LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 248: The Beginning of the Fight

The Menglily Cup Amateur Open ushered in its most popular episode.

Lin Ruo, an amateur third-dan chess player, crushed an amateur ninth-dan veteran who was close to becoming a professional chess player, even though Tianyuan gave him half a piece at the beginning of the game.

Although registration for the amateur tournament is limited to amateurs of the third dan or higher, in fact, since its inception, no amateur player of the third dan has been able to make it past the online tournament and reach the top 128 of the offline tournament.

But today was undoubtedly an exception.

Looking at the final list of participants, two top players of 17th and th dan who participated in offline competitions were inexplicably missing, and looking at the -year-old amateur rd dan player who appeared out of nowhere.

Even the staff in charge of statistics for the Menglily Cup were confused at this moment.

How can a 17-year-old amateur rd dan player be considered a genius?
Obviously, there can be no connection. After all, in the field of Go, true geniuses have already successfully reached the professional level at the age of 13 or 4, and have reached the age of winning the world championship at the age of 17 or 8.

In other words, most of those who haven't succeeded in reaching the professional level by the age of 17 can go back to raising pigs.

Isn’t this the same?
However, when you consider that the initial age of Go learning is only more than two months.

Everything seemed to make sense again.

Others are still learning Go after two months, but you have already started to dismantle the door...

If this isn't a genius, then who is? In today's Go world where popularity is not too high, with a little help from many LPL fans who are watching the fun, the popularity has skyrocketed, even surpassing the star-studded Menglily Professional Open held at the same time.

As a layman in Go, Lin Ruo seldom learned about various Go competitions and world champions through relevant news. Even in the developed Internet environment in his previous life, he only knew of one top Chinese Go player.

I have some impression of the battle with Alpha, and later I played the four-star Jhin to break the defense to gain a deeper understanding.

Therefore, it is impossible for anyone to know about this Menglily Cup Amateur Open, even though he knows that this kind of competition often has many veterans in the Go world participating to give instructions in order to promote and spread the love of Go among contemporary young people.

While public opinion was clamoring outside, Lin Ruo quietly huddled in the training room to continue cramming to improve his Go skills.

The happy vacation passed in a flash. Early in the morning of September 9, Lin Ru simply packed up some things, left the club, and took the high-speed train to Rugao City.

Unlike professional open tournaments that last almost a whole year, amateur offline tournaments only last for three days, which is almost over when you finish the task and return to the club for vacation.

This holiday was really fulfilling.

Starting from Shanghai Hongqiao, it takes less than three hours to reach the destination.

Very close.

No wonder Abu said it was like going out for a walk.

"The competition venue is the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rugao. Only those who make it to the top 64 will receive prize money, so it's a big loss if you're eliminated in the first round."

I don’t know what their hobby is, but Go competitions all like to be held in hotel lobbies.

Lin Ruo looked at the competition rules and complained a little. After leaving the high-speed rail station, he took a taxi and went straight to the hotel.

Lin Ruo got off the car with his schoolbag and stood at the hotel entrance for a while to confirm that everything was correct. Without even any luggage, he walked into the automatically opened glass door and came to the front desk.

"welcome."

Seeing a customer coming to the store, the distracted receptionist immediately put on a sweet smile, especially when she saw that the customer standing in front of her was a handsome and eye-catching man, the smile on her lips unconsciously became even wider.

"Handsome, you're going to stay at the hotel, right? Did you make a reservation in advance?"

Lin Ruo smiled and replied, "Yes, I'm staying at the hotel, but I'm here to participate in the Menglily Cup Go Amateur Open."

The event organizer provided accommodation, so he only needed to prove his identity as a contestant. So Lin Ruo took out his ID card, registration form, and certificate of offline qualification.

"Oh, so you are a contestant." The receptionist couldn't help but look surprised.

It wasn't that she thought Lin Ruo was too young. After all, apart from the elderly group, most of the contestants were children aged 14 or 5.

It’s just that her temperament is completely different from other contestants.

Because the other contestants either haven't grown up yet or look like academic nerds, Lin Ruo can be said to have won in terms of appearance.

The receptionist secretly evaluated herself and handed all the items back after completing the registration.

"Here's your room key. By the way, the opening ceremony will be held in the lobby at 8 o'clock tomorrow morning. You will learn about the rest of the competition procedures there."

Lin Ruo nodded and turned to look for the elevator.

As the man gradually disappeared, the receptionist shook her head with emotion: "What a pity, he's just an amateur 3rd dan chess player. I guess he'll have to leave after the first round tomorrow afternoon."

...

After finding a room to put his things, Lin Ruo walked into the hall where the competition was held.

As expected, many contestants couldn't stand the loneliness and started communicating with each other here.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t know each other, just play a game of chess.

Lin Ruo decided to conserve his strength and turned around silently and left the hotel and went straight to a nearby Internet cafe. He had not completed many of his sign-in tasks today.

Don't slack off. If you slack off once, there will be a second time.

He worked until around 22pm before returning to the hotel to rest. Early the next morning, Lin Ruo arrived at the hall on time to attend the opening ceremony of the competition.

The daily speech lasts for half an hour, and then an elderly person takes over to promote the spirit of Go and read out the rules of the game.

Then there was a happy group photo of more than 20 people including the organizers, invited senior Go players and referees.

That was the opening ceremony.

There were still quite a few reporters off the stage. While paying attention to the people on the stage, they also randomly interviewed some contestants.

For example, there is the 14-year-old Xing Hongcheng from the SX provincial team who is already a professional third-dan player.

As a popular figure in the competition, Lin Ruo was unsurprisingly interviewed.

"As a professional esports player, why would Lin Ruo want to participate in today's amateur Go tournament?"

"I'll take advantage of the off-season to come and have some fun and see some of the action." Facing the live camera, Lin Ruo briefly summarized the reasons why he participated in the competition.

The reporter nodded.

Although he defeated the seventh and eighth dan masters in the preliminaries and made it into the offline competition, this player still looks humble and low-key.

"So what is your goal in this competition?" the reporter continued to ask.

Lin Ruo said clearly, "Win the championship."

The words fell.

The reporter smiled awkwardly but politely after hearing this. It's still too early to draw conclusions.

Zhanqi platform has a live broadcast channel for this open tournament. People who came to take a look from time to time burst into laughter when they found Lin Ruo appeared in the camera.

Lin Shen successfully brought abstraction into the world of Go, an epic achievement.

[One second he said he was just playing around, the next he was going to win the championship. He's back, that all-too-familiar pretentious vibe.]

[Perhaps in Lin Gou's eyes, he can win the championship just by playing around.]

[I don't believe it. If this could unlock the champion achievement, Lin Gou could really change his career.]

[I remember there were professional players participating. If Lin Gou made it to the semifinals, it would be considered a success.]

...

Amidst huge attention, the opening ceremony ended with a short break, and the official 128 to 64 competition officially began in the afternoon. The winner was decided in a single game, and the winner continued to participate in the 64 to 32 competition.

The opponent Lin Ruo drew was also an amateur sixth-dan chess player, with above-average strength.

The two of them sat down and guessed who would go first.

The opponent, the man with glasses, adjusted his glasses and took a deep breath before the match began: "Are you the Lin Ruo who eliminated the amateur 7th and 8th dan in the preliminaries?"

"Yeah." Lin Ruo responded calmly.

After hearing the answer, the man with glasses looked at the chessboard with crisscross patterns on the table with a blank look in his eyes.

He seemed to have seen the ending in advance.

As expected, Lin Ruo easily passed the level in less than an hour and was able to pack up and go home.

The man with glasses left dejectedly.

Lin Ruo still has to participate in the 64 to 32 competition in the following time.

After a short break, the game started at 16 pm. Half an hour before the game, Lin Ruo learned the opponent he would face in the draw.

A 15-year-old professional first-dan.

The audience watching the live broadcast room expressed their joy when they saw the match schedule.

[It's over. My brother Lin has to go home on his first day. Woohoo, hahaha.]

[Everyone is happy. If you buy tickets now, you can still have time to start the live broadcast when you return tonight.]

[Hehe, you bunch of fake fans, you all just like to see Lin Ruo lose, right? If I, Brother Lin, win, you'll all be staring wide-eyed.]

If he can beat me, I'll just eat shit.

[Here you are again, eating and drinking for free, you shit-eating guy.]

It's okay, losing is losing. Please turn your grief and anger into strength and give LCK more power in the upcoming World Championship, Comrade Lin Ruo.

Amidst the discussion in the barrage, in the hall, Lin Ruo, like the other players, had already nodded to his opponent, the first-dan, and after adjusting the positions of the chessboard and chess pieces, sat down on the battle seat.

Several referees looked here one after another.

The game they are most concerned about is this one.

Although Lin Ruo is only an amateur third dan, he has defeated an eighth dan player, so is it possible for him to defeat a first dan player?

It's unlikely, but at least it's possible.

After sitting down, Lin Ruo looked up at his smaller opponent and said, "Please give me some advice."

The young man opposite nodded and said, "Please give me your guidance."

This represents mutual respect between chess players. They greet each other at the beginning of each game, which has become an unwritten but must-follow rule in the industry.

Lin Ruo took out a handful of chess pieces from the jar and held them in his hand, while his opponent, who was a beginner, took out two chess pieces from the jar.

He guessed double.

Lin Ruo spread out the chess pieces in his hand and counted them. The correct answer was an even number. His opponent guessed correctly, and thus he was qualified to move first with black.

Without further ado, let’s start the timer.

Lin Ruo reached into the chessboard, and amid the constant clashing sounds of chess pieces, he gently picked up a white piece and held it between his index and middle fingers.

The opponent, who is a first-dan player, placed the chess piece at the 4/3 small eye position without thinking, instead of the star position in the upper right corner, which is the starting position for most players.

The position of the small eye is close to the star position, but slightly offset inward. Choosing a small eye can focus more on the real situation and also help control the edge of the board.

There are pros and cons, just different choices.

In short, small eye and star position are the two common openings in Go.

Like the move I made in the qualifiers where I made the first move to Tianyuan, even if it was not offensive, if it were put into a competition like this, it would most likely be met with a double-edged sword.

Lin Ruo thought about it and directly moved the chess piece to the third and fifth points. He did not follow the rules to occupy the empty corner for confrontation, but chose the nearest hanging corner.

This is a very unusual play.

The opponent raised his eyebrows, glanced at Lin Ruo, and also chose to restrict him in the nearest corner.

Lin Ruo occupied the upper right star position in the second hand.

Seeing that the opponent would not bite, the opponent decisively occupied the small eye position in the lower left section, connecting the left and right sides and continuing to occupy the advantage of the external situation.

Lin Ruo immediately started to counterattack from the sidelines.

Black also hangs.

Lin Ruo made a three-three move, close to the lower left eye.

The two sides touched and leaned against each other, each using their own methods to start fighting.

As the game progressed, Lin Ruo's expression remained calm.

However, the opponent's expression went from surprise to confusion, and gradually became uglier and uglier.

How could this person have beaten him so hard from the very beginning?

(End of this chapter)