In early October, the last day of the National Day holiday, Li Xiangping, Gu Dali, Wang Lei, Wang Lunan, Hua Team Leader, Ma Xiaofei from the management, as well as Zhang Da reporter from "Go World", Xie reporter from "Sports World" and others set off from Beijing to Shencheng to participate in the opening ceremony of this year's "Nongshim Cup" and the first stage of the competition.

Well, this is a domestic competition, and there is plenty of time, so everyone is taking the train to the venue, in the carriage, reporter Zhang Da saw Li Xiangping studying something that looks like a table, so he asked curiously:

"Xiangping, what are you looking at?"

Li Xiangping raised the piece of paper in his hand: "I'm looking at this month's schedule." ”

After replying to reporter Zhang Da, Li Xiangping added another sentence to himself:

"Well, compared to last month, I don't have many games this month, except for a "Samsung Cup" quarterfinals, just a few sets of armor, relaxed, this month is still relatively easy, just a few small games. ”

In the just-ended September, due to participating in the "celebrity war" qualifiers, Li Xiangping played more than 10 games of chess, and the game density was close to 2 days a game.

Li Xiangping himself didn't think so, but after others heard his words, many people complained silently in their hearts, saying "small game"? Is the quarterfinals of the World Series a small competition? You must know that there are so many professional chess players in the world, more than eighty percent of them have never entered the semi-finals of the World Series, in other words, for the vast majority of professional chess players in the world, a victory in the quarterfinals of the World Series can already be regarded as the highest achievement or the highest honor of their careers.

But although everyone is silently complaining, no one said it, after all, it was Li Xiangping who said this, needless to say, at least for now, he seems to be the most qualified person to say this in today's chess world, since this is the case, of course, it is what he likes to say.

"I don't think there are many games," Reporter Xie of the "sports world" said with a smile:

"Since Xiangping thinks there are few games, then I think it is otherwise, this "Nongshim Cup" or you will be the pioneer, hey, you don't know, now there are many chess fans who are looking forward to you to create a miracle of 10 consecutive wins. ”

Listening to reporter Xie mention this stubble, the peers all smiled, and everyone here can be regarded as their own people in the Go world, so at this time, Li Xiangping will serve as the main general of the Chinese team this time, which is not a secret to everyone, and reporter Zhang Xie reporter They all know that this matter is actually a foregone conclusion, and there is basically no possibility of change.

However, how to say it, in this kind of ring competition system, the matter of "clearing the stage with one shot" must be what the majority of people who eat melons like to see, and it is also a good news gimmick, so although Reporter Xie knew that it was impossible, he couldn't help but mention it at this time.

Seeing that everyone was laughing, Li Xiangping naturally laughed too:

"Hehe, next time, if there is still a chance next time, I would like to arrange for me to try it, but this time, of course, it is still the championship, and the first task is to win this championship first, isn't it Mr. Hua?"

"If you know, it's good." Team Leader Hua was of course quite satisfied with Li Xiangping's "general knowledge", so he said to Li Xiangping with a smile:

"Since you know that the championship is the most important, then Xiangping, let me ask you, do you have the confidence to win the championship this time?"

"Of course, this time I have to win!"

Li Xiangping did not hesitate to ask Team Leader Hua's habitual questions this time, and he gave a very positive answer: "Let me tell you Mr. Hua, let's win the championship this time, it is not a question of whether we have the confidence to win the championship, but a question of having to win the championship. ”

Li Xiangping suddenly kicked the ball to Gu Dali's feet, Gu Dali didn't know how to pick it up, after all, so far, the "Nongshim Cup" includes the previous "Zhenlu Cup", and the South Korean team has won all the championships of the Three Kingdoms Ring Competition. So Gu Dali had no choice but to say:

"Hehehe, yes, yes, as long as the masterful boss has confidence, then of course we will also have confidence."

"Hey Brother Gu, you are really," Li Xiangping also expressed dissatisfaction with Rengu Dali's answer:

"Didn't I just say, it's not a matter of faith or disbelief this time, it's a must! Brother Gu heard me clearly, right? This time we must win. ”

"Hehehe, I heard it clearly," Gu Dali laughed and said: "Because we have your mastery boss here, we must win the championship this time.... No, if we say it ourselves, we should say that we will definitely win the championship. ”

"Well, that's right," Li Xiangping said with an expression of "I'm very satisfied with Gu Dali's attitude this time":

"All Gu brothers, by the way, and Brother Wang, let's work together this time, we must leave this "Nongshim Cup" behind, and save it as some chess fans say.....

Wang Lunan interjected: "What did chess fans say? ”

"Did Dean Wang forget the previous "Chunlan Cup"? Some chess fans ridiculed the Koreans for taking away our air conditioners, but our Chinese Go is not angry, but they can't even keep their bowl of instant noodles, and it's not all, at that time, there were even people who said, saying that our Chinese Go also has Koreanophobia, tsk shame, Wang Lao, think about it, chess fans say this, that is to compare our Chinese Go with the national football team, and the national football team What is that? I have heard a vivid analogy, the current national football team, which has been reduced to a spittoon, is a spittoon shared by the people of the whole country, is the kind of person who has nothing to do with it, it seems that you can spit on it, think about some people who compare our Chinese Go and spittoon, then this is not a great shame. ”

"Hehehe."

"Hey, hey, hey....."

After listening to Li Xiangping's words, everyone laughed, but they all laughed a little restrained, and even a little embarrassed.

Li Xiangping reacted quickly, and when he reacted, he was also embarrassed, because he suddenly remembered that he had just mentioned the "Chunlan Cup of the previous sessions", and Ma Xiaofei, one of the parties to the previous Chunlan Cup, was also present now.

To say that although Ma Xiao is not as atmospheric as Lao Nie, he is not the kind of person who is particularly narrow-minded after all, and it was he who finally resolved the embarrassment, and he smiled at Li Xiangping:

"Yes, we didn't fight at that time, in the final analysis, we were still not strong enough, so Xiangping, this time it's all up to you, I hope you can avenge me, and at the same time fulfill the wishes of the majority of chess fans."

"Hey, hey." Li Xiangping smirked, since he had noticed the previous embarrassment, of course it was inconvenient for him to continue to talk big in the future.

Although he personally thinks that he was really not talking big just now, he is indeed very confident to win the cup this time.

And the source of his confidence is nothing else, but in the "combination of swords" between him and Lao Shi-----

You must know that before setting off this time, he discussed with his plug-in, considering that the Chinese team has never won the "Nongshim Cup" before, and considering that Lao Shi's 15-game quota seems to be a bit difficult to arrange now, and considering that he is the main general this time, when will he play in this game? How many games might you have to play this time? It's still unknown.

It is precisely for these reasons that the use of "double swords" in this competition seems to be a very suitable choice.

As for the power of his and Lao Shi's combined swords-----

Thinking about the just-concluded celebrity battle challenger decision battle, and he can still reverse it at such a big disadvantage, then of course you know how powerful the two are together.

Considering that in the upper game of chess, the "combination of two swords" was actually unintentionally displayed, Li Xiangping didn't know that Lao Shi would open his mouth in the game before, but this time, it was Li Xiangping who had already told himself that in the "Nongshim Cup", Lao Shi could speak at any time, and he should be ready to speak at any time.......

Speaking of this, of course, there is no need to explain further, Li Xiangping is of course full of confidence in the next game, and he is also determined to win this "Nongshim Cup".

In Li Xiangping's vow to win the championship, the group arrived at the venue of the venue, Shencheng, less than 2 hours after the arrival, a flight from South Korea landed, the South Korean delegation arrived, and a little later, the Japanese delegation also arrived.

Three Go delegations arrived at the venue on the same day.

In this year's "Nongshim Cup", the Chinese lineup is Gu Dali, Wang Lei, Luo Xihe, Chang Haojia and Li Xiangping. Well, if there are no special circumstances, this is actually the order of appearance of the Chinese team.

The lineup of the Korean team this time has changed a bit from the past, and the five people participating in the competition are Lee Cang-ho, Choi Poison, Won Sung-kyun, Yoo Chae-hoon and Park Jin-su.

Well, the next two chess players, even Li Xiangping, a traverser, have no impression of them.

And the Korean team was particularly able to play a few before, such as Lao Cao, because of his age, he took the initiative to quit this time, Liu Changhe, this time because of family reasons, he took the initiative to give up, and another famous Xiao Li, he simply did not pass the domestic pre-selection in South Korea.

In fact, in real history, Xiao Li often failed to pass the domestic qualifiers in South Korea, so his appearances in the "Nongshim Cup" are really not much----

In fact, this also shows from another point of view that in Go, it is really not the kind of so-called "quick thinking" who will be able to play rapid chess well.

Compared with the big change of the Korean lineup, the lineup of the Japanese team is decent, and in Li Xiangping's view, this is already a very good lineup of the Japanese team, and the five participating players are Naoki Hane, Keigo Yamashita, Shinji Takao, Norki Ita and Masao Kato.

On the evening after everyone arrived, the organizer held a pre-match reception, and saw Mr. Kato Masao in the reception, which made Li Xiangping a little emotional, the current Mr. Kato is also the chairman of the Japan Chess Academy, so he participated in this competition, in fact, a little bit of a role model.

However, Li Xiangping knew that if history had not changed much, Mr. Kato would have died of a cerebral hemorrhage next year.

Therefore, this year's "Nongshim Cup" is actually Mr. Kato's last appearance in the international arena.

"It's a pity, Mr. Kato, the only Japanese sixth super player who has never won the world championship, hehe, hey Japanese six super league, this is the childhood memory of many chess fans......"

After Li Xiangping finished this sentence, he put this matter down and devoted all his attention to the next game.