The year is mid-2004. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

“。。。 In the top 8 of the "CCTV Cup" just played, Luo Shenzhu Jiudan performed bravely, and he defeated Li Xiaoqiang in the middle game to successfully advance to the semifinals... ”

“。。。 In last week's round of the Chinese Go League, the Ganyuan team met the Shencheng team, a high-profile showdown between the main players, Li Xiaoqiang against Chang Rensheng, which is currently a match between the top two domestic ratings, and Chang Rensheng won the game. However, although Li Xiaoqiang lost, several other young players of the Ganyuan team performed well, especially Li Xiaoqiang's second disciple Zhou Xiaoyang, he has now achieved 5 consecutive victories in the field of the Weijia League, and the result is that with the victory of several young players, the Ganyuan team still won with a score of 3 to 1 in this round of the game, and continues to occupy the top position in the standings. . . . ”

A lot of news about Li Xiaoqiang's loss, this is not to say that Li Xiaoqiang is in a bad state. On the contrary, when a chess player loses and becomes news, it just shows that he is in good shape.

At present, halfway through 2004, Li Xiaoqiang has only lost 3 games.

When he just came back from Europe, because he hadn't adjusted all of a sudden, Li Xiaoqiang lost the first game of the group stage of the "Top 10 Battle", and that game was also lost to Luo Shenzhu. However, after losing that game of chess, Li Xiaoqiang quickly adjusted, maintained a full victory in the next games, and won this year's "Top 10 Battle" championship in one go.

Except for this one, the rest are the two sets in the news report.

Seeing Li Xiaoqiang's excellent state, this year may be his "year of records"... ”

In Zhang Da's reporter's article, he used the term "year of record".

Indeed, when no one in the entire world chess world can challenge Li Xiaoqiang's status, it seems that only he can defeat Li Xiaoqiang. What Li Xiaoqiang is doing now seems to be challenging various records in the world chess world.

When Li Xiaoqiang just won the championship of this year's "Top Ten Battle", he was surrounded by reporters. I remember that Li Xiaoqiang hadn't reacted at that time, and said in his heart that it was just a champion of a domestic competition, so it was necessary for everyone to react so enthusiastically.

Later, Zhang Da reporter told him that this "top ten" championship was Li Xiaoqiang's 50th personal crown. Although this record is not as good as Sakata Einan and Zhao Zhixun, and it is far from Cao Li's master and apprentice, Li Xiaoqiang achieved this achievement at the age of less than 30 years old. Especially among all Li Xiaoqiang's championships, the number of world champions has exceeded 4 percent, which is especially valuable and full of gold.

In addition to this milestone number. Li Xiaoqiang's participation in this year's "Top Ten Battle" also created another record, that is, since he was 13 years old, he has been selected by chess fans as the "Top 10" of Chinese Go for 16 consecutive years, which has surpassed Lao Nie's selection record and is only one time away from Ma Xiaofei. With Ma Xiaofei's retirement, it is foreseeable that in the near future, it is only a matter of time before Li Xiaoqiang surpasses Ma Xiaofei.

In addition to these, Li Xiaoqiang is also attacking two other records. One of them is the winning streak in international competitions.

2004 was an even-numbered year, and every even-numbered year saw a large number of international competitions. In addition to the "World Chess Holy War", other "Fujitsu Cup", "Ying's Cup", "Samsung Cup", "LG Cup", "Qiuju Cup", and "Toyota Cup" will all appear this year.

So far, Li Xiaoqiang has lost all three games in domestic competitions, and has lost one game in all other world series.

So far, the World Series winning streak has been set by Li Xiaoqiang himself, with 15 consecutive wins. Based on his momentum in the first half of the year, he really has a good chance of breaking this record.

If the winning streak is still more conspicuous, then another, more difficult record is more hidden.

On the first weekend of August 2004, when Li Xiaoqiang defeated South Korea's emerging chess player Park Yongxun in Tokyo, Japan, to win the first world championship of the year, which was this year's "Fujitsu Cup". Reporter Zhang Da said to Li Xiaoqiang with a smile:

"Xiaoqiang, this year's is almost rare, I wonder if you have the desire to challenge another record?"

"Oh? What records? ”

"Speaking of which, it's still Lao Sakata's record, the record for the highest annual win rate he once set."

"This record, it's still relatively difficult... By the way, why do you say this year's opportunity is rare? ”

Half a century ago, Mr. Sakata won 30-2 in one year, a staggering 90% win rate. Admittedly, this is a rather unattainable record. Due to the different eras, the current competition in the world chess world is becoming increasingly fierce, not to mention more than 90% now, even if it can reach 80% of the winning rate, it is quite amazing in the current era.

Take the current Li Xiaoqiang as an example, he has lost 3 games so far, and his total number of games in a year is basically between 60 and 70 games, and it is difficult to exceed 80 games.

What does this mean? It means that in the entire second half of the year, Li Xiaoqiang is only promised to lose one game of chess, and as long as the number of defeats in a year reaches 5 games, there is no chance to break Mr. Sakata's record.

However, reporter Zhang Da seems to be right, at this time of year, it seems to be a rare opportunity.

"Don't pretend to me, as for why the opportunity is rare, you should know better than me."

"Hahahaha..." Li Xiaoqiang laughed heartily.

Of course, Li Xiaoqiang knows what reporter Zhang Da meant, and if he wants to explain this problem, he still has to start with the current pattern of the world chess world.

In today's world chess situation, it can be said that Li Xiaoqiang is on top, followed by South Korea's "Er Li", and others such as Chang Rensheng are slightly inferior, and they can be classified as the third grade.

The reason why reporter Zhang Da said that "the opportunity is rare" is because after entering this year, South Korea's "Erli" is in a sluggish state.

Of course, the downturn of the two of them is not without reason, it can be said that all this is a gift from Li Xiaoqiang. At the end of last year, the nine games with Li Shifo and the "ten games" with Li Shishi, South Korea's "two Lis" were all hit hard by Li Xiaoqiang.

This is the case with almost all chess players, who are often followed by a period of slump after a major defeat. For example, the current South Korean "Er Li", they are currently in the stage of "licking wounds".

It is precisely because the two of them are currently "licking their wounds" that this gives other chess players a chance. Specific to the international arena in the first half of this year, there was frequent news that South Korea's "Er Lee" was defeated by other chess players.

For example, Park Yongxun broke into the "Fujitsu Cup" after defeating Li Shifo, in the "Samsung Cup", Li Shifo was eliminated by Chang Rensheng, and in the "LG Cup", Li Shishi was even defeated by Taipei Axun flying knife and so on.

If South Korea's "Er Li" is in good shape and they frequently encounter Li Xiaoqiang, although they still may not have to get Li Xiaoqiang, it may be difficult for Li Xiaoqiang to maintain a super high winning rate.

What if you switch to another player?

This is what reporter Zhang Da called "almost rare".

"Okay, I'll try to work in this direction." Li Xiaoqiang responded to reporter Zhang Da with a smile.

Li Xiaoqiang did what he said, and after winning the "Fujitsu Cup", he continued to soar in all world series, while South Korea's "Er Lee" continued to be in a slump. Maybe their form has picked up, but in a lot of games they don't have a chance.

Therefore, in 2004, there was a rather peculiar scene in the world chess world, with many "backbone chess players" appearing on the stage of the world series finals, such as Park Yongxun broke into the "Fujitsu Cup" final, Cui Poison broke into the "Ying's Cup" final, Chang Rensheng broke into the "Qiu Ju Cup" final, and even Japan's Yamada Gui Sansei Jiudan broke into the "Samsung Cup" finals and so on.

But an even more shocking scene: the opponents of these chess players in the finals are all Li Xiaoqiang without exception!

There is no most shocking, only more shocking, whether these finals are a single game or a chess, whether it is a three-game chess or a five-game chess, all the chess players are hard to win in front of Li Xiaoqiang!

"Mr. Sakata once said: In the heyday of Mr. Wu Qingyuan, I played a three-way chess, a six-game chess and a ten-game chess with him, which is something I can boast about all my life. Now I feel the same as Mr. Sakata back then, and it is already the happiness of my life to be able to play chess with Li Sang on the World Series finals stage during his heyday... ”

This is what Yamada Kudan said after losing 0-3 to Li Xiaoqiang in the "Samsung Cup" final.

There is no doubt that the current Li Xiaoqiang is stopping at the top of the mountain, and he is enjoying the scenery of the top of the mountain. It's just that... How long does he want to see ... ”

Time is moving forward bit by bit, and Mr. Sakata's record is quietly approaching. Of course, this record is only a private agreement between Li Xiaoqiang and reporter Zhang Da, and it is not enough for outsiders at present.

In the last round of this year's Weijia, Li Xiaoqiang's record-breaking road was finally blocked, and he finally lost again, and this time, he still lost to Luo Shenzhu.

Luo Shenzhu defeated Li Xiaoqiang three times in one year, which also made a good story.

"You, you, you've already won the championship in advance this time, why do you still have to play, and you still have a game of rapid chess with Piggy...

After the game, reporter Zhang Da complained loudly about Li Xiaoqiang.

"If it weren't for Piggy, if it weren't for rapid chess, I probably wouldn't have played."

Li Xiaoqiang responded with a smile.

So far, Li Xiaoqiang's number of games this year has approached 70. If he keeps winning all of them, then he will break Mr. Sakata's record, and if he loses one more game, then he will miss this record.

Can Li Xiaoqiang do it?

The time finally came to the end of 2004, when I thought that the record was finally a foregone conclusion, a sudden big victory and defeat came again.

This game seems to be to review Li Xiaoqiang's success in his heyday.

"Li Shifo is Li Shifo after all, I didn't expect that at this time, it would be him...

Li Xiaoqiang sighed in his heart. (To be continued.) )