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

Chapter 82 to Chapter 81: Qinglong Cup East Asia Newcomer Championship
"Yi Zheng?"

"Secretary Zhou."

After the award ceremony, there was a free social afternoon tea time. Jin Wan and Ma Zhaoxu led Yi Zheng to introduce many people as their new apprentice.

After all, this kind of thing still requires greeting some old friends in advance, and it is also a declaration to the outside world.

During this time, Yi Zheng also met an acquaintance, Secretary-General Zhou Songxing, who reminded him that he could directly become a professional player.

"Do you know?"

Jin Wan glanced at Zhou Songxing. As a local Go boss in Beijing, he naturally knew that this man was the brother-in-law of the second-in-command of a superior unit.

I heard from others that he was a fool and had no brains. Yi Zheng actually knew him?

Upon hearing this, Yi Zheng explained, "Secretary Zhou presented me with the award during the Huangshan Cup, and he was also the one who reminded me that I could directly apply for professional qualifications in the amateur national competition."

Zhou Songxing, on the other hand, was very familiar with Yi Zheng. "Wow! People just told me that the two national players were arguing so fiercely that their faces were red and their saliva was spraying to the ceiling, and they were vying to take you as their apprentice? So fierce that even I have to line up to get your autograph!"

Zhou Songxing always seems to speak in a nonsensical way, and even his whole person seems to have a comedic style.

Yi Zheng just smiled and nodded: "The two teachers are wrong to love me. I can only work harder to repay their appreciation."

"You're too modest, young man. If it were me, I would have hired eight reporters with cameras to chase me around and cover this story all over the newspapers.

Oh, and it's best if you don't sign up for any competitions right now. You'll have to go to another competition soon, so there won't be any schedule conflicts."

Zhou Songxing seemed to have thought of something at this time and reminded Yi Zheng.

"I was thinking of signing up for a competition, but it seems there aren't any competitions to sign up for recently."

Yi Zheng shook his head when he heard this. On the first night after receiving the notification that he had become a professional, he was checking his phone to see if there were any recent professional competitions he could sign up for.

But no matter whether it is a rookie competition, a national competition or a title match qualifier, as long as it is a competition, Yi Zheng is willing to help out.

Although signing up for some high-level competitions means encountering strong opponents and having a higher probability of losing, Yi Zheng is not afraid.

After all, if you only play against weak opponents, then what's the point of playing Go?

Only by constantly fighting with the strong can you become stronger, even if you encounter setbacks and failures in the process.

This is also the reason why Yi Zheng directly wanted to play in the B-level league. With Yi Zheng's current level, even if he added the tactics taught by Mr. Ke, it would be difficult for him to have a high winning rate in the B-level league.

After all, the players in the second-tier league in China are all ranked in the top 100, as well as the backbone of other countries. Normally, they all start at a level of five or six or above.

Yi Zheng estimated that he was at an average level of 2nd or 3rd dan, but with Professor Ke's AI tactics and his own keen chess sense, he could defeat foes across borders.

Hearing this, Zhou Songxing shook his head helplessly: "You don't know, I looked at the schedule for last year's competition, it was simply a failure among failures!
There was a lot of empty time without any competitions in the first half of the year, but all the competitions were crowded together in the second half of the year, causing many players to have to give up the competitions or compete in consecutive games. It would be better to find an elementary school student to schedule a better schedule than them!

They also did this this year, and I've already started rearranging it, but it's giving me a headache. But next year I'm sure it will be evenly distributed."

Yi Zheng just nodded when he heard this. After all, he couldn't possibly get involved in this kind of administrative work. "So what kind of competition do you think I should prepare for?"

"Qinglong Cup East Asia Newcomer Ranking Tournament. Don't you know about it?"

Hearing the name, Yi Zheng frowned slightly and thought for a moment, "I remember it was an exchange tournament for the top three players from the five countries of China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, and Ryukyu after the annual ranking tournament."

Simply put, it is an annual display of the reserve weapons of the five East Asian countries in Go to show everyone that they have successors.

This world didn't bring the Qing Dynasty to the end. Although the Datong that replaced it did pull it off in the late period, it wasn't as strong as before. Naturally, Japan couldn't occupy the Ryukyu Islands, and the Southeast Island was never separated. "But I remember he wasn't ranked in the top three in the Dan tournament?"

Zhou Songxing explained: "This is just a tradition from previous years. The competition requires each country to select three newly-qualified players to participate.

You were promoted to first dan this year through an amateur tournament, so you are included in this year's finalized list, along with two others who were promoted to first dan in advance."

Of course, there is no requirement for the competition to be the top three in the ranking tournament, but this kind of competition is not worth organizing a qualifying competition for the young players who are striving for the dan, so China directly selects the top three to participate every year.

This year, there is the variable Yi Zheng, so he is naturally included.

After all, anyone can see that the value of Yi Zheng's National Amateur Championship qualification is much higher than that of the qualifying tournament.

After all, this competition not only has no tolerance for mistakes, but many of the contestants are also a level higher than the young players who are participating in the ranking tournament.

The Go Association would naturally not be so stupid as to not adapt and throw Yi Zheng, the ace player, out for nothing and not let him participate in the competition.

Yi Zheng nodded when he heard this. He would certainly not miss the opportunity to participate in the competition, and he could also meet the young players from other East Asian countries.

Come to think of it, that guy Kuroki Ryuji should have successfully become a professional this year, right?

In Japan, this year's professional Go ranking tournament has entered the final round.

Ryuji Kuroki is not competing today because he has already become a professional player through his previous undefeated points and does not need to compete until the last game.

"Brother, are you looking at the chess records of the Chinese Chess Saint Tournament?"

Looking at his brother looking back and forth at the chess record on the computer, Kuroki Ryuji asked in some surprise.

"No, it was played a few days ago by a so-called Chinese online chess god. His style is very strange. Some people suspect it is a shared account of the Chinese Go national team because his moves are often different in each game.

However, although they look different, if we look beyond the surface to see the essence, judging from some of the tactics and ideas, they were made by the same person.

He's very strong, but I don't think there's any top-tier player with a similar style to his."

Kuroki Teruto, the reigning Honinbo of Japan, muttered to himself as he looked at the chess record on the computer.

Even from the chess records, you can feel that he is a very strong opponent.

Eliminate all possibilities, and whatever remains, no matter how outrageous, is the truth... But after eliminating all possibilities, there is nothing left.

"How could there be no news about a master of this level? He hasn't been online in the past few days, otherwise I would have applied for a match."

Kuroki Teruto was also very troubled. Although many of this person's moves seemed completely unreasonable, there were indeed many moves that opened up his mind.

So Kuroki Teruto really wanted to play a game with him. This is the excitement that a master feels when he sees an opponent of the same level.

"Online chess god?"

Kuroki Ryuji didn't take what he heard to heart, nor did he look at the chess record on the computer. He just said to his brother, "Brother! There is still nearly half a month left, please train me quickly!

I've heard that Yi Zheng became a professional player after competing in an amateur tournament. He'll definitely appear in this competition! This time, I'm going to beat him!"

PS: Ryukyu is the Ryukyu Islands... not Taiwan

(End of this chapter)