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

Chapter 101: The Heaven-Defying Matching Mechanism [18th Update! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ]

"The Honinbo Challenge Tournament has come to an end, with Kuroki Terugen 9th Dan finishing the tournament with a score of 4 to 1, securing his Honinbo title once again.

This is his fourth title this year, and next month he will attempt to win his fifth title. Let's wait and see if he can win his seventh major title and create history."

Watching the news on the TV in the hotel lobby, Yi Zheng had no idea what was being said, but from the images and text he could probably guess that it was the result of the competition for the Japanese title Honinbo.

"This Kuroki seems to be Kuroki Ryuji's brother, right?"

Yi Zheng remembered Xiong Chong's introduction to him when they were at the Go Academy. This Kuroki was one of the famous Go masters in Japan.

Among them, Kuroki Ryuji's brother is the number one Go player in Japan. Last year, he played against the Chinese Go Saint as the reigning Honinbo of Japan.

Yi Zheng looked up at the screen on the TV and whispered, "I wonder how much strength this guy will have left when I get on stage. We have to hurry up and kill them before they get old."

"Yi Zheng, have you finished breakfast? Get ready to go to the competition."

Looking at Yi Zheng sitting in the hall watching TV, the team leader Gu Zhengyu came out of the restaurant next to the hall and shouted to Yi Zheng.

"Okay, I'll come right away."

When Yi Zheng heard this, he immediately stood up and followed Gu Zhengyu to the competition venue.

The competition is scheduled for 10 o'clock in the morning. At noon, the venue will provide meals but will not close the venue. Players can also inform the organizer one day in advance of their lunch so that they can prepare it in advance.

Gu Zhengyu looked at Yi Zheng who was following behind him and said helplessly, "Your luck is really bad. I didn't expect them to put the strongest players on the fourth table in the first competition. I don't know what they were thinking.

But this way our pressure will be a little less. You don’t have to feel too much pressure and just do your best.

In fact, we are all living beings, and we are not invincible. We might even lose.”

Upon hearing this, Yi Zheng smiled and said, "It's okay, I don't think that person is the strongest, and rank doesn't necessarily represent strength.

He's getting old, and even if he was strong when he was young, he's probably declined a lot now."

Once a Go rank is obtained, it cannot be downgraded or cancelled, but a person's level will inevitably decline with age.

Even after the age of 30, the calculation ability of many Go players begins to be inferior to that of young people.

In the last century, when games were longer and less intense, older players could still maintain some advantages. However, with the commercialization of Go and the increase in the intensity of games, the blooming period of professional players has become shorter and shorter.

Therefore, sometimes the rank cannot fully represent a person's strength. For example, those old title holders must no longer have the strength of the ninth rank.

For example, the highest-ranked player on the opposite side is already in his forties. Yi Zheng does not feel that his strength is necessarily the strongest in the team.

It's just that the high rank looks a bit scary. His ranking in the world ranking is actually not high and he has already dropped from a high position.

In addition to Go ranks, in order to more intuitively display the players' current real-time level, various countries have successively introduced a rating system, and there is also a universal international rating system internationally.

For example, Yi Zheng is currently ranked around 400th in the domestic active rating, but outside the top 1,000 internationally.

For new professions, both the Chinese and world ratings will be assigned an initial score, and then points will be added or subtracted based on your wins or losses to reflect the player's real-time strength level, which is somewhat similar to the combat power in Dragon Ball.

Although it does not necessarily mean that those with low scores cannot defeat those with high scores, it can indeed reflect a person's real-time status and level to a certain extent.

As for why Yi Zheng achieved such a high ranking just after becoming a shodan, it's because while there are approximately 1,000 professional players in China, only about 500 are actively competing, so the normal ranking list only counts that many. Furthermore, most pro players, due to their lack of skill and tournament experience, are often beaten by senior players when they first become shodan. Some players also experience a significant decline, with their scores plummeting, often even falling below their starting price.

Theoretically, some players should be called professional minus dan.

All of Yi Zheng's points in several games of the Qinglong Cup were counted as valid game points, which increased his score by a lot.

After Yi Zheng and his companions entered the competition venue, they quickly found a seat and sat down, looking at the two name tags on the competition table.

"Uno Chisuke...9th dan."

"Yizheng, first stage."

"What an excellent matching system, kid, your debut match was quite exciting.

I remember there was a first-dan who tried to challenge me back then, but unfortunately I defeated him with my backhand, hehehehehe!"

Mr. Ke looked at the ranks on both sides of the table and couldn't help but burst into a strange laugh.

A first-dan player versus a ninth-dan player, no matter who looks at it, it seems useless.

After hearing these two sentences, Yi Zheng shook his head. In his opinion, his hope was still quite great.

This older ninth-dan player may not be more difficult for me to deal with than a younger, middle-level player.

The biggest advantage of these people is their rich competition experience and calm mentality, but as they get older, their calculation ability declines and problems are prone to occur in the middle and late stages of the game.

But the situation is completely opposite for the younger stalwarts. Their calculation ability is at its peak, and the middle and late stages of the game are when they are most impactful.

The advantage of the older players hit a wall with Yi Zheng, because at the beginning Yi Zheng was very confident that his years of experience would be of no use at all, and they even doubted their lives.

If you can't make an impact in the middle and late stages, then there is only one way out, which is euthanasia.

After careful consideration, Yi Zheng came to a conclusion: "So no matter what, when it comes to a first-dan versus a ninth-dan, I have the advantage!"

When Mr. Ke heard this, he nodded and said, "Good! Very energetic!
The last time a first-dan defeated a ninth-dan was... No, I don't think I've ever done that?"

Mr. Ke thought about it carefully and realized that he had never done a similar feat, but several of his friends had done it.

There was also a guy who went straight from the first dan to the ninth dan.

At this time, the Japanese team also entered the field. One of the middle-aged men in kimono walked over with a fan and sat down opposite Yi Zheng.

After the other party glanced at Yi Zheng's name tag and rank, a hint of contempt unconsciously appeared in his eyes.

There is no way. Although there are beginner chess players in the world league, they are still extremely rare.

Rank cannot fully represent one's strength, but being a high rank does not mean one has the strength of a high rank. It's different for low ranks. If one is really capable, it's impossible that one won't even have enough time to rank up, right?

Thinking of this, Uno Chisuke instantly relaxed his vigilance. It seemed that today would be a game of massage Go, and he could just lie down and make money.

(End of this chapter)