Go: Is the portable old man the nine-time champion?

Chapter 176 Ruthless Dragon Slayer
"I want to slay the dragon."

Shen Guhong saw through Yi Zheng's intentions at a glance. In other words, anyone who knew a little about Go and wasn't blind could see what Yi Zheng was trying to do.

In Go, the concept of "first grabbing, then washing" means first seizing visible territory to secure an immediate advantage, then disrupting the opponent's plans to build up territory by invading their sphere of influence. Finally, it involves using maneuvering and other techniques to weaken the opponent's potential, or even completely diminishing or eliminating their original territory.

However, the "washing" phase requires accurate timing judgment and flexible tactical execution, and relies on precise ability to manage isolated enemies. If the timing of the "washing" is wrong, the entire army may be wiped out.

Otherwise, if this tactic were so perfect, everyone would have fished first and then washed away the fish.

Just like now, Shen Guhong occupies three of the four corners, while Yi Zheng only occupies one corner of the solid ground.

However, the problem is that despite Shen Guhong's ruthless exploitation, he has not actually gained any advantage in reality, nor has he had a good opportunity to clear Yi Zheng's empty pockets.

Very outrageous!
Shen Guhong felt that he had never encountered anything so outrageous in his professional career. Yi Zheng's style in this game was somewhat different from usual, but he performed even better than usual.

Yi Zheng even came with a ruthless and desperate attitude from the very beginning, which was completely unlike his usual style.

Although many people say that they won the first game, they can relax in the second game since they have a third game to back them up, so what's there to be afraid of?

But you'll only know for sure when you actually compete, and I'm really scared!

Why is Yi Zheng completely unafraid?

Thinking of this, Shen Guhong couldn't help but take a deep breath. Wasn't this guy's winning percentage for black much lower than white's? How come he played better in this game than white did in the last one?
I can’t figure it out…

I want to swear, but I need to maintain my manners.

Shen Guhong's usually stern face became even more gloomy. Theoretically speaking, the dragon in the middle was already in a precarious situation. If the dragon didn't survive now, it would be extremely difficult to survive later.

However, Yi Zheng's move not only threatened the central dragon, but also weakened Shen Guhong's left flank.

The reason why Shen Guhong couldn't find the best time to clear the territory was that if the large territory he formed on the left was invaded by Yi Zheng, then even if Shen Guhong's large group of stones survived, he would still lose the game.

It's meaningless to just aim to catch the fish first and then wash it; catching the fish first and then washing it is a means to an end, and winning the game is the ultimate goal.

Caught between two difficult choices, making things even more difficult.

In the end, Shen Guhong had no choice but to reluctantly agree.

Shen Guhong's only option was to forcefully hold on and protect the large empty space on his left.

As for the central dragon that was completely surrounded...

Shen Guhong silently prayed in his heart, "Dalong! Wait for me a little longer! Believe me, I will definitely be able to rescue you! Belief is my last strength!"

Da Long: "I believe you, you *****!"

Yi Zheng didn't hesitate at all and continued to pull upwards, and Shen Guhong followed suit, as if he didn't care at all about the life or death of his central dragon.

Seeing that the opening had been completely sealed off and that Shen Guhong was no longer concerned about Da Long, Yi Zheng no longer hesitated and directly attacked to break the eye.

With just one step, Shen Guhong's dragon was already teetering on the brink of death.

Yi Zheng: "Hehehehe! Your master doesn't want you anymore! Just obediently submit to me! Stop struggling! The more you struggle, the more excited I get!" "I feel completely exhausted..."

The referee looked at the situation on the field and couldn't help but mutter to himself. Although there were some new moves that he didn't understand and even felt that he couldn't comprehend, he could still tell the basic life and death of the dragon.

Now that Yi Zheng has broken his eye, if Shen Guhong tries to forcefully make another eye, all he will get is a fake eye.

In Go, two eyes can make a group alive; they are practically invincible. However, the prerequisite is that these two eyes must be real eyes!
A true eye is a closed space formed by the complete connection of pieces from the same side, and the intersection formed is the opponent's "forbidden point".

A false eye is formed by pieces that are not fully connected, making it vulnerable to being cut off or attacked locally by the opponent.

Even if one piece is real and the other is fake, this piece is still just a dead piece, not a living piece.

Shen Guhong is now facing such a situation: he already has one True Sight, but he needs to make another True Sight to bring the dragon back to life.

Shen Guhong was aware of this, so instead of staying put to create a ward, he rushed out.

Meanwhile, Yi Zheng also began to cut off Shen Gu Hong's dragon, and Shen Gu Hong also began to break the encirclement around Yi Zheng.

The reason Shen Guhong dared to leave the dragon there was not only because he was forced by circumstances, but also because he knew there was still a glimmer of hope.

Yi Zheng's encirclement has clearly been formed, but it also has the weakness of being short of breath. If Yi Zheng chooses to stick to the broken move, Shen Guhong's continuous calls for captures will all be the first move.

Then they could quickly start supporting from the center. Yi Zheng could only try to capture his two remaining pieces. By taking advantage of Yi Zheng's tightness on the right and the gaps left behind, Shen Guhong estimated that there was a good chance of creating an eye and a true eye!
That way, the central dragon can be brought back to life, and then... then it seems like something's still missing...

Yi Zheng could easily see the diagram. He even estimated that if Shen Guhong survived, but Yi Zheng surrounded the entire right side, he would still have the advantage on the board.

If we deduct the burden of the eye-sticking technique, there is still an advantage of about two or three eyes.

Well, in this situation, anyone else would have won.

I'm out of breath, so let's all try to blow some more.

However, Yi Zheng did not want to reduce his advantage so easily, as it would be bad if he were to lose in the endgame against Shen Guhong.

I've already gone this far this round, so if I'm going to seek thrills, I might as well go all the way!

So, after a moment's thought, Yi Zheng made a move in the middle.

Move 119, Black jumps!

The death penalty, to be carried out immediately!
When Shen Guhong saw this, his heart had already turned completely cold.

If you try to capture the black stones outside directly, you won't have enough points, so you can only struggle desperately to see if you can make your own big dragon come alive.

In reality, both of them knew that since Yi Zheng dared to choose to kill the dragon, he must have already calculated all the possible changes.

Therefore, Yi Zheng responded with extreme composure to Shen Guhong's final madness.

After creating a bunch of fake eyes, Shen Guhong shook his head and chose to stop the clock, ending the session...

(End of this chapter)