In the beginning, he spent most of his time playing against opponents who lived within the neighbourhood, usually in the work unit’s recreation centre. It was there that you could find the go enthusiasts. Some were quite accomplished players, others not so much. Father played each of them, one by one. About a month later he had gone through the ranks; there was no one who had not conceded defeat. Of course, there were any number of go masters still to be challenged, but those types of players would never come to play in such a place. I mean, really, what would they do there? They’d easily tire of the social niceties and interactions of such a place, much preferring the peace of their own homes – hidden away, as it were. This is what happened to Father; he turned into one of those go players. You could say that it was the recreation centre that had forged him, and had broadened his understanding of the game, but the level of play at the centre never changed, and now Father was unable to find a suitable opponent – no one matched his ability, or presented a challenge to him. What’s the fun in playing go without a worthy opponent? Victory now meant nothing to him, it held no appeal; and thus there was no need to go to the recreation centre. It was then that he began to venture out into the garrison town to find an adversary, someone to measure his abilities against. But even before the warm breezes of summer arrived, there was no one in the town who had not suffered defeat at his hands. It took him only six months to become the best-known and most feared go player in the area!