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

Chapter 240 The Second Person in Japan
"Outrageous, outrageous, utterly outrageous, absolutely outrageous."

Looking at the game records of the recent Weiqi League matches, Yun Linglei couldn't help but mutter to himself. It's understandable that he was grumbling, mainly because Yi Zheng's performance in these few games was just too outrageous, achieving a four-game winning streak.

As the biggest and most important player for the Muye Fox team, Yun Linglei had a record of 2-2 in the first four games of this season. Of course, this record was mainly because he played tough games as the main player.

"Four consecutive wins, holy crap..."

Yun Linglei glanced at the opponents and game records above and felt that it seemed quite normal. Apart from Ethan in the first game, Yi Zheng was facing ordinary mid-level players in the Chinese Weiqi League without fielding his main player. It was normal for him to win with his skill level.

But winning several games in a row is normal, but such a performance in his first appearance in the Chinese Weiqi League is indeed a bit outrageous.

After all, it's always a bit of an adjustment and psychological pressure when playing in the top division for the first time. Plus, the opponents are mostly seasoned veterans, so it's simply unbelievable that they could achieve such results.

Does Yi Zheng have absolutely no learning curve? He just starts dominating from the very beginning.

Yun Linglei still remembers that when he first entered the Chinese Weiqi League, his mentality was very bad. He lost 1-3 in the first four games, three of which were against the other team, and the only one was against the other team.

Comparing people is a recipe for disaster; comparing goods is a recipe for disaster.

"Sigh... If this continues, I, the commander-in-chief, will be finished. I brought in talent, but ended up ruining myself. Is this what they call 'caught in my own trap'?"

Yun Linglei couldn't help but criticize himself. With Yi Zheng's current progress and performance, if things continued like this, it would feel like he would replace him as the main general in the next year or two.

"No, none of that matters. The main thing is that he might actually come up in front of me for the title next year, and whether I can beat him in a best-of-three series is also a question."

Yun Linglei felt increasingly uneasy as the north wind howled. Could he have lost both his commanding position and his title? He didn't want that to happen!
In that case, all I have is a stunningly handsome face!

"No, I have to cancel some of my dates and focus on playing chess."

Just as Yun Linglei was feeling sorry for himself, someone knocked on the door of his studio.

Upon hearing the knock, Yun Linglei knew who it was, opened the door, and led the person inside.

It wasn't any female celebrity or anything, but rather the other members of the Kinoko team.

Yi Zheng looked at the room hidden inside the bar and didn't know what to say. Senior Brother Yun was indeed quite abstract. If he were his master, he would want to slap him too.

You might say Yun Linglei isn't serious about training, but he actually has a quiet room in his bar specifically for practicing chess.

You might say he's serious, but he even set up his chess training studio inside the bar he owns...

Schrödinger's seriousness is such that you could say he was both serious and not serious.

I feel like there are so many things I want to complain about, but I don't know where to start. I can only say that every top chess player is really unique.

Is it possible that a normal person can't become a top-tier chess player?
As Yi Zheng thought of this, he couldn't help but glance at Old Ke, who was floating around looking around. Could it be that the first condition for becoming a top-tier person is to stop being a human being?
Yun Linglei himself didn't care. After closing the door, he sat back on the sofa, took out some documents from the drawer, and handed them to the others: "I called everyone over mainly to talk about the fifth round of the Chinese Weiqi League the day after tomorrow. We're facing the Shocker team from Japan."

This time we're playing on our home turf, so everyone won't have to travel as much as before. There's no need for any group training these next few days; everyone can rest well and prepare on their own. The first stage of the Chinese Weiqi League is a round-robin tournament with home and away matches. Half of the matches are played on other teams' home turf. If it's a team from your own country, it's a bit better; at most, you'll have to travel more.

However, for teams from overseas, there are often issues with jet lag and even drastically different weather conditions. For example, the seasons in Australia are completely opposite to those here, and the time difference in America is also completely opposite.

Therefore, playing at home has a significant advantage, as the home team can rest and prepare for the game.

Furthermore, playing at home has an even greater advantage, namely that the captain can play white. Although the World League rules adopt a modified method of the point system, with black receiving a komi of 3 and 1/4 points, which is equivalent to 6.5 points in the point system, everyone still prefers to play white, especially Chinese players who have played a lot of point systems.

"The opposing team is about the same strength as us, so don't worry too much about this game. As long as one of you three can win, we can take the game."

Yun Linglei was very confident, and the reason for his confidence was that the only strong player on the other side was Kawaguchi Genta, who was ranked second in the rankings of Japan.

Although the other party is ranked second in the Japanese rankings and his world ranking is not much different from Yun Linglei's, Yun Linglei likes him very much.

"So far, I have won eight consecutive games against him. I will win the next game, so he has little hope of facing me in the main position."

Yun Linglei couldn't help but raise his head as he spoke, after all, Kawaguchi's rating was similar to his, and it was quite impressive to defeat him in an eight-game losing streak.

When both teams only have one strong player, and that player is countered by the opponent, it's incredibly frustrating.

Therefore, Yun Linglei was extremely confident. No matter what, the advantage was in his hands! He could finally get a positive score of 2 bars and 2 draws in the first two rounds. A star player should act like a star player!
Unlike the confident Kinokun team, the Shocker team is not so easy to deal with.

Although it was an away game, there were still many flights from Tokyo, and arriving a day or two in advance didn't affect the players' condition much.

But whether he's in good form or not isn't a problem for Kawaguchi; he's just really no match for Yun Linglei, which is ridiculous.

"So this time we can't use the conventional method. Edogawa, this time you play the main board against Yun Linglei, and I'll play the fourth board. If I can win a game with white, and you can win the other two boards besides the main board, then we can win 3 to 1."

In other competitions, Kawaguchi would still have to give it his all even if he knew he couldn't win, but in team competitions like this, the team's winning percentage has to be considered. Based on this consideration, the "Tian Ji horse racing" strategy is undoubtedly the best approach.

Since the chances of the main player losing are so high, it's better to just send the weakest player up, consider this round a loss, and try to win the other rounds.

At that moment, Kawaguchi seemed to realize something: "Kuroki seems to have come to China as well. He's playing against another Chinese team in the Chinese Weiqi League, but after that, there's another match between China and Japan in the Agon Cup. If I win the finals, he'll be playing against me."

It seems that one of the opponents in the Blackwood competition is a member of Yun Linglei's team. I wish we could run into each other; I'd be his pawn and teach him a lesson first.

Kawaguchi couldn't help but chuckle at this thought. In other matches, he would have hoped that Kuroki would produce some clowns, but in a Sino-Japanese rivalry, it was impossible for anyone to mindlessly hope that their family would lose.

No, no, no.

PS: Please give me your monthly votes, brothers!

(End of this chapter)