After all of us are reborn, who plays Go?

Chapter 114 113. Lan Ke Cup

"Professionals from all over China are here. Mr. Chen and his friends originally said they would basically not participate in the competition in the future, but now they are all here to participate."

“After all, it’s so hard to have a national competition. Even if I can’t win the championship, I am still participating, which can be regarded as a way to help the event.

Besides, although Mr. Chen has officially started to focus on administrative work and faded out of the chess world since last year, his foundation is still there. How many people dare to say that they can defeat Mr. Chen with 100% certainty?
Do you dare to say that? "

"Not sure."

"Why are you looking at me? How can I be sure of my third level?"

Strength is strength. As long as you are not too old, your computing power is still there, just a little slower at most.

Like Dali, a leading figure of China's previous generation in the previous life, he had retired for many years and could still occasionally beat active 9th dan players in competitions, and even forced world champion-level chess players into a desperate situation, but he did not have enough strength left and was finally overturned.

So strength is strength, and the basic skills will not change.

Even with the new paradigm of artificial intelligence, you still cannot defeat someone who is much stronger than you if you don't have enough strength.

Otherwise, Zhan Lang would have defeated Lin Hongshu, 9th Dan, in Japan long ago, and there would have been no need to come up with a four-disaster cycle to force a draw in the end.

How could a young genius defeat a ninth-dan player in a draw become a legend and make him famous overnight?
According to current estimates, if another Zhan Lao came to replace the powerful high-level player in this era, Zhan Lang would probably be beaten up after killing him a few times for the first time.

You may not even be able to get a kill on the first try, and there is a high risk of being overturned in the second half of the game.

At the opening ceremony of the Langke Cup, all the professional Go players in China who had obtained their rank through this year's Go professional ranking competition gathered together.

As China's first truly professional competition, it can be said that it will be a significant milestone in the history of Chinese Go in the future.

"The development of Chinese Go cannot be separated from the care and love of all colleagues. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Chinese player Zhan Lang for supporting this competition."

After hearing what Mr. Chen said on the stage, Zhan Lang could only stand up and bow twice to the back.

In terms of status, Zhan Lang could not have sat in the front row, but in fact, he was an investor and was forced to sit between a bunch of leaders and ninth-level officials.

Zhan Lang felt like a husky that had sneaked into a wolf pack, feeling a little out of place.

Even the suit he was wearing was borrowed from someone else.

"I'm telling you, there are clearly sixteen people who can advance directly to the top thirty-two in this competition, but you need to start from the first round."

After Zhan Lang sat down, Fang Yuan, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help but mutter something.

There were exactly eighty professional players participating in this competition. After discussion, the national team decided to arrange the sixteen strongest among them to enter the top thirty-two directly. The remaining sixty-four would be selected in two rounds to fill the remaining thirty-two places.

After two more rounds, the top eight will be decided, and finally the round-robin competition will begin. The two players with the highest points in the round-robin competition will advance to the final five games to compete for the championship.

Although Zhanlang’s strength is not enough, he just won the championship recently. Of course, the most fundamental reason is that Zhanlang is the sponsor of this competition.

The national team still felt like giving Zhan Lang some privileges, as a way of thanking him for sponsoring the competition.

But Zhan Lang refused without even thinking about it.

But in Fang Yuan's opinion, if he has the privilege but doesn't use it and insists on starting from the first round, isn't that just asking for trouble?

"It is precisely because I am a sponsor that I don't want to be criticized. I started from the first round so that the competition can appear fair and just."

Zhan Lang heard this and responded directly. After all, it was a national competition organized by himself. Zhan Lang took it more seriously than anyone else and hoped that it could become one of the most authoritative competitions in China. And this was also to set an example for future sponsors. After all, the ideas of sponsors and Go players are different.

From the sponsor's point of view, my sponsorship of Go competitions is basically equivalent to giving you money for free. You are a group of beggars on your knees, and you should meet all my conditions.

However, Go players kneel down when asking for sponsorship, but sometimes they still have to stand up to earn the money.

After all, many conditions may not seem to be a problem to people who don’t understand them, but they are bottom line issues to many chess players.

For example, in previous world championships, sponsors directly interfered with the selection of players for the national team, which ended up causing considerable conflict between the two sides.

Others may think that I have paid so much money, so there is nothing wrong with assigning two places to you. However, the national team thinks that if you interfere with the selection of places, it will no longer be called a world championship, but an invitational tournament.

Finally, after compromise, the tradition of wild cards was formed in the World Series.

Simply put, instead of occupying the quota of all participating countries, sponsors have one or two designated quotas to participate in the competition.

Although Zhanlang is a sponsor, it actually sits on the side of Go.

After all, Zhan Lang is a chess player, and some people make money by sponsoring competitions, so the butt determines the head.

Being the first sponsor will set an example for other sponsors. With a precedent, the possibility of other sponsors making excessive demands will become less likely.

Don't underestimate precedents, because rules are formed imperceptibly. Once something is done in its original form, people who follow it rarely change or break it.

"You are a little too noble and upright. I am under a lot of pressure."

Fang Yuan couldn't help but sigh when he heard this. He originally felt that his generation truly loved Go and was willing to devote their entire lives to the game, but he didn't know if there would be anyone in the next generation who could take over.

Who would have known that Zhan Lang, at such a young age, regarded money as dirt. Not only did he selflessly sponsor the competition, but he was also unwilling to accept privileges and insisted on playing in the first round of the first competition.

The few thousand dollars left from the competition prize money in the past few years have been hidden away. It’s a different level of being.

Fang Yuan felt that the other party was a little too great and he really felt inferior to him.

"Now, please start drawing lots."

Looking at Chen Long on the stage, Fang Yuan couldn't help but shook his head. No matter how strong he was, the other party was still among the top sixteen in China.

However, Chen Long also believes that one should not compete with young people for opportunities, and will not take up the 16 places that will lead to the top 32, and will start from the first round.

In the first stage of the competition, Fang Yuan and his team did not need to go up to draw lots, but Zhan Lang was the first to go up and drew number five.

Until sixty-two people had gone up, Zhan Lang's opponent number six had not been drawn, and the only one left on the field was Old Chen, who was hosting the opening ceremony and had not yet drawn the last one.

"You don't actually need to draw the last one, but I'll still show it to everyone. It's number six."

Chen Long smiled and took out the last red paper lottery ticket from the lottery box and showed it to everyone.

Fang Yuan looked at the matchup table on the stage and couldn't help but tease Zhan Lang: "I told you to go up directly but you didn't. Now you're facing Chen Lao directly. You're out in the first round."

The emperor emeritus is also the emperor.

Chen Long is old and in poor health, but he is also a ninth dan.

(End of this chapter)