166. The art of Weiqi (Go/Baduk) war (碁#18) - Losing at the Game

They say sometimes losing is a form of winning. Who they are, I don't know. But experience has shown me many times that it's not the losing that is winning but that we sometimes have to lose first in order to win second. Now to be clear, I do not recommend this strategy unless you know what you are doing and have a clear goal that justifies the means. Otherwise you are liable to get labelled a loser. And I've never heard of a guy getting a free fuck because they're losers. It just doesn't happen. And yet at the other extreme end, when we are winning all the time, the ground below can shift without us being aware. Recently I played Weiqi (Go/Baduk) with my close friend Andy. It had been more than nine months since our last game, of which I had won. That had been a rare victory against him. In the vast majority of our games he'd win because his winning formula is to always play defensively until I'd run out of novel strategies. And as anybody familiar to the game can attest, nine times out ten, playing defence is the stronger position. So it won't be surprising when I say that Andy's chosen career is IT security. So here we are, at our latest game together. Aware that Andy will take the defensive line and probably win. So I thought to myself, why bother attacking all the time? While it helps him with his work, I am currently in transition and don't feel like being the aggressor. For the first time in my life I decided to play defensively, and see what happens. What happened, was that only half of the board - my half got played before I surrendered. I fought for every stone and sacrificed none, thereby losing any means of winning the war. On his side of the board there were only five stones and all of them were his. A one-sided whitewash. On post-analysis of the game, it became clear just how much he needed me to play aggressively and push him to breaking point. He never gets that playing online amongst players obsessed with ever increasing rules and handicaps. Not to mention how many people are leaving the game because artificial intelligence and it's perceived unbeatability. As he put it: I'm a General and should act like one! And for me... I went home. Lit some incense from Mount Koya in Japan and performed Chazen in front of an alter I keep handy for moments like these. Inhale slowly. Exhale slowly. And allow myself to brush a Haiku. ⚔️圍棋戰聖