Things did not surprise Li Xiaoqiang, just a week after he met the old man. Mr. Ying Lao took the lead in making a statement: the 2nd "Ying's Cup" Professional Go Championship will be held as scheduled. The opening time is set for March 92, which is the first month of spring just after the Chinese Lunar New Year. The number of participants will also be expanded from 16 to 24 in the previous edition. The top 8 players from the last edition are automatically seeded. The opening was set in Shencheng, China.

Subsequently, the Chinese Weiqi Association quickly followed up and said that it would do its best to support the holding of the "Yingshi Cup". And will send domestic "elite soldiers" to participate in this event.

Later, Mr. Ying first announced his first "invitation list". This first list is mainly composed of players belonging to the Chinese Go Association. Everyone noticed such a detail: Jiang Zhujiu, who eliminated Masaki Takemiya in the last competition to enter the top 8, did not appear in this list. In his place is the new world champion Li Xiaoqiang. As the "No. 1" person in the world women's Go, Rui Weiwei, the only women's professional Jiudan in the world, appears in this list.

When people who know the inside story see this list, they will be able to guess the general situation. Such a list should be the product of a "compromise" between the two sides. The release of such a list also marks the elimination of the biggest obstacle of the 2nd "Yingshi Cup".

Li Xiaoqiang replaced Jiang Zhujiu's seeded seat, and everyone did not think that there was anything very unreasonable. Because after all, Jiang Jiuduan has been away from the front line of his profession for more than 2 years. In everyone's general understanding, it is also believed that he is not very competitive in this kind of world competition. No one would think he has what it takes to win a title at the moment. Li Xiaoqiang took his place, which at least ensured the overall standard of this competition. Mr. Ying probably also thought of this, so he made concessions in this place.

The domestic side agreed to participate in the competition, which was seen by everyone as a goodwill released by the domestic side. Because "Brother Xia" is different, she is the first person in the world to play women's Go, and if she participates, it will also be of great benefit to expand the influence of the "Ying's Cup".

Overall. This should be a happy outcome. Due to the release of this list of entrants, all kinds of turmoil in front of it seem to have disappeared.

When Li Xiaoqiang saw such a result, his mood was of course happy. However, the matter was not over yet, just two days after the news of the "Ying's Cup" was announced, when Li Xiaoqiang learned that a news had just been passed from the Korean Chess Academy, his mood was not only happy, but instead surprised and excited.

"What! You said that the Korean Chess Academy also sent an invitation? They will also host the World Go Championship ......"

is also in Chen Chaoyue's office, but this time there are a lot more people, not only the "Four Elders of Go" are here, but Nie Ma and others are also present. Everyone picks up something similar to an "invitation to participate" and starts chatting.

The 3rd Toyo Securities Cup World Professional Go Championship ......"

Let's be honest. When Li Xiaoqiang just heard these "keywords", his first reaction was not to rush to understand the schedule of this competition, but to fall into the memories of his past life.

In the real history, Li Xiaoqiang actually can't remember the specific process of this game very clearly. This is because the Go competitions held by Koreans are actually the same as those in China, and there is a great deal of randomness.

Take the "Toyo Securities Cup" as an example, it was still a domestic competition in Korea at the time of the first edition. Therefore, not many people in China and Japan know about it. It's time for the 2nd session. That was more than a year ago. In the second tournament, the South Korean side actually tried to invite Chinese and Japanese chess players to participate. However, at that time, it may be because China and South Korea had just established diplomatic relations and were not familiar with each other. Although China sent chess players to participate. But it was only in the nature of "supporting", and there was no domestic first-rate master that year.

In Li Xiaoqiang's impression, China sent only chess players such as Yu Bin and Zhang Wendong. The Japanese side did not know what the reason was, and they also did not send their top players to participate in the second edition of the tournament. So the impact of that competition was not very big. No one thinks of the second edition as a "world competition".

Take Li Xiaoqiang as an example. His main mind at that time was still on the "ring match". At the time, no one had ever told him about the 2nd Toyo Securities Cup. He just vaguely remembered: suddenly on such and such a day. Brother Yu Bin and Brother Zhang Wendong seem to have gone to South Korea to participate in some kind of competition. As for the result and process of that game, Li Xiaoqiang didn't care at the time.

But for the 3rd competition, how can Li Xiaoqiang not be impressed? Li Xiaoqiang remembers that in normal history, this competition should have opened at the end of 90, and the entire schedule also spanned 3 years, and it was not until the first half of 92 that the champion of this competition was decided.

The reason why Li Xiaoqiang was so impressed was of course because in the final of this competition, Li Shifo defeated Mr. Lin Haifeng with a score of 3-2 to win his first world championship.

Therefore, it can be said that although the current Li Shifo is already very powerful, he is still growing, and he is far from reaching the point of "being alone in the world". And his "hegemony" in the international arena actually started from this competition. This is what impresses Li Xiaoqiang.

In the first half of this year, Li Xiaoqiang's main mind was, of course, on the 4th "Fujitsu Cup". Why has the 3rd Toyo Securities Cup not been launched? Li Xiaoqiang only thinks about it occasionally. He thought that his memory was skewed, or maybe it was because his little butterfly had changed history a little. So he didn't take it to heart.

Well, now, when the "invitation" of the Korean Chess Academy appeared on Chen Chaoyue's desk, when the "invitation" of "inviting Li Xiaoqiang alone" to participate in the competition appeared in front of him. Li Xiaoqiang's heart is clear: this memorable game has finally come to him.

"Hehe, this approach of the Korean Chess Academy is also interesting, and they can be regarded as painstaking. Now I just don't know, how did the Japanese side reply? ”

"The Japanese side is Cao Yanzi in person, there is the face of Mr. Xiuxing, it is said that the Japanese side is also progressing smoothly, if the group plan is clear, then Japan can be regarded as a nest this time......

When others were chatting with me and you, Li Xiaoqiang never interjected. He's listening carefully. When he figured out the ins and outs of the matter, when he thought about the possible game scenarios. Li Xiaoqiang's "surprise" finally turned into "excitement".

The Korean Chess Academy's plan is as follows: The number of participants in the 3rd Toyo Securities Cup will also be 24. The specific allocation scheme for the competition quota is 5 from China, 8 from Japan and 8 from South Korea. At the same time, in order to show a little bit of "World Series". The remaining three places were given to Chinese Taipei, one each in the Americas and one in Europe.

In this year, the host country has a little more participation places, which has always been one of the "unspoken rules" of the world chess world. There is nothing to say. To Li Xiaoqiang's surprise, the competition was held by Koreans. They were able to give the Japanese as many places to the competition. This actually explains the current status of Japanese Go.

Among the five places allocated to China, the Korean Chess Academy also adopted the method of "designated invitation", inviting 2 Chinese players to participate in the competition, and the remaining 3 places were designated by the Chinese Go Association itself. The two Chinese chess players who were "designated to be invited" are Li Xiaoqiang and Nie Xuanfeng.

Interestingly, as if to show their "sincerity", the organizer even sent a "separate invitation" invitation to Li Xiaoqiang and Nie Whirlwind. This is what everyone calls "very interesting" and "painstaking".

In addition to Lao Nie and Xiaoqiang, who else did the Korean Chess Academy "designate" invite? ”

"On the Japanese side, Kobayashi Koji and Cho Ji-hoon are on the Japanese side, and South Korea itself is Cho Yanzi and Yoo Chang-hyuk."

"Oh? South Korea has its own. Cao Yanzi is still reasonable, why is Liu Changhe the other? ”

According to the Korean side, players who receive a "designated invitation" will automatically become "seeded players". ”

"Shouldn't there be eight seeded players? And what about the remaining two spots? ”

The remaining two places were reserved for the champion and runner-up of the last "Toyo Securities Cup". And the champion and runner-up of the last competition. It happened to be Seo Bong-so and their kid again. Now you understand what the Korean side means, right? ”

"Oh? That's what it means, hahaha......"

In the words of the Chinese Go management, the Chinese side's participation plan was quickly formulated. According to the arrangement of the organizers of the competition, the opening ceremony of this competition will be held at the end of October. It's only a little over a month away.

Of the remaining three places, the management designated one of the places to Ma Xiaofei. The remaining two places will be selected in a small area. Considering that time is tight. The selection scope is limited to members of the national team and domestic players with more than 7 dan (including 7 dan). And this selection tournament will no longer use the "round-robin" system, but use a faster "double-elimination tournament".

The reason why Ma Xiaofei won this exemption place is not only because of his strength and fame. And because he had a busy schedule for the next month. Since losing to Li Xiaoqiang in the "Tianyuan Competition" at the beginning of the year, Ma Xiaofei seems to have come out of the downturn. In the following months, he lost a set to Cho Ji-hoon in the "Fujitsu Cup". In other professional competitions in China, it seems that there is no news of his loss.

Especially in China's "Celebrity Battle", he won a final seat with a record of 7 wins. The other final seat was taken away by Li Xiaoqiang, who was 5-2. In the next month, the two will once again compete in a five-way chess battle to determine China's new Go "celebrities".

It is conceivable that such a "five-game chess" competition is very important, for both sides, it is not only related to the new belonging of Chinese Go "celebrities", but also the most important warm-up match before participating in the 3rd "Toyo Securities Cup". So both sides will give it their all. It may be because of this consideration that the management designated one of the places to Ma Xiaofei.

It must be pointed out that Li Xiaoqiang was able to get this final seat, and he himself was not very embarrassed. Because before the "Fujitsu Cup" final, in order to act as his "sparring partner", Nie Whirlwind deliberately "simulated" Zhao Zhixun's play in the game, and he lost the game of chess. When all the games in the round-robin circle were over, Nie Whirlwind happened to be 5-2. In this way, he fell behind Li Xiaoqiang because of the relationship of "small points". He and "Chinese celebrities" continue to be lost.

In the early days of the development of world chess warfare, this system of "designation plus selection" has been used in China, Japan and South Korea. There is a "designation", in fact, to ensure that the star chess players participate, so that the tournament will be influential and able to attract attention. This also protects the interests of the sponsor in disguise. There is a "selection", which of course is to take into account fairness and to be able to provide opportunities for more players.

Not only Go, but most other competitive sports in the world actually like to use this method.

Since China has only been allocated 5 quota places, things are relatively simple. In everyone's chat, there is less talk about the participation of Korean chess players. Because although South Korea has 8 quotas, except for the 4 players who have been confirmed, other Korean chess players really do not pay attention to everyone's hearts.

What everyone is really interested in is the Japanese lineup.

Because the Chinese side has already received the news: probably due to the same time constraints, the Japanese side is not going to hold the selection tournament this time. Instead, they are prepared to use the "ranking" method to form a team.

In the Japanese Go world, because their "professionalism" is relatively standardized, their professional players actually have a "ranking". There are two principles for this "ranking of theirs", number one, look at the title. Second, look at the bonus.

In Chen Chaoyue's office, when everyone ranks this year's Japanese chess players according to these two principles. Everyone was excited. Because as you know, if the Japanese side succeeds in forming a group in this form, it will be a lineup that has never appeared in this era.

Of Japan's seven major titles this year, a total of five players are in charge. They are: Kobayashi Koji "Chess Saint" plus "Celebrity" plus "Qi Saint". Zhao Zhixun "Ben Yin Fang", Lin Haifeng "Tian Yuan", Masaki Takemiya "Ten Sections", Fujisawa Hideyuki "Throne".

These 5 players with titles are automatically ranked in the top 5. So what's next ranking by the number of bonuses?

No. 6, Otake Hero Kudan, after a few years of silence, "Otake Volcano" is showing signs of recovery this year, and he has won several consecutive rapid chess championships in Japan. As a result, he is ranked 6th in prize money.

No. 7, No. 7 Dan No. 7, he has won several rookie championships in Japan again, so he is ranked No. 7 in prize money.

No. 8, Masao Kato Kudan, a veteran super-top chess player who does not have a championship in his hands, but he is firmly in Japan's two "golden positions", and has participated in several challenge tournaments, and won a lot of "runner-up prizes", so he ranks 8th in prize money.

In this way, Japan's current top 8 chess players happen to be the "six super" Kato sawa hideyuki Kaita Kiki.

If Japan can really form such a lineup to participate in the third "Toyo Securities Cup", plus South Korea's "Four Heavenly Kings" and China's "Nie Ma Twin Heroes".

Such a lineup appeared in the early 90s, can Li Xiaoqiang not be excited?

In the evening, Team Leader Hua received a phone call from Japan. When he hung up the phone, he first said to Li Xiaoqiang:

"Hehe, it seems that it is still the credit of our Xiaoqiang, it is precisely because of your feat in the Fujitsu Cup. This time it really stimulated the Japanese Go world. I just got the news: Japanese Go, this time it's really out of the nest......"

After learning the news, Li Xiaoqiang, Nie, and Ma in this room glanced at each other.

3 people realized at the same time that:

The upcoming 3rd "Toyo Securities Cup" World Professional Go Championship seems to have become a decisive arena for Go in China, Japan and South Korea.

What awaits everyone will be a real battle of dragons and tigers. (To be continued......)