Osaka, Japan. The semi-finals of the 4th Fujitsu Cup are being held here. By about 11 a.m., the game had been going on for almost an hour. At this time, the whole game was still in the prologue stage. Now it's Li Xiaoqiang's turn to make a black move.

At this time, Li Xiaoqiang seemed to be faced with several choices. He didn't think long before he seemed confident. He landed a sunspot on the chessboard. When Mr. Kobayashi saw this move, he was visibly surprised, and then quickly regained his composure. Then, Mr. Kobayashi fell into the long exam.

That's right, just now, Li Xiaoqiang made a step of "novice". One step for the "newbie" of this era. When a professional chess player meets a "novice" in an official tournament, even if he is a Japanese "chess master", he needs to think a little more.

As Li Xiaoqiang, who is reborn, there are already many new types of novices he has "created". So it's not surprising that he is a "novice" or two step or two. However, today's "novice" is a bit special, because it was not brought by Li Xiaoqiang from later generations. It's from the present day!

To be more precise: this step appeared for the first time in an official tournament as a "novice", and it was born less than a week ago. And the original of this step of the "novice" is Nie Whirlwind.

"Hahaha, Xiaoqiang actually chose my move? Good...... Good! …… But then again, I'm really good at it, right? It's not necessarily easy to grasp, though. However, Xiaoqiang's choice of this style of play is indeed in line with his flexible and changeable chess style......"

In the research room of the national Go team in the capital, when Nie Whirlwind saw this move. He seemed happy, he let out a hearty laugh, and he even unfolded "self-praise".

It all started a week ago. When Li Xiaoqiang returned to the capital from his hometown, he took the initiative to ask Chen Chaoyue and Nie Whirlwind: I hope that the national Go team will help him prepare for the game, especially to help him prepare for the beginning.

To be honest, when Chen Chaoyue and Nie Whirlwind heard Li Xiaoqiang's request...... How so? That can only be described as "surprised and delighted". Because it has always been the responsibility of the Chinese national Go team. That's what I did. Especially when there are major international competitions, that is even more responsible.

But what about Li Xiaoqiang in the past? Although everyone has also helped him "prepare" for the game, his attitude has never been positive enough. Never active enough, he usually prefers to ponder there alone. In everyone's mind, this seems to be the first time he has taken the initiative to make such a request.

Although everyone doesn't know what Li Xiaoqiang thinks this time. However, since he proposed it, the national Go team quickly took action, because this has always been a fine tradition of Chinese Go. The head coach Nie Xuanfeng personally took charge, organized Ma Xiaofei and Liu Dazhui together, and helped Li Xiaoqiang prepare for the war in a targeted manner.

Among them, there is another key figure. This person is, of course, Qian Yuping. Because before Li Xiaoqiang left the capital and returned to his hometown, he asked Qian Yuping to help him collect Mr. Xiaolin's chess games. And make a simple generalization. These games can certainly come in handy when it comes to studying opening strategies. In this way, Qian Yuping naturally entered Li Xiaoqiang's "staff group".

Of course, the soul of this "staff group" is still Nie Whirlwind. None of him is qualified to do so. Because at this time, just before the match between Li Xiaoqiang and Kobayashi Koji. Except for Nie Whirlwind, no Chinese chess player in China has won against Kobayashi!

In a game of Go, how useful is this kind of "preparation"? That's really not good. But if you want to be "targeted", it's still fairly easy. For example, when you come across Takemiya. So everyone on the earth knows that he will definitely use his "cosmic flow", and you can prepare for the war very "targeted", right? But can you win him? That's another story.

From the perspective of "preparing for war", Xiaolin and Wu Gong are actually the same. They're the kind of people who like to "keep things the same". Mr. Kobayashi when he played black. He usually uses the "Kobayashi flow" that he is most accustomed to. What about when he plays white? That's usually the same habit. Therefore, the layout of dealing with him is actually very easy to be "targeted".

Of course, being able to be "targeted" does not mean that you will be able to take advantage of it. Otherwise. Mr. Kobayashi is unlikely to be the "No. 1" player in Japanese Go.

For example, Li Xiaoqiang's preparation is like this, when the national team helps Li Xiaoqiang dismantle chess, everyone just devises a variety of coping strategies. Then tell Li Xiaoqiang everyone's thoughts and understanding. Let Li Xiaoqiang choose by himself according to his own ideas and ideas.

After all, the reason why people dare to "respond to change with the same". People must have a good understanding of this situation. Let's take "Kobayashi-ryu" as an example. No matter how "targeted" you are, no matter how thoroughly you research. Can you understand this layout better than he does? I'm afraid no one would dare to say such a thing, right?

Therefore, in most cases, preparations like this are actually not very useful and not enough to give you an advantage. The only advantage to this is probably that it allows you to save a little time in the game. What really determines the outcome of a set of matches is mainly based on strength.

So when Nie Whirlwind saw that Li Xiaoqiang chose the novice he had just "invented". He was happy, but he didn't get carried away.

Of course, Nie Whirlwind is Nie Whirlwind after all. The "novice" he designed for Li Xiaoqiang, of course, still has a very high level. This move still made Mr. Kobayashi think for a while. Because he could see in the game that Li Xiaoqiang was obviously "prepared". Considering Li Xiaoqiang's "bad deeds", Mr. Xiaolin dealt with it even more carefully.

In this game of chess, Li Xiaoqiang was black, and he chose a "star, worry-free corner" layout at the beginning. This layout is very common, it has been common for many years in the past, and it is common in this day and age. Even in later generations, this layout was still common. When studying Mr. Kobayashi's chess games, this layout also appeared many times. And Mr. Kobayashi's method of dealing with it is not out of the scope of the national team's research.

In particular, a popular variation in the lower right corner of the board is currently very popular in the Japanese chess world. It seems that Mr. Kobayashi also likes it, and he can often see it in his recent games. In his match with Li Xiaoqiang, he made this popular change again. And the novice "invented" by Nie Whirlwind is actually a "change move" after more than 20 moves.

Of course, this "change of move" does not belong to the category of "throwing knives" or anything like that. This move is more "virtual" and more like a layout idea. It belongs to the category of guiding the flow of chess games. With this move, it does not necessarily mean that you will be able to gain an advantage, but it may be more likely to lead to a change in the situation. So Nie Whirlwind will say: This move may be more in line with Li Xiaoqiang's appetite, but it is not easy to master in actual combat.

In the game room, Mr. Kobayashi didn't think long about Li Xiaoqiang's "newbie", and he quickly made his choice. His choice was not unexpected by Li Xiaoqiang, nor by all the players who watched the game.

Truly. At present, after all, in the layout stage, for this exchange of "virtual" and "real". If you can't see obvious losses, then Mr. Kobayashi Koji, who is known as the "subway stream". He basically chooses "real".

Soon, both sides of the game made a new change in the lower right corner of the board. Li Xiaoqiang's black piece takes the outside momentum, while Mr. Kobayashi's white piece gets the corner field.

For such a change, the intermediate process is left alone, so what is the final result?

"Locally two points, but it feels like black is easy to play. If the opponent is not Kobayashi Koji, I can even think that Koqiang's black chess advantage ......"

In China's research room, Nie Whirlwind tilted his head as he watched the latest progress. Then he spoke his own judgment. Of course. Since this change has been dismantled by Chinese chess players, the judgment of "Chief Coach Nie" basically represents the general opinion of Chinese chess players.

When the same latest process reached the Japanese Chess Academy, the opinions of Japanese chess players were not so unanimous. Hideyuki Fujisawa insisted that black was good. Sakata Eio, on the other hand, said that white chess was completely combatable. Masaki Takemiya scoffed at Mr. Kobayashi's move, but Masao Kato praised White's choice. Of course, the opinions of other chess players are not so extreme. However, there are also different opinions, and there is no relatively unified opinion.

Let's be honest. This phenomenon, although it may seem paradoxical, is very common in Go, very common! Compared to other board games. This phenomenon may also be unique to Go. At least the feature of Go is particularly obvious.

For example, today's situation, in today's game, is actually very illustrative of this problem.

In this part, Li Xiaoqiang and Mr. Xiaolin can be regarded as completing a "stereotype". A more typical "situational confrontation" formula. In this part, Mr. Kobayashi's white pieces gained ground, while Li Xiaoqiang's black pieces gained "external potential".

As we all know, the "field" in Go can be calculated by the "number of meshes", since it can be "quantified", then this judgment is easier and more specific, as long as you say "how much this piece of real space is worth", then everyone can understand.

What about "real space"? The value of the "external potential" is not so easy to judge. One of the most commonly used methods of judgment in Go is actually to apply an "equivalence principle".

For example, Li Xiaoqiang, they came out today with the "fixed formula". If we don't consider any other factors, then this part alone, because it is "local bisect", then it can be simply judged as "equivalence".

If there are 20 meshes in the real space of white, what about the external potential of black? That is, he has 20 meshes.

Of course, this is the most common and common method of comparative judgment. For the average amateur, it is enough to be able to know this principle. But in this kind of professional Go top tournament, it's not enough to know this.

In the current situation, there is basically no problem with white's "real space" judgment. Not only will you not be mistaken, but in fact, these real voids are also relatively certain, and there will be no changes in the whole game of chess. But what about Li Xiaoqiang's "external potential"? It is not only necessary to rely on the "principle of equivalence" to determine its value. In fact, as the situation changes, the value of this external trend will also change.

There is also a chess theory in Go: "The sooner the external potential is formed, the better". This statement should make a lot of sense. Such a "chess theory" has also been widely recognized by everyone. But someone really needs to be more serious: what does it mean to "the sooner the better"? It's a bit vague, I'm afraid no one can say it clearly, right?

It must be admitted that even the super-first-class masters in Go are actually not clear! To be honest, this is the charm of Go, and this is what makes Go different from other games! You can usually see the differences between the masters, the so-called "field-based", "balanced", and "thick-potential" chess styles. Isn't that what happened in this kind of place?

For example, Takemiya and Fujisawa old god stick, they think that "black chess is good", and that is entirely because of personal preference, it is due to their chess style. On a roughly "two-point" choice, they certainly prefer outward appearance in comparison. So they will applaud Li Xiaoqiang.

What about the Chinese chess players led by Nie Whirlwind? They think that "black is easy to play", and that is because they think it is still "early". Since it is said that "the sooner the external momentum is formed, the better". They just think it's just the prologue stage, and there are only about 30 moves on the board. Then at this time, they think it's early. Therefore, they believe that the value of black's external potential may be greater than 20 meshes at this stage. So they judged that "black is a good move".

In the same way, applaud Mr. Kobayashi. One kind of person is the result of chess style, and they unconditionally like real space. So judging "white is good". And if the objective "balanced" chess players judge that "white is good", it means that they think that "it is not too early". It is believed that black forms an "external potential" at this time, which may not be worth 20 meshes.

Of course, it doesn't matter if such a disagreement is good or bad, and it doesn't have much practical significance. How did Li Xiaoqiang make good use of that "external potential". That's the crux of the matter!

The reason why Li Xiaoqiang chose this change, his judgment is, of course, the same as Nie Whirlwind. He also thinks that "it's still early", which is why he chose this move.

And what about Mr. Kobayashi? What did he think? No matter what he really judges. But when he chooses this change, when he chooses "utilitarianism", then no one dares to underestimate it!

Yes, because he is Koji Kobayashi, he is Mr. Kobayashi Koji of the "subway stream"!

There is such a person in the Go world, as long as he is playing, then the way he chooses to play can affect the "values" of others. For example, Li Shifo in later generations, such as the current Mr. Kobayashi Koji.

Even if it is the outspoken Nie Whirlwind, even he thinks that the current "black chess advantage". But he also has to add a premise in front of him:

"If the opponent is not Mr. Kobayashi......"

To be honest, Mr. Kobayashi's chess is not good-looking. The game he played was like a subway running underground. It seems to always be the same, as if it is always the same trajectory. But he is always moving forward, always running towards the finish. As long as the subway passes, as long as he is still on his tracks, you will never be able to stop!

He plays chess, you can't see what is gorgeous. Every move he makes is real, and he will never give you any money. And what he is best at doing is often "breaking the void with reality"!

"Hit the virtual subway flow with reality"!

Shortly after the start of the game, it was still in the morning time of the game. There seems to be such a scene on the chessboard:

On the surface, Li Xiaoqiang's situation is good, because "the external momentum of black chess was formed relatively early". What about being on the side of white? Because he is Mr. Kobayashi, he cannot be judged by "conventional"!

So it's quite possible: it's already on the track of "what he's good at."

How does Li Xiaoqiang maintain the value of this "external potential". It has also become the focus of the current situation.

In all likelihood, this is also the key to determining the outcome of the whole game!

The chess game continues step by step, what will Li Xiaoqiang do? What will he do to deal with the "subway stream"?

Everyone is watching closely. (To be continued......)