Although a little later than the chess friends expected, Ke Jie won his eighth world championship title at the age of 23.
Photo courtesy of Ke Jie in the game on November 3 by the Chinese Go Association
In the second game of the 25th Samsung Cup World Go Masters final that ended on the 3rd, Ke Jie defeated Shen Zhenzhen with a half-eye advantage, thus closing his opponent 2:0 in this highly anticipated final. Eight crowns in the World Series.
The reason why this triple match final has attracted much attention is firstly because of the two players in the game.
Ke Jie Jiudan, now the number one ranked player in China, the youngest "seven crown king" in the history of Go; Shin Jinjiu, now ranked first in South Korea, the first "post-00" Go world champion, since last year The winning rate is extremely high and the Korean chess community has high hopes.
The first person in China and South Korea to compete for the world championship, and at the same time it is a direct dialogue between the most powerful players today. The heat and attention are beyond words.
Data Map: Ke Jie
Secondly, it was also because of the occasion where the two played against each other-the Samsung Cup final.
This is a tournament with a relatively long history in the World Go Tournament that is still being held today, and it is full of gold.
Some people say that the Samsung Cup is a blessed place for Ke Jie. This is not an exaggeration.
Among the seven world championship titles he had won, three came from the Samsung Cup.
In the past 12 matches with Shen Zhenzhen, Ke Jie, who won 8 wins, also has the upper hand.
But now Shen Zhenzhen has been reborn.
If he was still "flighted" in the past few years, after breaking the world champion at the LG Cup at the beginning of the year, Shin Zhenzhen has grown into the current leader of Korean Go.
The moment of Shen Zhenzhen's mistake
For this high-profile focus match, many live broadcast platforms have gathered luxurious commentary lineups and reserved ample time. It is also common for a game to stretch the front to five or six hours.
But the progress of the game still exceeded outside expectations.
In just 3 hours, 120 hands were played against each other to determine the winner, which is rare among the top players such as Ke Jie and Shen Zhenzhen.
However, this rare scene happened in the first game of the triple match final the day before.
The unexpected process has produced unexpected results.
Network screenshot
In view of the impact of the epidemic, the finals will be played online.
The black-handed Shen Zhenzhen showed a "slip mark" on the 21st hand, and the stone was placed on the edge of the game which was useless, and the situation took a sharp turn.
According to the feedback from the Korean Chess Academy, Shin Jin’s “sliding mark” was because the mouse cord accidentally touched the computer touch screen.
According to the rules of this tournament, the result cannot be changed.
After witnessing Shen Zhenzhen's placement, Ke Jie, who kept scratching his head, stared at the screen for a long time.
Obviously, like the audience, he didn't have the slightest defense against this episode.
After Shen Zhenzhen's "slide bid", the instant win rate given by artificial intelligence instantly dropped to less than 2%.
In the face of today's top chess player like Ke Jie, a little carelessness will ruin the whole effort, not to mention a major mistake that is like a stop.
Although Shen Zhenzhen tried his best to persevere, as the "big dragon" was slaughtered, he had to hand over the first set victory.
The first game was inexplicable, and today's second game naturally attracted more attention, especially Shen Zhenzhen's performance.
Yu Zhiying, who participated in the commentary, said frankly that if she makes mistakes such as "slippage", it will take several days to adjust her mentality.
As she said, Shen Zhenzhen's psychological quality is the key to whether this game will be exciting.
Photo courtesy of Ke Jie in the game on November 3, China Go Association
From the perspective of the game, Shen Zhenzhen deserves to be the number one rival of Chinese Go.
He had the upper hand in the middle game, with a real-time win rate of 90%.
Only in the face of Ke Jie's final counterattack, Shen Zhenzhen's White backed too much, and finally paid the price for slowing down.
With a weak half-eye advantage, Ke Jie reversed and won and won his eighth world championship.
Some people may ask, what does the "eight crowns" mean at this moment?
In the history of professional Go, the world champion Lee Chang-ho, who has won the most world championships, is also recognized as one of the greatest players.
Lee Chang-ho was 23 years old when he won his eighth championship.
Ke Jie is also 23 years old this year.
Social media screenshots
And don’t forget the promising Shen Zhenzhen, he has just turned 20.
At this age, the competition and comparison between him and Ke Jie will continue for many years.
There are "Big Three" confrontations in the world of tennis, and the "Lin and Li" battles in the world of badminton... The grievances and hatreds between them are always talked about.
Sports competition, after all, there are opponents to be exciting.
Photographed by reporter Zeng Nai
The match between Ke Jie and Shen Zhenzhen might be called the "Ke Shen" duel.
Let's look at the future, what kind of sparks the two chess players will collide with, and whether they can achieve a brilliant story.
The world of Go needs such a story too much.
Author: Yuechuan