At the end of August, the 10th "Samsung Cup" World Go Open Championship was about to start, and the day before the game, Li Xiangping came to the Chinese Chess Academy and the army to gather, ready to go again.

In the qualifiers that ended more than a month ago, the performance of the Chinese team this time can only be described as mediocre, when more than 70 Chinese chess players played, and finally only grabbed 5 qualifying places.

These five plus two national seeds, plus Li Xiangping, the defending champion, make a total of eight Chinese players competing in the first round.

After all, he is a "veteran" with rich experience in the finals, so for this first round and second round----- it can't be said that it is not on Li Xiangping's heart, but at least it is difficult to make him highly excited, so while waiting for the departure, Li Xiangping is still thinking about the "big master" and chatting with his plug-in:

"By the way, Brother Ding'an, I have been forgetting to ask you something."

"What?"

"It's your brother Xiping, does he have a wife?"

"Yes, Jiuniang is my sister-in-law, how could Xiangping Xiaoyou not know?"

"Nine...... Jiuniang? Li Xiangping listened to the black line on his face, and said in his heart, how would I know? Although Lao Fang is regarded as a historical celebrity in a small area, there is a habit in Chinese historical records that except for the wives of a few political figures such as the emperor and the general, it is basically difficult for other women to leave their names in the history books.

Of course, if the woman herself is particularly good, or her story is particularly outstanding, that's another matter, but listen to this, Jiu Niang Jiu Niang, she doesn't even have a proper name, it can be seen that she is neither outstanding nor brilliant, and it is strange that this kind of person can leave a name in history.

"Who is you, sister-in-law of Jiuniang?"

"Guess."

Li Xiangping was angry and funny when he heard it, and said in his heart that it was such a name, a lot of ancient China, you let me guess the yarn, I guess.

"I'll give you a hint, but it is possible for Xiangping Xiaoyou to guess that Jiuniang's surname is Yu."

Li Xiangping was stunned for a moment when he heard this, but it was okay, just a few days ago, he chatted with Lao Shi for more than 10 days, specifically inquiring about some of the situations in his era:

"Surname Yu? Yu Jiuniang...... Haha, I guessed, could it be that this person is your teacher's daughter? Is it you and your little sister of Brother Xiping? ”

"Hehe, Xiangping Xiaoyou is smart, and he really guessed it, but although Jiuniang is our little sister, she is not the daughter of the teacher, but the niece of the teacher."

"Haha, almost ......" -------

Although Fan Shi and the others are chess saints, they also have masters, and their mentor is named Yu Changhou, a native of Shaoxing, Zhejiang. Although this brother is the master of the two chess masters, his own chess strength is very average, and he was rated as a "five-hand" in ancient chess, which is to say that he was given the level of five sons by the first-class master at that time.

It can be seen that being a qualified or even excellent Go teacher does not require a high level of one's own chess ability.

A high-level master may not be able to hand over qualified students, and a teacher with a lower chess skill may not be able to hand over high-level students, which is very common in the Go world.

It is very common in ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad.

Of course, at this juncture, Li Xiangping is not interested in Yu Changhou's level, he is only very interested in the little sister Fan Shi named Yu Jiuniang:

"Hehe, Brother Ding'an, how is your sister-in-law? How good is she? What kind of person is she? Is she gentle or not? Drift is not pretty......."

Before Li Xiangping started gossiping, reporter Xie from the "sports world" came over and interrupted him:

"Xiangping come here, what are you doing there alone? Come over and chat, I have a few questions for you. ”

Li Xiangping has no choice, Taizu and his old man taught us that we should never be separated from the people, Li Xiangping has always followed his old man's teachings, so when he heard Lao Xie's call, Li Xiangping quickly walked over and mingled with the "people".

"Xiangping, the Samsung Cup shortened the time of the game this time, and the 3-hour game on each side was changed to 2 hours, and made fun of the noon break, the game started at 11 o'clock in the morning and ended directly, what do you personally think of this kind of competition system?"

"Huh?!"

Hearing Lao Xie ask like this, Li Xiangping couldn't help but look for Luo Xihe Jiuduan in the crowd------- or the same sentence, he has won a bit more championships now, and the first and second rounds of the World Series can no longer excite him, plus he has been thinking about the "big player" for this time, which makes him forget about it.

And the reason why he is looking for Luo Xihe is also very simple: now after Lao Xie's reminder, he only now remembers that this "Samsung Cup" in real history is really a legendary story of modern Go----- a legendary story created by Luo Xihe alone!

The most special thing is that the climax of this legendary story was not in the finals when Luo Xihe defeated Da Li 2-to-1, but in the semifinals, when Luo Xihe defeated Cui Poison.

In that game, Luo Xihe came up with an amazing idea of giving up the "Three Tribulations Cycle" to win directly.

It is precisely because of that amazing idea that in the next nearly 10 years, before the birth of the alpha dog, not even the birth of the dog, many professional chess players believed that the chess score left by that semi-final should be the first score of modern Go! At least the first score in the field of human Go!

As far as Li Xiangping's personal opinion is concerned, he believes that such an evaluation is well deserved.

Although in terms of the overall technical level, the overall level of that game is actually average, the two have too many games to discuss, and there is no problem even saying that "both sides are wrong in and out wrong".

However, Li Xiangping thinks that all this has nothing to do with it, even if both of them make so many mistakes, it will not affect its status as the "first score" in the slightest.

There is no other reason, because that chess game shows the charm of Go, showing a charm that even professional chess players find shocked, Li Xiangping believes that a chess game can do this, and the title of "famous score" is well deserved.

To be honest, in fact, for the same reason, Li Xiangping thinks that the appearance of dogs is not necessarily a good thing for Go.

Because in the Go world, in the minds of the majority of chess fans, there has always been a saying that "I would rather look at the good moves than the famous games".

That is to say, a shocking hand, or a game with few flaws, which one would you like to appreciate?

Almost everyone chooses a magic move.

But to tell the truth, the magic moves in Go are actually closely related to the mistakes in Go, the latter is simply the soil for the survival of the former, almost all human games, only one side makes mistakes, the other side can play a good move, the more "wrong in and out", the probability of a good move is also greater.

And the appearance of the dog, Li Xiangping thinks that it is a process of killing the magic hand, if the dog can really reach the highest level, so the tricks want to boil water like "real water without fragrance", then at that time, it doesn't matter what the magic hand is.

At that same time, Go may lose its charm completely.

“...... Well, it's okay, although the dog has greatly improved the technical level of Go, but after all, it has not reached the top, as long as she has not reached the top, then there should still be a soil for the survival of the master, and what I have to do now, or what I and Lao Shi have to do, is to find the magic hand, to find the kind of magic hand that can defeat the dog, just with the ability of me and Shi Da Qisheng, can I really do this? ......”

"Xiangping, Xiangping," Lao Xie interrupted Li Xiangping's thoughts:

"What are you doing in a daze? You haven't answered me yet, what do you think about the restructuring of the Samsung Cup? ”

"Huh? Hehe....."

After Li Xiangping came back to his senses, he did not avoid this question, he straightforwardly clarified his opinion:

"If there is only one competition restructuring in the Samsung Cup, I personally think there is no problem, this is even a good thing, just like the tennis world, you see the four Grand Slams in the tennis world now, which have both hard court events and grass court events, and even clay events, tennis games can be so rich, then the game system of Go games is also a little richer, of course, there is no problem, the only thing I am worried about now is that all the world series follow the trend and make Go games fast, which may not be a good thing."

"Oh, how do you say?"

Li Xiangping stared at reporter Xie's eyes and talked eloquently:

"Personally, I have always believed that different competition systems test the different abilities of chess players, such as rapid chess in Go, and test the sensitivity and explosiveness of chess players, which is a bit similar to sprinting in track and field, the kind of "two-day system" in Japan, and more test the school players' understanding of Go and the endurance of chess players, which is a bit like a marathon, as for this kind of 2-hour competition per side, it is a bit like middle and long-distance running in track and field. Many people in the track and field world say that in fact, the 400-meter run in track and field is the most difficult to practice, because it requires a combination of speed and endurance, and the comprehensive technical requirements are extremely high. ”

Li Xiangping paused: "Track and field is like this, Go is actually like this, the 2-hour competition system is like the 400-meter run in track and field, this kind of competition is actually the most difficult to play, and the comprehensive ability of chess players is the highest, but after all, Go is different from track and field, Go is a kind of intellectual game, so in addition to the comprehensive skills of the school chess players, the school players are also tested for their understanding of Go." ”

Speaking of this, Li Xiangping paused again, and his pause this time was much longer than before:

"It's all about "skills", and now it's clear that a format like this will greatly strengthen the importance of "skills", but "art" will be greatly weakened, and in the long run, I'm worried about ......."

What is Li Xiangping worried about? He didn't go on, but Lao Xie is also a senior reporter who has been running Go for a long time, so he naturally continued:

"You're worried that if this kind of format becomes mainstream, it will greatly squeeze the living space of veteran chess players, so that their understanding of Go will not be able to be used, right?"

Li Xiangping smiled when he heard it, he didn't want to take the initiative to say what it meant------ as the saying goes, the butt decides the head, Li Xiangping himself is only 18 years old now, if he helps the old chess player speak at this age, it is a typical "ass sitting crooked", the old chess player may not appreciate it, but will make people think that he Li Xiangping is hypocritical.

Of course, now that Reporter Xie has taken the initiative to take over, Li Xiangping will be able to go on, and he smiled at Reporter Xie:

"Lao Xie, you have to know that one day I will also get old, this is something that no one can avoid, but to tell the truth, I am not worried that I will not be able to compete with young chess players when I get old, what I am really worried about is that if Go quickly becomes a trend, a trend, then the level of professional Go may stagnate, and even regress to some extent."

"Oh! It's true? ”

Lao Xie was interested when he heard this, after all, Li Xiangping's current identity is not ordinary, he now represents the highest level in today's chess world, so what he said just now, didn't he mean that professional chess players in the future may not reach his current level?

Of course, as a senior Go reporter, Lao Xie can still understand what Li Xiangping said just now:

Go is a kind of "skill", and between "skill" and "art", "art" is the basis of "skill".

Or to put it another way, the "art" in Go can determine the upper limit of "skill", and it is difficult to imagine that a person who does not understand Go well enough can reach a very high level of skill.

However, after the rapid development of Go, it will greatly squeeze the living space of "art", many old chess players obviously grow older, his experience has become more, his vision has improved, and his understanding of Go has become deeper, but in this high-intensity competition similar to track and field 400 meters, he has become powerless, and he is completely unable to show his understanding of Go.

Over time, his living space was naturally greatly squeezed.

It's nothing to just squeeze the living space of old chess players, but more importantly, Li Xiangping thinks that this is easy to give people an illusion: when there are more and more young chess players in the professional chess world, and the age of achievement is getting less and less, many people will think that it should be like this, and Go should be the world of young people!

Before Li Xiangping crossed over, the mainstream concept of society at that time had already become like this.

It's a pity that at this point, Li Xiangping is a little stubborn, he has always thought that the truth is definitely not like this!

When a chess player doesn't even fully understand Go, he can't play anymore, he can't win in the World Series, so for a long time, the overall level of professional chess must have stagnated.

It's a pity that it's a pity that although Li Xiangping has his own ideas, he can't clearly express his opposition, and he can't even "speak out", at most he just understates it in front of Lao Xie------

is still the same sentence, the ass decides the head, since Li Xiangping is only 18 years old now, it is really inappropriate for him to make it clear now.

"Alas, let's not talk about it, let's talk about it, okay, the car is here, Lao Xie, let's go."

There was nothing to say all the way, and when the Chinese delegation arrived in South Korea, the draw for the first round of the competition was held that night.

As I said before, Li Xiangping was not excited enough about the first round, but the results of this draw made him unhappy.

Lee Sedol!

In the first round of this competition, in the world's first 2-hour competition, he encountered the "old enemy" Lee Sedol.