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

Chapter 234 Young People

"Even though the black stones in the top left corner have formed a five-stone connection, it doesn't count as a win? What does that mean?! Can't we just say it's a five-stone connection?! You're really bold!"

After squatting in the corner and drawing circles for a long time, Mr. Ke realized that the competition had already officially started.

After browsing around Yi Zheng's area, I found that Yi Zheng was scoring points at the start of the game as always. After all, compared to most people, Yi Zheng was definitely ahead by a lot at the start.

Even without deliberately using certain fixed traps, you can always gain some advantage; that's the difference between versions.

After glancing at it, Ke Lao drifted off to other places. After all, he was interested in seeing how others were betting in such a large-scale league.

After all, their world's top leagues aren't this exciting, with opportunities to travel abroad and compete against each other from around the world.

In summary, the level of this world's top-tier league is definitely much higher than that of the original world. After all, the original world's top-tier league had quite a few weak teams, while this world basically doesn't have any.

After all, buying a substitute for a top-tier team at this time isn't cheap, and if the team isn't strong enough, they'll be relegated to the second division very quickly.

Yi Zheng looked at the situation on the chessboard and slowly entered into deep thought. When the game had progressed to more than eighty moves, Yi Zheng had basically occupied all four corners of the chessboard.

Even the corner in the upper left corner, which originally belonged to Ethan, was also destroyed by Yi Zheng. In terms of the overall score, the two sides were about the same, but Yi Zheng had an extra lone piece that became a burden.

Currently, Ethan is in a slightly better position, but from a human perspective, the situation is roughly the same for both sides, basically a 50/50 split.

However, the problem is that Ethan played very cautiously throughout the game, as if he had lost something, and was afraid of making a mistake and losing again.

Around the hundredth move, Ethan was still firmly in control of the situation, and everything was running smoothly. He was trying to wear down Yi Zheng through sheer strength.

"We can't keep dragging this out."

Yi Zheng frowned as he looked at the situation on the field. Overall, he wasn't doing too badly, but if things continued like this, it would be easy for him to end up in a situation of euthanasia.

Move 105, Black jumps!
Yi Zheng's move was a test of Ethan's attitude, and it also had a two-pronged purpose: to support the isolated piece in the center and to threaten the white pieces on the right.

Upon seeing this, Ethan immediately frowned.

After a moment's thought, Ethan made a strong push in the center, preparing to cut off the easily captured black pieces.

"Sure enough, he's too impatient. Even if he has a well-defined strategy, he'll immediately forget it once he gets a little provoked during the game."

Looking at Ethan leaning out, Yi Zheng had an expression that said, "I knew it."

This step was meant to test the other party, but just as he had predicted, Ethan seemed to know it was bait, yet he still took the bait.

Ethan's skill is indeed impeccable, but his personality flaws on the chessboard are too great.

This could also be due to being too young and having never experienced any setbacks.

Ethan's initial strategy for this game was probably to slowly wear down Yi Zheng with his own strength. After all, Yi Zheng's strength was a level below his, and there was a fairly high probability that Ethan could easily defeat Yi Zheng.

However, if this intention were to be implemented, Ethan should have blocked the second lane earlier and completely secured the right side. In that case, the opponent would not be able to find any weaknesses throughout the game, and Yi Zheng would not even be able to find a place to exert his strength. It could be described as impeccable.

Because Ethan has no weak pieces on the board, Yi Zheng's central pieces will be further plundered, and Yi Zheng may even slowly enter a state of euthanasia in this game.

However, faced with Yi Zheng's probing, Ethan couldn't resist immediately choosing a different approach. Although the win rates of these two moves weren't significantly different, their impact on the subsequent landscape was worlds apart.

A lack of coherent thinking, frequent changes in strategy, and constant micromanagement are all major taboos, whether in war or chess.

"They're still too young."

Yi Zheng couldn't help but shake his head when he thought of this. Ethan was still too young. He was almost twenty years old. It was normal for him to be immature at that age.

If Ethan knew what Yi Zheng was thinking, he'd probably curse him out: "You're a seventeen-year-old kid and you're telling me I'm young? Are you crazy?!"
Ethan naturally had his own thoughts, because he not only wanted to win, but also wanted to traumatize Yi Zheng.

There are differences between victories. Sometimes, a victory achieved through slow and steady effort won't make your opponent think you're that great. But if you crush your opponent with overwhelming force, it can leave a psychological scar on them.

Even in the next match, you can gain more psychological and status advantages and accumulate more winning momentum.

This is what is known as killing someone by destroying their spirit!
If Yi Zheng could hear what Ethan was thinking, he'd probably drawl out, "Shrimp? And pig's heart too? How horrible!"

Faced with Ethan's tough stance, Yi Zheng naturally had no reason to ignore it.

If you ignore my threats, then I'll just cut you off on the right.

Ethan, without any hesitation, completely steered the situation into utter chaos.

Move 118, White, dig!

"A very tough move that completely steered the situation into chaos. If it were Mr. Ke, he would have been very calm, but Ethan is out of time."

Yi Zheng looked up at Ethan's remaining time. The opponent had already used up all their remaining time, and now there were only three 30-second countdowns left.

Yi Zheng also reserved more than ten minutes of time, which is a very fortunate thing, and it's heartwarming and thoughtful.

Because at this time, Yi Zheng has ample time to think, while Ethan can only use Yi Zheng's time if he needs to think for a long time.

However, Ethan didn't know where Yi Zheng would go next, so he could only guess where the opponent would go next and then think along that line of thought.

However, the opponent's actual move may not be on your line of thinking, and sometimes a lot of your thinking will be rendered useless.

This is why the official closing of the betting market doesn't let the opponent know the next move. This way, everyone is on the same starting line, and the thinking can be put into a pause and stalemate, rather than giving one side unlimited time to think about their move.

After a moment's thought, Yi Zheng chose to forcefully group up, otherwise if his center was wiped out by Ethan, the game would be over.

Ethan, meanwhile, turned the corner, aiming at the method of cutting off this side later.

Yi Zheng went back up and made a move. If he didn't make a move here first, there might be a gap later. So Yi Zheng filled in this gap first. If Ethan can stick to it, then things should proceed smoothly.

However, Ethan had no intention of playing it safe and rushed in, splitting Yi Zheng's black pieces in two.

A localized robbery ensued, and the entire situation suddenly seemed to have reached a point where a life-or-death struggle was inevitable.

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(End of this chapter)