Chapter 182: The Go Hall is Empty
More than three hours later.
After putting away the chess pieces, Yu Shao slowly stood up, first glanced in the direction of Su Yiming, then did not go to watch the game, retracted his gaze, and walked towards the referee.
After reporting the results, Yu Shao turned and left the game room.
On the side of table number three, Han Anhui looked at the chessboard in front of her with a gloomy face, as if there were chess pieces on the board.
Soon after, the other side.
Yang Shi lowered his head deeply, and no one could see the expression on his face. He looked as if he had suffered a great blow and said nothing.
Su Yiming on the opposite side slowly stood up, then walked straight towards the referee. After reporting the results, he turned and left.
About half an hour later, at table 21.
"No... Impossible."
Chu Xiongding looked at the chessboard, his lips trembling slightly. The words were already on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't bring himself to speak.
"How is this possible?!"
Chu Xiongding looked at the chessboard, his heart torn between conscience and desire, unable to accept the current fact.
He should have had the upper hand, but he found it difficult to make a move. He didn't know when the situation had changed dramatically. After that, the only thing he could do was to hold on! In the end, Chu Xiongding lowered his head and squeezed out a few words from his teeth: "I lost..."
After the two of them saluted, Xu Zijin stood up, reported the results, and left the game room, leaving Chu Xiongding still staring at the chessboard, dazed and doubting his life.
…
…
The first qualifying round of the Yingjiao Cup is over.
Generally speaking, no matter what event it is, the preliminaries will not attract much attention. Only after entering the main tournament and entering the hand-talk room will there be a live broadcast and a scorewriter.
Once the finals are reached, it will not only be broadcast live on the Internet, but also on sports channels, and professional chess players will be invited to explain.
The finals of some major events will even be broadcast by major local stations that are not sports channels.
However, after the results of the first round of the Yingjiao Cup qualifiers were announced, it attracted a lot of attention and sparked a lot of heated discussions online.
Because Yu Shao won again, his current record is four consecutive wins!
According to reliable gossip, in this game, Yu Shao still used the three-three strategy in the layout phase!
Yu Shao, who said "If my 3-3 strategy is wrong, then use his chess pieces to tell me", has never lost a game using the 3-3 strategy, at least so far, and is still maintaining a winning streak!
Everyone is curious about how far Yu Shao can go on the Dian San San Road.
However, the attention paid to Yu Shao is obviously far from comparable to the attention paid to another thing - the battle for the Go Saint title is about to begin!
Zhang Dongchen, who has defended the Go Saint title for two years, has faced a strong opponent in the national player Jiang Changdong. Can he defend the Go Saint title again this year? Can he achieve the Go Saint title for the third consecutive time?
All major media have already begun to hype up the issue. Is it that Jiang Changdong, a national player, is still able to draw a three-stone bow and still have the strength of a thousand pounds? Or is it that Zhang Dongchen, the Go Saint, is so heroic that he can defeat Jiang Changdong and once again defend his Go Saint title?
The day before the Go Saint title match, the Go Saint title match even topped the trending searches, sparking heated discussions across the internet! On the day of the Go Saint title match, Yu Shao got up early in the morning and took a taxi to the Southern Chess Academy.
Although there is no competition today, he will serve as the scorekeeper for the first game of the Gosei title challenge in the hand-talk room.
"Yu Shao?"
As soon as he entered the chess academy, Yu Shao heard someone calling his name. He turned around and saw Jiang Xiahua standing not far away with a surprised expression.
"I remember you were participating in the National Championship?"
Jiang Xiahua walked towards Yu Shao and asked in confusion: "You don't have a game today, why are you here at the chess academy?"
"Today is the Go Saint Title Challenge, and I'll be the scorekeeper."
Yu Shao explained and asked, "Do you have a game today?"
"Yes, today is the fourth match of the Celebrity Tournament Qualifiers."
Jiang Xiahua nodded, looked at Yu Shao with some envy, and said, "The chess academy really values you and specially asked you to be the scorekeeper for the title match."
"Is there such a saying?"
Hearing this, Yu Shao was a little surprised.
He was wondering why he, a male first-dan, was chosen to be a scorewriter. Isn't this kind of scorewriting job usually done by female players? "That's a scorewriter for the title match. Who wouldn't want to watch the final battle between two top players?"
Jiang Xiahua rolled his eyes and said, "Even if a chess player takes the initiative to apply to be a scorewriter, the chess academy may not agree. For major events like this, the chess academy usually selects a few of the best low-level chess players to record the scores."
"I really don't know."
Yu Shao shook his head and asked, "How are your recent performances?"
"We played four games in total. I won one of the two games in the Meijin Tournament Qualifiers, but ended up losing the first game of the Shodan Tournament."
Jiang Xiahua looked a little gloomy, and replied: "I don't know what the final result will be."
The first-level championship is a single round-robin tournament, in which all players have to play one game against each other. It is the fairest competition system because everyone can play the full game, but the disadvantage is that there are too many games and it takes a long time.
"You lost in the first round of the New Shodan Tournament?"
Yu Shao was a little curious and couldn't help asking, "Lost to Fang Haoxin?"
The first-dan championship is a single round-robin tournament. The top four players in the division are selected and then go to the Central Chess Institute to compete for the final championship with first-dan players from other divisions.
In the ranking tournament, several people had already competed once, and Yu Shao originally thought that Jiang Xiahua should perform well.
"No, I lost to Bai Jingchuan."
Jiang Xiahua shook his head and said, "Bai Jingchuan has obviously become stronger. I didn't judge the situation well in the middle game, and I was one step behind. I lost by one and a half points at the end."
"And it's not just Bai Jingchuan."
After saying that, Jiang Xiahua took a deep breath, feeling a strong sense of urgency, and continued, "I watched Fang Haoxin's chess, and he is actually much stronger than in the qualifying tournament."
"Originally, I thought that with my current chess ability, I could even win against Fang Haoxin, but that was Fang Haoxin during the qualifying tournament. Now I can't be sure... There's a high chance that I will lose."
"It's not just my chess skills that are improving, theirs are too."
Jiang Xiahua subconsciously clenched his fists, his expression became more serious, and said: "If I can't continue to improve my chess skills, I will be left far behind sooner or later."
Hearing this, Yu Shao felt a little complicated for a moment.
That's exactly how Go works.
Two months may seem like a short time, but some chess players can undergo a transformation in just two months. Not to mention two months, some people are undergoing transformation every day.
This is true of "after three days of absence, one begins to look at the person with new eyes".
Maybe you were far inferior to your opponent a month ago, but a month later you are on par with him, and a month after that, you are far from his opponent. Such situations are too many and are not uncommon.
All chess players are on this ocean of Go, braving the raging waves and competing fiercely. All everyone can do is to keep moving forward, otherwise the people behind will eventually catch up or even surpass them.
Just like in his previous life, Yu Shao once even truly believed from the bottom of his heart that if there were 100 ways to play chess, then he already knew 50.
But when AI came out of nowhere and violently opened the door to the Go world, everyone finally discovered...
The Go hall was actually empty.
"They are getting stronger, but I definitely haven't stopped. It's hard to say who will win or lose."
Jiang Xiahua shook his head and said with a smile: "Okay, I'm going to the game room now. I hope I can win this game."
"Okay, keep going."
Yu Shao put away his thoughts and waved goodbye to Jiang Xiahua.
After watching Jiang Xiahua's back disappear into the distance, Yu Shao let out a light breath and walked towards the hand-talking room.
The further you advance in playing Go, the harder it is to transform and improve.
However, he is now on a path of transformation in which he must break down before he can build up.
Not long after, Yu Shaobian arrived at the chess-talking room where the competition was held, then pushed open the door and walked in.
At this time, in the camera talk room, several cameramen were busy. Some were adjusting the camera angle, some were fixing the tripod, and some were adjusting the aperture of their SLR cameras.
However, the chairs on both sides of the chess table in the middle of the chess room were empty. It was obvious that the two main players of the game had not arrived yet.
Seeing Yu Shao walk into the hand-talk room, Ding Huan, who had been sitting next to the press box in advance, was a little surprised and asked, "Yu Shao, why are you here?"
Yu Shao?
Hearing the name Yu Shao, several cameramen were stunned, then they turned their heads and cast curious glances at Yu Shao. They had heard the name Yu Shao almost every day during this period.
"I am the scorekeeper for today's game."
Seeing Ding Huan, Yu Shao explained, walked straight to the music notator's seat, and asked, "Are you today's reporter?"
"Yes, I'm the reporter for today's game."
Ding Huan nodded. He was not too surprised to hear that Yu Shao was today's scorekeeper. He smiled and said, "Today's game of chess has attracted worldwide attention. I'm afraid it will be another bloody storm later."
"By the way, did you know that the commentators for today's game are Chang Yan, 9th Dan, and Kong Zi, Celebrity?"
Ding Huan couldn't help but laugh and said, "Chang Yan, 9th Dan, won the title of Go Saint one year ago. He must be in a very complicated mood when he explains this game later."
Yu Shao was a little surprised to hear this. He really didn't know who were the two people explaining this game of chess.
At this time, the door of the game room was pushed open again, and then a middle-aged man in his forties strode into the game room.
He was wearing a light grey suit and a black tie. His hair at the temples had turned grey and his eyes were slightly narrowed. Although he was not tall, he had a sharp and oppressive aura.
"Is Teacher Jiang Changdong here?"
When Ding Huan saw the middle-aged man, his eyes lit up and he quickly greeted him with a smile.
Jiang Changdong looked at Ding Huan, nodded, and said with a smile: "Here I am."
After saying that, Jiang Changdong was about to look away when he suddenly saw Yu Shao sitting at the music notator's position. He was slightly startled and a look of surprise appeared on his face.
During this period, the name Yu Shao became famous on the Internet, and he had also heard of it.
Seeing Jiang Changdong looking at him, Yu Shao nodded slightly at Jiang Changdong as a greeting.
Jiang Changdong also nodded, then he withdrew his gaze from Yu Shao, and walked straight to the side of the central chess table, asking as he walked, "Is Zhang Dongchen the Go Saint here?"
"Not yet, but it should be soon. People usually enter fifteen minutes early."
Ding Huan smiled and congratulated him, "Congratulations on defeating Li Congyou 7th Dan and entering the Go Saint Challenge Tournament. After all these years, you are still as strong as ever."
"Hahaha, you better wait until I win the Go Saint title before you say that."
Jiang Changdong smiled and shook his head, saying: "Although Zhang Dongchen is young, he is not that easy to deal with. If I lose, how can we say that everything is going on as usual?"
Hearing Jiang Changdong's words, Ding Huan laughed dryly twice and didn't know how to respond for a moment.
Although Jiang Changdong's previous record against Zhang Dongchen was generally more wins than losses, the possibility of Jiang Changdong losing to Zhang Dongchen in the title match is indeed not small.
Not long after, the door of the chat room was opened again, and then Zhang Dongchen, who had met Yu Shao once before, walked into the chat room.
Zhang Dongchen was also wearing a suit today. When he saw Jiang Changdong sitting at one side of the chess table, he frowned slightly. Then he suddenly noticed Yu Shao sitting at the score-writing seat and was slightly startled.
Seeing Zhang Dongchen looking over, Yu Shao also nodded slightly to Zhang Dongchen.
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Zhang Dongchen glanced at Yu Shao for a moment longer, then retracted his gaze and looked at Jiang Changdong again. Then he walked straight to the opposite side of Jiang Changdong, pulled out a chair and sat down.
Seeing Zhang Dongchen sitting down opposite him, the smile on Jiang Changdong's face gradually disappeared.
As the two of them sat down under the calligraphy piece "Sitting and Discussing Taoism", the atmosphere in the entire discussion room suddenly became solemn and everyone couldn't help but hold their breath.
Although neither of them spoke, everyone felt that the situation between them was tense, and could even be said to be incompatible.
The winner of Go Saint, one of the seven major titles, will be decided by these five games, and this will be the first game. Whoever wins this game first will gain the advantage.
Therefore, in the next game of chess, both sides will go all out and try every possible means to kill each other, fighting to the death, until the final decision of life and death.
But this game of chess will also be a real discussion.
On the Tao of black and white, yin and yang, life and death, movement and stillness, thick and thin.
This discussion between the two is bound to attract the attention of the whole world.
Not long after, Ma Zhengyu and another referee finally arrived at the game room. They walked to the referee's seat and sat down, also sitting upright without saying a word.
"Time is up!"
After a moment, Ma Zhengyu took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "The game time is three and a half hours for each side, with a countdown of one and a half minutes. In the first game, the first move is decided by guessing, and then each side will take turns to go first."
The so-called mutual first move means that both sides take turns to play black first. For example, if the player plays black in the first game, he should play white in the second game to avoid the situation where only one side plays black all the time.
Although there are handicap points for black pieces, there are still many people who like to play with black pieces. Of course, there are also many people who are willing to play with white pieces. Therefore, it is fairer to play each other first in a round of chess.
Ma Zhengyu paused before continuing, "You can start guessing now."
Hearing this, Jiang Changdong was the first to reach into the chess box and grab a handful of white pieces. Zhang Dongchen also reached into the chess box, took out two black pieces and placed them on the chessboard.
In the end, the result of guessing the first move was that Jiang Changdong played black first, and Zhang Dongchen played white second.
"Please advise me."
"Please advise me."
After the two of them exchanged greetings, the discussion finally began! "Let's begin."
Yu Shao looked at the chessboard not far away with clear eyes, waiting for Zhang Dongchen to make the first move. He was also looking forward to this game of chess.
Jiang Changdong looked at the chessboard in front of him, thought for a moment, and finally took out the chess piece from the chess box and slowly put it down.
Da! Sixteen columns and four rows, stars.
"Xing?"
Yu Shao withdrew his gaze from the chessboard, slid the mouse, moved the mouse to the small target position in the upper right corner, clicked the mouse lightly, and the black piece and Zhang Dongchen fell simultaneously.
Zhang Dongchen did not make a move immediately. He frowned slightly and thought for more than ten seconds before finally reaching into the chess box. With a click, he picked out the chess piece and slowly put it down.
clatter.
Four columns and four rows, stars.
Although it was just the beginning, each move by both sides was carefully considered, not daring to be negligent or careless in the slightest. Everyone present could feel that when both sides made their moves, each move seemed to be accompanied by murderous intent.
Ta-da, ta-da, ta-da…
Everyone was staring at the chessboard intently, not daring to breathe, for fear of disturbing the two players playing the game.
While watching the chess game, Yu Shao kept sliding the mouse and taking notes on the computer.
The two sides chose Star Xiaomu against Star Xiaomu in their layout, and then the black piece made a small flying move in the lower right corner, and the white piece made a flying move at the top... They were competing against each other and countering each other's moves.
At this time, it was Zhang Dongchen's turn to play chess again.
Zhang Dongchen thought for a long time before finally taking the chess piece out of the chess box and putting it down gently.
Da! Sixteen columns and fourteen rows, block!
Yu Shao immediately slid the mouse and placed the chess piece simultaneously.
Seeing this move, Jiang Changdong quickly took the chess piece out of the chess box and put it down gently.
Three columns and three rows, damn!
"Just lean against the corner?"
Seeing this move, Yu Shao was slightly stunned and frowned slightly. Although it could not be said to be a bad move, he always felt that the order of the black pieces' moves was a bit strange.
"Instead of pressing directly from the top, they leaned against the corner. If they pressed directly from the top, then the white piece might retreat and take the ground..."
While Yu Shao was thinking, Zhang Dongchen had already picked up the chess piece from the chess box and put it down gently.
Three columns and eighteen rows, pull! On the other side, Jiang Changdong looked at the chessboard and followed suit and placed his chess piece.
Da! Eight columns and four rows, demolish!
Yu Shao quickly memorized the positions of the pieces placed by both sides. Although it was only a subtle difference in the order of moves, he had already sensed the hidden edge in it.
"Blackie, you have secretly set up a trap for Whiteie!"
"If the white piece is still pushed forward according to the original method, then the black piece will not be on top, but will directly hit the white piece on the 17th row!"
"In this case, Baizi may have to consider abandoning a piece!"
At this moment, Zhang Dongchen looked at the chessboard, picked up another chess piece from the chess box, and dropped it quickly! Da! Fifteen columns and six rows, jump! "White also noticed it, so he chose to take off first and not respond!"
Yu Shao's eyes lit up, and he immediately slid the mouse, placing the chess pieces synchronously.
Ding Huan, who was standing by, was slightly stunned when he saw Bai Zi's move. He didn't expect that Bai Zi would choose to give up the initiative here. He was a little puzzled.
"Ninety-nine percent of chess players would not hesitate to support this move..."
After Ding Huan thought carefully for a moment, he took a breath.
"If the white piece supports, the black piece may not push, but push?"
"After the black piece takes over, the white piece will face a choice!"
"If the white piece blocks it, after the subsequent changes, the two black pieces on the periphery will be stuck in the throat!"
"If the white piece chooses to capture the two black pieces in four rows, the white piece will have to spend two more moves than the black piece to capture them, and the white piece's perimeter is not thick, and from a practical point of view—"
"The black piece is actually not inferior to the white piece at all!"
Ding Huan took a deep breath, and was shocked. He didn't expect that the series of attacks and defenses between the two sides would be so thrilling in just the layout stage. Both sides had seen many moves, and they were hiding murderous intentions in the calm! After this round of confrontation, the atmosphere in the hand-talk room obviously changed. The expressions of the two became cold. They knew that the other party was not easy to deal with. The confrontation just now was just a taste!
Who wins and who loses?!
Ta, da, da!
The sounds of chess pieces dropping rang out one after another, and chess pieces kept falling on the board. Everyone held their breath, staring at the board, watching this silent fight!
Time passed by unknowingly, but everyone had almost forgotten about time and only had room for the game of chess in their eyes.
…
"It's wonderful. Up to now, both sides are still evenly matched!" Ma Zhengyu stared at the chessboard and judged the situation of the game.
"White has more pieces, and enters the middle game with an advantage!"
Ding Huan chewed the cap of a gel pen and looked at the chess game not far away: "Although Jiang Changdong's national player is not in a good situation, both sides should be able to fight, and the outcome is still unpredictable!"
"Blackie has a slight advantage."
Yu Shao held the mouse in his right hand, looking at the chessboard silently, his brows slightly furrowed.
"The white pieces are too weak, and the black pieces have great potential. If the black pieces gain momentum and launch a fierce attack, the white pieces will probably have a hard time dealing with it."
"Since the opponent is so strong, Baizi can no longer use the normal method. He must consider winning by surprise!"
Yu Shao couldn't help but turn his head to look at Zhang Dongchen. At this time, Zhang Dongchen's brows were already furrowed, staring at the chess game in front of him, and he was already lost in long thought.
Opposite Zhang Dongchen, Jiang Changdong's expression was not relaxed either. He was looking at the chessboard and thinking as well.
This long test lasted for a full thirty minutes.
Thirty minutes later, Zhang Dongchen finally reached into the chess box and took out the chess piece. His eyes were cold as the chess piece fell rapidly from his fingers! Snap! Fourteen columns and eight rows, hit! "Hit!"
Seeing this move, Yu Shao's eyes changed slightly. Although he was just watching, he couldn't help but become serious when he saw this move.
"A very good move...very accurate judgment!"
"In this case, White will fight Black here to see who wins. Black has been entangled, so he has to fight back now!"
…
ps: There are more than 6k words, I’m too lazy to divide it into chapters… I beg for your monthly vote!
(End of this chapter)