LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 427 Let me give you some paper as a precaution

"Hello everyone!"

"Welcome to Wild Fox. The live stream is currently taking place at BJ Go Academy. Today, we will be hosting the first round of the 32-player qualifying match of the Mengbaihe Cup. We will be broadcasting the entire match between Lin Ruo, 1-dan from China, and Nakamura Sumire, 1-dan, a prodigy from Japan."

Round of 32.

In the WildFox livestream room.

The commentators were exceptionally enthusiastic today, working tirelessly to prepare the audience for this highly anticipated match, which was far more important than the outcome.

"Lin Ruo, a first-dan player who only completed her professional ranking last year and is also a multiple champion of the National Games, unexpectedly appeared in the Mengbaihe Cup World Championship this year and came into our view."

Despite being only a beginner-level player, he soared to great heights, advancing from the "group of death" in the preliminaries with a perfect record, including defeating world-class players such as Park Young-hoon 9-dan.

Now that we've reached the main stage of the competition, his performance remains as strong as ever, and we all hope that he can go even further in the Mengbaihe Cup.

Another Japanese 10-year-old prodigy, Sumire Nakamura, may not be familiar to the audience.

As the daughter of Japanese professional female Go player Nobuya Nakamura, Sumire Nakamura started playing Go at the age of 3, and this year, at the age of 10, she became the youngest professional Go player in the history of Japanese Go.

After defeating Wang Chenxing, a 5-dan player from our country, everyone must have realized the extraordinary talent of this young child.

Therefore, today's match is undoubtedly a battle of geniuses. The outcome is not the main point; what matters is that we can use this match to glimpse the greater potential of both players.

WildFox Media reporters will be on-site to provide you with continuous updates, so please stay tuned, the match is about to begin.

The scene shifted to the live broadcast, where the excitement surrounding the Round of 32 was indeed far greater than that of the Round of 64.

The number of media reporters present at the scene has roughly doubled compared to previous years.

Dozens of sports media outlets, including CCTV's People's Sports, reported on today's Round of 32 matches, and their focus was simply on one thing.

A battle between the two great powers of China and Japan.

The Go Association naturally did a lot of pre-tournament promotion, especially focusing on the theme of Sino-Japanese cultural exchange.

As a result, even in Japan, where Go has gradually faded from the international Go scene, many Go enthusiasts have begun to pay attention to the Mlily Cup.

"Wow, so many people!" Zhang Ruo, who had arrived at the scene, was snapping photos like a reporter, trying to capture the lively scene.

As a fellow member of the Shanghai Chess Academy, Li Weiqing, who was standing next to him, was almost blinded by the dazzling lights. Luckily, Lin Ruo had left her sunglasses with him.

"You don't need to keep staring at the camera. Lin Ruo will be there next time. What's there to be afraid of? Today's match can't be his swan song."

Seeing Zhang Ruo's continuous clicking, Li Weiqing couldn't help but say a few words.

His meaning was actually quite simple: he could take a couple of photos of Lin Ruo during the breaks between taking pictures of him, since he also had a match later, but he hadn't entered the venue yet because there were too many media reporters.

He planned to wait until the last 15 minutes before going in, since not many media outlets would be paying attention to him anyway; their focus would only be on table number five in the room.

Moreover, the upcoming match could very well be his swan song.

Li Weiqing doesn't believe he has absolutely no chance of defeating the South Korean national team player, but it's hard to say how small that chance is.

Well, at least the chances of her defeating Lin Ruo are probably greater than those of Nakamura Sumire.

Li Weiqing could only think this way, at least it made him feel a little better.

...

Because of the need to cooperate with media filming, Lin Ruo was forced to sit in her battle position half an hour ago.

Sitting opposite him was his opponent for the day, Japanese prodigy Sumire Nakamura.

To avoid awkward silences, Lin Ruo learned a few Japanese phrases overnight. However, she discovered that the greeting "hello" required different forms of address depending on the time, place, and situation.

Lin Ruo gave up. He figured he couldn't learn it anyway, so he'd just follow the organizer's procedures.

Once all the media friends had arrived, the two shook hands and took photos in front of the camera, and then began to clean the table in preparation for the start of the match.

Looking at Lin Ruo, who was already an adult, sitting opposite her, Zhong Yijin, who was underage, had a very good mentality. Even if she lost because she was being bullied by the older one, she was not ashamed.

"He only achieved professional status at 17?" Sumire Nakamura couldn't help but wonder.

There are tons of players in China and South Korea who achieve their professional ranking at 12 or 13 years old, so why is someone who only achieves it at 17 considered a genius? Wouldn't someone like her, who achieved it at 10, be invincible?

Just because he defeated a 9-dan professional Go player?
Sumire Nakamura was somewhat unconvinced, believing that if Sumire were 17, she would be far more capable.

"I will try my best to beat you." After the media reporters left, Sumire Nakamura awkwardly said a sentence in Chinese.

Lin Ruo smiled and nodded, speaking little like he was coaxing a child, because he didn't know if the other person would understand him if he spoke Chinese.

So he chose to follow international practice and first give a thumbs up to show his friendliness.

Sorry, it seems like I turned it upside down.

Fortunately, Lin Ruo corrected himself in time. He couldn't possibly bully a child like that. It's better to settle things on the field.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. The match is about to begin."

In the Wild Fox live stream, the commentators who had been offline for less than 20 minutes quickly became active again. During the 9 AM time slot, a large number of viewers still flocked to the live stream to watch on time.

[Has it started? I really want to see Lin Gengxin get beaten up, but that's a bit unrealistic. Well then, watching the little girl get beaten up and cry isn't so bad either.]

[Damn, how could you guys be so mean? She's just a child, how can she laugh so confidently? Lin Gou, you better make sure she can't laugh again later.]

It's time to let the little girl experience the harsh realities of life to help her mature early. Lin Gou, go for it! I won't blame you.

[If we can't make the little girl cry, everyone here shares a responsibility.]

[She's just a young girl, just don't let her win. We need to show proper etiquette on the chessboard. Yes, that's the requirement for all players except Lin Ruo. But Lin Ruo… well, you know, he never holds back when he plays.]

[Children should be bullied a lot when they're young, otherwise they won't know how treacherous society can be when they grow up.]

Yes, I suggest giving her some tissues first.

The audience didn't chat for long.

at last.

In the main hall of the chess academy, a referee in charge of the match at table number five glanced at his watch, stood up, looked up at the players sitting on either side of the table, and said seriously:
“本次比赛采用中国围棋规则，黑方贴目3又3/4子，每方常规用时2小时，5次1分钟读秒。”

"Now, let's have the two players guess first."

Upon hearing the referee's words, Lin Ruo slowly reached into the chess box, grabbed a number of white pieces, and held them tightly in her hand without looking at anyone.

Then Sumire Nakamura took out several black stones from the Go box and placed them on the table.

Two against one.

With the odds and evens differing on both sides, Zhongyi Jin did not guess the number of white pieces Lin Ruo held, thus giving Lin Ruo the right to play black first.

There's nothing we can do about it.

The two exchanged chess boxes, and Lin Ruo, knowing she had a black piece, sat up straight.

Haters, well, they usually go pretty ruthless.

"Lin Ruo has drawn another one. In fact, we have noticed that since the Mengbaihe Cup qualifiers, Lin Ruo has always drawn one piece when guessing first."

Wildfox commentators also frankly revealed this secret, mainly because it is no longer a secret, as it has been reported by relevant media a long time ago.

Now it's common knowledge that Lin Ruocai can only pick one piece, without him having to say it. All Go enthusiasts know that Lin Ruocai can only pick one piece.

However, the Japanese prodigy didn't seem to pay much attention and still handed the first move to Lin Ruo.

"In professional matches, Lin Ruo actually prefers to use white pieces, but black pieces have a slight advantage under our rules. Let's see how Lin Ruo performs."

During the commentary and analysis, the first-hand reports from both sides of the scene came in one after another.

With seventeen columns and four rows, Lin Ruo adopted a strategy of opening with a small, misguided objective.

The two small eyes occupy the corner, but they do not form a symmetrical layout. Instead, they form a staggered layout with the other side.

This layout is flexible and adaptable, emphasizing a balance between physical strength and external influence, and can be adjusted according to different opponents and situations.

Looking at the chessboard in front of her, Sumire Nakamura quickly picked up a piece and responded with a star-shaped small eye.

Four hands move back and forth, misaligning small eyes with star-shaped eyes.

After the initial stages, Lin Ruo was presented with only a few possible approaches.

Whether to defend the corner, hook the corner, or attack from both sides, one can choose to defend the corner with a small knight's move to consolidate one's territory, or choose to hook the corner to harass White's external influence.

In this regard, Lin Ruo ultimately used a compromise, using the large flying guard to defend the corner, instead of starting the battle by hanging at the corner as usual.

Seeing that Black was defending the upper right corner, Sumire Nakamura immediately moved to the lower right corner and began to launch an attack to prepare for battle.

The flying hook is a diagonal hooking technique that involves placing stones on the diagonal side with a gap of one or two lines. It is also the most basic hooking technique in the small eye joseki.

Common countermeasures include strategies such as corner defense, balanced attack with small flying knights, and strong attack with one-space sandwich.

Lin Ruo used the tip of his hand in that area.
Following closely behind is White's high extension, placing a stone on the fifth line above the previous stone. Its effect is very obvious: to expand the shape and seize the edge. It is often used in the opening stage.

Next, Black made a move to the lower left corner. Taking advantage of White's corner defense, Lin Ruo successfully invaded and extended the center on the right side to restrict White's development.

From the moment Lin Ruo made that first move, the commentators in the Wild Fox livestream couldn't help but start to wonder, because Lin Ruo's subsequent moves were quite coordinated.

The moves have started to change significantly; in other words, Black has begun to exhibit its most distinctive style.

"They're coming fast. Lin Ruo, a first-dan player, is about to fight. He'll be attacking without holding back in this game."

The commentator suddenly raised his voice.

After invading, within a few moves, Black almost abandoned the territory on the right side and instead began to expand wildly and unrestrainedly downwards.

(End of this chapter)