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

Chapter 354 Fear
Move 27, Black plays square!
Upon seeing this step, Li Zongrui frowned slightly, because the choice of how to respond to this step was somewhat difficult.

"Yi Zheng's move was very ruthless! He was aiming for my weak point."

Li Zongrui, who was leaning back on the sofa in front of the chessboard, involuntarily leaned forward at this moment, straightening his back as if to resist some kind of invisible pressure.

He stared at the black stones in his crucial position and pondered for a full fifteen minutes.

In the fast-paced modern professional matches, especially at such an early stage, this is a very long time.

Later, it seemed that he finally figured something out, and Li Zongrui's tightly furrowed brows relaxed a little.

Li Zongrui leaned forward, picked up a white piece, and with a solemn, resolute gesture, placed it heavily on the ground.

Seeing this, Yi Zheng couldn't help but nod while yawning. The nod wasn't an agreement, but rather a feeling that you weren't up to par.

"Now I finally feel like I'm in the top spot. After thinking for so long, Li Zongrui has indeed chosen to be patient. This move will cost him at least ten or twenty points."

Although Yi Zheng had never seen so-called artificial intelligence, he was influenced by Ke Lao to always say things that would lower the win rate. Although he didn't know how much it would lower the win rate, he had a vague estimate in his mind after hearing it so many times.

Yi Zheng pointed this out because he believed Li Zongrui would be patient. People tend to fear the number one player and will choose to hold back rather than fight him when they don't think it's a crucial moment.

But sometimes it is precisely because of this that you lose territory without even realizing it.

For example, Yi Zheng used to often have this feeling towards Ke Lao, always thinking of playing it safe, which is actually a kind of lack of confidence and not daring to compete with him.

Faced with fame and power, they were already somewhat intimidated and dared not take a gamble.

So what Mr. Ke said is sometimes right: you're given a chance but you don't know how to use it!

Moreover, sometimes it is precisely this fear of the number one player that makes him seem even stronger. The stronger he is, the more fearful he becomes, creating a vicious cycle for other players.

Like a snowball rolling downhill, it eventually forms an aura of intimidation that terrifies all chess players.

Although Yi Zheng claims to be the world's number one, he is still not as terrifying as Li Junhe was back then. After all, it took Li Junhe a considerable amount of time to defeat all the top players.

Yi Zheng has only been in the industry for a short time, so many people believe that although Yi Zheng's strength is top-notch, many people have not actually fought against him many times, so it is difficult for them to be defeated.

Yi Zheng was like someone with a cheat code. He skipped levels and rushed into the top ranks before he could even finish clearing a small pond. As a result, many people didn't even have the chance to sit opposite him and experience that "desperate suffocation".

Therefore, most people in the industry currently perceive Yi Zheng as follows: "This guy is indeed top-notch, but to say he's as despair-inducing as Li Junhe? Not quite."

The reason for such remarks is that many people have not experienced being repeatedly beaten down by Yi Zheng to the point of doubting their own abilities, so "fear" is hard to take root in their bones.

However, several unfortunate individuals from the same era have already been implanted with fear and psychological trauma, such as the Three Musketeers, Li Zongrui, and a certain player from across the ocean who wishes to remain anonymous.

After all, they had watched helplessly as Yi Zheng continued his relentless eating, like he was on a chewing gum bar.

From a 50/50 chance to a 90/10 chance... and finally soaring to the point where they were almost hopelessly unable to win.

The speed of advancement was too fast; before I could even process the psychological trauma, a new one had already taken its toll.

This experience likely planted a seed of "Yi Zheng is terrifying" in their hearts. "However, we still need to deepen their psychological trauma!"

Yi Zheng had to admit that it was good for others to feel fear towards him, and it was also like a divine intervention in his game.

Even if nothing unexpected happens, judging from the post-game analysis, Lee Zongrui's move may have already been a losing one.

The twenty-eighth move, a losing move, is also extremely rare.

However, thinking about it, it's quite normal. Yi Zheng felt that the subsequent changes he was thinking about were extremely complex, and there were extremely strict requirements for judging the situation and the subsequent transformation.

After all, it's difficult for White to have any living stones on the surface. If the exchange on the outside doesn't yield any gains and instead the stones are all trapped inside, the game might end immediately.

Therefore, even if a human player thinks about this move for a while, they might not be able to make a clear judgment, and they wouldn't realize that the gap would be so large.

That's right, human chess players!
Yi Zheng is now trying to put himself in a superhuman position, because if he still insists on being just an average world number one, he will never be able to achieve his desired goal.

Yi Zheng felt that in order to achieve his ultimate goal and defeat the dog that Ke Lao said he couldn't defeat no matter how hard he tried, he first had to surpass humans!

With his flesh and blood weak and vulnerable, cyber ascension was definitely out of the question. He could only rely on his own training, and he didn't know when he would be able to reach a superhuman level.

Move 30, White, cut!
Li Zongrui's choice to endure was not only due to his fear of Yi Zheng and his uncertainty about the changes in the chart, but also because of his expectations for this crucial step in the future!
Many people see Li Zongrui's move as a brilliant counterattack, which makes it difficult for Yi Zheng to deal with the two separated black groups and could potentially lead to a chaotic battle later on.

It was precisely because of this choice that Li Zongrui chose to endure. Otherwise, no matter how much he feared Yi Zheng or how unclear he was about the subsequent changes, Li Zongrui would not have been able to endure it. After all, no one would choose to wait for death.

As a new generation of Go players, Lee Zongrui may look like a frail scholar, and he is even very thin. When he was on the national team, Fatty often said that his hands were thicker than Lee Zongrui's legs. However, Lee Zongrui is also a typical power player, and he is very strong!

Li Zongrui's strategy in this game was also very clear: great effort can create miracles!
However, Yi Zheng still resorted to his signature move inherited from Master Ke: when in doubt, pull your hair; when facing difficulties, lean on Iron Mountain!

Move 31, Black, move!

Yi Zheng's next step is still to probe the other party's strategy and make a choice based on the other party's strategy.

However, Li Zongrui clearly did not want to reveal his trump card so quickly, so he also came down and used his own tactics against him.

These days, it seems like everyone has a little black mark on their skin!
"The two sides have switched sides. Yi Zheng cut off the two white stones in the lower right corner, but Li Zongrui thickened the middle, which greatly increased the power of the white stones that were originally cut off by both sides."

Li Zongrui's current strength seems quite impressive. He seemed unremarkable when he was on the national team, but he's reached this level.

Chu Tianjiao had always thought that Li Zongrui's ability to reach the semi-finals was due to good luck in the draw, as he only encountered rising stars and not veteran powerhouses.

His skill level is probably just average at a high level, ranking around 20th in China.

However, judging from the current situation, Li Zongrui may already possess the strength to be among the top ten in China, which is what is meant by a title...

"Damn it, there are more and more perverts these days, it's not easy to earn money for baby formula! Old Zha, it's good that you guys are single! One person is full and the whole family is not hungry! I have to worry about earning money for my son Zihang's baby formula and tutoring every day."

(End of this chapter)