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I Really Didn’t Mean to Play Go!
Type
Web Novel (CN)
Genre
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Rating(4.2 / 5.0, 70 votes)
5    67% (47 votes)
4    7% (5 votes)
3    10% (7 votes)
2    10% (7 votes)
1    6% (4 votes)
Language
Support Book (#ad)
Author(s)
One entry per line
Artist(s)
One entry per line
N/A
Year
Example: 2012
2024
Status in COO
Status in Country of Origin. One entry per line
358 Chapters (Ongoing)
Licensed
N/A
Completely Translated
No
Original Publisher
One entry per line
English Publisher
One entry per line
N/A
Release Frequency
Every 0.8 Day(s)
Activity Stats
[Graph]
Weekly Rank: #61
Monthly Rank: #85
All Time Rank: #3489
Reading List
[Graph]
On 683 Reading Lists
Monthly Rank: #216
All Time Rank: #11358

Description

Links are NOT allowed. Format your description nicely so people can easily read them. Please use proper spacing and paragraphs.

Yu Shao, a national Go master, transmigrated to a parallel world and became a high school freshman. Given a second chance at life, he only wanted to enjoy a carefree and flamboyant youth, ensuring it wouldn’t slip through his fingers again.

But… why am I picking up Go pieces again?!

Although playing in a Go world untouched by harsh AI training makes it all too easy to dominate an era—it’s undeniably satisfying on some level.

[…]

A group of professional Go players: “Wait, you can play Go like this?”

Yu Shao nodded: “Yes, this is how Go is played!”

Associated Names
One entry per line
我真没想下围棋啊！
Related Series
N/A
Recommendations
N/A
Recommendation Lists
  1. Memorable works of passion
  2. Worth a Read (hidden gems)
  3. Summer 2025
  4. Shockingly Good
  5. Lets play

Latest Release

Date Group Release
04/14/25 BOTI Translation c221
04/14/25 BOTI Translation c220
04/13/25 BOTI Translation c219
04/13/25 BOTI Translation c218
04/12/25 BOTI Translation c217
04/12/25 BOTI Translation c216
04/11/25 BOTI Translation c215
04/11/25 BOTI Translation c214
04/10/25 BOTI Translation c213
04/10/25 BOTI Translation c212
04/09/25 BOTI Translation c211
04/09/25 BOTI Translation c210
04/08/25 BOTI Translation c209
04/08/25 BOTI Translation c208
04/07/25 BOTI Translation c207
1…56789…21
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6 Reviews sorted by


rakedrawgen
New rakedrawgen rated it
June 13, 2025
Status: c305
So I binge-read this novel and while it definitely does a lot right, the flaws in the story started nagging me the more I read it that I have mixed feelings overall. For the positive aspects of the story, it presents Go in an accessible manner that you don't really need to understand the rules (as I certainly don't) and makes it exciting at that. It's fun to see Yu Shao wow the other characters with unconventional tactics from his past life and reverse the playing field. The novel presents... more>> Yu Shao a formidable rival quite early on despite him being in high school, giving him a challenge. The translation is also competent for conveying the sense of drama. The side characters are interesting, and there's no deliberately annoying villains or poor sports overall.

There's a lot of things which bug me about this story, and one is its contradictory nature at times. Characters will declare stuff like "Only by losing can one become a better player!"... but Yu Shao doesn't really lose at all. Yes, it's a given since he's a transmigrator and he technically lost to AI in his previous life a lot, but this makes Yu Shao fairly static since we never see him grow or have a way of gauging this. So the side characters who lose to Yu Shao are in fact the more interesting characters, as we see them lose to Yu Shao and progressively give him a harder time. The story tries to paint Yu Shao as growing by him adopting a more offensive play style compared to his previous life, but we never actually see this initial defensive play style. Sure, Yu Shao critiques his moves at the end of games occasionally but it's like a straight A student moaning that they scored a 98 on a test. So if the story is preaching growth by losing, why are we following Yu Shao's point of view where he just curb-stomps everyone? Pick a side.

Another thing that somewhat bugs me is how AI and Go constrains the story. The general concept of the story is that Yu Shao is astonishing players of this world by repeating moves which AI used that upended traditional Go theory. For example, Yu Shao will be in a sticky situation, play an unexpected move, baffle everyone, and then reflect how AI used to do this in his previous life. This scene removes agency from Yu Shao, it's not really him doing the genius plays but the AI. It's not a problem initially as that's the whole premise of the story, but as this scene starts being repeated over and over again with how many Go matches are played in this story, it makes it feel at times that the side characters are facing off an AI as opposed to Yu Shao as a human being. And at that point, why are we bothering to read people lose to a computer? And I think it's somewhat of an inescapable aspect of the premise itself; the author can't easily write an original and creative play in Go for Yu Shao without it already being known in real life or to AI. It also leads to another contradictory point of this story. I think at one point Yu Shao declares that he wants to take Go further beyond AI in his previous life. Ok, how's that going to work when the author presumably can't?

Another aspect which lends itself to Yu Shao's roboticism at times is that the story doesn't particularly delve deeply psychologically into the characters and their decision making. The story does show this in some capacity, but it's not really developed well enough for my liking. Most of the time, the story is instead framed from the point of view of the spectators who analyze their actions. This means that the reader is also kept in suspense with what Yu Shao is planning alongside the spectators. It makes sense dramatically, but I think this mind-game is not explored to the extent that it could be. There's also a lack of stakes overall due to him being overpowered for his rank/age, that there's no real tension to be had. There's no "this is my final year of high school" or "I will go into debt if I lose this game" sort of pressure for Yu Shao, so these struggles are off-loaded to one-off side characters who disappear immediately afterwards.

Regarding the side characters, I think the early ones are built fine, but as Yu Shao ascends, the side characters become numerous and one-off. His ascent from 1-dan to 2-dan is particularly egregious I think, where 10+ characters go through the revolving door of getting whooped by him. This part is also where a lot of the repetition set in which started my grievances with the story. I think even the translation is messing me with certain names at times, take Chapter 301 for example, where there's suddenly a Zheng Qinxuan and Sui Liang (likely meant to be Wu Zhixuan and Yu Shao respectively) and it doesn't feel out of place in this story. I think it would also be nicer if the characters were more well developed outside of Go. Yu Shao's previous life, how he feels about his new family, Xu Zijin's family, Su Yiming's life outside of Go, etc.

The translation is great but with one big exception being its formatting. It starts going off the rails at times where one chapter is suddenly spammed with italics, one chapter with line breaks, and even one with red pin emojis?

So it's an exciting read overall, but I think if you want something competitive focused that actually has some struggle, look elsewhere. This is moreso endless curb-stomping, and there's fun to be had in that. <<less
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KIWI
New KIWI rated it
June 7, 2025
Status: c125
Good fun novel, currently. Has that sporty, competitive feeling without it being overly cringe like they can be. It's a bit sexist but honestly what light novel isn't. If you know nothing about Go, this novel will not clear things up all that much, but the author and translators work hard to get the general idea across even to the ignorant.

Somewhere around chapter 110 the translator discovered their previously unknown but deep love for italics and then proceeds to insert them at any given opportunity. Which, at least for me,... more>> makes it hard to focus. <<less
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Sky3Fall
Sky3Fall rated it
February 18, 2025
Status: c112
This novel is akin to the written form of a Go sports anime, and I mean that in the best way possible. At first, I thought it would be an endless string of the MC crushing opponents while the audience gasps and cheers, and to be honest it sort of is, but the victories are never the focus. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the Go games themselves aren't the focus. The main focus of the story is, like any good sports anime, on the... more>> mindsets and growth of the players themselves. Even if you don't know anything about Go and can't follow along with the games (like me), the story does a good enough job of expressing the thoughts of each player that it doesn't matter; you can understand the game just by reading those thoughts. A couple of times I grew annoyed at all the Go terms I didn't know the meaning of, but ultimately it didn't bother me much, as the spotlight was almost never on the game, but on the players. What also struck me as pleasantly surprising was that every single player respects the game. There is no cheating or underhanded moves, and the experts don't look down on the less skilled players. The game is never portrayed as this sort of "holy thing", but the way everyone faces the game reveals their respect and love for it. In my opinion, this is the best way to praise a thing: not by shouting how its the best and all others are tr*sh, but by having the characters and the world itself give it the appreciation it deserves.

The final thing that unexpectedly caught my attention was the characters. Below are my favorites. SPOILER WARNING.

Yu Shou:
Spoiler

The MC, who I thought would be an arrogant and distant, is humble and friendly. He laughs with his friends, loses League games with them, and banters with a smile on his face. One of the earliest chapters states that he regrets dedicating his whole life to Go in his first life, and his actions in his second life support that claim. Yet as the story goes on, he actually goes through some character development. He rediscovers his passion for Go, and you can really feel the amount of weight he puts on the game even though he never loudly proclaims it. He respects every opponent and never tr*sh talks. He's willing to guide his friends and the other members of the Go team. Yu Shou is a sports anime protagonist in the best way possible, lifting up all those around him.

[collapse]

Xu Zijin:
Spoiler

At first, Xu Zijin seemed like a stereotypical "cold beauty". She was distant from everyone, her grades were at the top, and everyone had crushes on her but nobody dared to confess to her. Then she sits down at the Go table and flips my whole understanding of her character. Remember how I said this novel was like a sports anime? Xu Zijin proves it as well, as you can just feel the passion radiating off of her any time she plays. As you learn more about her, it completely destroys any "cold beauty" sentiments. She has passion, she has emotion, she enters a slump and recovers from it, she reflects on herself in ways that I wish every character ever would do so. I didn't have a single negative thing to say about her. Then, Chapter 101 arrived and hit me right in the feels. I give the author my congratulations, as they have successfully gotten me to actually become attached to a female character in a Chinese novel.

[collapse]

Su Yiming:
Spoiler

In another novel, he would be the protagonist and it really shows. There's a ton of parallels to Yu Shou's own story, and the novel even has small interludes that exist to hype him up just like a main character. Of course, Yu Shou is the protagonist here, and their ultimate showdown proves it. But the story never treats Su Yining as a stepping stone for Yu Shou. He's kind, humble, willing to learn, and just like many others is very passionate towards the game of Go. It's made very clear that Yu Shou respects Su Yiming a lot, and the reverse is also true, and this is part of why I'm loving this story a lot. There are no one-off characters. Nobody exists just to let the MC show off, nobody exists just so they can get face slapped. Everyone is the protagonist of their own story, it's just that we're following along to Yu Shou's perspective.

[collapse]

Ultimately, I would rate this novel at 5 stars. It made me smile, it made me laugh, it made me sad, it made me love the world and the characters. I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a warm read about a passionate cast growing and striving towards their dreams. <<less
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CandleLight
CandleLight rated it
March 6, 2025
Status: c259
I normally don't touch sports-type novels, but I clicked on this one for some reason. And it's been amazing.

For starters, my background in Go starts and ends with this novel. LMAO. I know nothing except it's eastern kind of Chess, and yet this novel made me read so fast 200 chapters flew by and I still want more.

The novel made me curious and had me googling the moves. I want Go board now lol. I am actually reading up stuff on the rules and plays and watching some YouTube about... more>> it. (The YouTube documentary about 9-dan player beating AI once was phenomenal. Please check it out. You won't regret it.)

In conclusion, this novel is worth the read. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! <<less
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Juslin
Juslin rated it
March 20, 2025
Status: c171
Not a bad read. Pretty quick too, since chapter length isn't very long.

I really liked the dynamic of ... more>>
Spoiler

greatest Go genius of all time vs greatest Go player of the future with AI-assisted knowledge

[collapse]
that was revealed fairly early on. The base concepts of everything else (characters, world-building, character growth) is pretty good too. I just wish the execution could have been a little better. Then this would easily be a 5* worthy novel.

The main thing I was dissatisfied with was the limited exploration into the psyche of the players. I think this is one of the strongest parts to explore in the Sports genre, and it's criminally underused in this series. There was so much potential in the planned outline, too. Just unfortunate, really.

I also wish the protagonist could encounter more setbacks from somewhere. Of course, it's unrealistic that anyone would be able to challenge him with his future knowledge. But it's not like he's using his full strength in the novel, since he's intentionally playing to improve a weakness. Giving Su Yiming a win could have really improved their rivals dynamic, to the benefit of the novel.

I'm also not sure what the author is planning with Xu Zijin. She could be interesting if more focus was placed on character exploration, but with the current plot-driven story, her role is really... pointless? Talented sure, but not as talented as Su Yiming. Strong, sure, but not as strong as the professional players who have been at it for decades. She's just sort of... there.

Overall, I would say "I Really Didn't Mean to Play Go!" is a fairly decent novel, with lost potential. Go knowledge is preferred, but not necessary. The author tries their best to make it readable for people not in the know via analogies and fluid descriptions. If you like the thrill of competition, and the idea of someone bringing novel ideas brought about by AI into a world behind on Go theory, this novel will be for you. Just don't expect anything incredible, and you'll be satisfied. <<less
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Axistreex
Axistreex rated it
April 27, 2025
Status: c175
This novel is incredibly well done for its genre. The characters are very interesting and you get genuinely exited for some of them. There's a good amount of character building for each character and no s*upid idiots.

though it does pretty heavily focused on the game itself.

So it's a really good read, should give it a chance.
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