After all of us are reborn, who plays Go?

"..."

After the quarterfinals, all the participants from the Japanese team who came to participate in the Yingshi Cup World Championship gathered in the team leader's room in silence.

When something like this happened, everyone had to come to an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures or say something.

But when everyone really gathered together, no one spoke first. Compared to yesterday's relatively relaxed atmosphere, today's atmosphere could be described as depressing.

There was no way out. In just one day, the entire Japanese team was almost wiped out!
What to say?

There were four pure Japanese players who made it to the quarterfinals, but after entering the semifinals, there was only one pure Japanese player left.

Three were eliminated directly in the quarterfinals, and two of them were the seeds that everyone had high hopes for.

Among the six top-notch players, the pure Japanese who are still in their prime are definitely Shohei Takemiya, Kenichi Mitsuba and 9th dan Masao Toya.

However, the ninth dan, Shohei Takemiya, died tragically in the civil war and was eliminated in the first round.

The other two also suffered a crushing defeat in the quarter-finals and directly withdrew from the team.

The three Japanese teams' favorite seeded players to win the championship were all wiped out in just two rounds.

This is not the most terrible and saddest news.

The most terrifying thing is that the only Japanese chess player who made it to the semi-finals is Fujii Hideaki, a 9th dan player who is over 60 years old.

Although he preserved the last spark of the Japanese team, this spark was really like a candle in the wind.

How should I put it? I don't know whether I should say that Fujii Hideaki is still as skilled as ever, or whether there is really no one left in Japanese Go.

The current situation is that even if we barely count Lin Xiaofeng, there are only two people.

This was like a bucket of cold water poured on the Japanese team which was ambitious to win the championship.

In the Fujitsu Cup that I just came into contact with some time ago, among the top four, there were two pure Japanese top-notch players, one top-notch player from Chinese Taipei who was trained in Japan, and only one foreign chess player, Zhan Lang.

It can be said that the top four can be called, finished! Zhan Lang was surrounded by Japanese chess players!

Although the ending is, it's over! The battle waves surrounded the Japanese riders!
But at least the semi-finals and the finals were still quite exciting, at least it showed that apart from fighting waves, Japan still has absolute dominance in all other aspects!
But this time, just a few months later? The game has taken a turn for the worse.

Doesn't Japan even have the power to dominate others? !

Has Japanese Go lost its dominance?
In the end, only Fujii Hideaki, who was over 60 years old, made it to the semi-finals and became the only hope of the Japanese team.

Thinking of this, everyone present, including Fujii Hideaki, couldn't help but feel a sense of sadness in their hearts.

Japanese Go players used to comfort themselves by saying they had enough talented players, but now they can’t even see the depth of their talent in the competitions.

And the saddest thing is that the one Fujii Hideaki drew was Zhan Lang!
If it were a Korean player, everyone thinks Fujii Hideaki would still have a good chance of reaching the finals.

In this way, even if China and Japan lose the final, at least there is still a fig leaf.

But he will directly encounter Zhan Lang in the semi-finals, and there is a high probability that he will be sniped.

Fujii Hideaki is already at this age, Zhan Lang’s strength and age are both up to par, and the match is a three-game match, so it can be said that the possibility of unexpected events has been reduced to a relatively low point.

There is almost no chance that Fujii Hideaki will make it to the finals.

Looking at the silent crowd, Sanye Kenichi was the first to break the silence: "Let me reflect first. Although the opponent's behavior today was disgusting, I didn't expect that I would be so easily affected by him.

He made a bad move at the last minute, which led to the loss of the game...

However, Cao Mingxun still has some strength. Although this guy learned Go in Japan, his style of play is completely different from that of normal Japanese players. Everyone should pay attention to this.

Cao Mingxun is a bit like Zhan Lang, and seems to be even deliberately imitating him in some aspects. He is also very flexible and good at messing things up. Once he finds your flaw, it will be a troublesome thing.

I didn’t expect that after missing a spoon, I would never be able to recover… Although there were factors that affected me, there was also the factor that I underestimated the enemy.”

Although Kenichi Mitsuba felt that Cao Mingxun's strength was not as good as his, he had to admit that Cao Mingxun's strength had reached a good level now.

Otherwise, if you only rely on tricks outside the game, you will never be able to defeat yourself.

Just like the 299 in 2, even if you use big face tricks to make the other two nines laugh to death, you still can’t win.

"Cao Mingxun is really too outrageous..."

When Takemiya Masahei, who was eliminated in the first round, heard this name, he recalled some unpleasant memories.

Even when this name was mentioned, Takemiya Masahiro felt as if he recalled some strange smell.

Damn, I feel like vomiting again!
"My uncle was right to expel him from the sect. I never thought he could do such an outrageous thing. He has brought shame to Japanese Go!"

Upon hearing this, Toya Masao shook his head: "My loss to Lao Lin is not a surprise at all. It's normal."

Japan's top players have won and lost against each other. Although Lin Xiaofeng is older this year, he still defeated the 9th dan Toya Masao in a domestic competition in Japan this year, so it is not surprising that he won again this time.

If you think in this way, everyone nodded, indicating that it is indeed acceptable.

There is no need to mention Takenouchi Katsu. His age is second only to Fujii Hideaki, the 9th dan. He is the oldest among the top-notch players, and his opponent is the biggest opponent in this competition, Zhan Lang.

Theoretically speaking, his loss to Zhan Lang was something everyone expected.

After talking about it this way, everyone realized that there seemed to be no pot to be divided.

Except for the game that Kenichi Mitsuba shouldn't have lost, the losses in the other two games were expected.

But after reaching this conclusion, everyone's mood became even more depressed.

Because that would be even worse!
The loss was not due to objective reasons, but because there was a problem with our strength!
Something as expected?!

If Japan couldn't win the Go championship, is it difficult for it to even get to the semi-finals?! It even makes sense if you think about it carefully?!
This is too scary! How has Japanese Go fallen into this state?
According to everyone's original idea, there should be at least three Japanese chess players among the top four. In theory, it is not impossible to even take all four places.

After all, apart from Zhan Lang, everyone treated the others as mere atmosphere creators, and they were just discussing at which stage of the competition they could defeat Zhan Lang.

but now……

Have you become the atmosphere group?!

Everyone couldn't help but have an inappropriate thought in their mind.

Is Japanese Go really declining? Is it possible that our strength is no longer able to keep up with the development of the times?
You really can't think too much about this kind of thing. The more you think about it, the more horrified you feel. Some people even break out in cold sweats.

"Don't think too much about it. This time it was just bad luck. We just happened to run into an opponent that was not easy to deal with. Normally this shouldn't happen."

The team leader originally wanted to call everyone over to reflect and share the blame, but he didn't expect that as the trip went on, the overall atmosphere became more and more depressing.

If this continues, I will start to wonder if the end of Japanese Go is coming.

Although to some extent, doomsday theory has long been rampant in Japanese Go.

There was no way. In the China-Japan Go competition some time ago, although the 9th dan Taiya Masao defeated China's deputy general Fang Yuan, he was finally defeated by China's main general Zhan Lang.

Zhan Lang became the iron gate of the ring match, achieving nine consecutive victories for three consecutive seasons and helping the Chinese team win the competition.

He even won a world championship held in Japan.

Such people have dealt a huge blow to the confidence of Japanese Go.

Japanese Go has been slapped in the face for three years. If it weren't for their thick skin, everyone would have given up long ago.

But Katsuya Takenouchi, the 9th dan who lost today, seemed a little autistic right beside him.

There's no way. Katsuya Takenouchi lost today's game without any temper at all. I couldn't find any major bad moves in the whole game. At most, it can be said that he slowed down a little in some places.

The only move that can be called a questionable one is actually Takenouchi Katsuya, who focused too much on the field in the early middle game and gave Zhan Lang too much external momentum.

Theoretically speaking, it shouldn't be the reason for the loss of this game, right?

But he was killed by someone like this...

Even if Zhan Lang had been a little more ruthless at the time, he might have been fed and clothed directly in the middle, and there would have been no follow-up at all.

"It's really not easy to do. It seems that Zhan Lang's level is still rising?"

Speaking of this, Kenichi Mitsuba couldn't help but rub his hair. It was really confusing!
This is also something that a group of top-notch people including Kenichi Mitsuba have always been unable to understand.

Theoretically speaking, when one's level reaches a certain height, especially when one reaches a top-notch level, one will usually fall into a bottleneck period.

Although there is still progress, the speed of progress can be said to be slow compared to the past.

Because at this point, the roads that the predecessors had taken are basically blocked, and the road ahead is completely blocked by fog, so you have to completely rely on yourself to explore.

Whether you can take a few steps forward and figure out something depends entirely on yourself.

Even if something goes wrong, you may have to go back and forth or get into a dead end, and end up getting hurt.

Japan's top-notch artists are also trying to find their own path and form their own style through various experiments.

However, due to the lack of knowledge about the road ahead and the guidance of famous teachers, the paths they have explored are varied and it can even be said that they have reached a dead end.

Theoretically speaking, Zhan Lang should be like this as well.

After all, opening up new paths is a long and arduous process that requires long periods of trial and error and constant exploration.

There will inevitably be a long period of time when you are unable to improve your level, and it is even possible that you will lose the game when you are stuck in a bottleneck period and your condition is particularly similar.

But Zhan Lang didn't have this problem. The road he walked on was particularly smooth, as if there was no fog ahead at all. It was a smooth road, and Zhan Lang kept running forward.

Theoretically speaking, even if the protagonist of the martial arts world reaches the top level in the world and wants to make further progress, the author must introduce a higher-level boss in the second part. Only after seeing a higher realm can the protagonists climb towards a higher goal.

But there are no such people in the world now. If there were, they would have illuminated our future long ago. How could we still be stuck in the same place?

Therefore, Zhan Lang’s level of progress is really beyond common sense. Is it really possible to reach this level with talent?
“But generally speaking, Zhan Lang has never played against our Japanese players, which is where we have an advantage!

In the past, the outcome was decided by one game, but in the Fanqi game, a chess player's resilience is better reflected. Everyone has experienced countless title battles!

Show some courage! Don't lose face! This should be our absolute territory in Japan!"

The team leader looked at the team's low morale and could only find a reason to boost everyone's morale.

However, what the team leader said is not without reason. Although Fujii Hideaki is very old, he often creates miracles in various chess competitions.

Especially in the Go Saint Tournament in the past few years, Fujii Hideaki always defeated his opponents when challenged every year and firmly held his title.

To some extent, Fujii Hideaki is indeed very good at playing chess.

Fujii Hideaki said there was no other way, sometimes people tend to burst out their strongest potential in extremely difficult situations.

After all, the debt collector was outside when he was playing chess. If he lost, the water in Tokyo Bay would be too cold.

"It's a pity that the Yamaguchi-gumi people can't come. Otherwise, if they were asked to wait outside, Fujii Hideaki would definitely be able to defeat Zhan Lang."

Hearing the joking words from the person next to him, Fujii Hideaki couldn't help but roll his eyes.

You guys can just laugh it off, but this is a hellish joke to me!

"Do your best! Japan can't be without a single player in the finals."

Fujii Hideaki also sighed helplessly. Japan has always called itself the Kingdom of Go. Now that no one even makes it to the finals, it's really embarrassing!

Even if Lin Xiaofeng made it to the finals, everyone would inevitably feel ashamed, after all, he is not a pure Japanese.

But in the end, he had to rely on an old man in his sixties to hold the scene. Fujii Hideaki didn't help but feel sad. Japan really has no successors!

However, when he thought of this, Fujii Hideaki seemed to have thought of something, and he felt slightly relieved, and even the expression on his face eased.

Because during this period, Torajiro Kashima has made rapid progress in Japan and seems to have entered a period of explosive growth. He has achieved good results in various competitions and has even launched an attack on the title.

He was even selected for the next China-Japan Go Tournament.

If there is any Japanese chess player who can barely resist the aggressive Chinese style in the future, it should only be Torajiro Kashima.

"There is still no one to take over. After we go back, we all really need to work hard and make up our minds to cultivate the next generation of talents!"

Fujii Hideaki weakly reiterated his words once again. Now the next generation only has Kashima Torajiro. Even if he grows up quickly, he can't support himself. How long can he last?

If there are no more new players who can take up the banner of Japanese Go, then the end is really coming!
(End of this chapter)