brilliance
Hikaru's go is like his name, bright and fierce. His play comes to him in flashes and starts, burning white-hot and red. First an amateur, then an insei, and then a pro -- it all falls into place so easily for him. So naturally, like he saw the stones one day, lying on the goban, and knew to stretch his hand out and curl one flat against his fingertips. Like he knew his hand itself could become an instrument of the board.
"Sai," he thinks, "If I keep playing like this, will it ever be good enough to reach you?"
Brilliance -- whether at go, or anything else -- has always had a price.
Now, Hikaru's is just a little heavier than most.