The Go Association had a membership of about thirty or forty people. These were the most highly proficient players in the city. Amongst them, there was a small group that had achieved a 5th dan ranking. These were the city’s champions. They were all exceptionally seasoned players who played with style and sophistication; they were like silent killing machines waiting in the darkness. To them, Father was, at most, a beginner who demonstrated some talent. As you can imagine, the first match ended in disaster; Father was shattered like an egg smashing against a rock. But that wasn’t the end of it – something rather strange happened, practically unbelievable, really! The best player in the group wanted to do battle with Father, so the board was set up. But things didn’t turn out as expected. Whilst the match began with him employing his superior skill, Father quite quickly began to catch up, began to take his stones, and eventually surpassed him, by a large margin in fact. Facing such superior opponents, it was perhaps to be expected that Father would lose quite a few games, but it wasn’t long before he began transforming every defeat into victory, ultimately becoming an unbeatable opponent. It was as though in the span of a single night Father’s go skills had grown by leaps and bounds. Yesterday he was easy to beat, but today he was invincible. The truth was, basically, no one could challenge Father, at least not for long. Quite a few well-known go players did pay him visits, and for more than a couple of weeks, Father would be continuously locked in battle with these adversaries. In most instances, the expert players would win the first match, they’d be the lords and masters of the game, but the result always turned out the same: without exception, they would all lose to Father in the end. Father truly was a formidable player; eventually every opponent would fall against him. It practically became routine! Later on, Father would often say, every time he began a match with a new opponent, he’d never worry about defeating them, he was only ever concerned about them defeating him. Father understood that it was getting difficult for us to find him a challenger, especially if they had no chance of winning. Not only did this depress us, but it also greatly annoyed him. He always longed for a challenge. He loved coming face to face with an imposing enemy and then destroying them, conquering them – giving his all to achieve victory. He couldn’t stand not being able to find a worthy foe; not being able to play a game of go that didn’t already have a foregone conclusion. And so, as with the tediousness of normal life, he soon began to grow weary of the game.