Chapter 1134

Chapter 1134: Zhang Ye’s Hand of God!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

There was laughter all around Weibo.

“Pfft!”

“This is cracking me up!”

“Why is Zhang Ye always spouting nonsense like that!”

“Hahahaha, hasn’t he always been this way?”

“His Go skills are really just like him! Full of rubbish and not adhering to convention!”

“Only he could have a mouth like that. Why are you arguing with a computer? This guy is really too annoying! But today, we must support him. We have no choice!”

“Go for it!”

“We can’t afford to lose any more!”

“Yeah, if we lose this game, it’s over for us!”

“It all rests on Zhang Ye!”

“As long as we win, I’ll be his braindead fan forever!”

“I am already turning from just a passerby to a fan! He’s playing amazingly!”

“Fuck, is Zhang Ye on steroids today? Why is he playing so well?”

“Yeah, he’s like a completely different person from yesterday! It’s like he gained a ‘great empowerment’ overnight? Just what kind of weird moves are these!”

In the game room.

The Americans finally blew up. Their representative lodged a stern protest to the international referees, accusing Zhang Ye of interfering with Peter’s play.

The international referees considered it for a moment before deciding to give Zhang Ye a warning.

Zhang Ye put up his hands to express his innocence.

Peter was still “considering” its next move.

Those on humanity’s side were getting excited and enthusiastic!

On the live broadcast.

Yu Yingyi said excitedly, “Today’s Zhang Ye is totally different from yesterday’s!”

Chen Ying 7-dan suddenly said, “Now, I can reveal a secret to everyone who is watching on our live broadcast. Just last night, Professor Zhang suddenly came to the Qiyuan to search for some information. Some of us helped him find all the game records of top players in recent years from both national and international matches. Professor Zhang ended up looking through all of them for the entire night!”

Yu Yingyi said in shock, “Teacher Chen, do you mean that Professor Zhang only used one night’s of research to improve his Go skill to the point where he seems like a totally different person from yesterday?”

Chen Ying reflected, then said, “I don’t know.”

“That doesn’t make sense!” Yu Yingyi was in disbelief.

When home viewers heard that, they were stunned speechless!

Chen Ying thought for a bit before giving a wry smile. “Perhaps that’s the difference between a genius and a normal person. Peter has completely underestimated humanity. It probably never thought that there would be a person like Professor Zhang who exists amongst us humans!” Her tone changed as she remembered the lesson from yesterday. “But Peter has not lost yet. I think it might still have a chance. The next move it makes will be an extremely crucial one! Let’s see how it’s going to respond!”

The clock was ticking.

Zhang Ye still had plenty of time on the clock, while Peter had already used up much of its allocated time. In this “war between humans and machines,” the game rules followed the Chinese rules 1 of Go, with a compensation of 7.5 points being used. Each player would be given two hours of game time, as well as three 60-second blocks, with any player automatically given a loss if they exceeded the time limit 2 . Zhang Ye had used just over 30 minutes in total for his thinking time, while Peter had already used up one hour and twenty minutes.

Zhang Ye astutely realized that Peter had yet another weakness. It had an advantage in data processing and analytical power as a computer, and it did those at a meticulous level that humans would never be able to achieve. But when it was faced with a complex board state, this became a burden on the artificial intelligence. The precision of the program seemingly did not allow it to commit any errors, so a slightly more complex board state would immediately cause it to enter into a long state of processing. This state had happened several times, and Peter would only make its move after having considered all possible scenarios. Of course, the American developer of Peter would have set some rules for Peter’s time allocation function. But even so, between itself committing errors and the choice of time usage, the artificial intelligence would never be able to have the same determination and judgment as a human player!

Finally, Peter made its move!

On the computer screen, Peter’s stone was played!

Chen Ying said loudly, “Oh, Peter has played its move! This is a very profound choice! The position that it played on is actually right within the ‘net’ that Professor Zhang has cast!”

Zhang Ye took a look and responded with a move of his own.

This time, Peter did not hesitate—horizontal stretch!

Zhang Ye forcefully attacked.

Peter bumped.

Zhang Ye smiled. That was a good one, that was a really good one!

It was well worth it to use that long period to think through all the variations, even though it paid for it with time. It looked like Peter has seen some of the mysteries behind Zhang Ye’s Cosmic Style. As the opening sequence was not played in the Cosmic Style, this had become the weak point in Zhang Ye’s “net”. And it was precisely here that Peter came attacking, with the fight imminent the moment it made that move. Peter had successfully forced Zhang Ye into a direct confrontation. He could no longer peacefully build up his frameworks!

Zhang Ye responded with a move.

Peter played a pincer 3 move.

Zhang Ye played an approach.

Peter forced an atari.

Zhang Ye thought for a bit and decided to let go of the black stone.

Peter captured it.

With that, the board state immediately changed!

Yu Yingyi exclaimed, “This is bad! His stone has been captured!”

Chen Ying also said, “That’s not good. The board state seems rather bad now. With that black stone captured, the entire framework has been messed up. If Peter wins the battle on this side, the entire corner will be surrounded. If it chooses to use that as a base to attack down the middle, even with the two sides that Professor Zhang has, it’ll be very difficult to predict who wins. Professor Zhang was the first to move, so he has to deduct 7.5 points for the compensation. It’s really difficult to say how the board state will swing!”

The board state developed tension yet again!

Peter used its powerful analytical functions to fight its way out!

The Americans were all applauding this internally. As expected, they knew that Peter would not lose!

Alright!

Well done!

Finish him!

Don’t give him any more chances!

Attack him down the middle!

Zhang Ye blocked!

Peter continued pushing in!

Zhang Ye played a counter pincer 4 !

Peter approached on the right side!

The people in the spectator room felt discouraged and downhearted!

They felt like they were falling from Heaven to Hell!

Hu Liang cried out, “The corner has been taken by Peter!

Xu Han said in disbelief, “The framework in the middle has been invaded too! It’s over, this time it’s really over!”

“Professor Zhang should never have allowed that black stone to be captured!” a professional 5-dan Go player shouted.

But Li Yi 9-dan said, “He had to allow it! He had no choice!”

Liu Hong 9-dan facepalmed and expressed in frustration, “Professor Zhang’s structure has been broken through!”

On the two sides at the bottom of the board, Peter’s stones were actually not dead yet. Zhang Ye’s stones hadn’t fully surrounded the white stones and only held a large influence over the area by spreading out across the board. But if play went on like this, once Zhang Ye lost to Peter at the top of the board, the center would be broken through as well! Then territory at the bottom would, as a result, have its influence stripped away. This was what was often called a “domino effect” in Go. Right now, Zhang Ye was faced with a very dangerous board state!

The netizens were getting anxious.

“Are we going to lose?”

“We were still unable to do it after all?”

“Dammit!”

“The structure has been broken!”

“Teacher Zhang, you must do something!”

“Hold on!”

“Keep holding on, Teacher Zhang! You must not cave in!”

Although it was only the middlegame, victory would be decided within these few moves!

Zhang Ye suddenly fell silent.

In the spectator room.

A lot of the pro players started giving advice even though Zhang Ye could not hear them!

A pro 7th dan player said, “Cut off White’s 67th move!”

Hu Liang replied, “That won’t work! He would be forced to his death over there!”

Xu Han shouted, “There’s still the center left to play for!”

Li Yi said, “There’s nothing there! The group’s effectively dead!”

Liu Hong clenched his teeth and said, ‘Little Zhang has no other options left!”

Wu Changhe glared at the screen. He had no ideas left either!

“Little Xiang!” Dan Donghe said anxiously.

But Xiang Rong 9-dan did not say a word.

Dan Donghe knew from this nonresponse that it was bad!

Zhang Ye no longer had the initiative!

Peter had managed to make a desperate reversal!

What could they do?

Just what could they do?

Were they really unable to win?

Was humanity really going to fall to the artificial intelligence?

The Americans showed smiles. They knew they were going to win! They were going to win this game for sure! No matter where Zhang Ye played, the center would be broken through within ten moves. At that time, Zhang Ye would definitely not be able to turn things around!

Chen Ying was explaining the board state to the viewers. “If Professor Zhang attacks, this area will have to be given up. If…” After explaining eight or so different scenarios that Zhang Ye could take against the opponent, Chen Ying paled. She now realized that no matter where Zhang Ye played, there would be no way of turning things around!

There was no way!

Truly no way!

Watching TV.

His mother roared, “What are you doing, son! Weren’t you about to win?”

His father said with a dark expression, “Things have reversed!”

Some Go players turned off their televisions.

“Dad, why did you switch it off?”

“I’m not watching anymore.”

“But why! It’s the critical moment!”

“Zhang Ye can’t win.”

With the board state as it was, no one believed that Zhang Ye could make a comeback!

Even the gods would be powerless in this situation!

The atmosphere was depressing!

Through their TVs, countless people were watching Zhang Ye, who had fallen silent!

But all of a sudden, everyone was baffled when they saw a smile break out on Zhang Ye’s face!

Smiling?

What are you smiling about?

Chen Ying was taken aback!

The Americans were startled!

Wu Changhe, Dan Donghe, and the others were also dumbfounded!

No one knew why Zhang Ye could break into a smile at such a time!

Following, everyone saw Zhang Ye pick up a black stone from the Go bowl.

Chen Ying said, “Professor Zhang is going to place his stone!”

Everyone was staring fixedly at him!

Everyone was holding their breath!

Zhang Ye was still smiling. He felt that this was really too terrible of a coincidence. He almost could not contain his joy! The position in the corner looked exceedingly familiar. So while he looked like he had fallen silent just now, Zhang Ye had actually taken a Memory Search Capsule secretly to search through his memory for the Go game records that he had read in his previous world. There was almost no such thing as an identical Go game in the world. This was because there were too many possible games 5 that could exist. But there could be similarities in parts of a formation in a game!

Like this losing position!

Even Zhang Ye could see that he was losing. He did not think that he could turn things around. PeterGo was really too strong!

But right at this moment, a game record suddenly surfaced in his mind. It was from a game Gu Li 6 played at the peak of his career. Zhang Ye felt that he had seen the formation in the corner of the Go board somewhere before. Now that he had a detailed look at the game record, it was not just familiar looking anymore!

It turned out to be almost the exact same thing!

At the time the game was played, Gu Li was playing as Black too!

Gu Li had been forced into this same unplayable corner as well!

It was the same board state!

It was the same choice!

Then, peak Gu Li placed a stone on the Go board. It was this stone that shocked countless people, and it was this stone that everyone hailed as the most magnificent move 7 !

Zhang Ye picked up a black stone and gently raised his hand before placing it at that position!

Chen Ying exclaimed, “He has played his stone! Professor Zhang has played his stone! Over here…eh, why did he play it there? If he played it here, then should Peter attack it, it would…”

After this move was played, everyone was puzzled!

No one had expected that Zhang Ye would play it there, that he would put it at such an improper position. In this short time, no one could see what Zhang Ye’s intent was!

Chen Ying said in disappointment, “It’s over. This move definitely cannot be called a good one. Professor Zhang has probably been forced into a corner and has no way to fight back…” But all of a sudden, Chen Ying was dumbfounded. She seemed to have realized something, so she took another look at the board.

With that examination, Chen Ying froze up!

She was so surprised she nearly leaped out of her seat. “This! This! Oh my God!”

Yu Yingyi said with a stunned voice, “What’s going on?”

Chen Ying got so excited that she almost went crazy!

“A magnificent move!

“Professor Zhang has actually played a magnificent move!

“No! It’s not a magnificent move!

“This is…this is the Hand of God!”

1. https://senseis.xmp.net/?ChineseRules

2. https://senseis.xmp.net/?Byoyomi | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(board_game)#Time_control

3. 夾/Jiā/hasami tsuke – In a corner opening, in response to the approach move of W1, B2 or a nearby move is a pincer, because it “pincers” the approaching stone from the other side (the Japanese term ハサミ hasami means “scissors”). | https://senseis.xmp.net/?Pincer

4. 反夾/Fǎn jiā/hasami kaeshi | https://senseis.xmp.net/?CounterPincer

5. https://senseis.xmp.net/?NumberOfPossibleGoGames

6. https://senseis.xmp.net/?GuLi

7. 妙手 https://senseis.xmp.net/?ExcellentMove