Riding the wind of rebirth

“Damn…” Zhou Zhi asked, “Does that mean ‘great minds think alike’?”

"I guess this is just a coincidence?" Mai Xiaomiao said.

"A coincidence of three hands?" Zhou Zhi asked.

“No matter how complicated or simple it is, Xiao Zhi’s thinking is actually an algorithm,” Mai Xiaomiao said. “If the game of chess were played from the first move, Xiao Zhi’s moves would be absolutely different from Chang Ge’s.”

"Xiao Zhi's chess observation mode is actually just to give the optimal solution for the next move by studying Chang Gege's chess moves. In addition to giving his own, he will also give the winning probability ratio of several other high-probability moves."

"In other words, Xiao Zhi actually has his own moves for each step, which are then taken back into Chang's game and recalculated."

"So the truth is that in a game of chess, out of 140 or 150 moves, only three of Chang's moves overlapped with Xiao Zhi's predictions. The probability is actually not high."

“That makes sense.” Zhou Zhi thought for a moment and felt that Mai Xiaomiao’s explanation was correct, but then he felt there was still a problem: “That’s not right either. So, these three moves were all brilliant moves by Chang Shentong? What if Chang Shentong made every move according to Xiao Zhi’s method…”

“Xiao Zhi isn’t omnipotent either; he’s bound to make mistakes sometimes,” Hu Tianyu laughed. “There might be times when a bad move meets a bad move from a master, but we just don’t care about that part of the data. Let’s go, let’s talk in the conference room.”

The three of them handed in their trays and then took the elevator to the conference room of the data center. There was a large screen there, half of which showed a chessboard and the other half showed Xiao Zhi's data analysis and calculation.

An Chunjia was also in the conference room, directing several staff members to make adjustments.

"Oh, you're back?" Zhou Zhi laughed. "You're the one who came back specifically for this game of chess, aren't you?"

"You two are truly rare guests," An Chunjia said with a smile. "At least I've spent more time at the Calculation Center than you have. Oh, and Dean Lu will be arriving later too!"

"Oh dear!" Zhou Zhi pulled Mai Xiaomiao along, "Then let's go to the dean's office first. You guys will be pleasantly surprised if you don't see us for a while..."

"Ah, this..." Before An Chunjia could say anything, Zhou Zhi had already grabbed Mai Xiaomiao and ran off like the wind.

"Isn't Grandpa supposed to be back soon? Can't we just wait for him in the meeting room?" Mai Xiaomiao found it strange.

“That’s called understanding. You should visit your elders first when you get home,” Zhou Zhi said with a smile. “If you’re really busy with work, you can finish your work first before going back. That’s a valid reason.”

“But it would be very impolite to be busy with work first and then have your elders come to see you,” Zhou Zhi said. “If I had known that Grandpa was coming too, I should have gone to his office first and then come together.”

"Oh." Mai Xiaomiao didn't quite understand, but she still obediently listened.

Fortunately, Go needs to cater to television viewers, so it doesn't have to start very early in the morning. The Computer Science Department is currently the busiest department, and Mai Mingdong probably has a lot of work to arrange first, so he can only come at the last minute. Therefore, Zhou Zhi still has some time to maneuver.

The two arrived at the department office, and sure enough, Mai Mingdong was still calling a large group of people for a morning meeting. By the end of the meeting, only a large portion had left, with a small number still needing to give individual reports. Mai Mingdong gave each person ten minutes, which took another hour and a half. Only after the last person left did Mai Mingdong emerge from the room with his briefcase: "Let's go, let's talk over there. It's been so busy every day..."

“Uh…Grandpa, we’re back.” Zhou Zhi said, taking Mai Mingdong’s briefcase: “I’ll do it, I’ll do it.”

"Xiao Miao seems to have gotten a bit tanned," Mai Mingdong said. "Has she been playing too much?"

"No, it's just that Liangshan Prefecture is great in every way, except that the ultraviolet radiation is too strong, it's a quasi-plateau climate!" Zhou Zhi said, "Xiao Miao now takes her laptop and satellite switch with her when she travels. She says she's just having fun, but it's really just a change of scenery for her work."

"Do more while you're young, don't be like me, busy in your old age," Mai Mingdong said with a smile.

“Grandpa isn’t old,” Mai Xiaomiao said, linking her arm with Mai Mingdong’s. “He’s getting younger and younger.”

“Don’t learn this from Zhouzi,” Mai Mingdong laughed. “One experienced and worldly-wise person in the family is enough. If you have two, it’ll be exhausting.”

After a brief chat about everyday matters, Mai Mingdong turned back to business: "I haven't been keeping a close eye on how your Xiaozhi Go game is doing. A few days ago, Hu Tianyu came to see me and reported that you've already partnered with the Go Academy to launch a project that can train Go players?"

"Yes, Xiao Zhi's move model has now been optimized to the level of a top-tier professional player, but the teachers at the chess academy..."

"what happened?"

“That’s right,” Zhou Zhi said. “Actually, the chess academy’s ideology is now divided into two schools. One school is the philosophical school, which believes that excellent moves must also be beautiful, just like music and poetry, pleasing to the eye and flowing smoothly. The other school is the rational school, which believes that excellent moves must be utilitarian, meticulous, and aimed at winning. As for whether they are beautiful or not, that’s not really that important.”

"So, Xiaozhi is a member of the rational school, and he was resisted by the philosophical teachers at the Go academy?"

“That’s not the case. Although the teachers at the chess academy are all chess masters, they are focused on the calculations on the chessboard. They wouldn’t target Xiaozhi like this.” Zhou Zhi laughed. “In fact, quite the opposite. They are very surprised that Xiaozhi was able to win among them, and they find some of Xiaozhi’s unique techniques unbelievable.”

"The extreme clash of these two ideas results in two completely different styles of play. The representative of the philosophical or aesthetic school is Otake Hideo from the island nation; while the representative of the other school is the 'zombie style' from South Korea."

“Actually, this is a turning point for Go right now. When the ‘zombie style’ becomes more attractive, it’s like Ma Yaodao and Li Shifo.” Zhou Zhi said, “Both of them have shown brilliant Go skills and have even defined a new school of thought called ‘algorithmic Go’.”

"Algorithm? That term wasn't borrowed from our field, was it?"

"I don't know about that." Zhou Zhi hadn't really noticed this point: "It doesn't seem impossible."

"So what style does Xiao Chang, who won consecutive victories this time, belong to?"

"He's fairly even-paced, belonging to the old-school winners without any particular strengths," Zhou Zhi said. "Actually, I'm a layman when it comes to Go; what I just said was all hearsay." (End of Chapter)