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

Chapter 225 Yi Zheng Makes a Series of Bloopers, Finding Him in a Bitter Battle [Bonus Chapter for Alliance Leader]

"I underestimated this guy a bit!"

Ethan's expression was clearly not good. He had previously obtained Yi Zheng's game records from various competitions, including those from national team training. His assessment was that Yi Zheng was roughly on par with the Three Musketeers.

He can already be considered a top-tier player, but because of his young age, he is not very stable.

It is highly impactful but lacks stability, unlike itself, which has firmly established itself as a top-tier player and is beginning to steadily strive towards becoming a super-top-tier player.

Ethan's assessment is not wrong. After all, although Yi Zheng's achievements this year are brilliant, the three musketeers can be called the hope of China's future, not only because of their own strength, but also because they have achieved brilliant results in the past.

If you have the ability but no results, you will often be overlooked, and you will likely have little hope of winning a world championship in the future.

For example, some players on the Chinese national Go team are very strong in training, but they underperform in official competitions. Some are even 9-dan players with no experience, and they have never won a championship or even a runner-up title since childhood!
However, such a player would not be able to become a 9-dan in this world, because to become a 9-dan in this world, one must win a championship.

Therefore, the younger the child is when they achieve results, the more effective it is. To some extent, it is also a form of feedback that can give people more confidence.

For example, Miao Jun's achievement of being the youngest national champion at the age of fourteen shocked many people, as it was remarkable that someone so young could achieve such a high level of success.

But as the saying goes, everyone has their moment of glory. Don't mistake one moment for eternity. Just because you can achieve something doesn't mean you'll always be outstanding. There are many children who achieved great things in their childhood but then failed to achieve anything later, like the tragic story of Zhong Yong.

Just like in another world there was once a Three Musketeers, each of whom eventually won a world championship, but one person won three world championships.

Therefore, Ethan's assessment of Yi Zheng was not wrong, but he underestimated Yi Zheng's rate of progress.

The national team's training game records are from the first half of the year. Ethan can see the game records from various competitions, but he doesn't pay much attention to them.

Yi Zheng seems to have reached an absurd level without even realizing it.

"How can he improve so quickly? I remember this guy only got his professional rank last year, right? How is it possible for him to reach this level in just a year and a half? This kind of progress is simply impossible."

Ethan was also completely baffled. Even if Yi Zheng already had considerable professional skills before reaching the professional level, it was impossible for him to climb to such a height in just a year and a half.

After all, most newcomers to the professional world are either paying tuition fees or getting beaten up by their seniors.

Yi Zheng, on the contrary, turned against the Heavenly Gang and began demanding tuition fees from various seniors. He even beat up seniors in various finals. He was simply inhuman!
Therefore, no one in the Chinese Go community knows how to best position Yi Zheng. Many people want to change his name to "Four Heavenly Kings," but that doesn't seem quite right either.

However, when Yi Zheng himself said he was at the pinnacle, everyone seemed to feel that he hadn't reached that level yet.

After all, Yi Zheng hasn't completely suppressed the other three musketeers, whether in terms of strength or honor.

Or rather, this period of time seems to be the moment when Yi Zheng is gradually transforming into a dragon.

Are the golden scales just a thing in the pond? They turn into dragons when encountering wind and clouds.

It's even possible that this match will be the turning point of that storm.

"You want to soar to the sky and make a name for yourself? Well, I'm going to break your wings completely in this round, so you can never fly again!"

Ethan also seemed to feel a strange sense of crisis. In his original plan for the future, Yi Zheng was not so important, but now Ethan felt that Yi Zheng was the biggest threat to him.

Since that's the case, I'll completely crush you with this one sentence, planting a seed of fear of me in your heart!

"Tsk, it's still difficult. Yi Zheng's opening moves were quite strong, disrupting Ethan's thinking and gaining a certain advantage, but it's still not going well." Miao Jun looked at the situation on the chessboard and couldn't help but start to worry. Originally, everyone was quite happy after Yi Zheng gained a certain advantage at the beginning, thinking that Yi Zheng had a good chance of winning this game.

However, in the middle game, Ethan's superior strength was revealed. He cleverly seized upon Yi Zheng's greedy moves and countered, gradually wearing down Yi Zheng's previous advantage.

Now Yi Zheng's right side is divided into two parts, which doesn't look good no matter how you look at it.

"I feel like we overlooked Yi Zheng's part; we didn't expect Ethan's interception to be so severe."

After all, this game is a rapid chess game that lasts for an hour, and both sides sometimes make moves very quickly, so it's impossible to calculate things so precisely.

"It won't be so easy for him to take over my four pieces in the center. The closer we get to the center, the more complicated things become. But I can't just run away now, or I'll be in a tough fight too."

It was within Yi Zheng's expectations that Ethan would turn the tide in the middle game. Even if Ethan had major personality flaws, his current strength was still that of a top-five player in the world, one of the most elite players. It was impossible for him to be able to go toe-to-toe with a lower-ranked player.

If it were that easy to defeat him, Yi Zheng wouldn't need to study chess so hard, and he would be tortured by some indescribable thing every day.

Move 109, Black, move the knight!
"You want to weaken my two central pieces to generate power? It's not that simple!"

Yi Zheng is also very troubled now. He has become a backup plan in the central area and has even helped Ethan strengthen the central area. No matter how you look at it, he has lost out.

Not only Yi Zheng in the game, but many people in the research room also began to worry about him.

Because the situation has gradually begun to develop in a direction unfavorable to Yi Zheng.

"We shouldn't have gone straight for that trick."

Yi Zheng couldn't help but feel a little regretful when he recalled his move. Although Ethan had managed to turn the tide slightly, the overall situation was still even, and the outcome was very close.

But because of that move, the situation suddenly turned bad.

Yi Zheng mainly felt that the path below should be accessible at any time, so he followed someone else's example and decided to leave the path untouched since it was always accessible.

However, unexpectedly, there was another step pressing down in the center of Ethan's house. After this step, Yi Zheng found that he could no longer climb up.

Now that Ethan has taken two of Yi Zheng's pieces from the center, Yi Zheng can only stick to the spot, which would be incredibly painful for anyone.

Ethan looked at the situation on the chessboard and couldn't help but reveal a wicked smile. After such a long stalemate, he had finally gained the upper hand!
But Ethan really didn't expect that Yi Zheng would actually hold out for more than 180 moves before he could establish an advantage, which was simply unbelievable!
The fact that they've managed to stay in this stalemate until now proves that Yi Zheng's strength is probably not much worse than their own, since a stalemate is the most difficult thing to achieve.

So, you really are going to be my biggest enemy in the future! It seems I underestimated you before!

But now, I'm the winner of this round! I'm the one who will claim the glory!
Ethan couldn't help but look up at Yi Zheng sitting opposite him, hoping to see a pained expression on his face.

After all, this small area is enough for the other party to slap themselves in the face.

But to Ethan's surprise, although Yi Zheng was pulling at his hair, his expression didn't change much.

How could this be?
Ethan suddenly felt a little resentful. "You shouldn't be making that face! Your expression is completely different from what I expected!"
Shouldn't you be in pain and frustrated? Regretful that you made such a terrible move, and regretful that you persisted for so long only to end it all like this?
Yi Zheng: I'm sorry, I've been in this situation far too many times. I regret it every day, and I've gotten used to it. I've slapped myself in the face so many times at home that I'm too lazy to do it outside.

P.S.: Please vote for me, dear readers!
(End of this chapter)