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

Chapter 295 Change

"In this game, Chu Tianjiao 9-dan played black and made the first move. Both sides adopted the opening with a small point. Then Chu Tianjiao 9-dan made a move on Yi Zheng 8-dan's small point. Yi Zheng 8-dan chose a push-back move."

Normally, there are two options here. If Chu Tianjiao sticks to it, Yi Zheng jumps, and then Chu Tianjiao breaks the edge. This is the simplest and most straightforward strategy.

If Chu Tianjiao were alone, then Yi Zheng could directly break free.

But regardless of which choice he makes, Chu Tianjiao's choice here is essentially a way to correct the break.

In this particular area, Chu Tianjiao was clearly making other attempts. Instead of choosing to make a break, he chose to break free first and move to the lower right corner to make a small jump.

Yi Zheng was stunned when he saw this move. "You can do that? You old folks are really coming up with more and more tricks!"

To some extent, this is also a further impact brought about by AlphaGo. Top players are all seeking innovation and change, and are trying to break the shackles of traditional patterns.

What was once considered a necessary path can now be avoided; what was once considered impossible may now be the optimal path.

Even if we don't know if it's right or wrong, the spirit of daring to try is already commendable. After all, even if you take a detour, you are still finding experience for future generations.

"A great transformation unseen in a century!"

The value of this statement is constantly increasing.

Faced with Chu Tianjiao's request for change, Yi Zheng naturally did not hesitate at all: if you don't fix the break, I'll cut it off completely.

The connection between the two pitiful isolated black pieces was instantly severed by a beam of white light!
This is a blatant punishment. You want to act recklessly? I'll make you pay the price! When masters clash, if you show any weakness, I won't hold back!

Chu Tianjiao had anticipated this. He acted almost the instant Yi Zheng placed his piece, quickly moving to the bottom to attack the side, while Yi Zheng immediately began to split his pieces on the right side.

"Chu Tianjiao, a ninth-dan player, has chosen to attack from the top left corner. Normally, the first thing to do would be to force him to retreat immediately."

Looking at the situation on the board, Anjing, a 3-dan player, couldn't help but scratch his head. These days, it's getting harder and harder to understand top professional players; the difficulty of explaining them is skyrocketing.

Although Jin Wan, a 9-dan professional, has been effectively retired for many years, his insight as a top player remains: "If you force him to move now, and Yi Zheng chooses to extend two spaces, and then you choose to make a small knight's move to the corner, Yi Zheng will not choose the same small knight's move as he did in the actual game."

A more likely scenario is a low clamp on the top, which creates a problem with the shape that Black originally forced on the right side with a huge flying knight's move.

There are clearly points that have been penetrated, but patching them is difficult, and leaving them untouched could easily lead to further problems.

Anjing couldn't help but nod upon hearing this. "Searching was exhausting! Now that you mention it, I understand immediately."

Jin Wan, a 9-dan player, couldn't help but shake the mouse in his hand and found that it was really useful. After clicking a few times on the screen, virtual chess pieces appeared on the live chessboard.

Then, if you want to remove something, there's a one-click removal option next to it, which does save a lot of effort in some ways.

Technology is developing so fast! I remember decades ago, when two chess players from different countries played an exhibition match, it was broadcast live on television and telephone, and all sorts of things happened.

After Yi Zheng and Xiao Fei guarded the corner, Chu Tianjiao quickly chose to force them. At this point, Yi Zheng no longer chose to split the enemy into two groups, as this would not be efficient enough. Chu Tianjiao then used his skills to suppress him.

In this way, Chu Tianjiao can take the initiative to dismantle the top edge, and with the cooperation of the right side, a good shape will be formed in an instant.

Therefore, Yi Zheng chose to split the road high, and Chu Tianjiao quickly launched an attack.

This is also his style; he's a pure power player, and you could even say that every game is played with the goal of slaying the dragon.

"Yi Zheng is really skilled and daring now. Instead of playing the second line move, he actually extended in the lower left corner first, completely eliminating my two black stones." Chu Tianjiao leaned back in his chair, looking at the chessboard, thinking about his first time entering the title match, where his performance was absolutely terrible.

It's unknown how Yi Zheng will perform, as this is his first time entering a title match.

He glanced at the much younger junior opposite him. Yi Zheng, his first title match… would he be nervous? Would he make mistakes? Would he repeat his own errors?

But I absolutely have to win! I have to get off to a flying start!

Move 29, Black, squeeze!

Yi Zheng noticed that his fingers were tapping lightly and rhythmically on the wooden tabletop. This was an unconscious action when he was fully focused, which was jokingly referred to as playing the piano by many sharp-eyed netizens.

If Chu Tianjiao were to attach a piece now, he could easily negate Chu Tianjiao's previous strategy.

Yi Zheng's subsequent use of tigers to venture outwards is to help Chu Tianjiao further strengthen his external influence, which will inevitably lead to him suffering losses in future battles.

Thinking of this, Yi Zheng didn't make any further moves, but instead forcefully pushed forward.

"Using this approach isn't a good idea; it's a path dependency."

Yi Zheng couldn't help but scratch the back of his head, instinctively wanting to touch it a couple of times. But then he realized that there was no good way to get the three black pieces on the right after touching them. Fortunately, it wasn't a complete loss.

Yi Zheng shook his head and could only return to the top to start over.

Move 40, White connects.

Seeing this move, Jin Wan felt a little strange: "There's actually no need to fix this, why go through the extra trouble to fix it? It doesn't seem to fit Yi Zheng's style."

This guy can stir up trouble even without wind; people even joke that he'd rather run naked than wear clothes. But this time, his extra move has actually felt completely unexpected.

After all, in his impression, Yi Zheng was someone who would play recklessly as much as possible and avoid making amends if he didn't have to. But today, he actually made an extra move in a place where he didn't have to make amends.

Is this person possessed by Miao Jun's turtle-like lowering technique?

Yi Zheng couldn't hear the commentator's question. His idea was quite simple: there didn't seem to be any good moves here. He could neutralize all of Black's initiative by playing a move here, while leaving a small hidden danger for Black's external influence.

Move 56, White, Big Knight!
Chu Tianjiao couldn't help but glance at Yi Zheng with admiration, letting out a silent sigh of praise: "This kind of talent and skill is truly displayed to the fullest in chess, so elegant. And in an instant, he expanded the shape on the left side and even compressed my formation on the top."

The chessboard seemed to breathe, its rhythm shifting abruptly.

It's amazing how talented these kids are; I wonder if my own child has the talent for Go.

Chu Tianjiao's thoughts flashed through his mind, and then he instantly placed a piece on the chessboard.

Appreciation is one thing, but this is a battlefield!

We should stay put and conserve our strength.

All the groundwork laid, all the strategic shifts, all the accumulated strength...

All for the sake of killing the dragon!

(End of this chapter)