"Hmm, I see, so when you first learned chess, you played music alone and practiced on your own?" After listening to Tan Xiaotian's answer, Cui Shilang asked in surprise - Da Zhou takes Go as a national skill, the so-called qin, chess, calligraphy and painting, and those who have passed the imperial examination must have practiced Go, so although Cui Shilang is not an expert chess player, he is also known for his research in Go, and in terms of chess strength alone, it may not be much worse than the outer disciples of ordinary Go families, and it is because of this that the errand of this competition will be sent to him. Before, because Tan Xiaotian was playing on behalf of the Zheng family, he performed very well, and he easily defeated the Liu family boy who was three or four years older than him, although he was surprised, he was not too surprised, after all, the Zheng family is a famous family, and the inner disciples have been specially trained by the Zheng family masters since they were very young, and the starting point is much higher than that of ordinary people, and it is reasonable that the strength is higher than that of their peers, but listening to Tan Xiaotian's statement, he had nothing to do with the Zheng family before, and the enlightenment teacher was not a Go master, and his chess strength was not even comparable to himself, at most he could only be regarded as a Go enthusiast. As the saying goes, if you want to give someone a drop of water, you must first have a bucket of water, so it can be seen that in terms of chess skills, the old master Yuan can definitely not teach Tan Xiaotian too much, so it is not difficult to deduce that the foundation of the child at that time was mainly obtained by his own study, if this is the case, then the child in front of him is not the so-called 'born to know' genius?

"Well, I can't say that, when I first started learning chess, Mr. Yuan had to play a few games of chess with me every day after school, so I stopped playing after more than half a year." Tan Xiaotian shook his head and explained after thinking about it.

"Huh? , hehe, wasn't he your opponent then? Father-in-law Wei was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then suddenly realized, and asked with a smile - being a teacher also wants to save face, although the blue is better than the blue, teaching a student who is better than himself is the greatest wish of the teacher, but the ability is not enough, not enough to teach his own students to go further, the feeling in his heart will also be different, at least he will not want his teacher's face to be damaged, so when he found that the disciple's chess strength exceeded his own, and there was no way to suppress the student on the chessboard, Old Master Yuan no longer reluctantly played chess, and find a way to find a chess book for children to study on their own, which is at least much better than playing indiscriminately and leading children astray.

"Well, probably." Tan Xiaotian hesitated for a moment and replied-he is now more than eight years old and is already sensible, although he knows that what Gonggong Wei said is likely to be the truth, but the so-called 'for the Venerable', as a student, there are some things that cannot be said.

"Hehe, but then again, if you want to play Go well, it's not enough to rely on a person to read books and study, the so-called 'paper is shallow, and you must bow to it", many questions and ideas can only be really mastered through actual combat games. As you said, after learning chess for about half a year, it is difficult for your teacher to guide you in chess skills, that is to say, your strength at that time is at least about three levels, but I have seen the chess games in the entrance test of Jiangdu Chess Academy, which is far higher than the strength of three levels, so in addition to reading books and self-study, have you also received guidance from others in the past six months? Jiang Dingshan is a first-class chess player, shouldering the heavy responsibility of shining the lintel of the Jiang family, so he is very concerned about the teaching of Go, how to cultivate outstanding talents for future generations, he believes that there is indeed a genius in this world that is unimaginable to ordinary people, but he never thinks that anyone can become a master only by self-study, Go is played by two people, because of the existence of the desire to win, in order to win, there will be many moves and ideas that are impossible to see in the study and research in actual combat, and the chess art that is studied and learned through personal reading is usually called study chessThe characteristics of study chess are often clear, the overall situation is strong, the pursuit of surrender without a fight, and the weakness is that the depth of calculation is not deep enough, the fighting spirit is insufficient, the lack of adaptability, once the opponent's play is different from expectations, it is easy to be in a hurry, advance and retreat. And from that game of chess, it can be seen that Tan Xiaotian's personal fighting power is very strong, in terms of local attack and killing, even ordinary six-grade chess players are difficult to take advantage, so it can be seen that Tan Xiaotian's chess must not be simply classified as study chess, and in fact, there will be no shortage of combat experience.

"Oh, I was learning chess from Brother Dong during that time, and he taught me a lot of things." Tan Xiaotian replied.

"Brother Dong? , who is Brother Dong? Jiang Dingshan asked curiously.

"Brother Dong's name is Sun Dong, he is the number one master in Qingyun City, and he has an official nine-rank qualification certificate, so he sent me when I went to Jiangdu Chess Academy." Tan Xiaotian replied.

"Oh, I see, that makes sense. By the way, what happened to Sun Dong? Did you stay in Jiangdu Chess Academy? Nodding, Jiang Dingshan felt reasonable, a person's success cannot come out of nowhere, everything has a result, there must be a reason, no matter how strange things are, there must be a reasonable explanation behind it.

"No, he didn't stay in Jiangdu Chess Academy, and he came to the capital not long after I enrolled. I heard him say that it was Dean Zheng who made the arrangement for him, and now it should be the Zheng family, and I have asked Uncle Zheng to help inquire about his whereabouts, and Uncle Zheng said that he would do it when the matter of this selection competition is over. Tan Xiaotian replied.

"Well, it's the right thing to do, choosing a teacher for the princess is a big deal, and everything else should be put on the back burner. But then again, you, you've been learning chess for more than three years, so tell me who you think is the strongest chess player you've seen? Don't say that you have only heard the name and have not seen it with your own eyes. Grandpa Wei asked with a smile.

"This, Dean Zheng and Zheng Xiaojian are the descendants of the Zheng family, it stands to reason that they should be the strongest chess players I have ever seen, but I have not accepted the guidance of the two of them, nor have I watched them play against others on the spot, which does not meet the requirements you mentioned, so if you say that the strongest chess player I have seen before coming to the capital, it should be Uncle Drunkard." Tan Xiaotian replied after thinking about it carefully.

"Uncle Drunkard? Why not Zhao Yanwu? Hearing this answer, the three of them were a little surprised, Zhao Yanwu's name can be remembered by Jiang Dingshan, indicating that he must be not only famous but also a figure with considerable strength, as a teacher, he must be the master who has the most time to communicate with Tan Xiaotian in those two years, and Tan Xiaotian doesn't think that Zhao Yanwu's strength is the strongest he has ever seen, so what kind of character is the so-called drunkard uncle, could it be that he is a master who can be compared with Zheng Jigong and Zheng Jifu brothers? (To be continued.) )