After defeating Kong Erjie 2-0, Li Xiangping did not stay in Japan, did not wait for the other side of the game to be over, but returned to China in advance, and after a short rest in China, he immediately went to South Korea to participate in the semifinals of the "Samsung Cup" with Li Canghao.

Although it is also a semi-final, the attention of the "Samsung Cup" is much higher than that of the "Toyota Cup".

In fact, if you really want to talk about it, the prize money of the "Toyota Cup" is higher than that of the "Samsung Cup", but there is no way, the semi-finals of the "Toyota Cup" appeared three against one, and three Chinese chess players surrounded and suppressed the Japanese chess player Zhang Xu.

Especially now Zhang Xu can only be called a "new talent", he began to win titles in Japan, but the international record is still boring for the time being, so for such a "target of encirclement" still makes some chess fans not much interested.

However, the "Samsung Cup" is different, whether it is Li Xiangping VS Da Li, or Gu Dali VS Xiao Li, this is simply the strongest combination that China and South Korea can currently discharge, such a combination appears in the same semi-final lineup, which is rare in previous World Series.

It is precisely because of this that the appetite of chess fans has been hung up early, and they all want to see what the "peak showdown between China and South Korea" in the mouth of the media can become.

In these two semi-finals, to be honest, the battle between Gu Dali VS Lee Sedol may not have attracted more attention, but there were obviously more topics before the game.

After all, he is a lifelong rival of "incompatible", and before Li Xiangping's debut, the media liked to compare Gu Dali with Lee Sedol.

However, after so many years, even Li Xiangping has won 8 world championships, but these two people ........ Among them, Xiao Li is better, he won several world championships before Li Xiangping's rise, but Gu Dali, not only has he not reached the World Series finals, but it is the first time to play chess with Xiao Li.

Since it's the first time, it's normal for everyone to talk a few more words.

As for the battle between Li Xiangping VS Li Canghao, although it is still considered to be the highest level of competition in today's chess world------

Li Xiangping crossed in 2000, probably since 02, and the contest between him and Da Li is considered to be the battle between the new and old chess kings in the world chess world.

Because Li Xiangping lost to Li Canghao in the final of last year's "Samsung Cup", he became the second player after Ma Xiaofei to defeat Li Xiangping in Fanqi.

It is with this record that many people see that the threat of Da Li is still there, and they want to challenge Li Xiangping, but at this stage, most people still think that Da Li is the most qualified.

Therefore, although on the other side is the "lifelong rival", this gimmick brought a lot of heat to that game, but when it comes to the ownership of this "Samsung Cup", more people are inclined to decide by this semi-final.

After two days back home, in late November 2004, Lee Xiangping set off again, teaming up with Koo to compete in the much-anticipated semi-finals in South Korea.

This time it was still led by the coaching staff of the national Go team, Team Leader Ma, and on the plane, Team Leader Ma said to Li Xiangping:

"Xiangping, after last year's final, you seem to have only played one game with Da Li, right?"

Li Xiangping said with a smile: "That's right, in the first half of the year, I only played once in the "Asian Cup", this year is a bit strange, or I haven't been able to meet, this encounter is continuous, 3 semi-finals, alas, judging from this year's situation, I will definitely not be able to play the finals with Da Li, and at least every year for several years with his record in the next final." ”

Team Leader Ma smiled: "Then you will play these 3 semi-finals as finals." ”

Li Xiangping nodded: "I will." ”

Of course, Li Xiangping knew in his heart that Team Leader Ma's words were not casual chatter, you must know that when he went to Japan to participate in the "Toyota Cup", Gu Dali was not idle, he turned his head and went to participate in the domestic selection of this year's "Nongshim Cup------

In professional Go, sometimes the impact of an important game is really big, for example, this time, the defeat of the "celebrity battle" challenge may really affect Gu Dali, his performance in the "Nongshim Cup" selection tournament was extremely poor, first losing to Luo Xihe and then to Zhou Heyang.

The domestic selection of the "Nongshim Cup" is a double-elimination system, and as soon as he loses these two games, he will officially lose the lineup of this year's "Nongshim Cup" Chinese team.

And his performance like this naturally made the management worry about his state, and the management's concern naturally gave Li Xiangping more high hopes-------

The above is the meaning of what Team Leader Ma just said.

Of course, those who play Go know that "state" is something that others can't really help.

No matter how much you worry about others, no matter how anxious you are for others, you can't help anything, it's up to the professional chess players to adjust themselves.

Ma Xiaofei understands this truth, and of course Li Xiangping also understands this truth, so for Gu Dali's situation, Ma Xiaofei said this, and Li Xiangping also heard this.

After the group arrived in South Korea, Li Xiangping put aside the situation of others for the time being, and talked about his own game first.

The day after arriving in South Korea, the first game of trilogy officially began, and through guessing, the first game was Da Li Zhihei.

In 2 hours in the morning, the two sides played a total of 52 hands, and the normal content of the process does not seem to have much to say, it seems to be a very ordinary process.

It's just that in the seemingly ordinary process, Li Xiangping noticed a trace of abnormality, and he captured something special.

Coming out of the game room at noon, Li Xiangping asked himself about the plug-in:

"Brother Ding'an, what do you think of today's situation?"

Of course, Lao Shi is also Da Li's old opponent, and even he has played more games with Da Li than Li Xiangping, so he is also familiar with Da Li's chess moves.

Lao Shi thought about it a little:

"Well, I don't know what to say about the situation in this game, if it is a change of person today, then I must think that under Xiangping's small friendship, the opponent has two moves that are obviously wrong, which are inconsistent with the conclusion of our research, but if it is this person, then I really don't dare to open this mouth easily."

That's right, Lao Shi's words are the new situation that Li Xiangping encountered today.

From the beginning of today's game, the two practiced a "dog move" again.

One has been made public for a long time, and the Go circles in various countries have been studying it for a long time, so it can be said that it has basically "reached a consensus" at present.

But in this old dog move, Da Li seems to have made a mistake, as Lao Shi just said, "He has two moves that are obviously wrong."

So Li Canghao doesn't know or is not familiar with this old dog trick?

Li Xiangping is not so superficial, and he thinks that this possibility is basically non-existent.

The biggest possibility, or even the only possibility: this is something that Da Li did on purpose, and he deliberately did it like this.

And the reason why Da Li played like this is, of course, not that he deliberately sought to lose, but his choice today, which is very in line with his chess style and his style of "control flow" to elongate the front.

Therefore, although the opponent's play seems to be contrary to the chess theory and the "dog move", Li Xiangping will never dare to underestimate Da Li because of this.

On the contrary, he also glanced at Da Li Gao.

The reason for taking a high look is very simple: the vast majority of professional chess players nowadays are still in the stage of simple imitation and learning of "dog moves".

No, it is not accurate to say "the vast majority" here, it should be said "all professional chess players".

Because including the original Da Li, including Li Xiangping himself, is also still at this stage.

Although Li Xiangping has a better grasp of dog tricks than others, and may have a deeper understanding, he is still in the stage of pure learning and imitation.

But Li Xiangping saw today that Da Li seemed to have gone further today, he had at least surpassed the stage of simple imitation, he began to abandon the dog tricks, and he began to pay attention to the combination of dog tricks and some of his own characteristics.

The change he made today, although it must have been a slight loss, but the loss was not much, but it was a bit like some of the "interests" in the past human Go formula.

It is precisely because Li Xiangping saw this, so although he thinks that his opponent is wrong, the current situation must be slightly ahead, but he will never rise to contempt.

Because he knows very well in his heart that he is not a Go AI, and his current self cannot be compared with a real dog at all-------

How can Da Li use this method and a real dog, then Li Xiangping will think that he will die quickly and ugly, maybe within 100 hands, he will surrender.

But he uses this way to play with human chess players, even if his opponent today is himself. Li Xiangping also thinks that it is not so easy to deal with.

Of course, although Li Xiangping will not underestimate his opponent, of course, it is impossible to be afraid of it.

I don't know why, before re-entering the game room in the afternoon, Li Xiangping suddenly remembered the Korean female chess player Cui Jing in his previous life, "Cui Dazhuang", the student Cui Dazhuang who had learned dog tricks and was still at a loss for Li in his 40s:

“...... Hehe, Da Li is today, he came up with a way to deal with Da Zhuang's classmates to deal with me, that's okay, then let's have a good comparison today, and see which one is stronger and ......weaker between me and Da Zhuang's classmates."

It was with this somewhat funny idea that Li Xiangping returned to the game room with vigor and started the afternoon battle with his opponent.

Of course, there is nothing to say about the characteristics of Da Li, what he is best at is to lengthen the battle line, so Li Xiangping is also mentally prepared, he is ready to start a long-distance competition with his opponent.

Considering the first game of the trilogy, and even the first of the entire nine-way game, both players were very cautious, and each hand they made seemed extremely cautious.

Obviously, a chess game like this, if it is from an ornamental point of view, it is definitely not exciting enough, especially for chess fans with a lower level, if this is not accompanied by commentary, then many people will be drowsy to watch.

Only like Ma Xiaofei, who was originally Da Li's old opponent, and now he has begun to study dog tricks again, so he watched it with relish.

The time slowly came to 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and the game also came to the most critical moment.