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

Chapter 415 Elimination
"Sigh, Jiang Mobai's current situation can be said to be completely controlled by Yi Zheng. At the beginning, he seemed to have so many external forces, but none of them have actually played a role. They have all become useless decorations, just like sticks standing there!"

"What's even more outrageous is that Jiang Mobai gets whatever Yi Zheng wants, but what's the price?"

"Look at me, by jumping to the central government like this, I've gained the upper hand again? Old Jiang still has to make amends!"

"The initiative is now entirely in Yi Zheng's hands, and it feels like the situation is already hopeless."

"No, no, no, actually there's only one landing spot left! That's the area that Yi Zheng dealt with using a 'crude' move on the right side before, but now that Yi Zheng has the initiative, he's immediately filled it."

"That means it has no weaknesses! Damn it!"

After the knockout stage of the National Go Championship ended, some of the eliminated players packed their bags and left the competition venue to go home on the same day—after all, the end of the year was approaching, and everyone wanted to reunite with their families as soon as possible.

However, a considerable number of contestants chose to remain in the city where the competition was held, as they all wanted to see the final outcome and witness who would ultimately emerge victorious.

Although everyone knew in their hearts that Yi Zheng had the highest chance of winning, when it comes to competitions, until the very last moment when everything is settled, who can completely give up and not hold onto that last bit of hope and expectation?

Not to mention the seemingly indestructible (paper-thin) Anti-Easy Alliance, of course they would stay and accompany their leader to the very end.

Inside the game room, Jiang Mobai himself felt incredibly overwhelmed, as if his entire train of thought was blocked.

His original idea was to try to drag Yi Zheng into a fierce and complex battle, thinking that in such a chaotic struggle, he could find a glimmer of hope to turn the tide.

The reality is that Yi Zheng simply doesn't care about my provocations! Yi Zheng readily handed over the benefits in the lower left corner; when I tried to force my way in from the right, Yi Zheng was even more decisive, abandoning the three pieces in the upper right corner without a second thought!

Jiang Mo was dumbfounded. He really couldn't understand how this could be abandoned? Wasn't Yi Zheng afraid of causing trouble by making such a bottomless concession?
He would give you whatever you asked for; under normal circumstances, Jiang Mobai would have to say, "You've never abandoned me..."

However, the problem is that after Yi Zheng made such a bottomless concession, Jiang Mobai carefully reviewed the situation and found that the two sides were now evenly matched.

Every concession Yi Zheng makes is backed by a clear price; he doesn't want to lose out at all!

The biggest problem now is that Jiang Mobai, as the player who moves first with black, has to bear a komi of three and three-quarters of a point under Chinese rules!

Moreover, the power to decide the course of the game now firmly rests in Yi Zheng's hands.

After making continuous concessions, Yi Zheng no longer hesitated and directly attacked Jiang Mobai's strong position from below.

After Jiang Mobai forced himself to hold on, he discovered that every time you destroyed one place for Yi Zheng, he would gain the same or even more in other places.

Moreover, the two white stones that Yi Zheng placed at the break point are still playing a role.

What was originally a minor ailment attached to external affairs is now showing an increasing tendency to develop into a serious, intractable disease.

"It's a ghost! It's a ghost!"

At this moment, Jiang Mobai felt as if he was about to pull all the hair off his head. Anxiety gnawed at his nerves like ants, but no matter how much he thought about it, he still couldn't find a good way to turn the situation around. He was at a loss.

However, at the very moment that Yi Zheng seemingly made his move smoothly, Jiang Mobai stared at the position of the chess piece on the board and was slightly stunned.

White plays move 122, "Ban!" "Isn't it supposed to be 'extend'?"

Jiang Mobai originally thought that, given Yi Zheng's style of slowly but surely cutting through enemy territory, he would simply try his luck and then directly enclose the middle, which would actually yield quite a lot of benefits.

Of course, Jiang Mobai felt that he could also surround a piece on it, so that both sides would gain something, but the difference in the board would still exist, probably still one point short.

But unexpectedly, Yi Zheng finally got a little angry after backing down!

An opportunity! An opportunity to fight!

Jiang Mobai didn't hesitate at all and broke it off immediately!

He's finally got a chance to fight, and he's definitely not going to let it slip by again!

Looking at Jiang Mobai, who took the initiative to fight him, Yi Zheng looked as if he had expected it, as if everything was within his calculations.

Previously, the reason for yielding was that yielding could be exchanged for something of equal or greater value. However, now that yielding in the middle can easily create a twenty-point encirclement, it also allows Jiang Mobai to reap huge rewards from above.

In Go, one winner is enough; who among decent people pursues a win-win situation?

The famous virtual anchor Zhang Yi once said: The rise and fall of territory lies in the balance between offense and defense. One must be both offensive and defensive, and maintain a balance between tension and relaxation. Too much tension will lead to collapse, while too little relaxation will cause the whole country to become lax.

When it's time to back down, back down when you should; this is called "nibbling away" – gaining five inches and retreating two.

However, when it's time to be ruthless, you have to be ruthless. You can't just back down all the time. After all, I already have a strong position. If I don't use him to attack, why would I use him to surround me?

Who in their right mind would use a strong defensive position to enclose an empty space? Do you? I certainly don't. Would someone in their right mind use a strong defensive position to enclose an empty space?
Yi Zheng was equally confident in dealing with Jiang's angry resistance. He dealt with it after a simple attack, but Jiang Mobai would have to go back and finish him off.

Because the two remaining pieces at the break point are still exerting their power, if they suddenly become sharp, and the lower part is not active while the upper part is in a tight position, then the problem will be very serious.

Seeing Jiang Mobai being easily broken through by Yi Zheng again, everyone couldn't help but look at the new avalanche in the upper left corner.

"Theoretically speaking, the outer force formed by the Xuanji Collapse Cloud should be very large, but it only surrounds this little bit now? The previous few pieces were like the Achilles' heel, causing the Xuanji Collapse Cloud to completely collapse."

"Probably not..."

Everyone felt the atmosphere was quite depressing. After all, the three fundamental truths that we've upheld since elementary school are disappearing one by one every year...

It seems like every single one of them is related to Yi Zheng. The Heavenly Demon Transformation seems to be the work of AlphaGo, but those who know the inside story know that Yi Zheng was also involved in the triggering incident.

Yi Zheng inexplicably gained the title of "the destroyer of patterns" in everyone's mind.

"In any case, the most significant improvement in this game lies in the new change in the upper right corner. The question is whether it's the best response and whether it will lead to complete elimination..."

Everyone couldn't help but feel a sense of shared sorrow, realizing that the patterns they had learned from childhood were gradually being phased out, and how far away were they, the old guard, from being eliminated?
(End of this chapter)