under my wall? Does he know how a monkey jump is supposed to work? He can’t play like that. But soon One-Point again found himself in the horrifying position of reading out a losing sequence. This... this is a reverse monkey-jump. How could I have forgotten about it? I’m not sure I’ve ever even seen one in a game. And that third-line stone was just begging for him to play this move. How long has this been an option for black? But that didn’t matter. What mattered now was minimizing the enormous damage the move was about to inflict upon his territory. It was over after 6 moves, but they were 6 very painful moves for One-Point and, when he counted again, he saw that he was behind now by about 4 points, even after his komi. He hoped Kosumi was poor at the end-game.
The game ended about 20 moves later and One-Point knew he had lost. Even so, the two counted out the final score.
“I have 86,” said One-Point, bracing himself for Kosumi’s answer.
“I’ve got 101.”
Cross-Cut smiled. “Kosumi wins by 8.5 after the komi. Well done, little colt.”
Taking a deep breath, Kosumi beamed. “I can’t believe I finally won!”
“How do you do it?” asked One-Point. Kosumi looked down at the board, trying to find what position he might be referring to. “No, not your game. How do you not give up on go?”
That wasn’t what Kosumi was expecting. “I don’t understand. Why would I give up on go?”
One-Point’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve never won a single game until today, right?”
Kosumi nodded.
“Then why did you keep playing? If you can’t even win, why play?”
It took a minute for Kosumi to consider what One-Point was getting at. He looked back at the board in front of him, replaying the game in his mind. He remembered all the decisions he made, all the choices that drove the game in this direction instead of another one, and all the times he nearly lost and the two moves that had lead to his first win. This game is thrilling. It’s fun just to try. “I guess I just love the game more than winning.”
When Kosumi looked up from the board One-Point was staring at him with a quivering lip.
“Say that again,” he said.
Kosumi hesitated. Then, “I love the game more than I love winning.”
The tears were about as dignified as a middle-aged unicorn could make them, but One-Point did start crying. His eyes raced over the board and he remembered every mistake he made and how hard he had fought to win against this earth pony. It felt like the game was his during the, but it had all slipped away when Kosumi had played that eye-killing move and then found that reverse monkey-jump. I got greedy. I thought the game was already mine. I’m foolish in everything.
“Are you okay?” Kosumi was concerned. He rarely saw grown stallions cry.
Long-Knight put a hoof on his friend’s back. “One-Point, I think you should tell Kosumi what happened.”
At first the brown unicorn didn’t speak. It was like he was considering his first move again. Then he started. “Her name was Double Hane. She was a wonderful mare and a wonderful go player. We were together for exactly two years. But I was foolish and stopped focusing on her and only focused on improving my go game. Double Hane had told me that I was taking go too seriously, but I didn’t think that was possible. After all, my cutie mark is about playing go. I want to be a professional one day. What else was I supposed to take seriously? The last straw came at our anniversary.
“I was supposed to take her to see an opera, but there was a go tournament in town that same day. I was sure I could make both, but soon I found myself in the finals of the tournament and the last game went on for nearly two hours. In the end, I lost and was too late to take Double Hane to the opera. With all of that I was so frustrated that I simply went home. I walked in to find a note from her left under my door. It said, ‘You don’t love me. You don’t even love go. You only love winning. I’m sorry if you thought you’d already won me, but I can’t offer you my heart to somepony that won’t make time for anything but himself.’ Soon after she left me I stopped winning go. Her note had left me so rattled I couldn’t even beat ponies 4 or 5 ranks below me. And after a month I decided that if I couldn’t win I just wouldn’t play go. In that moment it hit me how right Double Hane was. I never really cared about her, or even about go, I only wanted to win. I fought hard to win her affections before we started dating and then let her slip away because I thought she was already mine.”
“So I haven’t played go since then. I decided that if I didn’t love go for the game I might as well not play it at all. That’s where you came in. When Mr. Komi told me about a young prodigy that loved go and wanted to play the game no matter what I asked if I could meet you. I wanted to see if I could capture some of your passion. Instead, I found an earth pony and all I could think about was how ridiculous it would be for me to learn about go from somepony that can’t even pick up a stone. I suppose I need to work on my humility as well.” One-Point laughed a bit. “I need to say ‘thank you’ Kosumi. You are exactly what I needed. I can learn so much from somepony like you. But I hope you’ll also learn something from me here tonight.
One-Point paused for a moment, thinking of a good way to word his advice. “Find the same innate joy you do in go in love and friendship.” He said. “Don’t love your friends because of what they can give you, love them for who they are. I would hate to see somepony like you left a heartbroken mess because he decided that anything that comes from someone he loves was more important than the source of his joy.”
Epilogue
In the coming weeks the rest of the club was glad to be able to play One-Point again. They each took a turn playing their old friend as he worked back to his former level of strength. Kosumi no longer was able to beat him in an even game, but he only needed two stones and was satisfied with that.
One evening a few weeks later Kosumi entered the Empty Corner and noted that the go club members were all either doing game reviews or studying from books. It wasn’t uncommon for a couple of the members to split off and spend the night working on go problems instead of playing, but he’d never seen the whole club engaged in studying.
Walking over to a table where Atari was seated by herself, Kosumi asked, “Atari, what’s going on? Why isn’t anypony playing games?”
“Oh,” Atari looked around then laughed a bit. “I didn’t realize nopony was playing. I guess this happens from time to time when there’s a tournament coming up. Everypony gets so caught up in practice that we don’t play.” The unicorn shook her head. “I guess that’s not the best idea. Playing games is honestly one of the best ways to study, but sometimes it’s about feeling like you’re working.”
“So you guys are all preparing for a tournament?”
Atari nodded. “The Annual Unicorn Cultural Festival hosts a go tournament every year. Unicorns come from all over Equestria to compete. We all plan on competing this year. The event is hosted at the castle right here in Canterlot.”
“You mean the Princess’ castle?” Kosumi felt his excitement building. “Will the princesses be there? I’ve never met one of the princesses before.”
“Well, you should definitely come to the festival then. The whole event is being supervised this year by Equestria’s newest princess – Twilight Sparkle – and she’ll even be presenting the award to the best go player.”
Kosumi’s eyes went wide. “You mean I would get to meet the Twilight Sparkle?”
“Only if you win first prize. She’ll be giving out all the awards for all the various events, but if you win then yes, you’ll get to go up on stage and meet her in person.”
“There might be a problem,” Cross-Cut walked over to Atari and Kosumi. “Not to put a damper on the dream, but Kosumi is too young to enter alone and his parents aren’t likely to let him take part in a Unicorn Festival competition.
Kosumi’s ears fell. “Oh, I guess that makes sense.” Why do my parents have to hate go? Why do they hate my destiny?
Atari frowned. “Could one of us enter him?”
“You have to be at least 25 to enter a minor. We aren’t old enough.”
What am I going to do? Kosumi thought for a moment. “What about Mr. Komi?” Kosumi’s ears went back up. “He could enter me!”
Cross-Cut smiled. “I suppose he could. You’d have to ask him about it.”
“I’m sure he’d say yes! He’s done everything to help me with go. I’ll go ask him right now!”
“You’ll have to hurry. He’s busy on club nights, but I think he’ll still be at his store until it closes.”
Nodding Kosumi dashed out of the door of The Empty Corner as quickly as a colt could gallop. Racing through Canterlot, he was glad to see that he wasn’t too late. He arrived on the street as Mr. Komi was locking the front door of his shop. “Mr. Komi!” he shouted, panting as he ran the last few yards. “Mr. Komi! I have to ask you something.”
The unicorn turned and raised an eyebrow to the colt bounding toward him. “Kosumi? I thought you’d be at the Go Club tonight.”
“I need to ask you a favor,” Kosumi took a moment to catch his breath. “There’s a tournament coming up at the Unicorn Culture Festival. I need an adult to enter me and my parents won’t do it. Will you enter me?”
“I see.” Mr. Komi frowned. “First things first, did you actually ask your parents?”
Ears falling, Kosumi said, “No. I just know they aren’t happy with my cutie mark and they probably wouldn’t do it. I thought I’d see if you would.”
“Well, ask them first.” Kosumi looked at the ground. Then Mr. Komi continued, “If they do say ‘no’ to you, then I will enter you.”
Kosumi beamed. “You will?”
Mr. Komi nodded. “Once a pony has their cutie mark it is not up to anypony to tell them they are not going to fulfill that destiny. If your parents are unwilling to accept your future then I will need to help you along. However, I don’t think they will be. Something tells me they will support you in this.”
“I hope you’re right.” Kosumi was frowning again. He then noticed that Mr. Komi was wearing saddle bags with some of his books. “Are you studying go tonight?”
“No,” Mr. Komi shook his head. “I have another student I’m going to tonight. She likes to start the evening off with life and death problems.”
Curious, Kosmui asked, “Another student? Is there somepony else at my school who plays go?”
Chuckling a little, Mr. Komi said, “No, no. My student is not a filly. In fact she’s quite old.” Kosumi looked confused, so Mr. Komi continued, “You see, I came to Canterlot a few years ago to be the personal go instructor of Princess Luna.”
Kosumi was baffled. “The Princess plays go?!" He knew go was seen as important by more sophisticated members of unicorn society, but he had no idea that one of the Princesses would play the game.
“On occasion. Obviously her royal duties do not allow her to devote much time to playing, but even before her imprisonment in the moon the Princess had a personal go teacher.” Kosumi often forgot just how old the game of go really was. To think that Princess Luna was playing the game over 1000 years ago sent light chills down his spine. “When Princess Luna came back she had some difficulties adjusting to modern times. It seemed that everything she knew was outdated and everything had changed. But when she learned that go was still being played by unicorns in Equestria she asked if she could have a royal instructor again. It was a way for her to connect the past with the present. I was honored to be asked by Princess Celestia herself if I would teach her sister. And now I play and teach go with Princess Luna twice a month.”
“Is she good?” Kosumi wasn’t sure if that was appropriate to ask, but he was curious.
Mr. Komi smiled. “Would you like to come see for yourself?”
---
Chapter Go Problem
Life and Death - Black to play and kill White
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There is some improvement since chapter 1, but you have a while to go. I am glad that you don't directly rip the plot from Hikaru, because that gives you a bit of creativity, though there are some similarities. Still, at the end, can you put down a puzzle for the readers? Just give the solution in the next chapter afterwards.
2901620
I actually was trying to pay homage to Hikaru no Go with several details. Kosumi's appearance is directly based on Hikaru and the description of Mr. Komi is based on Sai (white coat, purple mane, and a yellow fan on a go board for his cutie mark). I knew people would compare this to the manga, so I thought it would be fun to throw in some visual Easter eggs (although I'm not trying to keep them hidden).
Apart from that, I'm hoping there aren't too many similarities beyond the fact that the story involves a young person learning and playing go. I'm not trying to copy Hikaru no Go. There will be no possession by ancient go spirits or Internet go games against reigning title holders.
As for adding go problems, I'll give it a shot starting with this chapter.
2902582Thank you so much! Black 1-2.