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

Chapter 177 Let's get a title first.
With this game over, Yi Zheng won the Rookie of the Year finals 2-0, also securing his first individual championship.

It wasn't exactly a historic achievement, but it was still a very memorable first individual championship.

Winning the Rookie of the Year title in just one year after achieving professional status is quite incredible, especially in China, a country where the younger generation of talented young people is emerging like an explosion.

As the match ended, the process and result of the game quickly spread across the country and even abroad via the internet.

As the number one Go website in terms of traffic, the comment section of the Muyefo website has already started to be flooded with comments.

"Emperor Yi is invincible! I'm impressed!"

"Useless! They're only good at fighting each other. If they're so capable, why don't they go and beat Ethan? They're all trash. Chinese Go is doomed!"

"They got so caught up in the fight that they forgot about Da Long's life or death. Seriously, is this what they call the Three Musketeers?"

"Have some common sense, okay? At most, a living dragon will have a difficult life. If Black can just restrain it a little, it can free up some space to break through White's territory. In the end, White will have to die peacefully. So the only option is to gamble on the dragon not dying and take the territory."

"How could I not have noticed? It's better to die a glorious death than to live a wretched existence and suffer a euthanasia!"

"You can fight for the endgame in a game of life. Dead Dragon's words are too ugly! It's better to lose by a narrow margin in the endgame than to lose so badly, and you can bet that the opponent can't outmaneuver you in the endgame."

"A classic online Go master!"

"Don't insult AlphaGo upstairs!"

"Dian!"

Meanwhile in Japan, Kuroki Utaha pinned her younger brother down while looking at the computer screen in front of her: "China's Rookie of the Year, how prestigious is it? This kind of competition is R-rated, right?"

In China, the age requirement for the Rookie of the Year competition is under 20, but in Japan, the age limit is more lenient; anyone under 25 is considered a rookie...

How should I put it? Theoretically speaking, 25 years old is already the middle of one's professional career, but in Japan, one is still a newcomer.

It can only be said that the professional careers of Japanese Go players are indeed very long, because once they become professional players, they have a fixed salary, so they don't care and can play every day, mainly just to get by.

Therefore, in professional Go competitions in Japan, you can often see elderly people who have reached retirement age still playing Go, some out of love for it, and some just to earn a living.

In some ways, professional Go in Japan is similar to Japanese companies, with lifetime employment and seniority-based systems, emphasizing the accumulation of experience. If you can endure long enough, you can eventually reach the ninth dan.

While struggling to break free from his sister's "Golden Snake Entangling Hands," Kuroki Ryuji began to boast wildly: "It's incredibly high-quality! There are so many young masters under the age of twenty in China! There are so many 'Three Musketeers'! Many of them have won the national commercial championship in China! Yi Zheng even won the championship by defeating strong opponents one after another!"

Ryuji Kuroki has been relentlessly attacking Yi Zheng's haters on KonoFox these past few days, focusing on his extremely powerful offensive capabilities.

What right do you have to criticize Yi Zheng?! What level are you at?! Kneel down!

"What a pity. He played the guitar so well and could compose music, but he ended up playing Go."

"You've got that backwards!"

"You still dare to talk back to me!" Kuroki Shiyo grabbed her younger brother's head and pressed it down. She thought there was a saying on the Chinese internet that was true: if you don't discipline your younger brother when he's a child, you won't be able to discipline him when he grows up.

Kuroki Teruto sat calmly to one side, completely unconcerned about his younger siblings' playful antics, simply looking at his computer and sipping coffee.

"As I guessed, Yi Zheng's progress is as fast as I expected. I'm afraid that in less than two years, we will be able to see him on the world stage."

Meanwhile, Yi Zheng and Shen Guhong received awards and prize checks from the organizers.

Of course, the huge prize check was just a prop for taking photos, to show how much prize money was in this competition.

If you try to exchange the items at the bank, they won't accept them. The real prize money will be directly deposited into your account through the bank. Of course, paying taxes according to the law is every citizen's obligation, and the organizer will deduct the taxes for you in advance.

Shen Guhong, the runner-up, was interviewed first. He said that in terms of the final performance, his performance was not as good as Yi Zheng's, so he had no regrets about winning the runner-up position. However, one competition does not represent success or failure, and he will win next time.

Then Yi Zheng, as the champion, was interviewed. Yi Zheng simply glanced at the logos on the media microphones and found that not only local and Go-related personnel, but also CCTV personnel were there to interview him.

However, many reporters still have some doubts about Yi Zheng. Unlike the three musketeers, who have maintained a stable performance for at least several years, Yi Zheng's performance has been too dazzling and too short-lived. Many people have doubts about whether it can last.

Unfortunately, in the professional chess world, there are often some players, especially some very young ones, who suddenly perform exceptionally well, like a supernova bursting forth, and then after that burst, they suddenly fade into obscurity.

For example, last year a 23-year-old professional Go player performed exceptionally well in the Chinese Go League, with a very high winning rate. However, this year his winning rate in the league is only 30%, a stark contrast that makes him seem like a completely different person.

He wasn't the only one; there are countless examples of this kind, and similar situations have occurred in countries all over the world.

"Yi Zheng, 1st Dan, what are your thoughts on winning your first individual championship in your professional career?"

"I'm definitely happy, after all, it's my first championship. I'm also very grateful to the Rookie King competition for giving young professional players a chance to compete and train together."

"So, after winning this championship, what are your next goals?"

Hearing this, Yi Zheng thought for a moment and said, "I've already talked about my long-term goals before, so I don't want to go into detail again. As for the short term... I feel that I have accumulated enough experience. Winning the national commercial championship should be about winning through distribution channels, so let's get a title first."

Hearing this, most reporters were not too surprised, because the three musketeers had already stated their goal of challenging for the title on different occasions. Yi Zheng had defeated two of them in the Rookie of the Year competition, so it was not surprising that he wanted to challenge for the title.

"What is this long-term goal you're talking about? We don't recall ever hearing about it before?"

Upon hearing this, Yi Zheng was taken aback, because he remembered saying it during the interview.

However, looking back, Yi Zheng was just a newly minted professional at that time, and probably not many people cared about what he said.

"Then I'll repeat it again, but I won't repeat it again in the future, because things are done by doing, not by saying."

I hope to achieve a Super Grand Slam; it's something I absolutely must accomplish!
Don't say that no one has ever achieved this goal before; I came, and I achieved it!

Hearing this, Old Ke nodded and said, "Young man! You should be full of vigor!"

P.S.: Last day of double monthly votes! Please vote, brothers! Vote for a chance to win a prize; the winners will be announced tomorrow!
(End of this chapter)