LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 453, Page 449: The Second Round of Battle, Pressing You

Let's begin, let's begin.

Seeing Lin Ruo enter the game room, Park Jung-hwan's emotions, which had mostly calmed down, became restless again, but fortunately he calmed down again after a while.

The two sat down facing each other, and continued to perform actions such as wiping the chessboard in front of the camera, waiting for the remaining few minutes to pass.

At this point, the WildFox live streaming room and even the Korean website's live streaming room were already ready.

Not only was it a huge hit in China, but the final also sparked a nationwide viewing frenzy in South Korea.

If such a phenomenon wasn't reached before the final, then the heated exchange between Lin Ruo and Park Jung-hwan before the match stirred up a huge wave of excitement, finally leading to a massive viewing frenzy for the Mengbaihe Cup final in both China and South Korea.

However, due to Park Jung-hwan's humiliating defeat in the first match, the Korean online broadcast room was filled with insults as soon as it started, but fortunately the Korean commentators kept trying to make amends.

"The match is about to begin. Please give Park Jung-hwan 9-dan your full support until the match is over."

“Park Jung-hwan 9-dan’s performance in the last round did not reflect his true strength. I believe he will be able to demonstrate the depth of our top Korean player in this match.”

After all that talk, they were practically saying they wanted to type "support" in the chat, which did calm down a lot of the resentment.

Especially when they saw Lin Ruo's scenes, the South Korean audience, who had been oppressed in both fields, all turned their attention outward.

[Shiba, Park Jung-hwan 9-dan, please do your best! I believe in you no matter what. Give this rude kid a good lesson!]

I believe Park Jung-hwan 9-dan can adjust and quickly win his match to prepare for tomorrow's third round.

[3:1 is the absolute maximum; we can't let this kid win even one more game.]

[He can't win. Why should we be afraid when Park Jung-hwan 9-dan is playing to his normal level? Just stay calm and don't attack blindly today. Use your best, composed style of play.]

...

Amidst the murmurs and discussions, the game room was unusually quiet. According to the rules of the best-of-five series, the result of the coin toss would be decided by alternating players.

Lin Ruo, who guessed white in the first round, will automatically play black in the second round without needing to guess again. Only in the final round, the fifth round, will both sides need to guess again.

This ensures that the game proceeds in a logical order, minimizing the influence of luck on the outcome.

Because everyone knows it.

Playing white has a certain advantage under Chinese Go rules. If the game is decided by guessing who goes first every round, what if a famous player always guesses black?

That's not just a matter of bad luck; if you start every game at a disadvantage, even if it's the King of Heaven himself, you'll still curse the national treasure.

After all, not everyone has a huge skill gap in a match. The series of matches between Ke Jie and Park Jung-hwan, where they were evenly matched, is the most obvious example. Playing white is often the key factor in winning.

Therefore, in order to ensure fairness as much as possible and to keep the competition focused on the contest of strength, the results of the first round of predictions will be automatically reversed in the second round.

The same principle applies to the third and fourth rounds. Both sides take turns playing black and white pieces, so that before the decisive fifth game, each side can play two black and two white pieces in the first four games. In the fifth game, the final coin toss will be held to determine the order of moves.

This is where luck comes into play.

It has to be said that this rule is quite reasonable. At least Park Jung-hwan, who got the white card, was more composed, which is already an advantage for him at the start.

Unless there's a huge gap between them, like Lin Ruo completely overwhelming him, then the so-called distinction between black and white isn't really an advantage.

However, Park Jung-hwan firmly believed that his first-round defeat was just an accident. He admitted that Lin Ruo was very strong, but her strength was far from being significantly different from his.

Therefore, the match is still evenly matched between them, and the only factor affecting the outcome will be their performance during the game. When the time came, with the referee's reminder, both players pressed their clocks to begin the battle.

The opening four moves on both sides formed a very aggressive diagonal opening, with the competition for corner control and sideline expansion becoming the main focus.

Thus, a fierce battle at the corner was inevitable. After a relatively insignificant two-point pattern emerged in the upper left, the lower left became the front line of the battle.

The seventeenth move, played by Black, is a clamp.

Lin Ruo made the first move, revealing her ulterior motives.

This time, the calm and collected Park Jung-hwan made a move after finishing his move, trying his best to create a simple and clear pattern in the lower left corner, rather than choosing to confront Lin Ruozheng head-on.

Park Jung-hwan's style is neither conservative nor aggressive; his greatest strength lies in his ability to adapt flexibly.

The powerful explosiveness in the mid-game is an important reason for emphasizing flexibility in the early stages.

Therefore, Park Jung-hwan plans to use softness to overcome hardness and try to maintain stability in the early stages. If possible, he hopes to exert his strength in the middle game around move 100.

To avoid repeating the mistake of overexerting oneself in the early stages of the previous round.

After the opening sequence, the white pieces gently jump up from the top to survey the entire board.

At this moment, Lin Ruo took a closer look and pondered which move was the best among the many possibilities.

There are many things he can do, such as splitting up on the right side, shoulder-drive, or even imitating a jump shot, which are all good points to establish early game tempo.

Both were good, so Lin Ruo, having regained her senses, chose the fourth move, the most strategic one, and made a small knight's move next to her own black stones.

After making this move, Park Jung-hwan's first thought was to press down on the bottom, both to strengthen the large flying corner on the right side and to threaten the eye position of the two black stones.

"No, this kid is probably trying to hook me again."

Park Jung-hwan, realizing that things weren't going to be so easy, began to observe more closely and discovered that if he forced the move and Black immediately moved to the left to fight, the situation wouldn't be as advantageous as he had imagined.

Lin Ruo's thinking would definitely lead to a significant cut-off from above, and the black stones' territory on the left side would likely expand again during the exchanges.

With Black holding stones on all four sides, the threat of a pincer attack on White remains, making a fierce battle in the opening inevitable.

Therefore, we absolutely cannot go that way.

Park Jung-hwan gasped in surprise, not expecting that Lin Ruo had already set a trap for him in such a short time.

By playing steadily, White ultimately ignored Black's small knight's move on the right and instead captured Black's stones on the left, reinforcing its own formation.

Lin Ruo's black pieces then naturally gained a good point on the lower center line without being guarded.

One side maintained a stable left-wing formation, while the other attacked the middle; the two sides fought evenly in these few moves.

The only difference is that Park Jung-hwan gained the initiative after these two moves and made a good probing move by flying a piece in the upper right corner.

While Park Jung-hwan was still probing on the right, Lin Ruo, who was preparing to attack, pressed down on the left from above, making it clear that she wanted to expand the left flank.

Offense is always more oppressive than defense, and Lin Ruo's target was Park Jung-hwan, to make him come over and suffer.

(End of this chapter)