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

Chapter 361 Beauty

"All relevant personnel, please proceed to the adjacent research lab immediately! The match has begun, and the game room must maintain the highest level of silence!"

The staff, dressed in crisp uniforms, moved swiftly and efficiently, guiding the photographers, reporters, and special guests away from the game area in a manner as orderly as receding tides.

As the competition begins, all unrelated personnel in the arena must quickly leave and proceed to the adjacent research lab.

This time, many people from the Japanese Go community came to participate in this grand event, including many who rarely appear in recent years.

"All six of the original members of the 'Six Supers' were actually here. I think we used their scores when we were kids."

It feels like such a distant memory; it seems like it was years ago the last time I saw them.

Looking at the people sitting around the table next to him, Chu Tianjiao couldn't help but mutter to himself that these people were all of the same generation as his master, and some of them were even older than his master according to their seniority.

Although the research was supposed to be a no-smoking event, the heavy smokers clearly disregarded the rules and started giving their opinions amidst the swirling smoke.

Yun Linglei nodded upon hearing this: "It seems that the Japanese side attaches great importance to this competition. They've gone all out with the ceremony and so many senior figures have come out of retirement. It seems they really have high expectations."

It's a pity, though. If anyone else had made it to the finals, Kuroki Teruto might have had a chance, but Yi Zheng is definitely out of luck.

In his current state, Yi Zheng would lose to anyone.

According to the current world Go rankings, Yi Zheng has been ranked sixth. Above him are Li Junhe (ranked first), Kuroki Teruto (ranked second), Jiang Mobai (ranked third), Ethan (ranked fourth), and Belial (ranked fifth).

Jiang Mobai was originally ranked first, but after losing three matches to Yi Zheng and two matches to Kuroki Teruto, he dropped out of the rankings.

The main reason is that Jiang Mobai lost three consecutive matches against Yi Zheng, which caused him to drop a lot of points.

"Yi Zheng plays black."

Yun Linglei looked around at the graduate students. There were old-fashioned wooden tables and chairs, and some yellowed photos of famous players playing games on the walls, but there wasn't even a TV to broadcast the games.

Yun Linglei could only pick up his phone to watch the live broadcast, while inwardly complaining that the equipment at the Dongying Go Academy was really too outdated; the research room didn't even have a TV for live broadcasts.

These days, we can't rely on manual methods to transmit sheet music, can we?

As if to confirm his outrageous conjecture, the moment he finished speaking, the heavy soundproof door to the game room was carefully pushed open a crack.

A young man wearing a dark blue chess academy uniform and a name tag poked his head in, bowed a standard 90-degree angle to the people at the next table, and then handed something over with both hands.

He was holding a chess notation sheet in his hand!

"...It really is true."

Looking at the staff member who came from the chess room to deliver the written move count and position, Yun Linglei couldn't help but complain.

Should we say they have great respect for Go culture, or...?

Oh well, they're still using hard drives and fax machines anyway, so it seems normal for them to transmit sheet music manually.

"They actually chose a diagonal opening?"

This opening move was chosen proactively by Yi Zheng. Was there some kind of preparation behind it?

Several people couldn't help but shake their heads. Yi Zheng wasn't very interested in group research and mostly prepared things by himself in his room, so they didn't know what secret weapon he had.

"Kuroki Teruto isn't the type of fighter with a distinct style, but his fighting ability is not weak either."

"Heh, but Yi Zheng's power is much greater." Jiang Mobai couldn't help but laugh when he heard this. The funniest joke he had heard this year was that Yi Zheng's power was very small.

Yi Zheng is simply too lazy to exert himself during matches, not because he lacks strength.

"I wonder if choosing a diagonal layout this time is to demonstrate his power?"

"The order in the bottom left corner is a bit strange, but the result seems to be very similar to an old formula we learned before."

"However, in that old opening sequence, the black stones on the outside should be positioned a little lower."

The two players started off very quickly, and the research room instantly erupted into a heated discussion, although the Chinese and Japanese teams were discussing their own separate topics.

But inside the game room, it was a completely different world.

The high-quality soundproofing materials around the room absorbed all the noise from the outside world, leaving only the extremely faint, even hum of the air conditioning system and the unique, dull, resonant tapping sound of chess pieces falling onto the nutmeg chessboard.

Kuroki Teruto looked at the chessboard and began to ponder for a moment.

Yi Zheng started with a diagonal opening, and placed the bottom left corner very compactly.

"In a localized context, I'm not completely settled yet, and I need to add another option on the second line, but that would be too slow."

Kuroki Teruto knew Yi Zheng's style well. Just like AlphaGo, he was particularly focused on efficiency, and was even known in the Chinese Go world as the "High-Speed ​​Rail Style".

If you can't keep up with the other person's speed, you could be eliminated instantly.

Therefore, Kuroki Teruto proactively adopted a more aggressive approach.

长！
Depend on!
"A beautiful board position. This Chinese kid is quite strong. At only eighteen years old, he can hold his own against Kuroki Teru in the opening."

Katsuya Takenouchi was quite satisfied with the shape in the lower left corner. Teruto Kuroki truly lived up to his reputation as a leading figure in Japanese Go, as his moves were full of beauty.

On the other side, Hideyoshi Ishida, who had served as a referee for the Agon Cup, couldn't help but shake his head: "Takenouchi 9-dan is a bit too arrogant. Although this child is very young, he has already won the title of Kisei in China. It can be said that his strength has reached the world's top level."

Kids these days are getting more and more amazing; we can't judge them by the standards we had back then.

Decades ago, it was normal for Go players to be in their early thirties, but now, if you're not in your twenties, don't even think about making it big.

"Ishida 9-dan is boosting the morale of others while diminishing his own. Although this kid is very strong, he is still inexperienced. I think Huidou has a high probability of winning. There is only one Li Junhe in this world."

Shinichi Kobayashi silently added in his mind, "Not to mention that Lee Jun-hyuk won the Asian Cup at the age of twenty. It's already unbelievable that he could reach the finals at the age of eighteen."

Yi Zheng looked at the chessboard but didn't rush to make a move. He swayed leisurely and looked surprisingly relaxed.

It's definitely not advisable to stick to it now, otherwise it would be the cheap ending that Kuroki Teruto hoped for.

Therefore, there is only one answer!

Move 39, Black plays, block!

PS: TAK wins its first ever Go League title. Korean Go players are getting more and more sophisticated; they've even abolished the rule of avoiding players from the same country in world tournaments.

South Korea promotes its top-level Go tournament as a world-class competition, arbitrarily scheduling its players to compete at other times without any scheduling conflicts. I don't know how they can have the nerve to call this a world-class tournament. It just shows that South Korea will stop at nothing to get the championship.

(End of this chapter)