LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 320 The Qualifying Tournament is over, and I am also a beginner.
After the rematch.

The next day is the final.

The 28 young male chess players who had just passed the level yesterday gathered in the lobby of Rizhao Radio and Television Hotel as usual after a short rest for one night.

Including the remaining names from other groups, there are only a little over fifty players who can actually step onto the final stage.

What’s different from the previous few days is that in addition to reporters and staff, there are also some outsiders like scouts in the hall.

They were basically entrusted by the major clubs of Weiqi League A and Weiqi League B to come to the Dan ranking tournament to inspect the final dozens of professional chess players.

The main focus is naturally on the youth men's group. There will be no more than five people in the youth women's group, so the need for on-site inspections is not that great.

There is no need for examination at all for the adult men's group. As they only reach professional rank when they reach adulthood, it is obviously difficult for them to meet the concept of Go elite in most cases.

Only the fourteen players who have been promoted to the professional level in the youth men's group are needed by major Go clubs.

The primary task for newly promoted professional Go players is also to sign a contract with a team. They need to increase their popularity through the Go league and earn match fees, which are the basic conditions for the survival of professional Go players.

As for whether to enter the Weiqi League or the Weiqi League, everything depends on the strength demonstrated.

However, most chess players have already had connections with relevant clubs because of the dojos behind them and their positions before they were promoted, and they are not only noticed after the promotion tournament.

For example, Wu Yiming, as a rising star of the Jiangsu team, has long been a guest of the Hangzhou Yunlin Juepo team.

"You can enter the match venue later at the same time as the reporters, but you cannot make any noise or move around too frequently. You only have 15 minutes."

The staff of the Chess Association conveyed the request that the final scene does not need to remain absolutely silent, and regular media presence is allowed.

In addition, it is not a problem to add some chess probes to observe a few times.

However, most chess scouts are not keen on going in to take a look. Their main goal is to get in touch with their favorite players before the game starts.

However, there are only a handful of chess players who can achieve the same level of concentration and energy as Qi Tan.

"This twelve-year-old chess player, Zhang Jiajia, is pretty good, but I'm not sure if he can get promoted to a professional chess player this year."

"Come on, someone who's already qualified as a professional at the age of twelve might not be outstanding yet, but given their potential, why would they go to a Weiqi B club like yours?"

In the hotel lobby, several chess detectives sat on the sofa and discussed back and forth.

When Yuyao came out, chess scouts quickly went over to find out what was going on, not to mention Wu Yiming. As for further offline communication, it would require the involvement of the team management, which would naturally be much more complicated.

"Where's that Lin Ruo? Although he seems a bit old, the strength he showed in the qualifying tournament is unparalleled."

"No way, you still want to sign Lin Ruo?" The chess scout in his thirties who was drinking mineral water chuckled.

Another tall and thin chess scout was very dissatisfied when he heard this: "What's wrong? Our club is a new team that just entered the Weiqi League. We are increasing investment and preparing for a big move. How come we can't afford to sign him?"

"That's not what I meant. Why don't you find out more about his background first?" Several chess scouts gathered together and shared the secret information.

...

When the elevator door opened and Lin Ruo, who was about to participate in the first round of the finals, walked out, all the chess scouts who were watching eagerly outside the venue retreated and stopped.

At other times, Qi Tan would go and pass out postcards in the morning to introduce the strong strength of the team.

But I just heard from my colleagues that they earn tens of millions a year...

Which club can afford this...

"Lin Ruo seems to be ignored. Look, no scout went up to look for him." Wu Yiming outside the venue couldn't help but feel a little happy.

Yuyao didn't blame her. The child was still young, and it was normal for her to be competitive and ignorant.

"Oh, I know he's an amateur. It's impossible for him to become a professional Go player. It's normal that no one wants to bother him."

Yu Yao reluctantly nodded: "That's the first reason, and the second is that no team can afford to support him."

Based on that small signing fee and match fee alone, in his opinion, Lin Ruo would be crazy if he could even look at him.

Lin Ruo, who didn't know all this, made a phone call before entering the stadium. Today was the quarterfinals of the German Cup, and he had to understand the situation of the team.

"Can we make it to the semi-finals, Kai?"

"We were just having a rough time playing against OMG, and we ran into that guy Ai Loli. Our team has been having a lot of scrimmages these past few days, and it's up to me to lead the team and beat him up."

Mingkai's confident voice came, he no longer took OMG and the like seriously, he was already preparing to study the potential top four opponent in the upper half, the Galaxy Battleship IG.

"By the way, when will your dan tournament end?"

"The day after tomorrow." After a brief chat, Lin Ruo hung up the phone and walked into the conference room.

The final grouping had just been announced, and he didn't know who his opponent was because he hadn't seen it. However, his opponent was already sitting in his seat with trepidation, silently praying that he wouldn't lose too badly.

In the bustling yet quiet conference room, the sound of chess pieces falling could be heard one after another.

During the short fifteen minutes of the middle game, many reporters and chess scouts kept entering the field to observe.

"Lin Ruo is really strong. He killed everyone in the early stages and then started snowballing in the middle stages."

"It's a waste of talent for someone like this not to pursue a professional career."

Most of the chess scouts and reporters left the competition venue sparsely after 15 minutes.

There were also some chess scouts who had just entered the venue, but they were slow and had no chance to see the game before it was over.

Black, quickly wins by slaying the dragon in the middle game.

Lin Ruo didn't want to win so quickly, but he could see that his opponent had lost his fighting spirit and had made many stupid moves, so he could only end it with a quick and decisive move.

The scene was the same on the second and third days. Perhaps what interested Lin Ruo the most was watching Zhang Ruo's life-and-death battle after the game.

It is still difficult to play such an exciting and long-lasting classic game as a half-point victory. Fortunately, the female chess player on the opposite side also cooperated well.

"it is finally over."

Zhang Ruo, who barely managed to get second place in the group, breathed a sigh of relief.

All the players, including those present here, whether they advanced or were eliminated, subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief.

At least the pressure is gone.

From the preliminaries to the semi-finals, and then to the finals, being able to go through the entire process is already a precious memory for most teenagers aged fifteen or sixteen.

Within half an hour after the end of the game, the eliminated players left the field sadly, and the thirty winning players seemed to have a hard time facing interviews from numerous media outlets.

However, they were very happy to see this happen. The fatigue from half a month's tension was not enough to cover up everyone's excitement at this moment.

The certificate awarding ceremony will be held at 2:30 p.m. The players who advance can temporarily leave to eat, or they can stay there for two and a half hours.

Most people chose to stay in the venue and chat, but some who thought they were powerful wanted to find an opponent to challenge.

"Whether Lin Ruo comes or not, I think I can definitely defeat you this time. After the loss at the last National Games, I studied behind closed doors for a long time."

Lin Ruo didn't know where Wu Yiming got his confidence from. It might be because he had also advanced with a perfect record.

But you force me to bully children?
Looking at his junior sister who was asking for trouble, Yu Yao just smiled and said nothing.

"Come with her, just consider it as helping me to get revenge." Zhang Ruo was fanning the flames.

"Do you want to play white or black?" Lin Ruo said as he reached into the chess box and took out a white piece.

"No, I'm playing white this time."

Wu Yiming discovered that Lin Ruo didn't like playing black. If he could force him to play black, he might have a certain advantage in the game.

But this was just her assumption. It didn't matter to Lin Ruo whether he played black or white.

First move, Black, small eye.

In the huge venue, as time passed, the scattered chess players quickly gathered together and moved closer, each concentrating on watching the strongest battle between the young men's and women's groups.

If you can enjoy a battle between strong players until the last minute, then it doesn’t really matter whether you eat lunch or not.

What surprised many people at the scene was that Wu Yiming's chess style was not at a disadvantage at all.

In the previous hundred moves, both sides had their own advantages and disadvantages. When it came to the middle game stage, the big dragon of black chess across the board had not yet escaped danger, and the situation was undoubtedly more favorable for white chess.

Yes, Wu Yiming actually has the advantage.

"Could it be that Lin Ruo is no match for Wu Yiming?" The chess players present were all shocked, and some of them were secretly guessing.

This is big news!

"I told you I've made great progress." "Great, but it's still not enough." Listening to Wu Yiming's words, Lin Ruo looked at the chessboard calmly, thought for a moment, picked out a chess piece and placed it on the breaking point.

He didn't want to play with this kid anymore. If he continued, the kid would probably turn into a crooked-mouthed dragon king.

Five columns and seven rows.

Black 133 made a foolish move, and instantly shocked everyone!
"Is this the move?" Yu Yao was dumbfounded.

Normally, after the black chess piece below stabs and the white chess piece sticks, Lin Ruo should follow the trend and connect with himself, which is the best and most skillful move. This is what most people, including him, think.

But Lin Ruo chose the most different option, and this step had a very significant impact.

Normally, after the white pieces have completed the break, all the white pieces above are connected.

Not only is Black unable to prevent White from returning home, but the dragon also cannot see clearly through its two eyes, and is still in a difficult situation.

But after this step...

Black immediately had a way to block the opponent's move.

At this time, after the white chess pieces broke through twice in succession, the black chess pieces were still holding on. After the white chess pieces broke through again, although they could form a killing pattern, after the black chess pieces responded with points and double moves, the white chess pieces were no longer able to fight against the black chess pieces.

With one move, the situation is reversed!
"how so."

Wu Yiming's clear eyes widened, and his mind, which had been exhausted from thinking, was full of confusion.

Clearly, she had the advantage just now with her white pieces, but in less than 20 moves, black pieces had taken the upper hand...

Wu Yiming didn't understand.

No one present understood; they only saw the chess game suddenly changing.

"If you don't understand, go back and think about it slowly. Just think of it as homework for you."

Wu Yiming was very unconvinced when he heard this, but looking at the situation on the field and the time for the awards ceremony, he took advantage and nodded obediently: "Okay, we barely tied."

"We lost, and it's a draw. Junior sister, you don't really think you can beat him later, do you?" Yu Yao ruthlessly exposed the fact.

Wu Yiming turned his head away angrily.

"It's okay. You're much better than the male chess players like us who played against Lin Ruo."

Many chess players joined the discussion.

When they faced Lin Ruo, they were all beaten to the point of being unable to move within the first hundred moves.

From this perspective, Wu Yiming is indeed the best performing contestant.

Amidst the laughter at the scene, the award ceremony and closing ceremony of this year's qualifying tournament started on time at 14:30 pm.

Wang Yi, director of the National Chess Academy, stood on the podium amidst the constant flashes of the media. He glanced around at the crowd and said, "This year's dan ranking tournament has officially concluded. Before that, I would like to congratulate the thirty players who have successfully achieved dan status. From now on, you are no longer so-called amateurs, but true professionals."

"You will step onto the professional and international stages of competition. The dan tournament is just the beginning, and there is no specific destination. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors to reach higher levels of Go prominence, and that you can contribute even more to the development of Chinese Go."

...

After a brief speech, the most important part of awarding professional certificates came. The Weiqi Association read out the list of awardees in order according to the results of the finals.

"Young Men's Group, Lin Ruo, Yuyao..."

"Young women's group, Wu Yiming, Zhang Ruo..."

Lin Ruo walked to the front of the line to receive the certificate. The media reporters, their eyes lit up, swarmed out to get the latest first-hand pictures of the scene, accompanied by a never-ending interview session.

However, this can only be done after stepping down from the stage. Before that, all chess players who have obtained certificates will have a group photo session on the podium.

"Player Lin Ruo, you've been promoted to the first dan professional dan. Do you have any thoughts on participating in the league and the world competition?"

"It depends on the money." Facing the reporter's questioning, Lin Ruo said very bluntly.

"It depends?" But for the reporters, this answer was very ambiguous.

"You were able to surpass a bunch of young people who were trying to get promoted to the dan level in your first attempt. Do you have anything to say about your journey?"

Lin Ruo answered the reporter's question very modestly: "I still have to work hard."

Look, I didn’t make any money…how can such a journey be considered a success?

It would be great if an advertiser would ask him to be their spokesperson after the qualifying tournament.

In fact, no advertisers came to him. On the contrary, he had to serve the so-called advertisers.

The ranking tournament is just like many world championships. It is not organized unilaterally by the Go Association. There is usually a major sponsor in the prefix.

For example, the LG Cup and the Samsung Cup.

Fortunately, there are still restrictions on the ranking tournament, but it is inevitable that I will have to support the sponsors a little tomorrow morning.

The so-called platform is naturally not a fashion show, but just going to the local primary school or kindergarten to give the children some guidance and enlightenment, and to promote the Go career.

Well, as Wang Yi said, they have just reached the beginner level of Go and are already contributing to the development of Chinese Go.

However, he recognized the media's publicity capabilities. He didn't even need to post on Weibo himself. The news of Lin Ruoding's promotion spread all over the country in just one night.

[He's become a professional Go player, invincible, Lin Gou. It's just a hobby, why take it so seriously? Are you trying to reach the sky?]

[This has already been determined. I won't approve of it unless it's promoted to Professional 9th ​​Dan.]

[Being a professional 9th ​​dan is too easy. If he doesn't win a world championship, I will look down on him.]

[Don't brag like that, what if Lin Gou really does it?]

[Fuck, my first side project was Overwatch, and all I do every day is play Go. Is Overwatch not going to be revived?]

[As for Go, he doesn't even care about the league anymore.]

[Stop talking about this, EDG is in danger, return quickly! ]

The qualifying tournaments will end at the same time.

In contrast, another piece of information related to Lin Ruo is that EDG was defeated by the Galaxy Battleship IG 2:1 in the semi-finals of the German Cup and fell into the loser group.

It cannot be said that they had no ability to fight back, but it did not affect their being beaten into a sieve in the third game.

Haro did not chew betel nut when he played, and his combat effectiveness was directly reduced by half compared with the training match. He also failed to cooperate with GimGoon, which was the key factor in the collapse of the third game.

However, Zz1tai's BP is also quite abstract. Seeing that the newly released Ornn is able to carry and fight, he wishes to give the choice to Jin Gong every time.

A mistake by iboy, who loves to jump, in the mid-game turned the game into a melee where IG could easily win.

The Pig Army, which had not lost a game for a whole year, once again launched a fierce attack on the official blog despite being unfamiliar with it.

How can a seventeen-year-old like iBoy compare to a seventeen-year-old like Lin Ruo? He died three times in today's match. Lin Ruo will never be able to do that in his lifetime.

[Where's our top laner? He was invisible the whole time?]

"Zz1tai, come back to jungle. You're definitely much better at jungle than drafting. Don't torture yourself in an unfamiliar area."

【It feels quite confusing without Lin Ruo in Meiko's bottom lane.】

[You played a good hand of cards badly during the transfer period, Abramovich, you are like this! ]

"Kai, how come you got beaten so badly by IG in the semifinals?" After hearing the news, Lin Ruo returned to the hotel after dinner and called to express his condolences.

He watched the entire semi-final which started at 17 p.m.

Mingkai’s answer was simple: since there was a chance to resurrect, he had to use it anyway.

Besides, just tell me whether we defeated OMG in the quarterfinals and eradicated the remnants of the Grand Prince.

The implication is that although they have fallen, the team will get up again as long as they learn from the lesson. It is hard to say whether they will fall even harder or soar to the sky.

After the semi-finals, IG and RNG will meet in the winner's group final, and EDG, which has dropped out, will have a new round of collision with RW, which has also dropped out.

Mingkai vowed to eliminate A Guang, another remnant who left the team. However, on the other side, the new generation Galaxy Battleship RW, which lost narrowly, was also planning how to step on EDG's head to return to the finals.

Lin Ruo bought a ticket for the competition at 17 pm tomorrow. Although he couldn't be a contestant, it was always possible for him to go to the audience and take a look.

As for tomorrow morning, he has to go to the kindergarten to punch. Well, it feels weird if he doesn't have the chance to kick the nursing home at this point.

(End of this chapter)