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

Chapter 260 Are Your Feet Numb?

About a month has passed in the blink of an eye, and both sides have been in the midst of intense preparations this month.

While studying Yun Linglei's chess records, Yi Zheng had Ke Lao imitate the opponent's style as a sparring partner to find flaws in the opponent's style and playing approach.

But how should I put it? Yun Linglei's style is unusually peaceful. Should I call it a style without style, or something else?

Of course, besides preparing for the upcoming match, Yi Zheng also had other competitions to participate in during this month. However, he also suspended most of his commercial competitions to focus on his preparations, which caused many people who were concerned about Yi Zheng's rank to stop paying attention.

Yi Zheng encountered several opponents of similar rank in the first few rounds of the title match. Combined with the matches he played when he first entered the rank, his accumulated points for promotion had reached the critical point. If he wins another low-rank match, Yi Zheng will become a second-rank player.

Everyone is also looking forward to it, is Yi Zheng finally no longer a first dan? Although second dan is still a low dan.

Yi Zheng's rank has been a headache for quite some time, especially for many leaders, and countless people have complained about it to him.

After all, it might seem impressive for a first-dan player to dominate various competitions, becoming a rookie champion, a national champion, and a 9-dan player to slaughter like a dog, but it makes many senior players lose face.

The problem is that Yi Zheng's triple jump is too fast. Normally, Yi Zheng basically doesn't encounter opponents of the same rank as him, because in most commercial competitions, he can directly enter the main tournament based on his rank points. These opponents are basically eliminated in the qualifiers.

Therefore, many people have tried to get Yi Zheng to participate in a promotion tournament, but because Yi Zheng's professional career is too short, with only one promotion tournament last year, Yi Zheng made an excuse and did not participate, so his first dan rank has been delayed until now.

Yi Zheng has maintained his first-dan ranking all this time, and has already climbed to the teens in the domestic rankings, with the top ten seemingly within reach.

The delay has caused everyone to completely give up. It's okay, as long as Yi Zheng can get the title, he will be promoted to the eighth dan directly, achieving it in one step.

However, considering the possibility of similar extraordinary cases in the future, the Go Association quietly added a rule, such as allowing winners of the Rookie King title to be directly promoted to 5-dan.

Of course, this was changed after Yi Zheng won the championship, so there's no way to trace it back to him.

After all, what regulation, once introduced, can be retroactively applied to previous regulations? If that happens, no one will know what to do in the future.

It's absurd to add rules for the finals when the competition has already been going on for almost half a year.

Wouldn't that mean we could still set up a rule, go back further, abolish all the original champions, and promote the runners-up or even the top four to the top spot? Isn't that just pure insanity?

Of course, although Yi Zheng has been removed from most competitions, he still has to participate in the Go League A.

The team captain and Yun Linglei, who was his opponent in the competition, were on the same team. The two of them were still chatting and laughing, showing no signs of the fact that they would be facing off against each other next month.

Everything was going smoothly, but the smoother things are, the faster time seems to pass.

On May 5th, the second phase of the title fight officially began.

Yun Linglei sat in his office and poured himself a cup of tea. He had defended his title countless times, but since he won the title, the challengers who came up against him were basically older than him or about the same age.

Now that a boy more than ten years younger than him has finally arrived, Yun Linglei can't help but feel a little emotional. So many years have passed already; time flies by too fast.

The main thing is that Yi Zheng said he grew up copying his own chess scores, which made Yun Linglei not know where to begin criticizing him. Am I really getting old?
Thinking back, I do seem to have been feeling a bit overwhelmed before, and I've even recently become obsessed with fishing.

It feels like just yesterday that I was so confident and assertive, saying that the players holding titles weren't actually that strong.

Yun Linglei couldn't help but sigh, "What's past cannot be undone, but the future can still be shaped."

After expressing his feelings, Yun Linglei left the office and went downstairs. The second stage of the title challenger determination matches would take place within their respective chess academies, since the titles were held by the academies themselves.

According to the rules, the two finalists will take a group photo at the entrance of the chess academy, and the photo will be displayed in the museum for future reference.

At this moment, countless reporters were already waiting downstairs for the two to appear.

Yi Zheng arrived early and stood at the door, closing his eyes to rest and waiting quietly. The weather in May wasn't too hot, but it was still a bit stuffy after putting on formal attire, and he even felt a bit sweaty on his back.

In many parts of the south now, it really feels like there are only summer and winter, and spring and autumn seem to pass by in the blink of an eye.

"The Divine Calculator Yun has arrived."

As soon as a reporter shouted out, countless flashbulbs went off as Yun Linglei emerged from the door.

This is why Yi Zheng closed his eyes; it was too bright. There were also a bunch of people around him using reflectors to add light. Does taking a photo really need to be this bright?

Yun Linglei was quite used to it, after all, he had already enjoyed the spotlight for many years, and even his private life was followed by paparazzi.

Under the sign at the entrance of the chess academy, Yun Linglei extended his hand to Yi Zheng: "Congratulations on arriving here."

“I told you, I won’t keep my senior brother waiting too long.”

Upon hearing this, Yun Linglei laughed and said, "Although I don't usually like my girlfriend to say 'immediately' and then it takes an hour or two to get her makeup done and get ready to leave the house."

But when someone actually kept their promise and arrived early, my senior brother was still a little unaccustomed to it.

"It's alright, I look forward to my senior brother coming as a challenger next year as promised."

"Sigh, you young people nowadays really don't know how to respect your elders. Playing in competitions is very difficult. Young people should play more chess and try to climb higher next year before challenging me again."

The two seemed to be provoking each other, but the tension wasn't really that high, mainly because they were too familiar with each other.

Not to mention that the two of them had a pretty good relationship. Yun Linglei himself was also a decent person. When the two old men were arguing over who would be his apprentice, it was Yun Linglei who stepped in to smooth things over, fearing that Yi Zheng would lose face.

Then he introduced Yi Zheng to teams in the Go League and even introduced him to a lot of business resources. It can be said that Yun Linglei, as the senior brother, has really done a great job.

However, looking at it from the current perspective, Yun Linglei's help to Yi Zheng has actually accelerated Yi Zheng's growth and threatened his position, giving the impression that he shot himself in the foot.

So I remembered asking before, "Does Yun Jiuduan's leg go numb?"
Yun Linglei was speechless when he heard this. "Are you my girlfriend? Why would you ask such a question?"

"Let's go, everything will be decided today."

Yun Linglei put one hand behind his back and made a gesture of invitation with the other. The two walked side by side into the chess academy.

Today will decide whether this is the beginning of a new era or a continuation of the old.

PS: Please give me your monthly votes, brothers!

(End of this chapter)