Chapter 1144: Humanity wins!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
The living group 1 died!
And the dead group got revived!
This was the famous "Zombie Style" from Zhang Ye's previous world. The playstyle was the claim to fame of the representative figure of the Go world, Lee Sedol 2 !
There was no such playstyle in this world, and no one has ever seen something like it before. So you could imagine the shock they received when they saw Zhang Ye's dead group get revived. The Zombie Style was a very different playstyle and strategy that players would resort to in times of adversity. This sort of strategy required a higher standard of play than the Cosmic Style. It not only required the player to have an awareness of the overall board state and ability to force an attack, but also required a strong understanding of dead groups, a strong concept of thickness and thinness, as well as have good control of the pace of the game. A player would need to be exceptional in all of those areas to be able to play the Zombie Style. This sort of extraordinary playstyle was also practically unwieldable even by those top players who had studied the Zombie Style!
Chen Ying could feel herself going crazy. "He has captured two living stones with a strong ladder! Professor Zhang's white stones in the corner have come back to life! Oh my god! This is truly a stroke of genius!"
Xiang Rong said excitedly, "That was quite beautiful!"
Chen Ying shouted, "Peter did not foresee this move! It didn't see it coming at all!"
Yu Yingyi asked, "What's their score difference now?"
Xiang Rong did a quick calculation. "Including the compensation, he's only behind by about 17 or 18 points!"
After Xiang Rong spoke, Chen Ying remarked, "This is a miracle! It's truly a miracle!"
From a difference of over 30 points, he had caught up to just being slightly behind by a little over a dozen points. Calling it a miracle was quite right, as this was truly unbelievable!
The Americans were panicking!
Why?
Why hadn't Peter prevented that?
This shouldn't have been the case! It was impossible!
Peter was running on an upgraded version of the program! There shouldn't have been anything that it couldn't predict! Suddenly, the American representative glanced at Peter's clock. He blanched and understood what was going on! Peter was out of time! It didn't have any time to do an in-depth analysis before playing its moves!
Shit!
They'd been had!
The Americans only understood at this moment how important time was for Peter. They only just realized that they had all fallen for Zhang Ye's trickery right from the start. Ever since the Great Slant Joseki appeared, they had slowly been walking into Zhang Ye's trap! Zhang Ye had been waiting for just this moment. The three josekis he played had only one objective: to make Peter use up its time!
Watching from home, many viewers stood up!
China Qiyuan's people were also shouting in excitement after being surprised!
Li Qinqin said anxiously in a loud voice, "Can he catch up? Can he really do it?"
Wu Changhe said, "I don't know! I just don't know!"
Dan Donghe was staring hard at the screen while his palms were sweating profusely!
Hu Liang's heart was pounding. "Just about a dozen more points! There are only about a dozen points left to catch up on!"
"Keep going!"
"Go Professor Zhang!"
"You can do it!"
"Yeah! You can do it! You can do it!"
"Get after it!"
"Quick! There's almost no time left!"
Some professional Go players were even shouting at the top of their lungs!
Peter went deep in thought again!
Two…
Three…
At the last second, Peter played a move straight down the center!
Zhang Ye replied with a checking extension!
Peter retreated!
Zhang Ye did not let up and continued attacking with his next move!
Then Peter played a good move. A stone was placed squarely at a critical position and helped the black stones gain a lot of influence in the center of the board where it could advance or retreat easily!
But Zhang Ye did not bother responding to that move and instead played a move near the bottom left corner. He set his sights back on the almost dead Great Slant Joseki!
The American representative shot to his feet!
Hold it off!
Peter!
You have to hold it off!
Chen Ying immediately yelled, "It's back!"
Yu Yingyi felt fired up just watching. "Professor Zhang has started another fight!"
"Will there be another miracle?" Chen Ying's voice was getting louder and louder. "Can it happen again? We can see here that Professor Zhang has begun a siege! What is he planning?"
Peter ignored him and continued taking control of the center!
But Zhang Ye's next stone penetrated behind the enemy lines!
Peter was taken aback and rushed back to cut!
Then Zhang Ye cast a stone away by placing it inside the dead group!
Chen Ying was surprised. "What?"
Yu Yingyi was panicking badly. "Why did he do that?"
Peter did not hesitate and captured Zhang Ye's white stone!
The Americans cheered on the inside!
Alright!
Well done!
However, Zhang Ye just smiled and calmly played on.
Peter played a strong horizontal stretch!
Zhang Ye played a descent!
This descent shocked a lot of people!
The Americans broke out in cold sweats!
Peter retreated!
Zhang Ye went for the kill!
Although he had one of his stones captured, little did anyone know that Zhang Ye's objective was not in that position at all. It was a joseki trap played to open up a position elsewhere. Besides, Zhang Ye only had one objective in mind: to force the living stones into a ladder 3 ! He wanted to swallow all of the black stones over here!
By the time Peter reacted, it was too late!
Zhang Ye called an atari and captured a stone first!
Peter counterattacked!
Zhang Ye brushed it aside and played a hard bump!
Peter reinforced the empty positions!
Zhang Ye called an atari again and took another stone!
A lot of people could feel their blood racing as they watched!
The Qiyuan's people were shouting in shock and surprise!
"Good!"
"Well played!"
"Heavens! Very beautiful!"
"Professor Zhang, attack!"
They would enter to the endgame soon. The Go board was getting very crowded as the positions to play on lessened!
Peter wildly counterattacked around the perimeter, seemingly without any considerations!
Zhang Ye blocked!
Peter struggled and went all out with its next move!
Zhang Ye smiled as Peter played a hard attachment 4 from above!
Right after, Zhang Ye countered with an atari!
If Peter were a living person, it would surely look wan and pale!
When Peter's third stone in the great slant area was captured, those at the venue and watching on TV were so shocked they could not speak!
They came back to life!
About seven white stones came back to life within the dead group!
…
On the Online Go Server.
The online commentator was dumbfounded. "Incredible! What an incredible way of playing! What beautiful captures! Professor Zhang has captured three black stones in a row with ladders! These captures have allowed a portion of the white stones to be revived! Oh my God! This playstyle has to be described as a fantasy! It's literally unheard of!"
…
Beijing Television.
The host said in shock, "What's the difference now?"
The commentator looked even more shocked than the host. Due to the fact that he was a pro Go player, this situation unfolding before him felt impossible. "There's no difference anymore!"
The host was taken aback. "No difference?"
The commentator gasped and said, "There isn't a difference anymore! Zhang Ye is only down by a point or two!"
The host was stunned. "What?"
…
A female Go player screamed, "Ahhhhh!"
Wu Changhe exclaimed, "He has caught up! He's really caught up!"
Dan Donghe's shouts were even littered with curses. "Great showing! That was a fucking great showing!"
"Professor Zhang!" Hu Liang roared.
Li Yi shouted, "We're nearly there!"
Liu Hong 9-dan said, "You're only two points behind! Only two points! Catch up!"
Xu Han led the cheering. "Let's go!"
Everyone responded with cheers!
"Let's go!"
"Let's go!"
"Catch up!"
"Professor Zhang, make a comeback!"
Li Qinqin's eyes were reddening!
Could he do it?
Could Little Zhang really do it?
…
In the game room.
The game was in its closing stages!
Without making any sense, after Zhang Ye revived that small area of white stones, he no longer battled over there. Instead, he went for the center and attacked right away!
Peter played a push-through!
Zhang Ye forcefully attacked!
Peter reinforced its structure!
Zhang Ye attacked again!
Chen Ying stood up. She could no longer sit still!
Xiang Rong's breathing was getting more rapid!
The Americans were staring straight at the board with wide eyes!
It was almost ending!
It was going to finish soon!
Peter made use of its advantageous opening framework in the center to surround two of Zhang Ye's white stones!
Zhang Ye neither panicked nor rushed as he started fighting back from the inside!
Peter played a stone to reinforce its attack!
However, Zhang Ye bumped it back. Next, he played a played a knight's move and the Zombie Style reappeared. It had unexpectedly revived three white stones in the right corner this time as he continued his attack from the opposite direction!
Peter's reinforcing play was too late!
Zhang Ye continued attacking as the revived white stones started to surround the black ones!
Peter fell silent!
It was too quick!
It was way too quick!
Chen Ying finally reacted after three seconds as she looked at the Go board in shock. All of a sudden, tears flooded down her cheeks and she could not stop herself from crying!
Yu Yingyi got frightened. "What's the matter? Teacher Chen, what is it?"
Xiang Rong's hands were trembling!
Yu Yingyi said in panic, "Teacher Xiang? Teacher Chen? What's happening?"
Chen Ying sobbed, "We've won!"
Yu Yingyi was startled. "What?"
Chen Ying cried, "We woooooon!"
Yu Yingyi froze!
1. https://senseis.xmp.net/?Alive
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Sedol
3. 征/zhēng/shichō - A ladder is a technique for capturing stones. At each step, the attacker reduces the defender's liberties from two to one. | https://senseis.xmp.net/?Ladder (etymology on this page should be ignored)
4. 碰/Pèng/tsuke - The contact play or attachment is a move which is played in immediate contact with (that is, directly next to) a stone of the opponent (without being in such a relationship with a friendly stone). | https://senseis.xmp.net/?Attach