Yu Zhiying focus on the Go competition. [sports.people.com.cn]

Yu Zhiying, a female Go professional, will start a new career to compete with male players.

'The hovering grey clouds give way', Yu updated a WeChat moment in Tokyo on March 16. She won the trophy of the World Go Women's Championship.

A week later, she gave an interview to Xinhua News Agency reporters in Bijie, Guizhou Province, after she had won the first two rounds of the sixth Chinese Women's Go League A Games.

"I lost my form last year, having won no individual championships. I felt like I lost all the games," Yu recalled, "So, it really frustrated me."

Therefore, the world championship title really meant a lot to her.

With accumulative honors and fierce eyes during the game, her nickname has gradually evolved from "Little Fish” to "Queen Yu,” while she still cries when confronted with failure.

"Actually, I think that only a few wins can help me calm down when I hit a period of stagnation," Yu said.

After the end of the competitions and training at the end of last year, Yu went back to Shanghai University of Finance and Economics as a student, and started to prepare for her exams in the Department of Journalism.

It seems that campus life added a lot to her performance at the beginning of the new year.

"A different way of life can be good for playing Go. I think doing something else was more beneficial when I was in stagnation," she said.

"My WeChat signature indicates a farewell to last year as well as the past. Whether happy or unhappy, I hope I can forget it and move on," she added.

The championship of this year is a farewell to the past, while a challenging future is waiting for her, because she will compete with male players as the first female player after the reform of the league.

Ding Bo, head coach of Jiangsu Province, said that Yu was in poor condition in 2017 due to her long-term role as the number one female player in China and thus lacking a strong opponent.

Now the men's league is more competitive. Yu is modest about the competition.She thinks that there is still a gap between male and female players. She may often feel powerless when fighting against young men born after 2000. She thinks boys are more rational while girls are more emotional.

Yu does not deny that she is also a relatively rational person. She has been playing Go for fifteen years since she was six years old. It has become a part of her life.

In the end, she says all she wants is to do her best and if she can do that, she will have no regrets in the future.