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

Chapter 373 Takenouchi Liu Lu?
"Kuroki Teruto's formation above exploded with a single touch..."

"Yi Zheng's understanding has surpassed that of all of us."

Jiang Mobai said in a heavy tone, "It seems that our previous thinking was wrong. We always thought that AlphaGo opened up our thinking, and in fact, that is indeed the case."

However, what we have been learning from him is nothing more than new changes, completely new patterns, and some mid-game techniques. But we haven't broadened our thinking; we are still using old ideas to apply to AlphaGo.

Yi Zheng is different; he truly learned AlphaGo's playing style and its underlying thought process... Therefore, we have been forever left behind by him.

Jiang Mobai couldn't help but sigh as he said this, but it's easier said than done. It's actually very difficult to break free from one's own fixed mindset and learn new things.

Not to mention that people like us can only learn from AlphaGo's game records, which is like blind men touching an elephant, making it extremely difficult to gain any insight.

Kuroki Teruto was in even greater pain on the chessboard. He had initially felt that what he had earned through his own efforts was actually something Yi Zheng had given him. What you thought was a life you had worked hard for was actually something Yi Zheng never intended to kill you for.

You thought it was Yi Zheng who lost his loot, but when it came time to rob him, Yi Zheng had just enough loot.

Kuroki Teruto couldn't help but take a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. Although he had long known the outcome of this game, he still felt a bit of angina when it came to the very last moment.

This game was arguably the most painful game I've ever played in my life...

Kuroki Teruto could confirm that Yi Zheng's understanding of concepts in various fields such as thickness, thinness, lightness, heaviness, isolation, and multitude had surpassed his own, or rather, it had surpassed that of everyone else.

"I didn't feel this way last month, can there be such a big difference in just one month?"

After taking a few steps to calm himself down and regaining his composure, Kuroki Teruto stopped the clock and conceded defeat.

The referee stood up as the two players on the field stood up, and announced expressionlessly: "In the final of the 34th Asian Cup Go Tournament, Yi Zheng 9-dan of China wins 3-0!"

Yi Zheng seemed to hear cheers from many places, but there was still silence around him in the research room.

After all, apart from the referee who was on rotation for the Asian Go Federation, the other staff members were all from the Dongying Go Association. Seeing their own people being beaten like this on their own home, some staff members wished they could tear Yi Zheng apart with their eyes.

Yi Zheng glanced at the staff around him but didn't seem to care much. He felt that he still hadn't completely subdued them, otherwise they should have been looking at him with the eyes of someone recognizing their father.

At this moment, Kuroki Teruto could no longer maintain his upright posture. He seemed to let out a sigh of relief, and his waist finally bent over.

Looking at Kuroki Teruto in this state, Yi Zheng seemed to recall some unpleasant past events. Kuroki Teruto was directly defeated by AlphaGo, also known as Ke Lao, and had to go and cheer himself up.

Is he going to become withdrawn from his own actions again? Can he even comfort someone who has become withdrawn from their own actions?

How did you improve so quickly?

Kuroki Teruto couldn't help but ask this question. Although many people have a burst of strength and a surge in form after winning an important championship, none of them have experienced a burst like Yi Zheng. Yi Zheng's performance can't even be described as a burst; it's faster than a rocket!
Yi Zheng pondered for a moment after hearing this: "I suddenly grasped some essential things in this game. My learning used to always stay at the surface level, but now I understand the real thinking and have turned these things into my own chess strategy and nourishment."

"That's it?"

Kuroki Teruto seemed somewhat incredulous, yet it also felt like it was true. Sometimes, what hinders people's progress is not technology or computing power, but their mindset.

Once you understand something, you can immediately achieve a leap in improvement.

However, some things can only be understood intuitively and cannot be explained in words; otherwise, everyone could reach the top level.

Thinking of this, Kuroki Teruto could only sigh. The rest was up to him to see if he could break free from his fixed mindset and surpass his current level.

Although it feels like there's only a thin veil separating them, breaking through that veil is incredibly difficult, and so far, only AlphaGo and Yi Zheng have managed to do so.

Even without AlphaGo, Yi Zheng would probably still have a hard time breaking through this barrier, and his own people wouldn't even have the chance to touch it.

"Ugh!"

Thinking of this, Kuroki Teruto couldn't help but sigh heavily, unsure whether he was lamenting his own powerlessness or envying Yi Zheng for reaching a level he himself might never be able to achieve in his entire life at such a young age.

Just as Kuroki Teru was fighting the online depression cloud, the rest of the research team arrived at the scene.

To Yi Zheng's surprise, he spotted Takenouchi 9-dan in the crowd at a glance, and surprisingly, he was walking at the very front of the group.

Yi Zheng really didn't expect that Takenouchi wouldn't perform the three-second descent today, but instead came to the scene?
Moreover, judging from the other person's expression, there was not a trace of sadness, not the kind of grief one would feel at the time, like the death of an ancestor.

Takenouchi's lips twitched slightly, and the muscles in her cheeks were tense, as if she was desperately suppressing something—not at all the sadness or grief one might expect, but rather as if she was trying to suppress a smile that was about to burst out!

Yi Zheng's CPU instantly started running at high speed, and countless comments flashed through his mind like a blizzard.

"Holy crap! Wait a minute! An outrageous hypothesis popped into my head—"

Yi Zheng felt a chill run down his spine as an extremely absurd yet somewhat reasonable thought popped into his head uncontrollably.

This "goddess" of the Japanese Go world, a leading figure of the aesthetic school... could she be an "undercover agent" who has infiltrated the upper echelons of Japanese Go for many years?!
Like Trump, who went deep behind enemy lines? The "aesthetic Go" system he insisted on spreading, which was extremely complex and ornate, pursued aesthetic beauty but was sometimes inefficient, was not ultimately aimed at improving the Go skills of the Japanese, but rather at... paralyzing the younger generation?
Slowing down their competitive pace?! Making them lose their sharp perception of absolute victory in their pursuit of 'aesthetic beauty'?! Is he deliberately spreading an 'aesthetic virus' to undermine the hard foundation of Japanese Go from within?!

Codename Liu Lu?!
This seemingly absurd "undercover aesthetics destruction theory" seems to be... becoming more and more vivid!
Yi Zheng felt as if he had inadvertently stumbled upon a shocking conspiracy in the chess world that had lasted for generations!

However, reality is certainly not like that. Takenouchi 9-dan strode forward. The plan he had prepared earlier could finally be implemented!
(End of this chapter)