Seoul. The first game of the 6th "Toyo Securities Cup" semi-finals.

I don't know why, but it seems that today's two games ended very late. At 6 o'clock, Ma Xiaofei's match against Cao Yanzi finally ended. After a long battle of officials, Ma Xiaofei finally held on to that slight advantage and turned the advantage into a victory. He defeated his opponent by a one-and-a-half-and-a-half mark to claim the first meeting between the two of them, and also set the trilogy off to a good start.

After winning the game, Ma Xiaofei was in a happy mood and breathed a long sigh of relief, as if he had swept away the pressure accumulated before the game, and he was now relaxed. Probably because it was late, the two did not have too much review after the game, and after a few simple polite words, Cao Yanzi hurriedly left the game room, as if to find a place to lick the wound.

Ma Xiaofei originally wanted to watch another game, but he saw from a distance that Nie Xuanfeng and Li Xiaoqiang were now engrossed, their heads almost touching together, and they were thinking intently on the chessboard. Therefore, Ma Xiaofei didn't bother, and he quietly walked out of the game room.

It can be seen that Li Xiaoqiang's method was obviously beyond Nie Whirlwind's expectations. Now it's his turn to "fight" frequently. Li Xiaoqiang naturally didn't dare to relax at this time, he needed to use the limited time to check the final official, for fear that he would miss any other changes.

A little after 6 o'clock in the afternoon, it seemed that Nie Whirlwind was completely clear, and he looked up and smiled bitterly at Li Xiaoqiang. However, he did not give up, and at this time, Nie Whirlwind sat more upright. As if he was performing some kind of ritual, he even played every move in the back, and he had to read it to 57 or 58 in the second count...... It's time to settle. conscientiously put away all the officials in the back.

It was half past six in the afternoon. The total number of hands on the chessboard has exceeded more than 300 hands, and this game has finally ended, in fact, even if he catches Nie Whirlwind's omission, Li Xiaoqiang has not won much. The final result was 4 meshes on the board, and Li Xiaoqiang, who was white, won 1 and a half meshes.

At the moment of the end of the chess game, Li Xiaoqiang sat upright like Nie Whirlwind. It is impossible to describe Li Xiaoqiang's current mood, in short, he is not as happy as he usually is after winning chess. He was now surrounded by an inexplicable emotion.

"Xiaoqiang, your layout needs to be strengthened."

"Yes." Li Xiaoqiang replied respectfully, now he. It's like a deferential junior listening to the teachings of an elder.

Nie Whirlwind's words sounded a little inexplicable, and it seemed to be incompatible with today's game. Li Xiaoqiang understood the meaning of this sentence. In today's game, why did you get into a hard fight? Why do you always fall behind in your own situation and finally rely on an inadvertent mistake by your opponent to win?

In the final analysis. is still not as clever as Nie Whirlwind's layout skills. The cleverness shown by Nie Whirlwind's game of chess lies in the large-scale mid-game battle of dozens or even hundreds of moves. Nie Whirlwind first built a general environment conducive to his own operations. This is the real meaning of the layout, and this is where the Nie Whirlwind is really strong.

Through today's game of chess, Li Xiaoqiang is more deeply aware of some flaws in his Go skills.

"Alas, if only I could be 10 years younger......"

After the two of them didn't have a head and no brain, Nie Whirlwind sighed softly. He seemed to be talking to himself, and it seemed to be talking to Li Xiaoqiang. When he spoke, he was a little regretful, as if he was just emotional, but there seemed to be a strong ...... Reluctantly!

Li Xiaoqiang looked at Nie Whirlwind on the opposite side again. The inexplicable emotion in my heart was even stronger.

Li Xiaoqiang suddenly had a realization in his heart, and he suddenly understood why Nie Whirlwind was playing chess with himself in this way today. This is because. Nie Whirlwind regarded today's game of chess and this three-way chess match with himself as a farewell ceremony and his personal farewell game.

Can't go back! Nie Whirlwind himself knows very well that he can't go back!

It may be difficult for others to understand what Nie Whirlwind is doing today, but Li Xiaoqiang understands. Because in real history, there is a person who practices very similar to today's Nie Whirlwind.

There is an interesting question: in real history, which game of chess is considered a watershed in Li Shifo's career? Some people say that it should be counted in 2005, when Li Shifo was defeated by Luo Shenzhu. Because since then, Li Shifo has never won a single world championship. Some people also say that it should be in the Three Kingdoms Ring Competition, starting from Li Shifo no longer serving as the "patron saint of Nongshim".

Li Xiaoqiang thinks: The previous algorithms may all make sense, but they may not be right. At least Li Shifo himself thinks it's not. Although Li Shifo has not won the world championship since 05, he still reached the finals of the World Series 9 times since then, and surprisingly put together a "runner-up Grand Slam".

The real watershed in Li Shifo's career should have occurred in 2012. That's right, it was 1 year before Li Xiaoqiang's "single-piece robbery case". In the 7th "Ying's Cup" that year, Li Shifo once again reached the top 4, and his opponent in the semifinals was Park Tianzi, a new generation of leaders of Korean Go, who was separated by Li Shifo.

The semi-finals of the Ying Cup were also trilogy, and the first game of that trilogy was very similar to today. Li Shifo changed his usual style, he raised the dragon slayer knife when he first entered the middle game, and started a fierce battle with Park Tianzi. Unfortunately, the ending of that game is very similar to today's game. Li Shifo was ultimately defeated in a situation that had been expected.

Li Shifo was 37 years old that year, and it was the last time Li Shifo entered the top 4 of the World Series. After that, Li Shifo seemed to have really lost his combat effectiveness. Most of his later games were actually playing "Happy Go".

Li Xiaoqiang didn't know what Li Shifo thought at that time, because he never confided in the outside world.

Perhaps, Li Shifo's thoughts at that time should be the same as Nie Whirlwind's now!

In the game room, Li Xiaoqiang and Nie Whirlwind did not leave immediately, and the two were conducting a long review. And on the surface, Nie Whirlwind is no different from usual, he spends most of his time explaining his layout ideas. He spoke step by step, very carefully, and very seriously. and took the time to point out some of Li Xiaoqiang's shortcomings in the prelude stage.

Li Xiaoqiang also listened very carefully and religiously, as if he was listening to Nie Whirlwind's teachings when he first joined the national junior team. Listening to Nie Whirlwind's teachings, Li Xiaoqiang suddenly remembered a sentence that seemed to be more famous:

The veteran doesn't die, he just slowly withers.

Such a sentence seems to be a true portrayal of Nie Whirlwind's current situation.

can have a "farewell match" with Nie Whirlwind, Li Xiaoqiang at this moment feels that it is his honor.

This match, which may have special significance for Nie Whirlwind, ended quietly. That's right, just quietly. Because after this game, Nie Whirlwind did not say anything to the outside world. And this match is also hidden under the aura of another semi-final.

On the second day after the end of the competition, almost everyone was discussing the duel between Ma Xiaofei and Cao Yanzi, and they were all discussing whether the Chinese chess players could meet in the finals. Only a few people will mention the match between Li Xiaoqiang and Nie Whirlwind. And a lot of the arguments are quite unreliable.

For example, after the first game, what reporter Zhang Da said to Li Xiaoqiang was quite unreliable: "Xiaoqiang, it seems that it is not so easy for you to enter the finals this time, I really didn't expect Lao Nie to be in such a good state now......"

Li Xiaoqiang unceremoniously interrupted reporter Zhang Da: "Wrong, I think I have entered the finals." ”

"Huh? How dare you say that? Haha, Xiaoqiang, you're a little too rampant......"

Li Xiaoqiang ignored reporter Zhang Da, he turned around and left. Yes, this kind of thing simply can't be explained. For a person who doesn't understand Nie Whirlwind's current state of mind, Li Xiaoqiang doesn't bother to explain.

For chess players of the level of Nie Whirlwind and Li Shifo, their "farewell match" is enough for just one game of chess!

In fact, things did not surprise Li Xiaoqiang, in the second set of the next day, Li Xiaoqiang defeated Nie Whirlwind relatively easily, and he entered the final of the World Series again.

Of course, it may be a bit inappropriate to say "defeat", because in the second game, Nie Whirlwind did not make a decent resistance at all, and he seemed to send Li Xiaoqiang into the final.

After Li Xiaoqiang entered the finals, of course, no one felt that this result was unreasonable. Because this is basically in line with most people's expectations before the game. What everyone is most interested in now is still the question of who can be Li Xiaoqiang's opponent in the final.

At the same time that Li Xiaoqiang broke into the final, in the other semi-final, Ma Xiaofei lost the game, and he allowed Cao Yanzi to successfully pull back a game. In this way, the tiebreaker between the two of them has attracted the attention of the world chess world.

For this result, everyone is a little worried about Ma Xiaofei. Because the second game of the trilogy can basically be called "Tennoyama". Someone came up with statistics that the percentage of those who won the second game in a three-way game was quite high.

At this time, it was Ma Xiaofei himself who behaved more relaxed:

"An opponent of Cao Yanzi's level, I never thought before the game that I could beat him 2-0......"

It must be admitted that Ma Xiaofei's unique psychological adjustment method sometimes has a bit of an effect.

Another day later, the tiebreaker between Ma Xiaofei and Cao Yanzi began. When everyone watched Ma Xiaofei walk into the arena, Nie Whirlwind suddenly said to Li Xiaoqiang:

"Hehe, my baton is handed over, but who can receive this baton? It's still unknown. Today's race is very important for Ma Xiao, this is to test whether he is qualified to take over the baton. ”

Li Xiaoqiang responded with a smile:

"Let's see the results......" (To be continued.) )