In March 2001, the quarterfinals of the 6th "Samsung Cup" were held in Seoul, South Korea, and the day before the game, the Chinese delegation boarded the plane to go to South Korea to participate in the competition.

Of course, it is said that it is a "delegation", but this delegation is really a bit shabby, the head of the delegation, Nie, can be regarded as the leader of the entire delegation, and the participating chess player Li Xiangping may be regarded as the only official member of the entire delegation.

Because of the well-known fact that everyone knew that if they were only allowed to go to Korea, they might both disappear and be on the missing list after 24 hours, so the delegation also had an interpreter, who was the only staff member of the entire delegation. And this translator is not full-time, he is temporarily seconded from the human resources and foreign affairs department of the chess academy, so he can only be regarded as a temporary worker.

The translator's surname is Zhou, a young man in his 20s and less than 30, it is said that he is a high-achieving student in Beijing, and now works in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but this time he was pulled by the Chess Academy to serve as this temporary worker, and Zhou Translator did not look unhappy at all. Because according to himself, he is a chess fan, and this mission to South Korea can be assigned to others at the beginning, but he heard that Lao Nie brought "Jueyi" to participate in the competition, and he spent a meal to grab this task.

At noon, the delegation departed. Although this delegation is so shabby, Lao Nie, as the head of the delegation, seems to have no awareness of this, he looks energetic, and even eats a lot of kimchi on the plane, and Lao Nie is still chattering there after eating kimchi:

"Li Xiangping, let me tell you, I have not been such a regiment leader for many years, and this time I asked for this errand specifically for you, so you must fight for it this time, and you must give me a good ......."

"Thank you, Mr. Nie."

Li Xiangping was respectful on the surface, but he secretly complained in his heart, saying in his heart that it is rare for someone like you to lead a team to compete, anyway, after thinking about it for a long time, I can't think of any benefit to me if you are the head of the regiment.

What else do you say to cheer me on, but can you win the Go game by relying on the pressure and cheering? Therefore, when I went to South Korea this time, I mainly had to rely on the translation of Zhou Zhou, and I must not have any problems with eating, drinking, and Lazar, so that I can play chess with peace of mind.

Thinking of this, Li Xiangping decided to ignore Lao Nie, and he turned to Zhou Yi:

"Translator Zhou, everything is okay over there in South Korea, right?"

"Don't worry, everything is arranged," Zhou Yi smiled kindly at Li Xiangping:

"I contacted the tournament organizers before boarding the plane, and they told me that they had arranged all the accommodations at the venue, and that they would send someone to pick us up when we arrived, so you can play chess with peace of mind."

Zhou Yiyi seemed very confident in his own work, and he didn't want to say much about it at all, because in the next moment, he immediately turned into a chess fan, and he said to Lao Nie:

"Teacher Nie, can I ask you a question?"

"You say."

"Hehe, it's actually nothing, I just want to ask Nie Lao, do you think Xiangping has a play this time?"

"There's a play! Of course there is a play! Hearing Zhou Translator ask, Lao Nie became energetic, and gestured with his hands: "Let's not talk about it too far, just say that this quarterfinals, facing Japan's Yamada Gui.... What are the rules, I think that if both sides play normally, the probability of Li Xiangping winning should be more than fifty percent, well, he has a great chance of advancing this time, hehe, I'm not afraid to tell you, if I don't think so, then I can't rush to be the head of this regiment. ”

"Huh? Nie Lao turned out to be so confident in Xiangping? Hehe, that's good, that's good. ”

Although Zhou Yiyi said "That's good" in his mouth, he was secretly complaining in his heart like Li Xiangping, and said that Lao Nie's big mouth is really worthy of his reputation, you can't even name people's names, which means that you don't know people, since you don't understand people, then why did you say what you just said? Li Xiangping's probability of winning is greater, can you speak reliably?

As for Li Xiangping, of course he thought the same as Zhou Yiyi, but considering that Lao Nie was praising himself after all, he reminded:

"My opponent this time is Kiyoi Yamada, and he's in pretty good form, having won Japan's 10-dan challenge late last year and leading Wang Licheng 2-0 in the five-way final, and everyone thinks he's very likely to win the title for the first time. ”

"Oh? It's still possible to win the title, so have you seen his chess? What do you think of his chess? What are the characteristics of chess style? ”

This opponent was finalized a few months ago, Lao Nie can be unfamiliar with others, but Li Xiangping and Lao Shi of course cannot, in order to prepare for the war, the two have watched some chess games of their opponents in the past few months.

So Li Xiangping replied honestly: "I still watched some of his chess games, how to say, it may be that my level is low, I don't see anything special in his chess, this opponent may be the most typical kind of "Benge" among Japanese chess players." ”

Lao Nie smiled: "Haha, yes, yes, I haven't heard of his name before, it seems that he should be a Benge, but since this Yamada can enter the finals of the Japanese title battle, then Xiangping You are right, this person's recent competitive state is very good, so have you considered it, how to deal with a Bengeliu?" Especially a Benge stream who is in good form? ”

Lao Nie, of course, this advantage nonsense, what is the preparation for war? Preparation is of course about thinking about how you should play your chess according to the characteristics of your opponent. However, on this occasion, of course, Li Xiangping was inconvenient to say his specific thoughts, so he said vaguely:

"I think I've thought about it a little, but I can't tell if the method I'm thinking about is useful now, anyway, I'll wait until tomorrow's game."

"Haha, yes, yes, in the game of Go, strategy is dead, and on-the-spot adaptation is the most important," for Li Xiangping's words, Lao Nie had an expression of "related to me", and when he said this, he even turned to Zhou Yi and said:

"Xiao Zhou, did you hear that, what did I say just now? I'm just going to say that we have a better chance of winning tomorrow, and now you should believe it, right? ”

Hearing Lao Nie say this, Li Xiangping had no choice but to roll his eyes helplessly, and then cast his eyes out of the window, pretending to enjoy the scenery outside the window.

Zhou Yi smirked politely: "Hehe, Old Nie, you're right, I also have confidence in our mastery." ”

After all the way without words, the three of them arrived in South Korea very smoothly, when on the plane, Li Xiangping did not lie, he knew that the opponent this time was in excellent condition, and it was the runner-up of this year's "Samsung Cup" in real history, so how to deal with such a "Ben Geliu" in excellent condition, he and Lao Shi really formulated a strategy for this.

When he walked into the arena the next day, Li Xiangping reminded himself again:

"Brother Ding'an, there shouldn't be any problems with the way we think of it, right?"

Shi Da Chess Saint is full of confidence:

"It's okay, Xiangping Xiaoyou rest assured, Ding'an is confident to win this person today."