I really don’t want to play Go!

Chapter 464 The Shadow of a Past Life

In other words, no matter how Zhao Junze plays, it's only a matter of time before he loses; White has no way to survive.

Yu Shao finally turned his attention away from the game and glanced at An Hongshi.

"Indeed, it is very strong."

This game was less exciting than the one between An Hongshi and Kong Zi, but even so, An Hongshi still demonstrated profound calculation skills and accurate judgment of the board.

An Hongshi played almost all of the best moves he had ever seen with perfect accuracy.

Even if there are multiple ways to play a particular move, such as one move being worth 99 points and another being worth 100 points, An Hongshi will still play the move that is worth 100 points.

Even seeing An Hongshi's choices in complex situations, even though he had seen that move, he couldn't help but feel a sense of pressure when An Hongshi actually made it.

So much so that when watching this game of chess, seeing An Hongshi's powerful moves, Yu Shao couldn't help but feel an urge to sit opposite An Hongshi and play against him himself.

It's not about competing to see who's better; it's just that I've seen a player who plays so well, and as a fellow player, I just want to play against such an opponent!

"When he actually sits across from me, that game of chess should be something to look forward to."

Yu Shao took a deep breath, and couldn't help but feel a little expectant.

Seeing the two begin to pack up the chess pieces, Yu Shao finally turned his gaze away from An Hongshi and looked at the other tables.

The game between Zhao Junze and An Hongshi was a long and arduous battle, as Zhao Junze was no easy opponent. After this game was finished, the games at the other tables were basically over as well.

Even the few tables that were still closed had already started counting down, indicating that the event was coming to an end.

Da da da……

Inside the competition venue, the sound of pieces being placed became increasingly sparse. Finally, after only about ten minutes, the sound of pieces being placed on the board ceased, and all the matches had been decided.

"The players who advanced to the winners' bracket in this round are: An Hongshi, Su Yiming, Yu Shao, Araki, and Jiang Han'en..."

Not long after, Zhao Zhengyang went up on stage again and announced the names of the thirty-two players who entered the winners' bracket. As for the remaining thirty-two players, they naturally fell into the losers' bracket.

"Su Yiming also beat Zhu Huai'an..."

Upon hearing Su Yiming's name appear in the winners' bracket, Yu Shao realized that Su Yiming had won the game against Zhu Huai'an, while Zhu Huai'an had fallen into the losers' bracket.

Soon after announcing the results, Zhao Zhengyang spoke again: "Today's competition is over. Players who have fallen into the loser's bracket, don't be discouraged by this temporary setback. You will have a chance to make a comeback in the next competition!"

"If you perform well in the future, it's not impossible for you to even win the championship from the loser's bracket!"

"As for the players who have made it into the winners' bracket, don't let your guard down. This is just the beginning. The competition will inevitably become more and more difficult as we go on. I hope to see you all have a brilliant performance tomorrow and fight harder and harder."

Applause quickly erupted from the audience, but it wasn't very enthusiastic. Almost all the players who had fallen into the loser's bracket looked extremely dejected.

Indeed, losing this game today does not mean elimination, but falling directly into the loser's bracket so early in the first or second round means that one is almost certainly out of the running for the finals.

Every player who has ever fallen into the loser's bracket of a world championship knows how winding and tortuous the path is. Along the way, they will endure unprecedented pressure and fight tooth and nail against their opponents, and their mentality will be completely different from that in the winner's bracket.

If you only start this path near the end of the competition, it's fine. But if you walk it from beginning to end and eventually reach the finals, or even win the championship, it might be even harder than winning the championship without losing a single game.

In fact, in most world championships like the Phoenix Cup, the champions win all the way up from the loser's bracket, and very few of them climb up from the loser's bracket to finally defeat the winner's bracket champion.

"Let's not waste any more time on small talk; everyone must be tired."

Zhao Zhengyang was obviously aware of this as well. Seeing that the audience's reaction was not enthusiastic, he quickly said, "The draw will still be held at eight o'clock tomorrow, and the competition will start at nine o'clock. All the contestants should go back and get some rest today."

Upon hearing this, the audience finally began to leave one after another. As the contestants left, the amateur players and those who had been eliminated also walked out of the competition venue.

However, whether they were contestants or not, everyone looked preoccupied.

Yu Shao originally wanted to ask Su Yiming about the process of his game of chess with Zhu Huai'an, but when he saw Su Yiming, he was stunned.

Su Yiming frowned slightly, his expression serious, as if he was thinking about something. He simply lowered his head and walked outside on his own.

Didn't he win?

Yu Shao was somewhat surprised, but seeing that Su Yiming didn't seem to intend to speak, he didn't ask any questions.

Yu Shao hasn't eaten anything since he got up at eight o'clock this morning, and the competition is over now. He's a little hungry because eating carbohydrates can make him feel nauseous and affect his performance.

After thinking for a moment, Yu Shao did not return to the guesthouse immediately. After leaving the competition venue, he quickly went to a noodle shop near the venue and went inside.

Yu Shao found a chair and sat down, then quickly ordered: "Boss lady, a large bowl of beef ramen, and a fried egg."

"Okay, handsome, do you want it spicy?"

The proprietress responded and asked.

"Medium spicy is fine," Yu Shao replied.

Before long, the proprietress brought over a large bowl of beef noodles and placed it in front of Yu Shao. Yu Shao let out a breath, picked up his chopsticks, and began to wolf down the noodles.

Just as Yu Shao was halfway through his meal, a voice suddenly rang out above him.

"Yu Shao?"

Hearing someone call his name, Yu Shao paused in his chopsticks, looked up, and saw Zheng Qin sitting at the table.

Seeing that it was indeed Yu Shao, Zheng Qin sat down opposite him and asked, "Why don't you eat at the guesthouse? There are a lot of Go enthusiasts here during the World Championship. If you eat out and get recognized, they'll ask for autographs and photos. Wouldn't that be a huge hassle?"

"I was too hungry and afraid of getting dizzy from carbs, so I didn't eat breakfast. If I go back, I'll have to wait for the delivery, which will take a while."

Yu Shao smiled, took another slurp of noodles, and asked with some puzzlement, "Didn't you say you didn't have a match? Didn't you eat either?"

"I did eat, but not much."

After Zheng Qin finished speaking, he quickly turned around and called out, "Boss lady, one bowl of beef noodles, a little spicy, please."

"Okay, right away."

The proprietress quickly responded.

While waiting for the noodles to be made and served, Zheng Qin looked at Yu Shao, seemingly preoccupied, and hesitated to speak.

"what happened?"

Yu Shao realized that Zheng Qin probably wanted to say something, but after waiting for a while without Zheng Qin speaking, he put down his chopsticks and said with a smile, "Just say it if you have something to say?"

"nothing."

Zheng Qin shook his head in the end, without saying a word.

Yu Shao was speechless, but since Zheng Qin didn't say anything, he didn't know what to ask, so he picked up his chopsticks again and started eating noodles.

But after Yu Shao had only taken a few bites, Zheng Qin finally couldn't hold back any longer and asked, "Yu Shao." "Speak."

Yu Shao had anticipated that Zheng Qin would eventually lose his temper and said somewhat irritably.

"You're aiming to win the World Championship..."

Zheng Qin thought for a moment, then finally asked, "Are you confident?"

This question stumped Yu Shao. If he answered directly that he was confident, it would seem that he was not humble enough. If he answered that he would do his best, it would seem that he was showing weakness.

But after thinking about it, Yu Shao finally nodded and answered seriously, "Yes."

When Zheng Qin asked the question, he didn't expect to get a positive answer, and he was obviously stunned when Yu Shao actually gave that answer.

Just then, the proprietress brought over a bowl of beef noodles and placed it in front of Zheng Qin. Zheng Qin snapped out of his daze, picked up his chopsticks, and began slurping the noodles.

But after a few bites, Zheng Qin stopped eating.

"I told you before that Araki-sensei is very strong. Have you watched any of Araki-sensei's games since then?" Zheng Qin suddenly asked.

Yu Shao was somewhat surprised and couldn't help but glance at Zheng Qin again before replying, "I did watch it. I watched the second round of the single-elimination tournament."

"how do you feel?"

Zheng Qin immediately perked up and quickly pressed for an answer.

"That game of chess..."

Yu Shao pondered for a moment, thinking about Araki's game, and replied, "He went beyond the 'Great Rainstorm' opening, abandoning the complex variations of the giant corner's outer influence. His understanding of territory and outer influence was more profound than I expected."

"Every subsequent move was precise and powerful, with wide-ranging attacks. He seized upon the opponent's weaknesses and launched a relentless assault, ultimately succeeding in slaying the dragon. It was a truly beautiful play."

Yu Shao felt that Zheng Qin was still upset about being eliminated by Araki Nobuo, who hadn't competed in ten years, in the first round of the single-elimination tournament, so he smiled and comforted him, "So, even though he hasn't participated in a competition for ten years, he is indeed quite strong. It's normal for you to lose to him, it doesn't mean you are weak."

"is it?"

Upon receiving this answer, Zheng Qin seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, and a smile finally appeared on his face: "That's good."

Yu Shao frowned slightly, puzzled, and said, "Why do I feel like you're acting a little strange?"

"Where is it?"

Zheng Qin shook his head and laughed, "I never expected that you would actually say you were confident of winning the championship. If you really do win, that will be making history!"

"I am confident of winning the championship, but having confidence in winning the championship does not mean that I will definitely win the championship."

Yu Shao joked, "Didn't you also have the confidence to make it into the top 64 at the beginning?"

Don't expose someone's shortcomings!

Zheng Qin rolled his eyes and laughed, "Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing you actually beat An Hongshi, kick Araki, kill Honinbo Shingo, and chop down Zhuang Weisheng, and win the championship all the way. The whole Go world will probably be in an uproar then, right?"

Upon hearing this, Yu Shao was slightly taken aback, wondering why Zheng Qin would group Araki and An Hongshi together.

In his opinion, although Arakino was indeed strong in Go and his understanding of terrain was surprisingly profound, he was still not comparable to Yasuhiro.

Even after just watching An Hongshi's two games, he could feel a sense of pressure.

However, Yu Shao didn't think too much about it. He figured that Arakino was probably of a similar generation to An Hongshi and Honinbo Shingo, which was why Zheng Qin ranked him together.

Of course, it's also possible that Zheng Qin lost to Araki, so he compared Araki and An Hongshi to make up for it.

"Speaking of which, did you watch the chess game between Su Yiming and Zhu Huai'an?"

Yu Shao suddenly remembered something and couldn't help but ask Zheng Qin.

"I didn't watch that game, but I heard that Zhu Huai'an made a terrible mistake by accident, and Su Yiming swallowed up the left flank."

Zheng Qin slurped up a couple of mouthfuls of noodles and replied while eating, "Although Zhu Huai'an played extremely tenaciously in the later stages, as you know, among top chess players, even the slightest mistake can lead to total defeat, let alone such a blunder. So it is said that Zhu Huai'an was ultimately defeated."

"They committed a heinous act?"

Hearing this answer, Yu Shao was somewhat surprised. He had never considered the possibility that Zhu Huai'an would make a mistake. In fact, it wasn't just Zhu Huai'an; it seemed that he almost never considered the possibility of his opponent making a mistake in every game.

"Yes, it was a bit unexpected, but it's Go, so it's normal."

Zheng Qin sighed, “Go is so dangerous. Even the strongest are not necessarily the winners. No matter how strong a player is, they can succumb to unexpected storms. Even Zhu Huai’an, the youngest Go master, is no exception.”

At this point, Zheng Qin suddenly paused, looking at Yu Shao with some surprise and doubt, and asked in bewilderment, "Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen you make many mistakes. Logically speaking, a player like you who is good at attacking is like walking a tightrope, and is more likely to make mistakes, right?"

"Uh……"

This question stumped Yu Shao. After thinking for a moment, he explained, "Perhaps I have too many concerns, so I've always thought things through quite thoroughly."

"?"

Zheng Qin was dumbfounded: "The 'fighting faction' that thinks things through more thoroughly? Is that still the fighting faction? Shouldn't the fighting faction be tough to the end and fight all the way to the finish line?"

Yu Shao was also taken aback when he heard this. Indeed, upon careful thought, he realized that he didn't usually think that much when playing chess now, but for some reason, he always felt that he had already considered a lot.

K……

Yu Shao seemed to understand something in an instant.

The shadow of a past life.

He always felt that he had embarked on a completely different path from his previous life, and if he could not get rid of the curses of his previous life, then he was destined not to make much progress in this life.

However, that's not entirely true.

Even though he is only fighting for this lifetime now, the countless games he played in his past lives subconsciously support the overall situation and give him a vision for all eternity.

This means that even though he often focuses only on the present moment, he actually has a vague sense of the whole game through his chess intuition, without needing complex calculations. Therefore, he rarely makes any mistakes.

It doesn't even appear often in blitz chess.

It was only now that he finally realized this.

"Fine, fine, I have to admit I'm impressed. You're a true genius. I was presumptuous."

Zheng Qin shook his head, picked up his chopsticks to eat his noodles, and said, "Anyway, I look forward to your unstoppable momentum and consecutive victories in the World Championship over the next few days!"

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)