Yoo Chang-hyuk's victory in the "LG Cup" made the Korean media a little panicked.

"The reason why I was able to win the championship this time, I think the most important thing to thank is China's Li Xiaoqiang. It was because of the experience of playing five games with him twice that I benefited a lot from those two finals, and I learned a lot from him, which makes me stronger than ever......"

How so? The South Korean media is unhappy, but it must also admit that Yoo Chang-hyuk is telling the truth. After playing two five-way chess games with Li Xiaoqiang, although Liu Changhe lost a bit miserably in these two games, if it is converted into ten games, it can basically be considered that Liu Changhe has been demoted by Li Xiaoqiang. But no matter who you are, you can see that after Li Xiaoqiang's tempering, Liu Changhe seems to have made great progress.

Although this kind of progress cannot be called a rebirth, Liu Changhyuk is now more refined than before, and the specific means and techniques are more abundant and sharp than before, and these things can really be seen or felt by everyone. Especially in this duel with Li Shifo, there were exclamations in the research room more than once:

"In the chess played by Liu Changhyuk, you can clearly see Li Xiaoqiang's shadow......"

Then the problem now comes: although Liu Changhe is getting stronger, he is not stronger than Li Xiaoqiang after all. Although the chess he played this time has the "shadow of Li Xiaoqiang", it can only be regarded as a "weakened version of Li Xiaoqiang" at most.

But it was such a "weakened version of Li Xiaoqiang", but he defeated Li Shifo beautifully with a score of 3 to 1...... Therefore, at this time, no matter how thick-skinned the Korean media is, they are embarrassed to boast that Li Shifo is stronger than Li Xiaoqiang.

The Korean media is unhappy, but Yoo Chang-hyuk is his own person after all, so they can't say anything. What's more, in this year's international arena, Yoo Chang-hyuk is the most outstanding Korean chess player, with 3 finals in 5 major tournaments, 1 championship and 2 runners-up, second only to Li Xiaoqiang's 2 championships. South Korea's Go can surpass China in terms of overall scores, and it can be said that Liu Changhyuk has made great contributions. For such a great hero, of course, the South Korean media cannot blame him.

After interviewing Yoo Chang-hyuk, the South Korean media had no choice but to interview Lee Seok-fo:

"Shi Fo, you "double-killed" Li Xiaoqiang in this year's World Series, and the total record of the two of you is now 8-7 ahead. So can you think now: in the competition between you and Li Xiaoqiang, you are now one step ahead? ”

If Yoo Chang-hyuk's answer made the South Korean media unhappy, then Lee Seok-fo's answer made the South Korean media depressed. Li Shifo replied like this:

"No, I never thought I was ahead of him, and in the competition with Li Xiaoqiang, I always thought I was in a catch-up role. I used to think so, or I still think so. ”

"This one, this one, Shi Buddha, you are a little too modest. You must know that you have double-killed Li Xiaoqiang this year, and you have already led the overall record, so in your mind, what do you think you need to do? Can it be regarded as really overpowering Li Xiaoqiang? ”

Regarding this question, Li Shifo was silent for a while:

"Let's not say he's got five crowns now, and I've only got three. A more important question: I've never beaten him in a final. So I think the first thing I have to do is win him once in the final! I think that's the only way to talk about surpassing him. ”

Li Shifo's answer naturally made the South Korean media speechless again. Indeed, a careful analysis of the history of the war between Li Xiaoqiang and Li Shifo does have a very interesting problem. The pair have faced each other 15 times so far, in fact, in seven matches.

In these 7 games, Li Xiaoqiang won 3 times, Li Shifo won 4 times, on the surface, Li Shifo seems to have won one more time, but what games did both sides win?

Li Xiaoqiang won 3 times: the earliest "Toyo Securities Cup", which was the final. In the later "Sino-Korean hand confrontation", although the taste of this game is a little worse, it can also be regarded as the final. The last time the Three Kingdoms Ring Tournament was a big battle worth hundreds of millions of won, which should certainly be regarded as the final.

On the other hand, what about Li Shifo's chess against Li Xiaoqiang? The recently concluded "LG Cup" semi-finals are already the highest-level competition won by Li Shifo. With this comparison, it is no wonder that Li Shifo has an obsession, and he shouted something like "I must win him once in the final".

South Korean media interviewed the champions and runners-up of the first "LG Cup", and almost all the topics revolved around Li Xiaoqiang.

"Li Shifo has already released his words: he wants to win Li Xiaoqiang once in the final......"

When such a text appeared in the newspapers, it resonated with almost everyone. Of course, this is not to say that everyone wants Li Shifo to win Li Xiaoqiang. What really resonates with everyone is: Li Xiaoqiang and Li Shifo, the two most outstanding young masters, when will they meet again in the finals of the World Series?

"Xiaoqiang, Li Shifo is openly provoking you at this time." Reporter Zhang Da shook the newspaper in his hand and said to Li Xiaoqiang with a smile.

"Hehe, let's look at fate." Li Xiaoqiang responded.

Yes, it does take a bit of fate to meet in the finals of the World Series. Take Li Xiaoqiang and Li Shifo as an example, the two of them have fought a lot so far, but they have only played once in the final of the World Series, and that was 5 or 6 years ago, such a "fate" is really not very good.

So when will the next time the two will play each other in the final?

"I don't have to wait too long, I guess it's just this time, and this time the two of you will have a good chance of meeting in the final." Reporter Zhang Da continued to shake the newspaper in his hand and continued to say to Li Xiaoqiang with a smile.

Li Xiaoqiang continued to laugh without saying a word.

Reporter Zhang Da is talking about the "Toyo Securities Cup", the last generation of the "Toyo Securities Cup"!

When the "LG Cup" is in full swing, in fact, in the new season, a new round of competition in the world chess world has started. The first to start is the Toyo Securities Cup, which starts at the end of each year and decides the champion in May of the second year.

Due to the impact of the Asian financial crisis, this year's "Toyo Securities Cup" is the last one. This is no secret in the Go world. A race that was destined to die, and the Toyo Securities Cup had the lowest prize money of all world majors, so when the new round of the Toyo Securities Cup began, it didn't attract much attention.

Before the "LG Cup" five-way chess final, the "Toyo Securities Cup" had quietly played the first two rounds, and at this time, the "Toyo Securities Cup" competition did not attract much attention, and everyone was talking about the "LG Cup".

When the "LG Cup" ended, the "Toyo Securities Cup" had another round, this round was the top 8, the result of the top 8 was to produce the top 4, when the new "Toyo Securities Cup" top 4 were produced, when everyone saw the top 4 list, at this time the last "Toyo Securities Cup" finally attracted everyone's attention.

In the newly released top 4 list, Li Xiaoqiang and Li Shifo are impressively listed. In addition to the two of them, the two top 4 players are China's Chang Rensheng and Japan's "Tian Yuan" Liu Shixun.

"This is not the youngest finalist, the youngest finalist was set by Li Xiaoqiang and Li Shifo in the 3rd "Toyo Securities Cup", and it is predictable that their record will be difficult to break for a long time. However, the semi-final lineup is the youngest top 4 team since the inception of the World Series. The "Toyo Securities Cup", which was about to be discontinued, inadvertently set another record......"

When the new top 4 were just released, many media used such words to report on the game.

Indeed, in the 4 lineups of the World Series, you can't see Japan's "Six Supers", China's "Nie Ma" and South Korea's Lao Cao, and even the Mesozoic Era such as Yoo Chang-hyuk and Yida Kiki. This is the first time in the World Championship, and such a "novelty" has naturally caused a lot of discussion.

Of course, this is not the most important thing, the most important thing is that when the draw results of the semi-finals came out, when Li Xiaoqiang drew Liu Shixun, when Li Shifo and Chang Rensheng's hands shook together, the "hot discussion" was really formed.

Everyone has just talked about the issue of "fate", and "fate" seems to be coming soon. Li Shifo had just made a declaration that "I want to win Li Xiaoqiang once in the final", and an opportunity seemed to be in front of him soon.

Although everyone is suspected of looking down on the other two chess players, it must be admitted that there is no way to do it.

Li Xiaoqiang and Liu Shixun have also played a lot of games in recent years, but no one thinks that Liu Shixun is qualified to be Li Xiaoqiang's opponent. In the annual "Sino-Japanese Tianyuan Confrontation Match", "Liu Tianyuan" is not to mention winning 1 time, even if he wins a game, he has not done it so far.

Although according to the "character theory", the more you lose in the front, the greater the probability of winning in the back. However, the organizers of the "Toyo Securities Cup" did not know what nerves to make, and the last session had just changed the semi-finals to a single-game tiebreaker, and this last one, they changed the rules again, and the semi-finals were changed to trilogy again.

Of course, this change of the organizer is undoubtedly beneficial to Li Xiaoqiang. One of the most important functions of the game is to reduce the chance of the game. Facing an opponent who has never won against him, no one doubts that Li Xiaoqiang can reach the final round.

This change is beneficial to Li Xiaoqiang, and of course it is also beneficial to Li Shifo.

is different from Li Xiaoqiang's one-sided prediction VS Liu Shixun. Regarding the match between Li Shifo and Chang Rensheng, everyone still thinks that there is a little suspense.

Chang Rensheng's rapid growth rate is obvious to everyone. This year, he won the "Tianyuan War", "National Hand Battle" and "Celebrity Battle" in China three consecutive challenges, although Li Xiaoqiang and Ma Xiaofei's status in the domestic chess world has not been shaken, but his position as "China's No. 3" has been very stable. Another important point is that in the just-concluded top 8 match, he defeated Liu Changhe to advance. Being able to defeat the freshly baked "LG Cup" champion gives Chang Rensheng a lot of points.

This is the first time that Chang Rensheng has entered the top 4 of the World Series, and this is also the first time that Chang Rensheng has played against Li Shifo in the World Series.

Many people know that Li Shifo has always had a problem of "fear of life". is the sum of these factors, so compared with Li Xiaoqiang's game, everyone thinks this game is more suspenseful.

Of course, predictions are always just predictions, no matter how everyone analyzes, if Li Shifo and Chang Rensheng play three chess, everyone will definitely think that Li Shifo has a big chance of winning, which is of course undoubted.

In January 1998, the semi-finals of the Toyo Securities Cup were approaching soon.

"Xiao Chang, let's go, you can go and learn his kung fu in person."

On the day of departure, Li Xiaoqiang said to Chang Rensheng with a smile. (To be continued.) )