September, Seoul, Korea Chess Academy. Players who participated in the top 8 of the "Ying's Cup" arrived one after another.

Although the current Korean game of Go has not yet reached its peak, it is now showing a thriving scene. Before the 97,98 Asian financial crisis, the South Korean economy also had a stage of rapid development. Especially in the last year or two, sponsors are willing to sponsor Go, and new chess battles have sprung up in South Korea. It is indeed a thriving new atmosphere.

In recent years, with the increasing international confrontation, the exchanges between the Go circles of China, Japan and South Korea have become more and more close. Chess players, especially these regulars in the World Series, are acquaintances with each other. Therefore, when we get together, we communicate more and more.

Everyone talked about how Li Shifo tortured his master, and talked about the most eye-catching Dazhu hero in this year's international competition. Talking about the possible "Ma Li fifteen chess battle" in the Chinese chess world, and also talking about the miraculous reversal that Zhao Zhixun has just completed.

"Li Sang, you are getting more and more powerful now. I see you've been losing for months since you lost to Mr. Otake, right? Not only that, but I feel like you're becoming more and more violent now, and you've won almost half of the dragon slaying games during this time. That's amazing! Hopefully, you'll be more merciful in tomorrow's game. ”

"Is there a ......?"

The one who joked with Li Xiaoqiang was tomorrow's opponent, Mr. Zhao Zhixun. Zhao Zhixun is two completely different people on and off the chessboard. On the chessboard, Zhao Zhixun is quite persistent, and if he loses chess, he can cry bitterly in public, and he can walk on the streets late at night. However, under the chessboard, Zhao Zhixun is actually a rather humorous person. For example, a joke like today, and an opponent who is going to meet tomorrow. Ordinary people can't say it.

"Yes, yes, I have also noticed Li Sang's recent performance, and his form is really amazing. Some of the wins were pretty good. In particular, some of these bizarre ideas, what can we say? In addition to being pleasing to the eye. It's also shocking. It turns out that Go can still be played like that. Zhixun, it seems that the task of blocking Li Sang can only be handed over to you, and your current state is not bad, anyway, I don't think I can do it......"

"Yanzi, do you also watch Li Sang's chess?"

"Of course, the chessboard wizard's chess game should be a compulsory course for all professional chess players at present. How could I not look. Besides. In order to deal with the stone Buddha, I was expecting to learn two tricks from Li Sang. But now it seems that I haven't learned the skills, but people are scared by Li Sang. Haha......"

Faced with the two seniors, I don't know whether it was praise or ridicule, Li Xiaoqiang couldn't cry or laugh a little. To be honest, Li Xiaoqiang really doesn't know how many games he has won in a row during this time. And in terms of statistics, Chinese Go has not done well, Li Xiaoqiang himself is not clear, so others don't care.

"More than half of the dragon slaying wins? Do I have a tendency to develop towards "one-stop per game"? Did I really slay so many dragons, I really have to take a hard look at my chess game another day......"

To be honest, it wasn't Zhao Zhixun who said it. Li Xiaoqiang really didn't know that he was so violent in the eyes of others. In professional competitions, there are very few chess games that deliberately want to slay other people's dragons. Li Xiaoqiang is naturally like this, when he is playing, he just thinks that chess should be played how to play, and he never deliberately takes dragon slaying as fun.

Strictly speaking, most of the dragon slaying games in professional competitions are often not the dragon slayer who takes the initiative, but his opponent is "betting on the big dragon" or "playing the big dragon". That's based on a judgment. thinks that even if he does the big dragon, he will lose the chess from the overall point of view. This is a special way of playing.

Most of Li Xiaoqiang's dragon slaying bureaus are basically like this. So it's no wonder he's confused. From his heart, he never thought that this was his own dragon slaying game. Of course, Li Xiaoqiang doesn't know what he thinks in his heart. Others only look at the surface, and everyone just thinks: The current Li Xiaoqiang's moves are becoming more and more sharp and murderous......

"The two of you, one is currently addicted to dragon slaying, and the other is good at extreme orphan treatment. Zhixun won the second few games, which also opened my eyes. Hehe, I can't wait to see a good show at the moment, and I want to see if you two are spears or shields. ”

Li Xiaoqiang rolled his eyes, as if he played chess with Zhao Zhixun, and he would definitely form the pattern that Cao Yanzi said.

"Mr. Zhao's big dragon, is that something that ordinary people can remember? So Mr. Cao, don't fool me, I won't be fooled, if I really listen to you, and think about slaughtering Mr. Zhao's big dragon, then I will definitely die a miserable death tomorrow. But then again, Mr. Zhao played really beautifully in those games in the "Ben Yin Fang Battle......"

Li Xiaoqiang was reluctant to focus on himself, so he changed the topic and talked about the feat that Zhao Zhixun had just accomplished. Speaking of the just-concluded "Ben Yin Fang War", everyone was also full of interest. Li Xiaoqiang could hear it, and from Cao Yanzi's tone, he could also hear a trace of his envy for Zhao Zhixun.

In terms of age, Cao Yanzi is a few years older than Zhao Zhixun. Both Koreans and the world's biggest chess stars, but the two of them have gone through completely different development trajectories. Cao Yanzi also studied in Japan in his early years, and because of his military service, he returned to China to develop, almost relying on his own strength to bring Korean Go to a level comparable to Japan. No one knows whether Cao Yanzi has thought in his heart: if he also stays in Japan to develop, how many titles can he share in the hands of the "Six Supers"? And what about what he has achieved now?

It's hard to say anything else, but the only thing Li Xiaoqiang can be sure of is that if Cao Yanzi had stayed in Japan back then, his "money path" would definitely be brighter than staying in South Korea. Take the title of "Ben Yin Fang" that Zhao Zhixun just defended, if he wins this title, Cao Yanzi must win at least 5 to 7 titles in China before the number of bonuses can be comparable. Li Xiaoqiang privately speculated that Cao Yanzi's look of envy just now was more because of this.

"After 3 consecutive defeats, 4 consecutive wins, Zhixun is still strong! How many times have you accomplished this feat? It's incredible. ”

Regarding Cao Yanzi's words, Li Xiaoqiang still agreed. Indeed, in a sport, a big comeback like this is absolutely very rare.

As a simple example, the NBA playoffs also use a best-of-7 system. Is there an example of a team winning 3 in a row, but being overturned by someone who won 4 games in a row? I don't think I've ever had a single impression.

In the Go world, there are such big reversals, but there are not many times, only 5 so far, not only that, but only Lin Haifeng and Zhao Zhixun seem to have completed this feat.

In terms of the number of times, Zhao Zhixun has completed it 3 times, and Mr. Lin has only completed it 2 times. However, Mr. Hayashi also has something to be proud of, and the two feats he has accomplished, one is to reverse Yoshio Ishida, and the other is what about it? It just happened to be a reversal of Zhao Zhixun. Therefore, from this point of view, the two are evenly matched.

Another interesting part of this reversal is that after the two sides fought 3-3, all the people who were able to win the seventh set were the ones who came from behind. So far, there is no winner who can hold the 7th set.

Of course, as the saying goes, "Records are meant to be broken." Interestingly, in real history, breaking this rule actually happened in the Chinese chess world first.

It should have happened a few years later, when the magazine "Go" was revised, and in order to commemorate this revision, the magazine "Go" specially held a "Nie Ma Qiban Chess Special Chess Battle". In this game, Nie Whirlwind won 3 sets first, and then Ma Xiaofei won 3 sets in a row. In the final set, Ma Xiaofei messed around with victory in sight and finally lost the final set by half a goal. Thus creating a slightly alternative record in the world chess world.

Maybe many things in the world are like this, when a "rule" is broken, the same thing no longer becomes difficult, since Nie Whirlwind broke the spell of "the one who comes after will win", similar things have stopped becoming magical. A few more years later, in the era of "Heisei 4 Heavenly Kings", such a thing seems to have happened again.

Among the 3 big reversals completed by Zhao Zhixun, the most famous is not actually this one. What really makes people talk about it should be his reversal of Fujisawa Hideyuki.

It was Japan's 7th "Chess Holy War", and Hideyuki Fujisawa, who had been dominating for 6 consecutive years, ushered in a new challenger. At that time, Mr. Xiuyuki was very strange, his results in other competitions were a mess, and as long as it came to the "Chess Holy War", he seemed extremely powerful again. This is the origin of "a good man who only wins 4 games a year". To say that Zhao Zhixun at that time was also at the first peak of his career. It was the strongest in Japan at the time. holds several titles, but when he encounters Fujisawa Hideyuki in the "Chess Holy War", there are really not many people who are optimistic about Zhao Zhixun.

Before the game, Fujisawa Hideyuki said proudly: "Zhao Jun doesn't understand philosophy, so he is not my opponent......" reflects strong self-confidence.

After the game started, the previous process was really the same as Fujisawa Hideyuki said. The old gentleman quickly took a 3-0 lead, making it seem that his title defense was a foregone conclusion. Not only that, judging from the content of the chess game, the "gorgeous show" was played to the fullest, and Zhao Zhixun, who "doesn't understand philosophy", seems to know how to play chess at all.

It's just a pity that the final result is clear to everyone, and Mr. Xiuxing's six-game chess streak has come to an end......

Thinking of these famous allusions in the Go world, Li Xiaoqiang was leisurely fascinated:

"Hehe, Mr. Hideyuki and Otake are both famous masters of the "Feeling School", and if I had played chess with him back then, I would have received an evaluation of "not understanding philosophy". But fortunately, the person who will play against me tomorrow is also Zhao Zhixun, who "doesn't understand philosophy". I don't know what kind of game we can play tomorrow......"

On the second day, Li Xiaoqiang walked into the game room. (To be continued)