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

"Congratulations, Xiao Chu! I guess you're not far from reaching the eighth place!

"I can see that you've prepared well for today's game. I'm sorry that I couldn't satisfy you...!"

At 5 pm on May 2nd, at the Hua Xia Chess Academy in Dajing City.

The 2025 Dragon Star Wars qualifiers have just ended here.

The famous Chinese player who had just been defeated joked with this outstanding chess player born after 05 without any hesitation.

"...To be honest, I really hope to send this soft persimmon of mine to my junior sister!
"But now it seems that not so many people withdrew from the competition. She still failed to enter..."

The rules of the Dragon Star Tournament are that the last champion and runner-up and the top six players in the rating list, a total of eight people, will directly enter the tournament. Then, 28 players will be selected according to their ratings and arranged in a snake shape for a round of preliminary selection, and then players will be selected to enter the tournament.

But this time Lin Ruixin was suspended, Lei Qi and Sun Yi did not sign up. So the seeds were set to be the runner-up of last year, Kuai Liang, and the 4th to 10th ranked players, Xiong Siyi, Zhu Yuanjun, Dai Ran, Ji Qiujuan, Lang Haishen, Tang Guansheng, and Shangguan Sheng.

Next, Ni Jue, who ranked 11th, met Chu Jun, who ranked 39th, in the first round, while Rui Zhao, who ranked 42nd, did not get a chance.

This is also the first time that Chu Jun has participated in the Dragon Star Tournament qualifiers in his career.

Finally, the smoke cleared, and the young 2023 Rookie King champion had the last laugh, entering the Dragon Star Tournament for the first time - although with his rating, he would definitely have to start from the bottom of the bubble match.

In fact, logically speaking, there is a huge gap in the ranking between the two, and Ni Jue should have the upper hand no matter how you look at it, but this is not the case in reality.

Ni Jue went on sick leave after she suddenly fainted in the LIG Cup qualifiers last year, and did not play again until the three-game match of the celebrity tournament this year. Her intermediate rating points were basically frozen, and her rating ranking did not drop much compared to last year. But in terms of strength, anyone with a discerning eye can see that she is not as good as before.

On the other hand, Chu Jun's strength and ranking have been steadily improving recently.

Although he is not as soaring as Lei Qi, he has completely recovered from the failure of the Rookie King Contest last year and is working steadily and methodically. In terms of strength alone, he is probably already on par with the eighth dan, and is just waiting for the right opportunity to complete the tribulation.

As one side gains strength while the other loses, Ni Jue may still have a slight advantage in strength, but it can basically be ignored. The victory or defeat depends entirely on the on-the-spot performance. It is not surprising at all that such a result appeared in the end.

——Of course, Chu Jun also knew this.

Although he was happy to be able to enter the Dragon Star Tournament, his face did not show much joy:

"Thank you for the compliment, Ni Jiudan! But I don't really care about the rank or anything like that.

“Just like Rui Zhao, although she is nominally a seventh-dan like me, I know that her strength is much higher than mine!

"For me, catching up with her and Lei Qi as soon as possible is the most important thing, so I have to seize every opportunity to participate in more competitions and improve myself!

"To be honest, sometimes I really envy Rui Zhao and Yang Manjing.

"In addition to the league, they also have a lot of women's competitions to play in... For example, the little witch is going to play in the Lakeside Cup soon!

"Now that I have the chance to fight against a top master, I naturally have to seize it."

"Are you jealous of Rui Zhao and Yang Manjing?"

Hearing this, Ni Jue raised his eyebrows and deliberately asked:

"But they are both female chess players! There is a limit to their performance. They will definitely be weak in the future. There is nothing to envy, right?"

Chu Jun was a little surprised to hear this, but after thinking for a while, he answered carefully:
"Uh, Ni Jiudan...

"Maybe I didn't try hard enough, so I couldn't suppress the female chess players of the same age...

"but……

"After dealing with Rui Zhao and the little witch for more than a year, I now feel that:

"In the world of Go...

“Is there really such a thing as a ‘ceiling for female chess players’?”

...

...

"……ha?!
"Rei-chan, you said you wanted to go into battle early?!"

At five o'clock in the evening on May 5th, at the Dongying Chess Institute in Dongcheng City.

Natsukawa Aoi, who was planning to buy a plane ticket to go to South Korea to compete in the Lakeside Cup tomorrow, was surprised to hear the news from his old friend Shindo Hiroaki:

"Wasn't it agreed that Yuri-chan would be the commander this time? Why did it change again?!"

There is a reason why Natsukawa Aoi was surprised.

In the fifth game of the first stage that just ended today, Chinese pioneer Yang Manjing once again defeated the Japanese female chess master Akakura Haruna, achieving five consecutive victories in one fell swoop, while also forcing the Japanese team to face the embarrassing situation of having to send out their deputy general in the first stage.

At present, Natsukawa Aoi is already 33 years old. Although she has been working hard to maintain her form, her strength has declined compared to the last Lakeside Cup. Overall, she is roughly the same as Sanada Asa and Akakura Haruna.

If we have to say, it is the fourteen-year-old Uesaka who has made rapid progress in the past year or so and seems to be the strongest player in the country. So in the pre-match combat meeting, Kobayashi Yahiko and Sato Tadao finally decided that Uesaka Rei would be the main player, and Natsukawa Aoi was also happy to see it happen.

But no one expected that when the Chinese witch won consecutive victories over Fujisawa Mari, Hayashi Suying, Sanada Asa, Xu Nanying, and Akakura Haruna in the Lakeside Cup and was at the peak of her powers, Uesaka Rei, who was supposed to be the main player, suddenly announced that she would play in advance. Naturally, this surprised the Women's Honinbo who had already prepared for the game.

"Well, I just heard the conversation between Uesaka and the chairman... There are many reasons." Shindo Hiroaki kept it a secret for a while:

"Do you want to hear the truth or the reality?"

"……ah?

"Well, let's talk about the surface first."

Shindo Hiroaki nodded slightly, then said:
"To be frank, she doesn't think Zheng Caixi, who will play against South Korea tomorrow, can beat Yang Manjing.

"Right now, Yang Manjing has already played five games in a row, and tomorrow will be the sixth game. Although he looks very energetic, he is inevitably a little tired.

"At this time, we should end their winning streak in one fell swoop to boost their morale and avoid letting them go back to the mountains and making a comeback in the second stage."

"Well... that's a good consideration."

Natsukawa Aoi nodded.

"...But, from what you said, Li-chan, is there another reason?
"There are indeed two more!"

Shindo Hiroaki, who was always elegant and calm, couldn't help but laugh:

"Firstly, she felt that this was a great opportunity to fight for the position of the captain of the Chinese Women's Go League, and even...

"It might be a chance to enter the Chinese Men's Go League next season!"

"Men's... Weiqi?!

"Is she serious?!!!"

Hearing this, Xia Chuan Aoi's eyes widened, and it took her a long time to react.

right……

Yang Manjing, who is currently on the Lakeside Cup stage, is the designated captain of the Huaxia Pohu women's team and the main player of the Pohu men's team!
If Li Jiang can defeat her opponent, it will indeed prove to a large extent that she may also have the ability to compete in the Chinese Men's Go League!
"Of course I'm serious!"

Shindo Hiroaki smiled and replied:

"If she's not serious, then why did she have to go into battle early?"

"Well……"

Xiachuan Aoi couldn't help but frown and ponder.

Even though she could understand the logic behind it intellectually, she was still in deep shock emotionally!

This... is recognized as the most competitive Chinese Men's Go League!
Although Xia Chuan was full of drive when she was young, she had thought about "becoming the world's number one female Go player", "winning many titles", "finding opportunities to make male masters lose", and other "lofty goals".

But those were just empty talk after all. When it came to specifically targeting men, Aoi Natsukawa had never really thought about it - and no one would have such expectations or demands of her.

But right now, Li-chan has just turned fourteen!

Are you actually thinking about how to get into the world's top league? !

You know, Nie Yunyi, the rising star of the post-10 generation in China, is three months older than Uesaka Rei! He was also selected by the Chinese Weiqi team this year and was brought into the team for training.

Comparing the two, if Uesaka Rei can really enter the Chinese Go League next season, she will be no less impressive!

Really...

The next generation of men who are benchmarking against China are leading the way? ! ! !
Sister Xiachuan was so shocked that she couldn't speak for a moment.

Although her own chess academy has always been very optimistic about Rei Uesaka, she herself has also given her care and support in every way.

But when she found that Li Jiang seemed to be able to keep up with the pace of China's next generation of top male rookies, she still felt it was unreal.

This feeling...how can I describe it?

If I have to make an analogy, it's like training a yellow-skinned basketball player who is a little over 1.7 meters tall.

Although we can always encourage and politically correctly say "height is not a problem" and "race is not a problem", it is still jaw-dropping when he becomes the leader of the national team and even officially enters the NBA!

Seeing his usually lively and talkative old friend suddenly speechless, Shindo Hiroaki couldn't help but laugh:

"Aoi, now it seems that the power of role models is indeed beyond imagination!
"Well, do you know the second actual reason why Uesaka wanted to fight early?"

"What is it?"

Natsukawa Aoi couldn't help but ask, while Shindo Hiroaki smiled more playfully:

"She felt that with Yang Manjing's level of 7th dan...

"You're not even worthy of having won seven consecutive games like Rui Zhao!"

(End of this chapter)