Dragon Raja: I practiced Naruto ninjutsu next to Lu Mingfei.

"Hello, brother. It's a pleasure to meet you. Please play a game of chess with me." The young man bowed ninety degrees to Gu Ran, seemingly determined to play chess with him.

Gu Ran paused for a moment, then asked Ha Ji-yeon in Morse code, "Who is this?"

Ha Ji-yeon saw the information through Norma's facial recognition and said to Gu Ran, "His name is Byun Sang-yeop, he is 12 years old, a very talented Go player, and a student of the South Korean Go Association."

She went on to explain: "The South Korean Baduk Association only opens about 5 professional rank-up spots each year. The competition is very fierce, with the entrance tournament for the academy students and the rank-up tournament. The fact that he can become an academy student at such a young age is enough to show his extraordinary talent."

"Is he Byun Sang-yeop?" Gu Ran's expression was somewhat strange. He suddenly sent a Morse message to Ha Ji-yeon, "I want to play chess with him. Mobilize all of Norma's computing power for me. I want to play until his Dao Heart is shattered!"

"What, you doubt him?" Ha Ji-yeon said. "Let's just forget about it, there's no need to do these unnecessary things."

Gu Ran was just joking for a moment, and he laughed it off.

He spoke into the microphone, saying something to the effect that he had something to do and couldn't play chess with Byun Sang-yeop.

But Byun Sang-yeop was extremely stubborn and actually grabbed Gu Ran's clothes, preventing her from leaving.

Li Baoying was a little annoyed. What was this brat doing, getting in the way of my chance to snag a rich husband?

She actually has a somewhat volatile temper, but she knows she can't show it in front of Kim Seok-woo, so she's been holding back.

“Look, he provoked me first.” Gu Ran sent a Morse code message to Ha Ji-yeon. “Just play one or two games with him. Kim Seok-woo usually plays a few games with me, right? It wouldn’t be good to leave without playing a single game.”

Ha Ji-yeon thought about it and agreed, so she accepted Byun Sang-yeob's invitation.

"Come on, we need all of Norma's computing power. Let's finish this quickly and take him down!" Gu Ran said to Ha Ji-yeon in Morse code.

Ha Ji-yeon said with a wry smile, "For a game like Go, there's no need to use all of Norma's computing power. An i7 processor would be sufficient."

"What is his current strength?" Gu Ran asked.

"Amateur 6th Dan," Ha Ji-yeon said. "Your name tag has your rank information on it."

Everyone who enters the Golden Light Dojo wears a name tag on their clothes to prove they are a member of the dojo. The tag contains their rank information to prevent them from randomly choosing opponents.

Byun Sang-yeop's features seem to be still developing; he has a narrow forehead and a thin face, but his eyes are very sharp.

He saw the rank information on Gu Ran's chest and said arrogantly, "My rank is higher than yours, I can give you a three-stone handicap."

Gu Ran chuckled lightly, picked up a black stone, and placed it directly on the center point.

"Tell him not to let him have his way, have Norma activate EVA mode and kill him!" Gu Ran told Ha Ji-yeon.

Ha Ji-yeon was surprised that Gu Ran even knew about EVA mode.

However, she assumed he was just playing around out of boredom and wouldn't let him activate EVA mode, so she simply handed the communication over to Norma.

Norma's voice came through Gu Ran's earphones:

"I have collected all the Go games in the world and started to generate an AI Go model. If you play the first move at the center point, your winning percentage drops by 8.5 percent."

At the start of the game, the AI ​​judged that both sides had a 50% chance of winning.

It's not impossible to place the center point first, but it will lower the win rate and be detrimental to the later stages of the game.

In Go, the winner is simply the one who controls the largest area with their stones.

Therefore, there is a saying in Go: "Gold corners, silver edges, grass belly," which means that occupying corners on the board has a great advantage and can allow you to control a lot of territory.

Secondly, occupy the edges, and lastly, occupy the central area of ​​the board.

The first move, placing it at the center point, is generally a very dismissive move, except in the case of master players' grand strategies.

Therefore, when Byun Sang-yeop saw Gu Ran's first subordinate, Tian Yuan, he was taken aback.

Immediately afterward, when he heard Gu Ran say that there was no need to give way, he realized that the older brother in front of him was actually looking down on him!

How dare you, an amateur player with only 1st dan rank, look down on me, an amateur player with 9th dan rank?

And my goal is to become a professional player!

Byun Sang-yeop really wanted to stand up and leave right then and there, because the first move to the Tengen rank was extremely disrespectful to his opponent.

His pride wouldn't allow such contempt.

"Maybe... we shouldn't download it."

Lee Bo-young stepped in to smooth things over, thinking that Kim Seok-woo probably didn't really want to play chess, so he was deliberately trying to provoke Byun Sang-yeop.

Gu Ran didn't care, she just looked at Bian Xiangye with a half-smile.

Byun Sang-yeop glanced at Lee Bo-young; for some reason, he felt a deep fondness for this older sister.

He wanted to be with this pretty woman, not to do anything that only adults could do, but just to talk to her and play chess with her.

The boy's mind was still very simple.

Besides, he also wanted to prove himself and showcase his talent in front of the beautiful older woman.

Therefore, Byun Sang-yeop did not leave. He stared at Gu Ran's face, snorted coldly, then picked up a chess piece and placed it on the star position.

Byun Sang-yeop wanted to defeat Gu Ran with his strength and make him realize that Gu Ran should not underestimate him.

This person must be made to understand the consequences of underestimating themselves!

Byun Sang-yeop is going to win big!

Seeing his high spirits, Gu Ran smiled slightly.

The young man is too naive. If he can win outside the chessboard, why should he focus his attention on the chessboard?

After Gu Ran made his move at the center, he followed Norma's instructions for all the remaining moves, placing whatever Norma suggested.

Therefore, Gu Ran's move speed was very fast.

After finishing his move, he reached out and took Lee Bo-young's small hand, gently stroking it in front of Byun Sang-yeop.

Chapter 58 The Troubles of a Go Prodigy

Li Baoying's hands are very smooth and soft; I heard she comes from an ordinary family.

But the soft, smooth feel of her hands clearly indicated that she had never done any manual labor, and there were no calluses on her hands at all.

Gu Ran judged that she was very pampered at home and rarely did housework.

When Byun Sang-yeop, who was standing next to him, saw Gu Ran holding Li Baoying's hand, his eyes widened.

He also longed to hold his sister's hand.

Those hands are so beautiful, with slender fingers and rosy nails, they're absolutely gorgeous.

He enjoys playing chess with pretty women, partly because he likes watching their hands hold the chess pieces.

Byun Sang-yeop was stunned, and for a moment he forgot to make his move.

"Ahem." Gu Ran coughed lightly twice, looking at Bian Xiangye's appearance, to remind him to get off quickly.

Byun Sang-yeop lowered his head awkwardly, looked at the chessboard, and then made his move.

Lee Bo-young covered her mouth and chuckled to herself, thinking to herself, "Kim Seok-woo, this high school student, is quite wicked."

Since it was a friendly match, there was no need for a timer, but seeing how fast Gu Ran was playing, Byun Sang-yeop felt embarrassed to waste time and started playing a fast game as well.

At first, things were fine. The first dozen or so moves were mostly standard opening sequences in Go, sequences that have been proven over thousands of years. The two sides exchanged moves, each gaining some advantage.

However, starting from move 40, as the game progressed into the middle game, Byun Sang-yeop's pace of placing stones slowed down considerably.

Gu Ran maintained the same pace of placing pieces as before, because Norma's AI model was thinking and its chess-playing speed was extremely fast.

Byun Sang-yeop was under increasing pressure, but because his skill level was higher than Gu Ran's, he was too embarrassed to think for too long.

Moreover, Gu Ran and Li Baoying held hands the whole time, and their hands were rubbing each other.

Byun Sang-yeop's gaze kept glancing at their hands, making it difficult for him to concentrate.

So, on the 88th move, he made a mistake.

There's a saying: "One wrong move, and the whole game is lost."

This move allowed Gu Ran to gain a significant advantage in one corner and also secure the center.

Norma's calm voice came through Gu Ran's earpiece:

"This mistake by his opponent has reduced his winning percentage to only one percent."

"Oh my god," Li Baoying's attention was not initially on the chess game, but only on flirting with Gu Ran.

At that moment, she looked at the chessboard and exclaimed in surprise.

Although she doesn't even have an amateur rank, she can still understand the situation.

At first, she didn't expect Gu Ran to win.

After all, the other party is a graduate student, a genius.

The skill level difference between the two is quite significant.

Moreover, Gu Ran's first subordinate was Tian Yuan, which seemed like he was just going through the motions with Bian Xiangye.

So even now, Li Baoying still finds it hard to believe: "The first-ranked player, Tianyuan, actually won!"

She shouted it out loud without thinking. Many people in the Go school who were quietly playing and watching the game turned their heads when they heard this.

Li Baoying quickly rubbed her hands together and bowed slightly to apologize to everyone: "I'm sorry, everyone, I've disturbed you all, I'm so sorry!"

A few idle people started to gather around and watch the game with curiosity.

Byun Sang-yeop was holding a white piece in his hand. He didn't want to admit defeat, but after thinking for a long time, he realized that he had no chance at all.

In the end, they had no choice but to abandon their piece and admit defeat.

"I lost," Byun Sang-yeop said, unwilling to accept defeat.

Gu Ran smiled slightly and said nothing.

Because he doesn't speak Korean.

Otherwise, they would definitely give me a good dressing down!

Let's see how arrogant you become!

Several middle-aged men watching the game nodded slightly in approval.

An older man who knew Jin Shiyu patted Gu Ran on the shoulder and said, "Shiyu is amazing! He actually beat a college student in his amateur first rank!"

"And your first subordinate was Tianyuan, impressive!"