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

Chapter 348 Controversy and Honor

As Yi Zheng embraced the weighty Chess Saint trophy, the highest individual honor in the Go world, reports, analyses, memes of himself and his opponents, and Jiang Mobai's absurd videos exploded like a boulder thrown into deep water, creating endless waves on the surface of the internet.

Jiang Mobai, in particular, displayed countless classic expressions during the live broadcast of the entire competition, making him perfect for creating memes and parodies.

In addition, Jiang Mobai had done a lot of ridiculous things before, so everyone discovered that there was someone who was both famous and funny. In just three days, he became part of the "ghostly family bucket" of memes.

As for why it's so popular?
There's no way around it. Jiang Mobai's victory as the Chess Saint at the age of twenty, breaking all previous records, was already considered unbelievable by many. Let alone Yi Zheng, who just turned eighteen.

He really just turned eighteen; Yi Zheng won the Chess Saint title this month, marking his eighteenth birthday.

At eighteen, an age when one is just an adult in theory, Yi Zheng has already stood at the pinnacle of Chinese Go!
Thinking back to when I was eighteen, it feels like I had just been admitted to university.

Although there's a saying in Go that if you don't become a national champion by the age of twenty, you have no hope for the rest of your life, this national champion only refers to first-class players who have a name and reputation, not some super champion or a great demon king like a Go saint.

For example, the highest honor in the world for people like Ke Lao is the world champion, but those who can win their first world championship before the age of twenty can already be regarded as the best in the world. They are considered to have the potential to become the world's number one in the future, and they would be the focus of training in any country.

Later, many people thought that world championships and national championships should have been won much earlier, and that teenagers should have won so many that they couldn't keep up with the results. This was a result of being spoiled by the golden generation.

Leaving aside the miraculous feat of a fourteen-year-old entering the semifinals of a world championship and winning the national championship, any student who can enter a world championship at the age of fifteen or sixteen would probably be hailed as a rising star, and various news reports would likely exaggerate their achievements.

Even if someone who has just turned twenty wins the national championship, everyone feels that there is a great chance.

However, if this had happened more than a decade ago during the golden age, no one would have given it a second glance, and it would have been difficult to make any waves.

The talent gap is that terrifying!
China, which is now conquering the world, is at the beginning of the golden age of Go. People are amazed by the increasingly unreasonable strength of young players, which is growing exponentially, while they are also stunned by the fact that an eighteen-year-old Go master has appeared.

Everyone is speculating about how far Yi Zheng can go in the future, and whether he can become the highest mountain and the longest river in Go!
Post Title: [Breaking News! Yi Zheng broke through the ceiling at 18! He's already a Go Saint! He's only been a professional for a little over two years! Experts, please sit down and help me calculate how many championships he can win in his professional career! Can he reach triple digits?]

First floor: [Isn't three digits a bit too exaggerated? If we calculate it over ten years, he would have to win ten a year! Even if he participated in all kinds of business competitions, it would be difficult, right?]
But if you had told me a year ago that someone could become a Go master at eighteen, I would have refused to believe it even if you killed me. Now, I honestly don't dare to guess!

Reply: [Clearly, he hasn't been paying attention to Go. Yi Zheng's performance last year was already excellent; he dominated various national players in different competitions, and you could see he had the potential to become a Go master back then!]

Reply: [The person upstairs is just being hindsight. I don't deny that Yi Zheng was very strong back then, but he would never have shown it to the point that everyone thought he would become the Chess Saint next year.]

Second floor: [Grabbing a front seat!]

Third floor: [Feeling average, not as good as Lee Jun-hyuk winning the Asian Cup at the age of twenty. International competitions are the real honor!]

Reply: [What a load of bull! Do you even know what a Go Saint is? You, Li Junhe, will never be able to win that title in your entire life! You can only watch Yi Zheng win it!]

Reply: [I feel that Yi Zheng has a very high probability of winning the Asian Cup this year. The Asian Cup at the age of 18 is even more prestigious! If he wins the Chess Saint title and then the Asian Cup, Yi Zheng will already be the number one player this year!]
This year there was only one World Cup, and environmental issues caused many people to fall ill and be hospitalized. The winner was James from Europe, so you can't really call him the world's number one, right? I certainly don't agree. Looking at it this way, the achievements of the other players this season are unremarkable. The most outstanding and prestigious competitions were definitely the Asian Cup and the Chess Saint Championship. If Yi Zheng could win either of these titles (he's already won one), I think he would be the undisputed world number one this year.

Reply: [It's not just about honors, you also need to look at win rate! Yi Zheng's win rate was already incredibly high last year, and it's even higher this year! He's miles ahead of the second-place player! Not to mention, unlike Li Junhe who could rack up win rates in Silla! Yi Zheng plays in various competitions in China or internationally, which are much more difficult! If he's not number one in the world, then who is?]

Reply: [Has nobody cared about Ethan anymore? He won both the Americas Cup and the North and South American Championships this year! I feel his titles are more valuable! Not to mention he also had a world runner-up finish!]

Reply: [Ethan, stop trying to provoke us. How many times have you lost this year? You lose every time you face Yi Zheng! You're such a suck-up! You couldn't beat him even when he was a bit better than Yi Zheng, and now you're probably even worse. You think you can beat him with his bigger head? I think Li Junhe will be the one to stop Yi Zheng in the Asian Cup!]

Reply: [I really don't know which of you are bots, paid trolls, or what, Lee Jun-hyuk was eliminated by Yi Zheng in the very first game of the Asian Cup!]

The comments section below the post was buzzing with heated debate, with the core argument being whether Yi Zheng is currently the world's number one player. The other two popular contenders were none other than former champion Li Junhe and Ethan, who was widely considered to be the world's number one for the past two years.

However, Lee has no other achievements this year besides the domestic championship in Silla. Although Ethan has some achievements, the Americas championship is considered by everyone to be no different from the US championship, not to mention that both of them have a zero win rate against Yi Zheng.

But it's no use telling the fans these things. I won't listen! Our idol is the best!

The phenomenon of "brainless fans" has nothing to do with age, only with intelligence.

However, Yi Zheng is undoubtedly the hottest topic in Go right now, and posts about him are indeed popping up everywhere.

A review of all of Yi Zheng's championship honors since his debut.

What exactly happened during the eight years Yi Zheng disappeared?

Does Yi Zheng have a boyfriend?

[Analysis of Yizheng's technical biases and style.]

What is the secret to Yi Zheng's undefeated record in chess?

Wait, something strange seems to have been mixed in?

Looking at the content on his phone screen, Yi Zheng couldn't help but reveal the same expression as the elderly man on the subway.

IP address from Sichuan? That's fine then.

(End of this chapter)