I really don’t want to play Go!

Chapter 474 When the fledgling eagle cries
Hearing An Hongshi's words, Zhuang Weisheng remained silent for a moment, then pulled out a chair and said, "I didn't expect that you, Teacher An Hongshi, would still be so energetic."

Zhuang Weisheng sat down in the chair, raised his head, looked at An Hongshi opposite him, and said again, "However, Teacher An Hongshi, you are not old, and I am still in my prime!"

Just moments ago, the two were chatting like old friends, but now the atmosphere between them suddenly became tense, with them locked in a fierce confrontation, neither willing to back down!
With just over a minute left before the start of the match at 9:00, a group of amateur chess players and previously eliminated players gathered around the chess tables to watch.

The entire venue was silent as everyone waited for the hour to strike nine.

finally--

"Time's up!"

Zhao Zhengyang raised his head, looked at the professional chess players still remaining in the competition venue, and said in a deep voice: "The competition time is two and a half hours for each side, with one minute of overtime. Black has a komi of seven and a half points. Now, the contestants shall begin to coin toss!"

The moment Zhao Zhengyang finished speaking, all the participating chess players simultaneously reached into their chess boxes, and the "click" sound of chess pieces being grabbed echoed throughout the competition venue!
Eight.

After counting the white pieces on the chessboard, Yu Shao slowly raised his head and looked at Ander opposite him.

Ander looked at a black piece on his side of the board, nodded, and his expression became more serious. He said, "I guessed wrong. You are playing black."

He believes he can win, meaning he has the confidence to win, but it doesn't mean he thinks he will definitely win.

In fact, facing a chess player like Yu Shao, who was almost a monster in the eyes of the world, he felt a lot of pressure, even a lot.

"Please give me more advice."

"Please give me more advice."

The two quickly finished packing up the chess pieces, then exchanged chess boxes and bowed to each other.

The game of chess has begun.

Yu Shao looked at the chessboard, quickly picked up a piece, and placed it in the upper right corner of the board.

Hey!
Sixteen columns, four rows, stars!
"A single star..."

Ander stared at the chessboard with a strange look in his eyes. Soon after, he reached into the chess box, picked up a chess piece, and placed it on the chessboard.

Hey!
Four columns and seventeen rows, small eyes!

Yu Shao looked extremely focused and quickly made his second move with the black pieces.

Sixteen columns and sixteen rows, stars!

Ander quickly responded.

Four columns and four rows, stars!

After the first four moves, both sides have formed a two-star point against a star point, a highly flexible local opening that tests the players' skills to a great extent. No one knows where the game will ultimately lead until that moment.

Da da da……

Both sides began to place their pieces rapidly.

There are not many players left in the winners' bracket, and Ander had previously defeated Zhang Dongchen. Although the game between An Hongshi and Zhuang Weisheng at the second table attracted most people's attention, there were also quite a few people watching the game between Yu Shao and Ander.

Everyone was completely absorbed in the game, some even holding their breath, engrossed in the world of black and white, almost losing themselves in the moment.

Time ticked by with each move.

Soon after, more than thirty moves had been made on the chessboard, and a pattern of black and white fighting each other was gradually emerging. However, it was still too early to say who would win.

"The local technique is very skillful and quite solid, with no major flaws. If I had to say something, it might be that it favors solid ground too much. The move just now, while using a long position was good, it would have been better to jump out of the box."

Yu Shao gazed at the chessboard, silently calculating in his mind.

Hearing Ander's words before the match, he initially thought Ander must have something special, but judging from their recent encounters, it seems...

"It's not weak, but it's not that strong either. The situation is roughly even right now, but if I had to say, my black pieces have a slight advantage."

"How did he defeat Zhang Dongchen? Or... is the mid-game his forte?"

At this moment, Ander picked up another chess piece and placed it on the chessboard.

Hey!
Seven columns and fourteen rows, jump!
"Did they jump...?"

Seeing Ande make another move, Yu Shao didn't think too much about it. He calmed himself down, pondered for a moment, then picked up a piece and gently placed it down.

Hey!
Seven columns and thirteen rows, bang!
"We've come face to face. We didn't get a chance to make a move earlier, and now we don't have that chance anymore. If we continue fighting here, it will probably be disadvantageous for White. So we can only continue to try and gain territory?"

Seeing this move, Ander's expression turned grim, and he couldn't help but glance at Yu Shao opposite him, feeling a deep sense of apprehension.

"Yu Shao, you truly live up to your reputation."

"However, if you think that this will give you an advantage, you are underestimating me."

Ander stared at the chessboard, his eyes gleaming.

"It seems this is the only way to go down..."

In his mind, a series of complex and varied changes appeared, which was what he believed to be the future of Go, a path that showed him, and this was the source of his confidence that he could win!
Amateur players may be optimistic about computers defeating Go.

However, professional Go players are completely different. Almost all professional Go players hold conclusions such as "the research on Go AI is impossible to succeed" and "computers can defeat all other types of chess, but they cannot defeat Go."

There are reasons for this.

The more you understand Go and its mechanics, the more you will be awestruck by its complexity and vastness, the more you will feel your own insignificance, and even develop a sense of awe for Go itself.

After all, almost all board games in the world have been eventually cracked by computers, relying on exhaustive methods to calculate all the variations and finally find the single answer.

However, Go is different. There are approximately 10^170 to 10^808 possible variations in Go, while the total number of observable atoms in the universe is approximately 10^80. Therefore, the number of variations in Go is even greater than the total number of observable atoms in the universe.

It's amazing that such a small chessboard is larger than the total number of atoms in the observable universe. But that's the fact, and perhaps that's why so many people have been captivated by and obsessed with Go for the past two thousand years.

It's impossible for a computer to calculate all the possible variations in Go! But some people have thought of having the computer perform selective calculations, that is, choosing the best move among the best and discarding the worst, which would greatly reduce the amount of calculation required.

However, the problem is that this is also impossible.

Because computers cannot judge the merits of each move like humans can. If a computer were to judge the merits of each move, it would have to calculate all the possible variations. Computers do not have things like "strategic vision" or "chess sense" like humans do.

To give a computer a strategic overview and a feel for the game is like giving it emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness—which is virtually impossible, at least with current technology.

As a professional Go player, he originally held the same views as other professional Go players.

After the initial Go competition between the US and China, Apollo Technologies, having suffered a crushing defeat, received funding from the US government to develop a Go AI called "Young Eagle." They eventually approached him, pointing him towards an alternative path—

Neural Networks.

Input all past chess records of humans, and let the "young eagle" see a whole tree with countless branches in the sky, and then calculate the probability distribution of each move from the branches of the trunk.

This certainly sounds unlikely to succeed, and there are many difficulties, such as whether the Go AI will incorrectly inherit the errors of all past game records after inputting them.

However, he ultimately accepted Apollo Technologies' invitation and decided to give it a try.

To date, Project Young Eagle has not been successfully developed. As a Go consultant, he has played many games with Young Eagle. In front of him, Young Eagle is completely powerless, being utterly defeated, constantly breaking its wings, and uttering mournful cries.

Let alone him, even against amateur third or fourth dan players, it would be very difficult for Chu Ying to win. Only against some amateur first or second dan players could Chu Ying have a high probability of winning, and even then, it was not guaranteed.

Logically speaking, the government has injected a huge amount of funds into this project, yet it has been performing so poorly for so long. He should have given up on the illusion that the Young Eagle Project could succeed long ago.

However, this is not the case!
Although the fledgling eagle has not yet been able to spread its wings, after so many games with the fledgling eagle, although the fledgling eagle has not won a single game so far, it has made some changes that have surprised him greatly!
At first, he couldn't understand these changes at all. He felt they were completely random moves, utterly illogical, and utterly incomprehensible.

It was so difficult for Chu Ying to beat an amateur third or fourth dan. He was about to completely reject Chu Ying because of these changes, but after thinking about them carefully, he was somewhat horrified!

It was precisely because of the changes brought about by these young eagles that he, who was originally a 9-dan but whose record was neither bad nor good, made rapid progress in this year, from the European and American Rookie King Tournament all the way to the third round of the World Championship double-elimination tournament!
This is why he still believes that the future of Go lies in computers; the fledgling eagle will surely spread its wings and soar in the Go sky, hunting across the world and looking down on all others!
"Click!"

Ander slowly reached into the chess box, and the chess pieces inside immediately collided with a sound!

The chess pieces are clipped out.

Then--

"Listen to the high-pitched cry of a fledgling eagle!"

The chess piece is placed on the chessboard!

Hey!
Fourteen columns and twelve rows, hang!

But the moment the chess piece landed on the board, the crowd who had been intently watching the game were all stunned, even Yu Shao was dumbfounded.

Time seemed to freeze for two or three seconds.

"This……"

The crowd around them gradually came to their senses, their eyes widening as they stared intently at the enormous flying object, almost speechless, as if words were stuck in their throats and they nearly vomited them out several times, but ultimately found that they couldn't get them out at all!

In the end, everyone could only stare wide-eyed at the white piece on the chessboard, dumbfounded!
Even Kimura Go, standing in the crowd, could no longer remain calm after seeing Ander's move. It was as if his brain had been hit hard by a hammer. He stared wide-eyed in disbelief, completely dumbfounded!

Zheng Qin rubbed his eyes, his mind blank, staring blankly at the chessboard.

At this moment, everyone's eyes could only see this one white piece that had just been placed on the chessboard!

This move was visually striking, unbelievable, and beyond the imagination of human chess players, as well as beyond the comprehension of everyone!
"No, down...down here?!"

"What do you mean?"

"A wrong move? A completely meaningless move?!"

For a moment, no one could believe their eyes. Their first reaction upon seeing this move was that they even wondered if it had been placed in the wrong position!

If it's a complex middle game and someone makes a move they can't understand at all, they can explain it as a profound and unfathomable move, or that they're just bad at understanding it. But they've only made about thirty moves so far!
In this situation, one should be able to understand it eventually, but why is it completely incomprehensible?
Some people couldn't help but look up at Ander, only to see that Ander's expression was calm, as if he had no idea what kind of amazing move he had just made, and he showed no regret.

Moreover, some people even felt that, judging from Ander's appearance, Ander seemed to think he had made a good move.
and so……

Did I download the right thing?
Is this really where it lands?

Why? !
What is this for?
"Gudong!"

Someone swallowed hard, their voice unusually loud in the otherwise silent crowd.

Shocked, confused, bewildered!
It is important to understand that "hanging" refers to a tactical means of encroaching upon or flexibly responding within the enemy's territory, and also has the function of lightly diminishing the enemy's territory.

Generally speaking, a hanging move requires support from surrounding pieces to be executed, but in the current market conditions, this hanging move is extremely precarious.

More importantly, Black's external influence is not yet fully formed; it only has a vague outline. White's invasion and reduction efforts are unclear, with no clear indication of what is being invaded or reduced, and even their effect is inexplicable.
"Damn?"

Yu Shao looked at the chessboard and frowned slightly: "It's not bad, but... it's a bit too aggressive."

In his previous life, Yu Shao had seen far too many AI-powered celestial beings soaring through the air and flying at enormous speeds, so he was used to it and naturally didn't find this particular move strange.

In this context, this kind of technique, the hanging move, is a way to harmonize the whole situation. It actually has a rather subtle charm. Its effect is not immediately apparent, but its artistic conception is very profound and worth savoring repeatedly.

In the past, similar moves were once used by top players, but later it was generally felt that this approach was too aggressive, so it was gradually abandoned by both players and Go AI.

Of course, although almost no chess players used this move in the past, it was still an occasional tactic that could be used. It wasn't bad, and if the opponent wasn't familiar with this kind of suspended battle, they might suffer a loss.

"He actually managed to pull it out, is it his own research... He said he's very strong, it seems he's not just talking."

Yu Shao's expression became more serious: "We really can't underestimate our opponent!"

…………

ps: Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)