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

Chapter 384 You are the challenger!
"Phew, our unexpected opponent is the Kino Fox team."

Alexander rubbed his temples as he looked at his teammates in his room.

He felt the blood vessels near his temples throbbing; no, his entire forehead was throbbing with a dull ache.

Theoretically speaking, it should be a good thing for a weaker team to make it to the finals, because luck will definitely play a bigger role in their advancement. It would be good news for a strong team like themselves.

but……

Muye Fox was definitely the dark horse this time. No one expected that this team would actually make it all the way to the finals of the top league.

The main reason is that the team's initial configuration consisted of only Yun Linglei, a strong ninth-ranked player, a mid-level player ranked around 20th in China, and two promising young players.

They certainly look very young, but everyone thinks their overall strength is probably just average, and even if these new talents have the potential to make an impact, their strength is not stable.

So even though Alexander's England team lost to Muye Fox in the first round of the regular season, Alexander himself didn't care too much.

It can only be said that he was unlucky in that match and suffered a setback, which made everyone realize that Yi Zheng's style might be a counter to Ethan's, and he might be his nemesis in the future. They should be arranged to be separated.

There's nothing else to worry about. Even if we meet again next time, we'll most likely win as the England team.

Even if we meet again next time, with the strength of our England team on paper, do you think we can lose a second time?

Statistically speaking, it's a sure win!
Alexander was so certain back then, and he even patted Ethan on the shoulder to comfort him, saying, "Young man, consider it tuition. You'll definitely win next time you meet him."

But who knew that the League A season would last only a year, Yi Zheng suddenly rose to prominence and won the highest-level chess saint tournament in China, as well as the Asian Cup, directly showing a trend of becoming the world's number one player.

This is beyond what can be described as a rapid leap forward. Alexander has searched through Go players throughout history and around the world, and he has never seen anyone with such an outrageous rate of progress.

The only one is the legendary encounter with immortals in the mountains. Surely Yi Zheng also encountered immortals!

Another player, Shen Guhong, also made it to the title match finals and is hailed as a super newcomer who has already shown the potential to win the title.

Although he is also abnormal, compared to Yi Zheng, he still has a semblance of human form!

……

"Young people are really terrifying."

Alexander couldn't help but sigh. He had thought Ethan was invincible, but he hadn't expected there to be other players who were so good. What were these young Chinese chess players eating to grow up like this?

Ethan dismissed this, saying, "No matter how you look at it, the advantage is definitely on our side! Alexander, you're stronger than Yun Linglei. Pete and the other two have what China calls title-level skills. The other two on their team are either without a title or just barely got one, so they're nothing to worry about."

And I'm better than Yi Zheng! No matter how you look at it, our overall strength is a cut above theirs!

Hearing this, Alexander smiled slightly and said, "I agree with 80% of what you said. Guess where I disagree?"
Even with an advantage, it wasn't a huge one, which worried Alexander, especially since he genuinely felt Yi Zheng could win every single game. With such a superstar player on the team, defeating them was incredibly difficult! They needed to win at least five out of eight games!

No, if that's the case, then you actually need to win at least five out of six games...

"The Yuewen team is really unwise. They insist on using their strength to fight against others, completely forgetting the Chinese classic story of Tian Ji's horse race."

This is a team competition, it's all about teamwork! So Pete, Brian, I'm going to put you two in the white positions, and Brian will be the captain in the second round.

Alexander's formation was specifically designed based on the lineup of the Wood Fox team. In addition to always serving as the commander, Yi Zheng would be placed in the black position in ordinary rounds when there was no commander.

Yi Zheng said, "I'm going to win no matter what. If you guys don't play well with black, I'll take over. That way, the other team members' win rate will increase a bit."

So if you want to catch Yi Zheng in a track and field horse race, you need to put the two weaker players in the team on the white pieces and exchange pieces to eliminate Yi Zheng.

There's no need to guess the final round; Yi Zheng will definitely be in the main player position, making the exchange even easier.

Brian was stunned when he heard Alexander, the team leader, say this.

I'm ranked second in the world in real time, is that true?

I may often do things that are inhuman, but you really are a dog!

However, Brian couldn't say anything. After all, if you want to use tactics in a team game, someone has to sacrifice. And what if I, the inferior horse, win against the superior horse? This has happened before in competitions.

But Ethan was not happy at this point: "I'll play white, I'll go straight for Yi Zheng! As long as I catch him and win a game, and you win one or two more, our advantage will be huge! If we win all of them, we can lock in the victory ahead of time."

Alexander was stunned by these words. "Ethan, you've already lost two consecutive matches against Yi Zheng when he hadn't yet developed. Now that Yi Zheng has made Li Junhe and Jiang Mobai feel depressed, what are you going to do against him?"

Alexander still remembers the state of Jiang Mobai and Li Junhe on the field the day before yesterday, looking utterly hopeless.

The last time I saw them like this was after they finished playing against AlphaGo.

Not to mention, in Alexander's opinion, Yi Zheng was Ethan's natural enemy. With these two buffs stacked together, Ethan couldn't beat him even if he smashed his head against the wall.

"No! I'm definitely going to play! I'm sure I can beat him! There's no one in this world who can't be beaten!"

Ethan was very clear about one thing: you must never be afraid in Go. Once you become afraid, you will never have a chance to defeat your opponent.

Just like in the final game of the World Cup final against Lee Jun-hyuk, after winning three games in a row, losing three games in a row caused panic. Ethan collapsed under his huge advantage and lost the world championship that was within his grasp.

Therefore, Ethan knew that he had to defeat Yi Zheng himself!
However, what Ethan didn't realize was that he had quietly changed his position from the challenged to the challenger.

Just as Yi Zheng said: You are the challenger!
(End of this chapter)