Chapter 368 National Player
Yu Shao left the chess academy and quickly returned to the hotel, breathing a sigh of relief.
"I've made it to the Challenge Tournament. Next up... is the final title match."
Yu Shao looked at the AI self-game game he had set up on the table in the hotel, his eyes were a little complicated, and he murmured softly: "Unconsciously, I'm back to this familiar position..."
In his previous life, he had experienced the title battle more than once. It was a seven-game match. He still remembers it vividly. Every move in those seven games is still deeply imprinted in his mind.
He was exactly the same age as he is now, both seventeen years old. It was a tough battle. He and his opponent fought to a 3-3 tie, and the winner was finally decided in the deciding game.
"Although we are the same age, some things are completely different..."
Yu Shao stared at the chessboard with mixed feelings.
In his previous life, he was known for being as still as a mountain and able to steadily and steadily conquer the enemy. Through invasion, elimination and transformation, he surrounded the enemy invisibly and ultimately won without fighting.
But in this life, he has reached this step again with a completely opposite attitude.
This is a road that excels at attacking and killing, at the thickness and thinness and sacrificing pieces, at managing isolation and robbing and fighting, at escaping first and at life and death, to find the chance of victory and to reach the most dangerous path!
Now, with this completely opposite attitude, he is walking towards the position he once was!
In the previous life, this was something no one could have imagined.
Now he has almost completely gotten used to this new way of playing chess, and has been transformed into a completely new chess player.
"I can clearly feel that I am much stronger now than when I first started playing this kind of chess. If it were me in the past, I would definitely lose this game today."
Yu Shao finally turned his gaze away from the chessboard and looked out the window.
"How far can I go with this attitude?"
"Can you make up for your shortcomings, surpass your previous self, and finally reach a realm that you have never reached in your previous life?"
At this moment, the sudden ringing of the cell phone interrupted Yu Shao's thoughts.
Yu Shao picked up the phone and took a look. When he saw the name of the caller, he was a little surprised.
Ma Zhengyu? What did Ma Zhengyu call for? Yu Shao quickly answered the phone and asked, "Hello? Chairman Ma?"
"Yu Shao?"
Ma Zhengyu's voice immediately rang out from the other end of the line, and his tone seemed a little excited: "I watched today's game, it was so awesome! Congratulations, you have qualified for the National Team Challenge Tournament!"
"Thanks."
Yu Shao smiled and thanked him.
"Hahaha, it's true that heroes emerge from youth. The young are to be feared, the young are to be feared!"
Ma Zhengyu sounded very excited. After all, each division was competing with each other. Yu Shao was a chess player from the southern division. Now that Yu Shao had entered the title challenge tournament, he was naturally proud.
"Now that you have made it to the Challenge Tournament, it's already amazing. If you really win the title, I'm afraid the world will turn upside down!"
Ma Zhengyu said cheerfully: "Don't be too stressed in the National Masters Challenge. After all, there are three games. I hope to see more exciting performances from you in the National Masters Challenge!"
Yu Shao couldn't help but smile when he heard this, and replied: "Okay, I'll do my best."
"I believe in you, you can do it."
On the other end of the phone, Ma Zhengyu smiled and said, "By the way, since you have entered the challenge tournament, I have something to inform you of."
Yu Shao was slightly startled, and quickly said, "You go ahead."
"In the National Masters Challenge, each game will be held in a different place, and you will be staying in a five-star luxury hotel. During the game, the organizer will prepare local specialties. Go media generally call this a victory or defeat meal."
Ma Zhengyu said jokingly: "The first game will be arranged in Beijing, and I will have to trouble you to fly over there then."
"It's not a big deal. I'm willing to take the trouble."
Yu Shao smiled and asked, "Besides this? Are there any other things?"
"Before the challenge, we need your cooperation in filming a promotional video."
Ma Zhengyu continued, "After all, the title match is already the highest level event in the country, so a promotional video must be shot, which may be a bit troublesome."
Yu Shao was not surprised to hear this.
He had also heard of the Go competition promotional video.
There was no such thing in the previous life, but in this world, Go is considered the largest chess sport. Events of the level like title tournaments will attract worldwide attention, so shooting promotional videos is inevitable.
When it comes to some major world competitions, like the World Cup, famous singers are even invited to sing the theme songs of the competition.
There was also a time when the theme song of the Go World Championship was extremely popular and still frequently appears on KTV hot lists.
“What is the main content of the promotional film?”
Yu Shao thought for a moment and asked, "I'm worried that I'm not very good at this."
"Hahaha, you don't have to worry about that."
Ma Zhengyu obviously knew what Yu Shao was worried about, and explained with a smile: "How can you ask a chess player to act? I know you are not good at it. Don't worry, you won't even have any lines at that time, you will just sit in front of the chessboard and play chess."
"The purpose of shooting a promotional video is mainly to highlight the atmosphere of a duel. Through background music and lighting, the feeling of a peak duel is created. The whole video only takes about one minute. You can look for previous title fight promotional videos online. It's actually quite simple."
"Also, the person who will shoot the promotional video for you will be a great director."
Ma Zhengyu left the audience in suspense here, and did not finish his words.
"What big director?"
Yu Shao couldn't help but smile, but still cooperated and asked Ma Zhengyu.
"Have you seen 'Red Float'? The director of 'Red Float' was responsible for shooting the promotional video for this year's national team competition." Ma Zhengyu's tone was filled with uncontrollable pride.
Hearing this, Yu Shao was really surprised.
"Red Gone with the Wind" is a world-renowned movie, so he had naturally seen it. The director also won many domestic and international awards for this movie, and he is the most popular director in the country.
"We invited such a famous director to shoot a promotional video?"
Yu Shao couldn't help but wonder.
"Please? Yu Shao Sanduan, please watch your words!"
Ma Zhengyu couldn't help laughing and boasted, "Every year when we have to shoot a promotional video for the title battle, a bunch of big directors will take the initiative to apply for the shoot, and they don't even need any money. Being able to shoot a promotional video for the title battle is equivalent to a recognition of a director's level."
"Approval? Do you have to be so exaggerated?"
Yu Shao couldn't help but smack his lips when he heard this, feeling that this was a bit too exaggerated.
"You have to know that this is China's title match. The title match between China, Japan and South Korea symbolizes the highest level of Go in the world!"
Ma Zhengyu said with some pride: "Although almost every country has its own title fight, only the title fight between China, Japan and South Korea will attract the attention of the whole world!"
"Chairman Ma, I feel a little stressed when you say that."
Yu Shao said with a smile.
"Pressure? What kind of pressure? You've only been a professional chess player for a year! You've come this far, even if you lose in the end it's still a feat, not to mention that you're so strong at chess."
Ma Zhengyu's tone suddenly became serious. After a pause, he said, "Ding Huan once told me that a new era of Go is coming, and the new era of Go will be led by you."
Hearing this, Yu Shao couldn't help but be stunned.
Ma Zhengyu took a deep breath and continued, "To be honest, I thought this statement was too exaggerated. In my heart, I still felt that you were not good enough."
"It's not that I don't think highly of you, it's just that this statement is really too big."
After hearing what Ma Zhengyu said, Yu Shao didn't know how to respond for a moment.
Ma Zhengyu continued to talk to himself: "There are only two eras in Go. One is Shen Yi, who was the master of ancient Go. Since Shen Yi brought ancient Go to its peak, the handicap system has gradually taken shape."
"The second era was the Japanese and Korean era, when the handicap system became a rule, more and more layouts began to flourish, and research on Go became more and more in-depth."
"The third era..."
"Even though I'm very optimistic about you and am impressed by every chess game you play, I always feel that you have no merit or ability. When I think of someone close to me who has suddenly reached the level of being linked to this topic, I feel a strong sense of unreality."
"Maybe everyone has this problem. They want to see the people around them live well, but they don't want them to live too well. So I resist this statement from the bottom of my heart. I feel it's a bit too flattering."
Ma Zhengyu couldn't help but smile as he spoke: "However, after watching today's game, my opinion has changed."
"You made a really good move."
"Although I am old enough to be your father, I still have an inexplicable longing for you."
"I have seen too many chess games, so many games that others think are wonderful are no longer attractive to me."
"But your chess is different."
"Every time I see your chess moves, I am shocked from the bottom of my heart. I am deeply attracted by the mystery of each move and want to keep watching, and keep watching."
"So, I finally confirmed that Ding Huan was right. I saw the new era of Go!"
…
…
On the other side, Donghai City.
Jiang Changdong stared at the chessboard in front of him for a long time before he spoke: "Li Congyou lost. Next..."
Jiang Changdong paused before continuing, "I am the only one left."
Chu Jingfeng, who was sitting opposite Jiang Changdong, did not respond and continued to look at the chessboard in front of him.
"Here, he went too far."
Jiang Changdong stretched out his hand, pointed at a black piece on the chessboard, and said, "He didn't make up for it here, but directly escaped, confident that the white piece had no tricks in the middle."
"Or, he thinks that even if White has a trick, he can find a dead piece to borrow."
"He had played chess this way many times before. This move, which had always been considered excessive, ultimately proved that he was not wrong."
Jiang Changdong slowly said, "But today's game is different."
"He's wrong."
Jiang Changdong pointed to another white chess piece and said slowly, "The digging of the white chess piece here is undoubtedly a stroke of genius that shocked the world. It has caused a shocking change in the board. The black chess piece cannot really find a dead piece to borrow."
"If Black hadn't been so aggressive before, White wouldn't have had a chance. His play was too aggressive, too intense, and not sophisticated enough."
Jiang Changdong seemed to be talking to himself, or to Chu Jingfeng: "Yu Shao's chess moves completely break the rules and often exceed everyone's imagination, such as the three-three move, the charge of the demon sword, and the pointed top..."
"Because these things were eventually confirmed one by one, now almost all chess players, including me, have fallen into self-doubt."
“Is what we once thought was right really right?”
"After seeing Yu Shao's chess, we found that these things are no longer certain!"
“Is what we think is right right or wrong?”
"What we thought was right before may not be right. Heaven may be wrong. For a chess player, this is almost the collapse of the concept of Go. Did we play the wrong games before?"
"If a player has studied Go for 20 years, the appearance of Yu Shao will almost overturn everything he has learned in the past 20 years. For example, when judging the situation on the same board, he will come to two completely opposite conclusions."
"For example, on the same board, some people may think that the black pieces should be the attacking ones, but in Yu Shao's opinion, the white pieces may be the attacking ones."
"Because Yu Shao has never lost a game of chess until now, we can only assume that Yu Shao is right."
"It is also because of this strong self-doubt and the lack of a standard answer that many chess players are hesitant when facing Yu Shao and are unable to exert their full strength."
"But today's game of chess finally proved a problem."
"He was right about some things, but wrong about some things!"
"Today's game finally proved that such an excessive move is not right. This excessive and unreasonable move provoked an overly complicated battle. In the end—"
"You will get the punishment you deserve!"
After hearing what Jiang Changdong said, Chu Jingfeng was silent for a moment, then suddenly spoke up and asked, "This is indeed the case in this game, but, Mr. Jiang Changdong, you didn't see the digging move that Li Congyou made at that time."
"If we can't make that move, then maybe Yu Shao is right. He overlooked that move. Or maybe everyone overlooked that move, except Li Congyou."
"Otherwise, this move wouldn't have been discussed crazily by so many people online until now."
Hearing this, Jiang Changdong did not deny it. He nodded and said, "That is indeed a move worth remembering, but in my opinion, the extraordinaryness of this move is not just the move itself."
"But it's because this move finally found Yu Shao's mistake!"
Jiang Changdong slowly reached into the chess box, picked up the chess piece from the box, and then put it down quickly.
"I really didn't see that move. Only those in the know can see the mystery of the situation."
"So, let's fight it out in the title match!"
“I’m waiting for that day!”
ps: Everyone has reported that they cannot distinguish between black and white in daily life, and I feel really helpless... You may not understand clearly that when I was writing, I had to switch perspectives repeatedly, so I could not distinguish between black and white while writing, and I could not check it myself.
I've watched Go games and Go commentaries before, and others often have this problem (laughing and crying), is there any good way? (End of this chapter)
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