[Soul of Chess] What if

Taya Yukiyo's hometown is in Asahikawa, Hokkaido.

When he was a teenager, Yokohiro was a typical naughty and willful child, and he didn't listen to his parents' control at all, which caused his father Hiromitsu Toya and his mother Kiyoko Toya quite a headache.

In order to make his personality a little bit tighter, Mr. Taya Hiromitsu, who was only at the fifth or sixth level of Go, began to teach him to learn Go when Xingyang was in the third grade.

At that time, Xingyang was almost nine years old. Although he did not learn chess early, his growth rate was astonishing. In less than a year, his chess strength surpassed that of his father.

During this process, Xing Yang became deeply fascinated by the endless fun on the chessboard.He is no longer keen on playing with other children. Whenever he has free time, he will sit in front of the chessboard and study Go with great concentration. As a result, his original personality has changed a lot.

When his chess strength was equivalent to that of the first stage, Yoshihiro's uncle, Mr. Makoto Muraoka, who has the strength of the fourth stage, took him to the home of Katsumi Hayase, a fifth-stage chess player in Asahikawa.

Hayase-san discovers his talent after a chess trial with Xingyang and decides to train him.So for a period of time after that, every Saturday and Sunday, Xingyang would take the bus to Mr. Hayase's chess club to learn chess.

Mr. Hayase and his father are old friends. In order to have a better future for Xingyang, he introduced and mentioned his wish of "beginning" to his father when his father came to Hokkaido for a cruise.

After hearing about Xingyang, his father arranged for his younger brother Gong Zewulang to play a game of chess with Xingyang.

However, not long after that, my father was again haunted by illness.

This time, the father's situation was not optimistic. For more than a week, he had been hovering on the edge of life and death.

Although his father wanted Xingyang to be his disciple, but considering his current physical condition, he did not accept Xingyang's "introduction" as a last resort.

Later, under the strong recommendation of Mr. Haase, his father finally agreed with him to "get started".

So after the primary school graduation ceremony, 13-year-old Xing Yang came to the dojo with his parents and grandmother.

In fact, after his father collapsed due to a cerebral hemorrhage for the second time, Akiko was basically responsible for the Go instruction in the dojo.

At that time she was 19 years old.Although there are only three dans, she has already won the women's Honinbo Championship.In the year when she started to travel abroad, she was promoted to the fourth dan.So, she's perfectly capable of the job.

However, these tasks are a very heavy burden for Akiko who is a chess player.

Mingzi not only supervises and guides the disciples during their training, but also takes care of their daily life.

In addition to the affairs of the disciples, her father also needs her to manage the "Saturday Dazhu Club" open to amateur chess players.Akiko is responsible for almost all of these tasks, such as publishing conference reports, holding chess games to enjoy the cool air, and making travel plans.

Not to mention receiving visitors, answering phone calls, and playing chess on behalf of his father.In short, these things keep Akiko busy.

In addition, the living expenses of the disciples and the medical expenses of the father's recuperation also need to be borne by her.So, while dealing with the above things, she has to work non-stop.

Although she has to deal with such complicated affairs every day, whenever she has free time, Akiko will be extremely enthusiastic about learning chess.

Whenever there is a game in the Chess Academy, even if it is very late, she will still watch the game there.

In addition, Mr. Kajiwara Takeshi of Kudan will come to the dojo to hold two seminars every month.The seminar lasted from 10:11 am to [-]:[-] midnight, and Akiko didn't leave until the seminar was over every time.

At any time, she always holds a notebook in her hand, which records the chess records of some strong players she has seen. On the side of the game records are densely written her understanding and feelings about this game.Whenever she has new insights, she will record them as soon as possible.

In all her free time, Akiko devotes her body and mind to Go.

It was this persistence that enabled her to not only rise to the sixth dan, but also win the women's Honinbo championship six times during the ten years of hard work.

At the beginning, Akiko's impression of Xingyang was only "a boy with a bright expression but a stubborn personality".

Since there is an 8-year age difference between the two, she has always regarded Xingyang as a "brother". She is always very warm to her disciples without discrimination, and has no special care for anyone.

In the sixth year when Xingyang became his father's disciple, the relationship between the two began to change.

That year Akiko was 26 years old and Xing Yang was 18 years old.

One day, Yukihiro replaced his father to play chess for sumo wrestler Maeda Yamaseki, and it was nearly midnight when he returned to the dojo.

Akiko has to be busy with a series of trivial matters during the day, so even though the night is a rest time, it is a rare opportunity for her to calm down and study Go.So she always does not rest until very late.

This occasional late return allowed Xingyang to see the scene of Ming Zi, who is both a senior and an older sister, studying Go hard under the light.

Seeing such a focused figure, he unconsciously took a few steps forward.

After hearing the sound, Mingzi put down the chess book and turned around suspiciously.

"Ah Xing?" After seeing the person coming, she whispered Xing Yang's name in a puzzled way, "Why are you only here now?"

"After playing the guiding chess, Mr. Maeda invited me to dinner in Fukagawa, so I was delayed for a while." Xingyang sat down not far from Akiko while answering Akiko's question.

Late that night, Xingyang and Mingzi talked until late in the living room on the first floor of the ashram.The topic is of course about Go.

When Mingzi talked about his ideals eloquently, Xingyang listened carefully and expressed his opinions from time to time.

Looking at Xingyang's focused expression, Akiko felt as if a ray of sunshine had shone into her heart, and her heart, which had been very tired all along, seemed to have a steady stream of motivation again.

It was also from this day that the two began to realize their feelings for each other.

However, there are 8 internal disciples living in the dojo alone, plus ordinary disciples, there are about [-] or [-] people living together at ordinary times, and Mingzi has to run around to deal with various things, So it is very difficult to have the opportunity of only two people together.

In order to solve such problems, the two of them often play chess.Because when playing chess, two people can not only be together in a fair manner, but also talk through chess moves.

However, some words cannot be conveyed through Go, so they began to write letters to each other, using letters to communicate their emotions.

In addition, since Xingyang became the first-level player in the third year of entry, he and Akiko often went to the chess academy to participate in the promotion competition, or to complete other tasks arranged by the chess academy.

There is only one stop from Yotsuya, where the dojo is located, to Kiin in Ichigaya, and a section of embankment was built beside the moat during the period.After understanding each other's intentions, this journey of about 20 minutes became particularly precious to them.Every time on the way back after playing chess, the two of them often walked along the river bank and talked to each other.It barely counts as a date.

In the spring after about a year of dating like this, Xingyang told Akiko his determination to become a lifelong partner with him.

After hearing this news, Akiko's heart jumped for joy.

Because she is very filial to her parents and never hides secrets, so after Xingyang expressed her determination to herself, she immediately told her mother, Mrs. Miharu.

"Among my disciples, someone wants to marry me." Akiko said to her mother.

Mei Chun's expression didn't change much after hearing this.After all, Mingzi is excellent in all aspects, and it is normal for some disciples to have a crush on her.

"Oh, XX? Or XX?"

Miharu kept mentioning the names of her disciples one after another, wanting to know which one it was.

She never expected that the other party was Xing Yang, who was only 18 years old, so she didn't get his name until the end: "So, it's Xing Yang?"

Seeing Mingzi nod her head lightly, Meichun felt her head was in a daze: an inner disciple who is not yet 20 years old and still a student actually proposes to marry her own daughter? !

Akiko didn't expect that telling this matter would arouse such strong opposition.

Not only did his mother disagree, but even Xingyang's parents also expressed their opposition.It can be said that no one supports them.

The situation was stalemate for a while, and this period also became the most painful period for Akiko and Xingyang.Because of distress, Ming Zi often couldn't fall asleep, and his face was extremely haggard because of missing love.Xingyang's originally unfit physique has also lost a lot of weight.

No matter how hard they try, they can't see a bright future. Coupled with the constant and strong opposition from their relatives, they are disheartened like a lonely boat floating on the sea, at a loss as to what to do.

It wasn't until two years later that things turned around—in July 1982, my father fell ill again due to cerebral hemorrhage.

Although my father also stubbornly defeated the god of death this time, my mother was extremely exhausted physically and mentally due to nursing patients and other reasons.After discussing with her father, she finally agreed to Akiko's marriage.

On March 1983, 3, after nearly three years of ups and downs, Akiko and Xingyang finally realized their goal of getting married.

Three months after Akiko's wedding ceremony, the 13-year-old dojo in Sansei, Yotsuya closed.

Although it is a pity, it is also helpless.

After all, his father's physical condition did not allow him to worry about it anymore, and Ming Zi has been working hard to maintain it.Now she has also left the dojo, so the dojo also...

After marriage, she didn't slack in the slightest towards Akiko Go.In the second year, she participated in the women's celebrity competition held by the TV station and won.

At the same time, Xingyang's competition performance began to gradually improve.

During this period of time, Akiko no longer had to worry about chores as before, and she finally had enough free time.This is the life she longed for a long time ago.

It's a pity that on December 12 of this year, my father left me forever.

The death of his father dealt a great blow to Akiko.For a long time she seemed depressed.

She had read "Three Kingdoms" eagerly, hoping to forget her father's death.

But, how could it be forgotten?

That is the father I admire and respect the most!

Even if her father becomes a vegetable, she still hopes that her father can continue to live...

but……

The death of her father plunged Akiko into deep grief.One day a year later, when Akiko went to the hospital for an examination as usual, she was told by the doctor that she was pregnant.

The joy brought by this news finally diluted a lot of the sadness that shrouded Akiko.

It was also in this year that the 25-year-old Xing Yang won the title of the first official competition-celebrity.

On December 1986, 12, Akiko gave birth to A Liang in the Lichuan hospital.

After staying in the hospital for about three weeks, Ming Zi went to the chess academy to participate in a competition with Ah Liang on his back.

"As long as I can reach the seventh level, I will be satisfied." Ming Zi once said.

In fact, Akiko almost stopped all the activities that she had been doing before, such as playing chess, during the period from getting married to officially getting married.

Her idea is that being a wife should not interfere with her husband's career.

After all, when they got married, Xingyang was in the sixth dan, and Akiko was also in the sixth dan.It's just that, compared to Xingyang's fledgling, Akiko is the daughter of the famous Otake teacher, and she has won many consecutive championships in the women's Honinbo tournament. She has a very high reputation in the Go world and is also very popular among chess fans.

In order not to add pressure to Xingyang, Akiko made such a decision.

However, she was unwilling to give up in the promotion competition no matter what.

In order to accumulate enough points, Mingzi has been insisting on participating in the competition. Before A Liang was born, she even specially entrusted the Chess Planning Department of the Chess Academy to adjust her game schedule.Therefore, soon after the child was born, there was an arrangement for the game.

"Let's find a bigger house." One day, Ming Zi said to Xing Yang.

The place where they live now was rented by Akiko and Xingyang after their mother agreed to their marriage, and they have lived there for four years.

The reason for the temporary loan is that neither of them has much savings, and the wedding ceremony and wedding banquet are a lot of expenses, so they can't buy even a house with their little savings.So in the end the only option is to rent.

It was a two-story building with an independent portal, with three bedrooms, a dining room and a kitchen, and the rent was [-] yen.

When there were only two people, I didn't feel anything, but after having a child, the house seemed narrow.At this time, Xingyang had some savings due to winning the celebrity battle, so Akiko made such a proposal.

To Akiko's proposal, Xingyang replied in this way: "I want to save more money, so please wait a little longer. If you want to buy, always buy a house that can live for a long time."

When Ah Liang was one year old, Xing Yang founded a research club to cultivate talented disciples like his father-in-law Mr. Otake who is also his teacher.

When Ah Liang was two years old, Xing Yang finally saved enough expenses.He bought the land where he lives now and built the house.

It was also in this year that A Liang began to learn Go from his father, Ta Yayukihiro.