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

Chapter 437 Surpassing the Ninth Dan...

"Mr. Zhang, it's been a long time."

Yi Zheng had no idea that Zhang Xinping was already waiting inside the Chinese Chess Academy when he arrived by plane, patiently waiting for his return.

As the boss of a listed company, Zhang Xinping's move shows great sincerity. Although most bosses and company executives are not busy on weekdays, and many even spend their days playing games, not every matter is worth their personal involvement.

His personal involvement demonstrates his high regard for the matter and, to some extent, indicates his determination to make it a success.

"Congratulations! I heard that Yi Zheng, a 9-dan player, has won consecutive victories against Lee Jun-hyuk in Silla. This will probably be a legendary story in the Go world in the future."

As Zhang Xinping spoke, he gently shook Yi Zheng's hand while simultaneously patting him on the shoulder with his other hand.

Yi Zheng simply smiled and nodded upon hearing this: "It was just good luck. My strength hasn't reached that level yet."

Zhang Xinping nodded in agreement. He had also analyzed the game between the two players using artificial intelligence, since there were so many people present and the game record had already been leaked.

The final conclusion was that Li Junhe's later moves were really terrible. Yi Zheng had already been very tactful and let him go, but Li Junhe refused.

After all, having lived such a humiliating life, Li Junhe was willing to take a gamble and go head-to-head with Yi Zheng.

However, Zhang Xinping did not say that. Regardless of any other factors, winning is winning, and that is the fact. There were no behind-the-scenes tricks or rules involved in winning; strength is strength.

All the words I could say can be summed up in one word: Good!

Looking back on the years when Li Junhe dominated the Go world, the Chinese Go community was suppressed and faced great difficulties, and many people harbored a deep sense of frustration.

Lee Jun-hyuk appears humble and honest, but he often says hurtful things. For example, he once publicly stated that "there are at most one or two people in China who can play chess."

After all, being number one in the world inevitably breeds a sense of superiority over others.

Some have even said: People with personality may not necessarily succeed, but people without personality are destined to fail.

However, the public is always exceptionally tolerant of geniuses. When a genius is in high spirits, others often chime in with, "Isn't what he said the truth?" and so on.

But when he started to decline, another genius began to mock him.

The sports world is a cycle that repeats itself, from creating idols to destroying them, each step providing a sense of pleasure.

"Jiang Mobai, a 9-dan player, is here too? Let's go inside and talk."

Zhang Xinping shook Yi Zheng's hand several times before noticing that Jiang Mobai was also standing behind Yi Zheng. He quickly greeted him and then pulled Yi Zheng into the chess academy.

Looking at the people who went in, Jiang Mobai couldn't help but sniffle. You're not even willing to congratulate me on winning the championship.

When I was number one in China, you said I was the hope of Chinese Go. Now that new talents have surpassed the old, you call them Jiang Mobai, a 9-dan player.

pain!It hurts so much!
Meanwhile, Yi Zheng and his entourage had already entered a small conference room inside the Chinese Chess Academy, where staff had prepared tea in advance.

"Mr. Zhang, this is a new tea that just arrived in our area. You're an expert in it, so please have a taste."

Jin Wan, as one of the reception staff of the Chinese Chess Academy, poured tea for Zhang Xinping while smiling and gesturing for him to taste it.

Zhang Xinping nodded upon hearing this, picked up his teacup, took a small sip, and simply commented, "Not bad." For a business owner of his caliber, what kind of fine tea hadn't he tasted? Every year when new tea hit the market, the first batch was often delivered directly to people like them.

Yi Zheng also took a sip, but didn't feel anything particularly special. This tea was indeed more refreshing than some teas he had drunk before, but to be honest, it wasn't as refreshing as iced black tea.

"Gentlemen, I won't beat around the bush. Our company has just developed an artificial intelligence that has passed the testing phase. According to our internal assessment, this AI has already reached the ninth level or above." After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Zhang Xinping quickly steered the conversation to the main topic. He had come here specifically for this matter; otherwise, he, who was based in Shenzhen, wouldn't have made this special trip.

Upon hearing this, many people present were stunned, as only a few knew that this was about artificial intelligence.

Most people had only heard that Boss Zhang was preparing to hold an invitational tournament and wanted to invite Yi Zheng, and they were still guessing who the opponent would be.

It seems difficult to invite Lee Jun-hyuk, given how badly he was beaten this time.

It seems there's not much suspense regarding characters like Jiang Mobai and Kuroki Hikaru.

However, if we're talking about the same level, Ethan is already the strongest, but if he dares to bet, he's bound to lose.

People discovered that if an invitational tournament were to be held, Yi Zheng couldn't even find a single opponent to match with, unless it was the mysterious and unpredictable AlphaGo online.

If such a match could actually be arranged, it would undoubtedly be a highly anticipated game for many people.

After all, everyone wants Yi Zheng to step over AlphaGo, which is already recognized as invincible, to reach a higher position. In fact, everyone would feel proud of this, as if they had also won.

But no one expected that the opponent assigned to Yi Zheng would be an artificial intelligence.
Go AI?

Are you kidding me? !

Everyone present couldn't help but look at each other in disbelief. They simply couldn't imagine that a Go-playing AI would dare to challenge the world's number one Go player.

The most outrageous thing is that the owner of China's most professional Go website actually said that this artificial intelligence has the strength to surpass a 9-dan level.

This is utterly absurd! Unbelievable!

Seeing the people around him exchanging bewildered glances and remaining silent, Zhang Xinping silently finished his tea in one gulp. The reactions of the crowd were, in fact, exactly what he had expected.

After all, Go has always been hailed as the last bastion of human wisdom, the most complex and profound intellectual game, and even called "Noah's Ark that artificial intelligence can never breach."

In the eyes of most people, artificial intelligence is nothing more than brute-force calculation to solve problems. However, if one wants to conquer Go with brute force, it is almost an impossible task when facing a Go board with nineteen lines and countless variations.

The number of exhaustive variations in Go is more than the number of atoms in the observable universe, and its exhaustive complexity is more than ten times that of the International Camera d'Or.

This is why there are no repetitive games in Go throughout history.

This is also why people in the Go community are not worried at all about their jobs being taken away by artificial intelligence.

Can artificial intelligence crack Go?

Then all I can say is that my wife gave birth.

So at this moment, no one picked up the conversation, except...

Easy to identify.

P.S.: Well done, equipment! They don't bow to money.

What? It's one of our own people funding it?
What?! They won't bow down to Ke Jie just because of kimchi?!

(End of this chapter)