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

Chapter 374 Time Assassin
"Takenouchi-senpai, is there something you need?"

Kuroki Teruto looked at Takenouchi Katsuya, who was gesturing for him to step aside, with some confusion on his tired face and a hint of bewilderment.

Why are you asking me to move aside? What use are you sitting in my seat? Do you want to apply for a one-on-one challenge for the sake of Japanese Go?
Stop joking! Fighting him will kill you! Either he'll beat you to death, or you'll make him laugh to death!
To put it bluntly, let alone Takenouchi Katsuya, who is now well past retirement age, even Takenouchi Katsuya in his prime wouldn't be able to defeat Yi Zheng with one hand.

It is common knowledge in most cases that each generation of Go players is better than the last, and even in recent decades the pace of iteration has been very fast.

The strength of the predecessors will basically become nourishment for the successors, not to mention that the intensity of competition in the last century is not the same as that in this century.

To put it bluntly, Takenouchi and his teammates might not have played as many matches in several years as top players do in a single year now.

Therefore, Kuroki Teruto didn't know what Takenouchi Katsuya wanted to do, but due to the ranking system in Japanese Go, questioning an elder was considered rude, so Kuroki Teruto got up and stepped aside.

Anyway... the situation couldn't possibly get any worse.

Without saying a word, Takenouchi Katsuya sat cross-legged in the spot where Kuroki Teruto had been sitting, looking at Yi Zheng sitting opposite him.

It seemed like it had been a long time since he had sat in such a competitive position. Takenouchi Katsuya couldn't help but feel nostalgic, remembering how he had once been a powerful figure, dominating all the strong teams around him.

Yi Zheng looked at Takenouchi, who was touching the chessboard, and felt a little strange, unsure of what he was trying to do.

In this round, Kuroki Teruto clearly had no chance at all. He would basically be used as a punching bag from then on. Does Takenouchi have anything else to say?
Isn't this just handing yourself a free kick? Even the dumbest villain wouldn't do this, right?

Could it be that they're planning to stage an accident to extort money?

Yi Zheng couldn't help but think about the things that often happen to elderly people of this age in China nowadays. Could such things really be sold domestically and then exported?
A fleeting look of nostalgia crossed Takenouchi Katsuya's face as he surprisingly began tidying up the chessboard, leaving everyone, including Yi Zheng, completely baffled.

Is he just preparing to clean up the mess with Yi Zheng, or is he planning to say that this is the darkest day in Japanese Go, and personally clean up the Go board so that all future generations will remember it?
Yi Zheng felt that if Takenouchi insisted on playing another game with him, he should go easy on him a little, otherwise if he really beat the old man badly, it would be difficult for him to leave safely.

If someone doesn't catch their breath and just lies down on the ground, committing suicide on the spot, you'll be the one being scammed and have nowhere to complain. They might even accuse you of murdering someone.

"Chinese Chess Saint Brutally Beats 80-Year-Old Man; Japanese Chess Academy Files Tearful Accusation"

"Takenouchi 9th Dan, you..."

Faced with everyone's questions, Takenouchi picked up all the pieces and then placed them back on the board.

Apart from the media, those in the game room are mostly professional experts. They can tell which game Takenouchi 9-dan is playing just by looking at the first few moves, since they had just watched this game a few days ago.

The first game of Yi Zheng's match against Kuroki Teruto was considered by many to be Kuroki Teruto's most promising game, with some even saying that Kuroki Teruto might have won this game if it hadn't gone over time.

Even though Teruto Kuroki denied it, saying he had no chance, many people thought he was just being modest. If the outcome of the first game had been different, the outcome of the whole match might have been different.

Katsumi Takenouchi also holds this view, believing that in that situation where the time was up, Teruto Kuroki had a great chance!
And now, he wants to prove that.

However, Takenouchi Katsuya was well aware of how much his skill level had declined. To put it bluntly, he might struggle even against an average professional player, let alone against someone like Yi Zheng, currently one of the world's top players. But this wasn't an official match; he could call in teammates! And he could call in advance!
Katsuya Takenouchi's wrinkled lips twitched almost imperceptibly upwards, revealing a smile that was a mixture of cunning and confidence.

He's not fighting alone!
Katsuya Takenouchi, a former leading figure in Japanese Go, had little to offer but a vast number of students and disciples.

Yesterday, Takenouchi gathered a bunch of people at his house to conduct in-depth research on this game. Only those who are 9-dan are qualified to participate. They deduced countless possibilities and pooled their wisdom and efforts, all in order to regain face against Yi Zheng today.

Takenouchi 9-dan was full of confidence because he felt he had three wins and Yi Zheng had three losses.

Preparing in advance and catching the enemy off guard, while Yi Zheng is completely unprepared, is a victory in itself.

By taking advantage of one's own rest and recuperation, and conserving one's energy, one can easily defeat the enemy after three days of continuous fighting until they are exhausted. This is considered the second victory.

The three advantages are: collective wisdom and effort, favorable location and popular support, and the ability to overcome difficulties alone.

Therefore, it seems highly likely that Takenouchi Katsuya will humiliate Yi Zheng at the end of the day, at least casting a shadow over the champion and creating controversy.

As for how Yi Zheng will find a way to break through his own ideas later, he can still muddy the waters. You couldn't even think of that at the time, so how could you possibly think of it during the game?

As for whether Kuroki Teruto ever thought that once the waters are muddied, the truth becomes unimportant, and what matters most is getting dirty water splashed on him.

All that remains is the endless potential for the narrative version of "the Japanese player's skill was no less than the others, but he lost unexpectedly due to running out of time" to spread virally online.

Katsuya Takenouchi didn't feel ashamed, because what he did was a long-standing tradition in Japanese Go.

In traditional Japanese Go, there is a skill called "hitting the hook".

The original intention of "playing the trick" was to show respect to the player in charge, but it gradually evolved into an unfair rule for the player in charge, as the player in charge could use this privilege to gather their disciples to collectively study the game.

Simply put, when playing a game of chess, the player who takes the lead can announce at any time that the game is over, which means temporarily stopping the game.

At this point, the player who has mastered the game can go back and study with their students and disciples, and only after they have made sufficient preparations can they restart the game.

Then if you encounter another problem, you hang up again, until the game ends.

At its peak, there was even a game where the opponent lost more than ten times.

Even after studying the moves with his disciples, the opponent made a move that was completely unexpected. After thinking for three hours, the opponent lost the game without making a single move.

Does this sound familiar? Doesn't it resemble the actions of a certain peninsula during a competition? It just goes to show that the peninsula truly mastered the essence of Go when it learned it from Japan.

Looking at it now, this can't just be described as shameless; it's downright brazen!

The idea of ​​conquering the future in the past or conquering the past in the present is child's play!
This is the real, true time assassin!
(End of this chapter)