LAZYBONES ZHOU was one of the most famous players of the early Qing period - around the mid 17th century. The main source of knowledge about him is the biography in "Caishan-tang Ji" (Collections from the studio of Zhou Yun) by a clansman. According to this, he was from a poor family in Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, but his grandfather Zhou Musong was good at go. Lanyu learnt to play too when he was just five or six by absorbedly watching his grandfather, and his skill rose rapidly.
As his fame spread, the elders of his village loved him for it and well-wishers put up prizes for him, summoning the best players from all around to play him. He beat them all, to the joy of his parents and grandfather.
He loved reading novels and whenever he played he held a book in his hand. As soon as his opponent made a move he would spend hardly any time thinking, replying very rapidly then returning to his book - exactly the same story is told today about Otake Hideo but with comics in place of novels.
Whereas his opponents would think deeply in the middle of complicated fights, dripping with perspiration, he would be serene. His analytical ability was said to be so accurate that, halfway through a game, he would normally announce: "You will lose by so-many points."
When Zhou was at the height of his powers, the champion Guo Bailing, though old, was as active and impressive as ever. The go world was keen to see the new and the old pitted together, and so well-wishers arranged a 10-game match. News spread and famous players from all around came in thick and fast to see it. After repeated trials of strength over several days, Zhou finally, because of his age, prevailed over Guo, who had till then ruled the go world for several decades.
There is a story that an otherwise undistinguished player Li Yuanzhou studied these games for a long time and then announced he could beat Zhou, whereupon he went to Jiaxing (Zhou's hometown) and won about 6 out of 10 games with him. He said Zhou was afraid of fighting in the open and he won by adopting that style. But examination of his extant games does not tally with the claim to have such a style: 8 games remain, of which 3 are with Zhou.
Another famous player of early Qing, Zhou Donghou, also played Lanyu but lost. After this, Lanyu was supreme and his fame spread everywhere. The go player Tang Jiujing from Shanyin got together over ten of the country's best players and together they, in secret, tried to find a way to deal with Zhou Lanyu. Eventually they decided on the tactic of several persons taking turns to fight him in order to tire him out.
They played at Wuli Xihu. The match rules were that Zhou would appear for play every day, and the 10-odd players would then take it in turns to play daily (it was the custom in Chinese go to finish a game in a single day). Zhou won all the games, but in every game he did just enough to win. It is from this characteristic, plus his habit of reading and his lack of material ambition, that earned him his nickname of lazybones - the character for "lazy" is very similar to the real Lan in his name, and it became the normal way to write his name.
People often tried to analyse his style and it was apparent that his powerful fighting was the driving force and was the main reason he won - once he got the initiative he never surrendered it. But in reality he was also far from lazy. Someone once asked him whether he had reached the acme of go skill. He replied, "Today's players may be no match for me but after every game I carefully play it over and there are always moves I regret. How can I have reached my peak if there are such moves?"
He was very conservative in the opening, though. He almost always played the tsukenobi joseki. The later guoshou Xu Xingyou, in his great collection of commented games, "Jianshan-tang Yipu," says, "Answering the double flying swallow and pressing down is a way of playing that began with Lanyu." And again: "His whole life through, Lanyu answered the double flying swallow corner attack with the small slant."
At least 40 games survive (mainly collected in Zhou Lanyu Yipu - Zhou Lanyu's Go Games) against top-rank opponents such as Guo Bailing, Wang Hannian and Zhou Donghou, and others such as Yao Yuru, Zheng Gugeng, Xu Zaizhong, Dai Chenye Zhou Yuanfu.
Here are some games in downloadable sgf format featuring Zhou Lanyu.
