Ke Jie Jiuduan is the second eight-time champion of the World Series of Chinese Go after Guli Jiuduan, and is definitely a banner figure in the Go world.
However, everyone loves and hates him, and the reason for the hatred is self-evident, that is, after a short period of glory, he began to play a few rabbits, so that the tiger fell to Pingyang, and the dream of the Nine Crowns seemed to be getting more and more distant.
Ke Jie and Bian Xiangyi
Looking at Ke Jie's trajectory in recent years, it is indeed very disappointed in him among chess fans. In November 2020, he defeated Shin Jinjin Kudan to win the 25th Samsung Cup, which was his eighth world title.
In the 25th LG Cup trilogy final in February 2021, he was reversed by Shin Minjun Jiudan in the good situation of winning the first game, and missed the nine-crown championship.
Since then, Ke Jie has been on a clear downward trend, and before the semi-finals of the 29th LG Cup, she has not appeared on the final stage of the World Series for 44 consecutive months.
Even if it is a place in the semi-finals, Ke Jie is rare to obtain, and even failed to qualify for the 28th Samsung Cup in 2023, because he lost to Sun Shan in the domestic selection competition, and this year's first Beihai New Interpretation Cup domestic qualifier was also lost.
Although she is still tired in the domestic competition, Ke Jie's performance in the two world competitions of the Yingshi Cup and LG Cup this year is still remarkable.
In the 10th Ying's Cup, Ke Jie successively defeated Jin Mingxun 9 Duan, Bian Xiang Yi 9 Duan, Shen Minjun 9 Duan, and Wang Xinghao 9 Duan, which was completely the rhythm of winning the championship, but unfortunately was counterattacked by Yili Liao 9 Duan in the semi-finals of the three-game chess and failed to go further.
Fortunately, Ke Jie was not discouraged, and in the 29th LG Cup, Lianke Lee Chang-seok 9 dan, Han Sang-chao 6 dan, and Won Shengqin 9 dan, and successfully entered the finals. He will compete with Bian Xiangyi Jiudan in the trilogy final in January next year.
Ke Jie defeated Yuan Shengqin
The question is, why did Ke Jie's competitive state stop falling and stabilize this year? The author thinks there are three main factors.
First, Ke Jie began to pay attention to the role of AI, and used it to train and review. Artificial intelligence is a development trend in all walks of life, and Go cannot be left out.
In the past, Ke Jie was reluctant to play AI, and felt that he still had to play his own style of chess, but now he recognizes the advancement and importance of AI, and uses it as the main sparring partner in daily training, and his chess skills have naturally rebounded.
The second is that more time is spent on Go. In the past, Ke Jie spent too much time outside the chessboard, and his concentration on Go decreased significantly, but now he feels that he still has to focus on the profession of Go, so the time spent studying chess has increased, and his chess ability has naturally slowly recovered.
The third is that Ke Jie is in the year of fighting, plus her talent is very high, it is normal to produce results, and it is sad to not produce results.
Despite this, it is too early to say that Ke Jie will definitely be able to defeat Bian Xiangyi and win the ninth championship of his Go career.
Bian Xiangyi is one of the four heavenly kings of Korea, and in the recent Korea Celebrity Tournament, he defeated the world's first person Shin Zhenzhen Jiudan, on the other hand, Ke Jie has lost eight consecutive defeats against Xiao Shen.
Semi-final scene
In any case, I hope that Ke Jie will regain her strength and strive to win the title of world chess champion in the LG Cup final early next year, becoming the first nine-time champion in the history of Chinese Go.
Peerless cause, in one fell swoop! Ke Jie, have you started to prepare for the war?