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

Chapter 179 Ahantong Mountain Cup

The Agon Kiriyama Cup, or more formally known as the China-Japan Agon Kiriyama Cup.

Unlike many national business competitions, this competition was sponsored by the Japanese Agon sect.

China and Japan held the competition simultaneously, and then each country determined its own winner.

Go in Japan is inextricably linked to their native religion. After all, going back hundreds or thousands of years, those who were capable of learning Go were all working professionals, and apart from nobles, there were probably only some religious figures.

Even in modern times, most sports-related majors are difficult for ordinary families to afford, and the more advanced the sports major, the higher the cost of learning.

Both the first Honinbo Jowa of this world and the first Honinbo Sansa of the Konoha world share the same identity: monks.

Therefore, it is quite normal for the Agon sect, a Buddhist organization, to sponsor Go. The name Kiriyama in the competition name refers to Yasuo Kiriyama, the head of the Agon sect who initiated the competition.

As a Chinese competition sponsored by Japan, the winners from both China and Japan will compete in a final showdown.

Therefore, the Chinese champion not only receives the prize money for winning the championship, but also a prize money for playing against the two countries, which means they can get two prizes from one competition.

This is currently one of only two competitions in China involving a China-Japan showdown. One is the China-Japan Kisei Tournament, which is of a much larger scale than the Agon Kiriyama Cup.

However, once the name of a national war is involved, the Agon Kiriyama Cup will inevitably receive more attention.

After all, even in world championships, the level of interest in internal battles is far less than that in international battles.

After the preliminary rounds and main tournament, the Agon Kiriyama Cup has finally reached the main tournament stage.

There are only eight players in this stage of the competition, and the game between Yi Zheng and Qi Ling has attracted a lot of attention.

As one of the three musketeers, Qi Ling is also the only one who has never faced Yi Zheng in an official match.

Miao Jun lost once in the Rookie King competition and then lost again in the Lanke Cup.

Shen Guhong lost to Yi Zheng 0-2 in the Rookie King final.

This means that two of the three musketeers have a 0-2 record against Yi Zheng.

This has led many to believe that Yi Zheng's strength has surpassed that of the "Three Musketeers" and that he will soon become the undisputed number one player of China's new generation.

Qi Ling, the only one who had never fought Yi Zheng, became the last line of defense among the three musketeers. If he lost today, it would be equivalent to Yi Zheng wiping out all three of them.

However, Qi Ling felt speechless when he thought about how Shen Guhong insisted on analyzing Yi Zheng last night. Does an opponent need to be analyzed?

Why not just do it?
Are you afraid of my fist, which is as big as a sandbag?
Qi Ling: Anyway, I have a 50% chance of winning no matter who I face. It's either you or me.

While watching the staff come and go, Yi Zheng sat in a corner drinking mineral water.

With the development of the internet, live streaming has become increasingly important. Even the world's largest Go platform, FoxGo, has signed official cooperation agreements with Go associations in many countries, providing exclusive live video streaming.

There was no exclusive agreement in China, because there are other Go programs available locally, but there are still live broadcasts.

Online live streaming is indeed much better than many TV programs. In the past, most Go TV programs, even those that were live, only had two guest commentators explaining the game in front of a large board, and at most, you could occasionally see a little bit of footage of the game.

However, current online live streaming can not only broadcast the state of the chessboard in real time, but also the state of the two players in the game, and can switch between various screens at any time.

It can be said that it provides spectators with a great viewing experience, and even makes them feel as if they are there, since they can know what is happening on the field in real time.

Looking at the staff coming and going, Old Ke couldn't help but sigh, "Your side is much better than ours." The official live stream of Old Ke's World can't even be described as bad; it's just ridiculous, even worse than the live stream of chess.

Well, sometimes many people just want to avoid mistakes rather than make achievements. They think, "If I don't change, at least there won't be any problems. But if I change, what if problems arise?"

Not to mention that changes require money. Although various certificate reforms have resulted in exorbitant fees and the prohibition of skipping grades, there is still no money to properly organize competitions.

There have even been instances of backstage staff betraying streamers during live streams, roasting two streamers on a fire. It's utterly speechless.

Meanwhile, the staff on the side had already prepared everything and were ready to start the live broadcast at any time.

Many media outlets arrived early to photograph the athletes' pre-competition condition. Yi Zheng, who was drinking water, involuntarily sat up straight when he saw the flash of the camera on him.

image!

However, all reporters must leave the venue about fifteen minutes after the start of the competition to avoid disturbing the contestants.

However, the thought of being broadcast live by cameras the whole time made Yi Zheng feel uncomfortable.

I'll think about it and decide. I'll just do whatever makes me comfortable.

Thinking of this, Yi Zheng simply leaned back in his chair, resigned to his fate.

"Hello Azheng".

Qi Ling also came over and greeted them. After training with the national team for so long, everyone was quite familiar with each other.

Yi Zheng said somewhat helplessly, "Could you please stop calling Fatty by that nickname? It feels really weird."

Actually, I was feeling fine until Mr. Ke sang a line: "Ah Zhen fell in love with Ah Qiang on a night without stars."

Yi Zheng felt a little... about this nickname.

"Yi Zheng's rating has been rising really fast lately."

"Indeed, it's almost outrageous. The main reason is that his score was low to begin with, and the ones he got right were high-scoring ones. If he won, he would make a fortune, and if he lost, he wouldn't lose much."

"It's strange that he's still only a 1-dan with such an impressive rank and doesn't even participate in promotion tournaments."

"These kinds of geniuses all have quirks; they probably want to get promoted directly through some competition."

"I wonder who will be the winner of this final. It seems that Teruto Kuroki won the championship again from Japan. The champion from China doesn't seem to care much about this competition."

Before the competition, Yi Zheng had gotten used to the staff's constant chatter. At first, many people would whisper, but now it seems that after seeing it so often, they no longer do it behind people's backs.

For various reasons, Teruto Kuroki's performance in the first half of this year was not good, and could even be described as somewhat...

Compared to last year's haul of several major titles, this year's loss of several championships can be described as a series of major upsets.

Previously, he only needed to wait for his opponent in the finals of many title matches because he already held the title. However, starting next year, he will have to start from scratch in many of these matches.

It can only be said that this person has done a great deal of harm.

With the referee's words, the main tournament of the Agon Kiriyama Cup officially began.

(End of this chapter)