My autobiography is definitely not a tragedy!
Chapter 571 - 372 ETC Mode

Chapter 571: Chapter 372 ETC Mode

Beijing.

"Slap!" A white piece fell, bringing a crisp sound of wood clashing against stone.

Staring at the beautifully enclosed formation, Kong Jie let out a long sigh of relief, and a slight smile finally appeared on his face, which had been solemn from start to finish.

In contrast, his opponent sitting across from him, Li Changhao, was wearing a heavy expression, with sweat beading on his forehead.

The black piece twirled in his hand, his gaze scanning the board yet he hesitated to make a move.

"Brilliant! What a clever move!

Today’s match is truly thrilling, truly worthy of a pinnacle duel between professional 9-dan players!

It seemed Mr. Kong might struggle against the player known as ’Buddha’ from South Peninsula, Lee Changhao, but today Mr. Kong is simply inspired, with brilliant moves emerging endlessly!"

"Indeed, with that move, the previously useless looking arrangement instantly connected together.

Even the fiercely offensive ’Zombie Flow’ would find it hard to spot any flaws in the face of such airtight defense.

Mr. Kong’s performance today is simply stunning. I believe he stands a good chance of ending his opponent’s ten-game winning streak and overcoming his longstanding ’Buddhaphobia’!"

"Yes, I didn’t have much faith in Mr. Kong at the beginning, given that his opponent is considered the second-generation Go Master of South Peninsula and a world champion-level player.

From their nine previous matches, with Mr. Kong failing to secure a single win, it’s clear there’s a gap in strength between them.

And we can’t ignore the disadvantage in age.

Physically and mentally falling behind, Kong 9-dan was even rumored to be on the verge of retirement.

But it wasn’t until today that I realized Mr. Kong’s Go skills have advanced further and he’s developed his own style!

The once standard ’Honkakuha’ has been played with new creativity, taking on an impregnable fortress-like feel!

Many moves in this game remain refreshingly novel to me and are endlessly memorable..."

"We can reflect on that later. The moment to see if Mr. Kong’s hard work and perseverance can finally avenge past humiliations has arrived!"

"..."

With the commentary from the two guests off the field, the game on stage finally entered the endgame.

When the referee announced that Kong Jie had won by a slim margin of half a point, Go enthusiasts across the country, both inside and outside the arena, burst into excited applause and cheers!

Do not underestimate Country Hua’s Go market.

There are currently about 40 million Go enthusiasts nationwide, with over 500 professional players, and the scale is still expanding.

This is a market with tremendous potential.

Today’s high-level match naturally attracted even more attention, with the number of viewers easily reaching over a million.

"Mr. Kong, mighty!"

"I apologize, I used to say you were getting old, Mr. Kong you’re actually aging like fine wine!"

"At last, we have stopped their ten-game winning streak!"

"It wasn’t easy, the outcome of this match was truly unexpected."

"After masters Ke and Yang, Country Hua has produced another 9-dan player capable of defeating Buddha!"

"Congratulations are in order!"

The South Peninsula delegation present at the venue, although clapping their hands and uttering words of congratulations, had smiles that were clearly forced.

It’s true that this professional match wasn’t an elimination game, and in a point system, even champions can’t maintain a 100% win rate.

However, their top player being defeated by a Country Hua chess player other than Ke and Yang was a significant setback for them, albeit not a major one.

"Congratulations! I have learned a lot from this game!" Li Changhao graciously congratulated Kong Jie with a handshake.

"The feeling is mutual!" Kong Jie said with a smile and a nod.

"Your style of play has changed quite a bit, there were moments that irresistibly reminded me of some memories from my match against AlphaGo last year..."

Kong Jie paused, surprised.

As expected of a world-class Go player, his acuity and intuition were quite precise...

But Li Changhao, the Buddha, had only spoken spontaneously without delving deeper, exchanging pleasantries once more before leaving the venue with the slightly subdued South Peninsula delegation.

As per tradition, Beijing Daily’s reporter subsequently conducted a post-game interview with Kong Jie.

"Mr. Kong, how do you feel after winning today’s match?"

"Hmm... My opponent is very strong, and it’s somewhat fortuitous that I managed to win today."

"You’re being modest, Mr. Kong. Your style of play has changed significantly compared to before, stunning the crowd, and it seems to have deviated from ’Honkakuha’, resembling its own unique system.

Did you create this new style yourself, or did you model it after an existing school?"

"Hehe! You could say it’s original, or you could say it’s imitated, but to be precise, it’s a fusion.

If you really need to classify it into a school... then it should be called ’Star Formation’."

Kong Jie answered with a laugh.

"Star Formation?" The reporter from Beijing Daily, a hobbyist player himself, searched his mind for quite a while but seemed to have never heard of such a style in Go.

Could it be that I’m simply uninformed?

"It sure sounds impressive just hearing about it! So, may I ask, is this ’Star Formation’ a secret weapon you carefully prepared to redeem yourself?"

The journalist asked a tricky question designed to grab the audience’s attention.

"Secret weapon is a bit much, I hadn’t actually expected such surprising progress beforehand. Here, I need to especially thank a mentor and a good friend.

In the past couple of days, it taught me a lot. From it, I felt as if I saw the path ahead of me..."

Seeing Kong Jie’s admiring expression, the curiosity of the journalist and the entire audience was piqued.

A ninth-dan professional player, who is at the pinnacle of the Go world.

And yet, there is someone whom Mr. Kong holds in such high esteem?

"This mentor and good friend you mentioned, could it be one of the teachers at the Go academy?"

Kong Jie suddenly revealed a bizarre smile.

"No, it’s just a Go software that one both loves and hates..."

...

"President Hu, our backend is showing a sudden spike in search and visitation rates for our Star Array V5..."

"What’s there to fuss about? Hasn’t it been spiking these past days?

Busy here, don’t bother us with such trivial stuff."

Hu Yifei was totally absorbed in watching several programmers debugging and waved his hand dismissively.

"No, President Hu, the previous spikes resulted in an increase of around five to six thousand new users daily.

But today, within just an hour, new registrations surpassed 30,000, and our servers are nearly at capacity!"

"What?" Hu Yifei was startled.

30,000 people in one hour?

Embarrassingly, they had been tinkering for so long that the active user count for Star Array V4 wasn’t even at 30,000...

But they hadn’t really started promoting it yet, so how did they suddenly get so many new users?

Hu Yifei quickly pulled out his phone and searched for "Star Array"...

He discovered that this keyword had already topped the trending topics on Weibo, and the topic index was still soaring!

"Proclaimed as a mentor by a ninth-dan professional, just who is ’Star Array’?"

"Shocking! The Go AI that defeats Buddha Li without lifting a finger!"

"How a ninth-dan professional was trained by a Go AI..."

"My first experience with Star Array!"

He casually clicked on a topic and saw a flood of netizen comments below.

"The first Go teaching AI to amaze a ninth-dan professional? Isn’t that an exaggeration?"

"Domestic AI products are basically wrapping foreign open-source code. There isn’t a single strong contender, hard to believe there’s a gem in the trash."

"I admit I can’t beat an AI, but as a teacher... haha, AlphaGo is junk!"

"Marketing gimmick? Even Mr. Kong has fallen."

"Isn’t the official Go teaching AI of Country Hua Chess Society provided by Tencent Cloud’s ’Ultimate Art’?

Is Mr. Kong praising Coca-Cola while holding a Pepsi?"

"South Peninsula Pizza Hut must feel wronged!"

"Sigh, those who like Go are mainly enthusiasts. It seems that capitalism has finally begun to intrude into this sanctuary, alas!"

"Um... no investigation, no right to speak. I’m an old user of Star Array, here to share my thoughts.

How to put it, this latest version of Star Array V5...

Calling it the top teaching AI in the market is truly earned!"

"Ha! Fifty-cent party upstairs!"

"Pile on the adjectives and everybody’s number one."

"There’s too little rational discourse. Star Array user and amateur ninth-dan passing by.

I can only say, after using this AI, you will have just one feeling.

From now on, in the realm of Go, humans will become more like AI, and AI will become more human..."

"Big talent upstairs! This AI is undoubtedly a striking proposal from both directions!"

"Star Array big shots, let’s make a deal, not a fifty-fifty split, how about thirty-seventy?"

"F*ck! Don’t touch! This is a toxic AI!"

"Despair mode? Why don’t you just call it ETC mode!"

"What does the person above mean?"

"Too damn good at arguing!"

...