Noon.
Zhang Ye returned home for lunch.
Downstairs of his family's apartment, he saw his old neighbors lining the streets to welcome him. An old uncle in the neighborhood even brought out two strings of firecrackers that were meant to be used for his child's wedding tomorrow. The moment Zhang Ye arrived, the crackling of the firecrackers made him feel rather touched.
"Little Ye, well done!"
"Show the Americans how great you are!"
"Thrash that PeterGo!"
"We'll cheer you all the way!"
"You have to win tomorrow's game too!"
At home.
When he entered the house, the aroma of cooked food attacked his nose.
He looked at the dishes on the table and exclaimed, "This much food?"
His father said excitedly, "Son! Eat! Eat your fill, you still have a lot to do tomorrow!"
"Mom wants to reward you, so sit down quickly and have something to eat." His mother was grinning from ear to ear.
Zhang Ye said, "Thanks."
His mother turned on the television with a smile. The news reports were all about her son.
The news of Zhang Ye's victory over the artificial intelligence had spread throughout the country. Even in Asia, a lot of the Japanese and Korean Go players who paid attention to the developments of the event were shocked by what had happened. No one had expected that someone could still represent the Go world as its flag bearer and battle against Peter after the losses suffered by Shinji, Park Yuhee, and Xiang Rong. Most importantly, the person was not even a professional Go player or a member of the Go world, but a celebrity from the entertainment industry? In any case, this victory was so timely that it had given an invaluable boost to the Go world!
Everyone was looking forward to tomorrow's game with much anticipation!
Tomorrow would be the final game of the match between Zhang Ye and Peter, and someone had created a poll to vote for the winner on Weibo!
8%!
20%!
40%!
Those who voted that Zhang Ye would win kept increasing!
Of course, there were also quite a few people who felt that Peter would win!
"Zhang Ye will prevail!"
"Face-smacking Zhang is almighty!"
"That might not be the case."
"Why?"
"Zhang Ye got lucky winning today's game. If not for the Hand of God at the end that suddenly turned things around, he would've lost for sure. He can't possibly guarantee that he'll be in today's top shape for every game. Besides, Peter has already figured out a solution to deal with the playstyle that Zhang Ye calls the 'Cosmic Style.' After inputting it into the program, if Zhang Ye uses that style again tomorrow, he might not even be able to play his opening since they'll already be prepared for it!"
"Yeah, Zhang Ye only won today because he took Peter by surprise with his odd play. We don't know what could happen tomorrow, hai."
"Then what can be done about it?"
"Unless Zhang Ye can come up with another new playstyle tomorrow!"
"New playstyle?"
"How can it be that easy?!"
"That's right, the Cosmic Style and that entirely new opening are amazing enough. It probably took Zhang Ye quite a while to think of them, so how could he come up with so many new styles! And isn't everyone overestimating Teacher Zhang a little too much? Did you guys forget something? Teacher Zhang isn't a pro Go player!"
"Uh…"
"That's true!"
A lot of people started worrying. When they realized this, everyone lost some of their excitement. Although they had won today, the score was still tied at 1-1. If they lost again tomorrow, everything would have been in vain. No one knew if Zhang Ye had any plans left for tomorrow. If there were none, then wouldn't he lose miserably just like he had in the first game?
After lunch.
The phone rang. It was a call from the landline of Wu Zeqing's parents' home.
Zhang Ye answered: "Hello?"
Wu Changhe's voice came through. "Do you need any more game records and information? If you need them, I'll get someone to send them to your place."
Zhang Ye said with a laugh: "There's no need for that, Uncle. I saw enough yesterday."
Wu Changhe said in a lukewarm tone: "Do you need anything else then? Quickly bring it up to me if there's anything."
Zhang Ye said: "Thanks, Uncle. Uh, I don't need anything for the time being."
"Aren't you going to prepare for tomorrow's game?"
"I am."
"What do you think your chances of winning are?"
"No idea."
"Heh, are you sure you'll manage?"
"I really don't know, but I'll definitely give my best anyway."
"It wouldn't do if you did not give your best. Remember what I said regarding my daughter, understand? If you lose tomorrow, don't ever think about stepping into our house again! Hmph!"
"Damn, are you burning bridges already? Didn't you just put your arm around my shoulders and praise me this morning!"
"Did I?"
"Yes! You did!"
"Stop messing with me. In any case, I'm telling you that you better give your very best for tomorrow's game! Thrash that machine! Send it to its death!"
"Yes, sir."
After hanging up, Zhang Ye smiled. He no longer disliked Wu Changhe and felt that this old comrade was actually quite lovable. At least he cared a lot about Go and the Go world. Perhaps this was a passion that grew from deep down inside. Zhang Ye could sense that even though Wu Changhe and Dan Donghe's generation had retired, and their Go skills no longer compared to any of the active top pro players, who could easily defeat them, the sentiments they held for Go were still as strong as before. In fact, it had even become stronger. Zhang Ye could never understand this sort of feeling because he did not really like Go that much. But this did not stop Zhang Ye from stepping forward for them.
Uncle, don't worry!
I will help you to protect the dignity of the Go world that you want to safeguard!
I will help you to regain the honor that the Go world has lost!
Not for anything, but only because…if I lose, you won't let Old Wu to marry me!
After informing his parents, Zhang Ye went back to his room. He naturally would not waste any of the time he had today. In fact, he was already running out of time!
Zhang Ye made a hasty last-minute effort yesterday as he practically went through most of the games in this world and memorized them. He was not learning from them, but rather eliminating possibilities. All of that was just to find out what kind of data Peter was missing in its dataset. But today, Zhang Ye needed to organize from the beginning some of the best plays 1 , magnificent moves, Hand of God moves, and complex josekis that he had seen before from the games between the Go Masters of his previous world. Thankfully, even though Zhang Ye was not very interested in Go back then, he had been forced to go through a lot of game records by his teacher. He also watched quite a few games played in tournaments on television, so the information he had was still enormous!
Come, let's do this!
He bought a lot of Memory Search Capsules in one go!
Then Zhang Ye closed his eyes and fell into a long "sleep."
Zhang Ye already had a rough plan in place for the morrow's game. It was obvious that he could no longer use the Apollo Opening or the Cosmic Style. The Americans were not stupid and would obviously input that information into the AI. Furthermore, he heard that Peter also had the ability to learn and would reinforce its knowledge through the games that it played. Therefore, Zhang Ye needed to find some new entry points to play against Peter in the third game. Fortunately, he had discovered a few new weaknesses in Peter during today's game. For example, he could make something out of the error tolerance levels of the AI itself. But he wouldn't know how effective it would be, since this was something that he could only find out after he tested it against Peter tomorrow.
An hour.
Two hours.
Three hours.
The discussions in the public were reaching an intense level!
News of the game was also appearing all over the place!
But Zhang Ye was oblivious to all of it as he immersed himself in the sea of Go!
A 手筋/shŏujīn/tesuji is a clever play, the best play in a local position, a skillful move, a special tactic. Tesujis come in all forms and shapes, some are more known than others.