Go: The live broadcast queen launched a gorgeous rebellion against the dog

[I am Ben Prag, and I'd like to talk about the recent heated discussions surrounding Go and Rui Zhao.]

[As expected, when I woke up this morning, I saw that Rui Zhao had once again won the second game of the best-of-three series in the China Chess Master Tournament without any suspense!]

[Thus, she defeated Lei Qi with a total score of 2-0!]

[Following her recent victory over Yang Manjing in the Women's Title Special Match, securing the "Empress" and "Mulan" titles, she has now also claimed the last Chinese title, "Chess Immortal"!]

With this, Rui Zhao has now obtained all five unrestricted titles in China: [Chess Saint], [Master], [Tianyuan], [National Master], and [Chess Immortal], as well as three women's titles: [Zhaojun], [Empress], and [Mulan]!

[To obtain all the unrestricted titles and women's titles in the country by a single person—such a feat is unprecedented!]

As Rui Zhao sweeps all eight major titles in China, making history, as a moderate conservative, I have some thoughts I'd like to share.

Like most people, I first learned of Rui Zhao's name through the controversial arbitration case after last year's Asian Games—and I must frankly say that even today, I still have reservations about that highly contentious arbitration result.

However, as a conservative who has been following this matter closely (and again, I have not changed my political leanings), I must admit that, solely based on the skill and demeanor displayed by Rui Zhao as a chess player on the board, she absolutely deserves high praise.

Interestingly, my initial motivation for delving into Go was partly to point out flaws in the arguments of left-leaning media outlets, aiming to provide reasoned and evidence-based rebuttals and thoroughly refute them.

But the result was somewhat unexpected: the deeper I delved into the art of Go, the clearer a fact became—all the praise Rui Zhao received was not only not excessive, but may even have underestimated her actual skill level!

Her skill and achievements in Go are extraordinary and unique!

At the same time, she also showed me the infinite possibilities of Go, a fascinating sport for humankind.

Anyone who truly understands Go will tell you that the ingenuity of its rules and the richness and depth of its variations make it the pinnacle of human intellectual competition in board games, and this is no exaggeration.

It's no wonder that Go became the last fortress that artificial intelligence conquered in intellectual games, and the "deep learning" and "neural network" technologies developed to defeat it form the two cornerstones of current AI development. The value of Go itself is thus evident.

Admittedly, I must also acknowledge that in today's highest level of Go competition, artificial intelligence undeniably holds a comprehensive advantage over top human players.

However, can we conclude that an activity has lost its meaning for humanity simply because a so-called "superior entity" has emerged in that field? Such logic is clearly absurd!

[For example, does the availability of advanced sound equipment render live musician performances worthless? This line of thinking is clearly anti-intellectual and fundamentally underestimates the value of human activity.]

[Rui Zhao's recent series of breathtaking chess performances are the most powerful rebuttal to this argument!]

Starting with her quarterfinal game against Nie Yunyi in the Changqi Cup (where her ingenious "double-life capture" endgame strategy was a masterpiece), Rui Zhao's form and skill level have reached an unbelievable height!

[Single-stone attack against a strong opponent, sacrificing pieces to kill a dragon, last-minute blunders... In the recent Changqi Cup, LIG ​​Cup, and Yixian Tournament, she displayed the pinnacle of human skill in Go, leaving everyone mesmerized.]

[It can be said that while maintaining extremely high-quality moves, she also fully demonstrated the various possibilities of human play on the Go board, even hitting the AI's blind spots twice!]

From Rui Zhao, I can truly feel a series of spirits that only humans can embody: relentless struggle, the courage to face challenges, the relentless pursuit of technical perfection, and the desire to continuously explore the unknown—this is exactly the same spirit that mainstream sports at the Olympics evoke!

These qualities constitute the core value that AI can never replace.

Therefore, I believe we should appreciate Go with a more balanced and positive attitude: it carries profound traditional wisdom, its rules are incredibly simple, yet its meaning is as deep as the vast universe.

We shouldn't fall into the misconception that "it's meaningless if we can't surpass AI"—this kind of thinking is not only short-sighted but also harmful.

The intrinsic value of humanity's practice of challenging its own limits and pursuing excellence is irreplaceable. Rui Zhao's current relentless pursuit of the limits of human Go is the most vivid manifestation of this value.

[Note: I am a moderate conservative; my Go skill level is amateur 1-dan. A photo of my certificate is attached as proof.]

[(Note: I almost forgot... I'm still a big fan of Rui Zhao 9-dan!)]

……

"Uh...Commander..."

"This is the hottest post that sparked widespread discussion in the conservative section of the Red Dot forum this morning!"

At 12 p.m. local time on December 9, in a small strategic meeting room at the White House in the United States of America.

The chief of staff used a tablet to project the content onto the conference room's large screen, which displayed the post that had sparked heated discussion on the Red Dot forum. The post was quite long, and next to it was a photo of the amateur first-dan certificate as "authoritative" endorsement.

The chief of staff's expression was somewhat grim, and his voice carried a hint of anxiety. His fingertips slid across the screen, rapidly scrolling through the long string of text and the flood of heated comments below:
"...The poster was Ben Praggle, a well-known moderate right-wing online opinion leader with a strong influence and credibility among the pan-right public.

"He had never shown any interest in or support for Go online before. Even during the discussion of the Asian Games controversy last year, his stance was always biased towards us, believing that the Asian Games arbitration result was completely unreasonable!"

"But for some reason, he would post this message siding with Rui Zhao at this critical juncture!"
"As soon as this post was published, it immediately sparked a heated debate within our own camp! The number of likes and the level of discussion skyrocketed at an extraordinary speed!"

"Look at these comments... Many of those supporting his views are IDs from our traditional camp!"

The chief of staff slid down the slider to display the comments that agreed with Praggle's views, praised Rui Zhao's chess skills, and even questioned the current mainstream public opinion. At the same time, he looked up and stared directly at President Tripp, saying:

"...And it is worth noting that he is not an isolated case."

“Our team has been monitoring public opinion recently and has found that there have been many similar examples – people who have always been conservative in their stance, but have recently started to question our position!”
"However, Prag is simply too famous, with a huge fan base, and the controversy sparked by this post is starting to escalate! So I'm reporting this to you immediately!"

After the chief of staff finished his report, the atmosphere suddenly turned icy.

The leader, who is known for his keen intuition and directness, frowned deeply at this moment.

He didn't bother to read the numerous comments defending Go under the trending post. Instead, he abruptly turned to Zhang Zhengxi, the Chinese-American publicity director sitting on the other side of the conference table, his eyes filled with undisguised doubt and impatience: "...Zhang! What's going on?!"

He tapped the table with his finger, his rhythm aggressive:

"Didn't you promise me before that everything would be fine as long as the online army launched an attack?"

"But now? How did things turn out this way instead?!"

"A while ago, Rui Zhao said he would 'force DeepBrain's AI to come out and fight back,' but now even our own people are starting to turn against us..."

"The more I look at it, the more something seems off!!"

When questioned like this by his own boss, Zhang Zhengxi's face instantly showed an undisguised stiffness.

To be honest, Zhang Zhengxi didn't think there was anything wrong with his initial judgment.

Using online trolls to deconstruct the competitive nature and unique value of Go, and then bombarding the public with a massive information campaign to guide the public with varying levels of understanding—this was a tried-and-true method for their team to guide public opinion on various issues, and can be described as a highly efficient "information dimensional reduction attack".

Even when Rui Zhao made headlines with his "public challenge to AI," he managed to control the impact using the most appropriate methods. Normally, the other party shouldn't have been able to cause any trouble.

The problem is... that Athena is just too abnormal!

First of all, Zhang Zhengxi knew better than anyone that the core argument that the online trolls were frantically spreading—"Human Go loses all meaning after being completely surpassed by AI"—was fundamentally wrong!

As a propaganda expert who wasn't entirely ignorant of Go, he certainly understood the complexity and depth of the sport, and appreciated its strategic wisdom and aesthetic value. He simply needed to distort it to meet the demands of the supreme leader.

On this basis, Rui Zhao’s resilience and strength became a very troublesome point for him – he had seriously underestimated the young girl’s ability to maintain her output and the intensity of the resonance she evoked!

Besieged by online trolls, questioned by the overwhelming "human Go is useless" theory, rejected by Deepbrain... none of these things defeated this Go world leader, and it seems that they didn't even disrupt her rhythm!

Changqi Cup, LIG ​​Cup, Women's Title Match, Yixian Tournament... her victories are more and more stunning, and her games are more and more magnificent!
Wang Zhaojun seems to be a spirit between black and white, an incarnation of the god of Go! With one exquisite game after another, a magnificent masterpiece worthy of being recorded in the history of Go, she has repeatedly refreshed human imagination of the limits of professional Go!
These top-level matches, these moments that shine with the brilliance of the limits of human intelligence, are like boulders thrown into stagnant water, constantly stirring up boiling waves!

With her unparalleled skill and perseverance, Rui Zhao managed to keep the flame burning brightly in Go, a sport that Zhang Zhengxi thought should have quickly faded away. She inspired more and more people who had been misled to gradually understand the sport through debate!

But once you delve deeper... the information cocoon that Zhang Zhengxi meticulously constructed through his online army naturally begins to fail!
As a former North American president once said: You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time.

Time always turns the tables – the defection of key opinion leaders like Ben Pragger is a clear sign that his strategy has failed and his information barriers have collapsed!

This Rui Zhao...

Is it really that terrifying?!

Zhang Zhengxi silently pondered the name, a strong sense of irritation and indescribable frustration spreading through his heart.

This kind of existence, which can stand firm against the torrent of public opinion purely by relying on top strength, and even influence the public in the opposite direction, is completely beyond his past public relations experience!
But these words must never be spoken aloud.

Especially when the president is clearly dissatisfied and his gaze is sharp.

Zhang Zhengxi almost mobilized all his professional skills to forcibly suppress all his turbulent thoughts, while quickly putting on a confident and professional expression:
"It's alright, it's alright, Commander, don't worry!"

"The backlash from public opinion was indeed stronger than expected, but it was still within our contingency plan!"

He waved his hand and quickly offered a follow-up plan:
"I have refined the publicity strategy and will continue to guide public opinion, belittling all her current showy techniques as flashy but impractical tricks."

"At the same time, we have made the most comprehensive contingency plans to deal with any unexpected situation where she may publicly call out again that she wants to challenge AI!"
"While I don't deny that she's been generating a lot of buzz lately, the President..."

"The public in modern society has a very short memory!"
"No matter how sensational an event is at the beginning, if it cannot continuously provide new and stronger 'novelty,' people's enthusiasm will quickly cool down, and they will turn to chase the next trend!"
"No matter how well she plays chess, the public will eventually get tired of her!"
"Once the hype cools down naturally, our public opinion guidance will be able to cover the entire internet again! Naturally, it won't have any impact on your election prospects next year!"

After hearing this, President Tripp leaned back in his large chair, his gaze lingering on Zhang Zhengxi's face for a few seconds, seemingly assessing the sincerity and determination in his words.

His cloudy eyes remained sharp, but his earlier rage seemed to have been somewhat calmed by this professional assurance.

After a few seconds of silence, he ultimately didn't press for more details, but simply gave a deep hum:
"...Fine, I'll do as you say."

"But Zhang, don't disappoint me! Otherwise..."

"That's for sure."

A weight was lifted from Zhang Zhengxi's heart, and he immediately put on a fawning smile in response to the Grand Commander's words.

Despite the alarm bells ringing deep within him, and despite the defection of Ben Prag and the continued buzz surrounding Rui Zhao's miraculous performances casting a shadow over his plans, Zhang Zhengxi outwardly maintained an air of confidence in control of the situation.

He quickly put away the documents in front of him, nodded to the president and chief of staff, and prepared to deploy his "detailed" strategy, mobilizing more resources to compete for the right to speak online with liberals and newly emerging "traitors".

...It's alright, the advantage is with me!

As long as we can get through this period, the hype will eventually die down!
He took a deep, silent breath, forcing himself to have a positive suggestion, then opened the door and walked out with his head held high.

……unless……

She really can beat AI! (End of Chapter)