At about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, all the reporters who came to cover the tournament crowded at the door of the game room, and many people, especially many Korean reporters, were talking excitedly. Looking at them, it seems that this competition is going to be big news.

Yes, this top 8 match is indeed going to be big news, and now Li Xiaoqiang's loss is already the biggest news in the Go world.

Although after stubborn resistance, Li Xiaoqiang did not dodge the fatal blow carefully prepared by Liu Changhe in the end.

Since the reversal of Li Shifo 3-2 in the "Toyo Securities Cup", Li Xiaoqiang, who has not known the taste of losing chess in the international arena for nearly half a year, finally fell to the hands of "assassin" Liu Changhe.

At around 5:10, the game ended, and Li Xiaoqiang lost by a disadvantage of 2 and a half goals. The reporters surrounded Yoo Chang-hyuk, and South Korea's Park reporter interviewed Yoo Chang-hyuk for the first time.

"Congratulations Chang Hyuk! How are you feeling now? ”

Liu Changhyuk's excited expression was mixed with a hint of exhaustion:

"Happy and tired, for any professional chess player, beating Li Xiaoqiang is a joyful thing, and I am naturally no exception. In the same way, if you haven't played chess with Li Xiaoqiang, you will never know how tiring it will be to play against him, and how difficult it will be to win a game of chess against him. ”

Reporter Park pointed to a hand of chess on the chessboard, which was considered by the research room to be a major reason for Yoo Chang-hyuk's victory: "Chang-hyuk you know, your move has been highly praised in the research room just now, has this move been studied?" How did you come up with this move? ”

Yoo Chang-hyuk looked at the move pointed out by reporter Park, first showed a look of surprise, and then said with a smile:

"I really hadn't studied this move beforehand, but when I was playing, I had a strong urge to play here. Although it may be possible to go down in other places, I thought at the time that if I wanted to compete with Li Xiaoqiang, I had to have this positive attitude......

That's right, the move that reporter Park just pointed out is a microcosm of Yoo Chang-hyuk's victory over Li Xiaoqiang this time.

Liu Changhyuk's preparation is not a flying knife, not a routine, his preparation is all-round

He made a lot of technical preparation, although many people say that because Li Xiaoqiang is "fickle", he rarely uses repeated openings, so he doesn't know how to prepare against him. However, there are certain rules for any chess player to follow, especially for a certain period of time, such as the preference for certain formulas, the choice of certain routines, and so on.

From today's game of chess, it can be seen that Liu Changhe has made sufficient preparations before the game, he knows Li Xiaoqiang's recent chess habits well, and has prepared corresponding strategies, which even Li Xiaoqiang can clearly feel during the game.

In addition to technical preparation, Yoo Chang-hyuk also prepared a good game mentality. It's like the move he played, which wasn't a great move, but it was a good move that was positive, a good move that wasn't impatient and patient.

Positivity and patience are the mentality embodied by Yoo Chang-hyuk in this game of chess.

With sufficient preparation, a good mentality, a high level of play, and mental arithmetic, Liu Changhe deserves this victory, and Li Xiaoqiang has nothing to say after losing this game of chess.

Looking at Liu Changhe, who was full of excitement after winning himself, Li Xiaoqiang was a little depressed, but he still congratulated Liu Changhe very graciously.

lost the game, and this year's "Golden Slam" dream was shattered, but Li Xiaoqiang himself was quite calm. After more than ten years of career, Li Xiaoqiang is also accustomed to winning and losing in the world of winning and losing. He even thought that if he lost a game of chess, he would cry and grab the ground, but what about the other chess players? Other chess players don't have to live at all.

What Li Xiaoqiang didn't expect was that he was relatively calm after losing, but the reaction from the outside world was extremely strong:

"The 2nd LG Cup" Yoo Chang-hyuk defeated Lee Xiaoqiang, and chess fans all over the world cheer......ed for it" (Korean media)

"In the just-concluded 2nd LG Cup Top 8 Tournament, Chinese chess player Li Xiaoqiang was eliminated by Liu Changhe, and with Li Xiaoqiang's defeat, the entire professional chess world breathed a sigh of relief......

On his way back to China after the game, Li Xiaoqiang looked through the post-match report about the game. After seeing similar words, Li Xiaoqiang said to reporter Zhang Da angrily:

"Am I so hated? If you lose a game of chess, there will be no cheers from chess fans all over the world. ”

Reporter Zhang Da said with a smile: "People are talking mainly about neutral chess fans, your fans will definitely not be able to cheer, but it is estimated that most neutral chess fans are still happy to see you lose." Don't you see the Japanese say that, you lose the chess, the whole chess world is relieved, I think this statement is still very reliable. ”

"Yes, yes, Xiaoqiang, if you lose like this, let alone the Japanese and Koreans, even I am relieved. At your point, then you have to be prepared to be the enemy of the whole world. ”

At this time, Ma Xiaofei joked that this time Ma Xiaofei defeated Li Shifo in the top 8 and broke into the top 4. Breaking into the top 4 is not a big deal for Ma Xiaofei, but this is his first victory over Li Shifo after 96 years, so Ma Xiaofei seems to be in a good mood.

After Ma Xiaofei finished speaking, Team Leader Hua, who led the team to South Korea this time, also spoke:

"Ma novel is good, Xiaoqiang, you have also seen it, when you reach your strength, then you can only be the enemy of the whole world, you must not only have this awareness, but also have this preparation."

Li Xiaoqiang felt funny again, to say that we Chinese are all good at ideological work, just now I just casually sighed, but I didn't expect to attract so much comfort and encouragement, either overt or covert. However, in this situation, everyone else is funny, and Li Xiaoqiang himself can't help but be funny. Therefore, Li Xiaoqiang is majestic and high-spirited:

"Okay, I, Li Xiaoqiang, will be the enemy of the whole world from now on......" Speaking of this, Li Xiaoqiang's painting style changed, and he turned to Ma Xiaofei with a smile: "...... Then Mr. Ma, you said that I should find the first one to have surgery/? Is it looking for you or looking for Lao Zhao? ”

Ma Xiaofei laughed: "Of course you are going to find Lao Zhao, what are you always thinking about me doing." ”

After the end of the "LG Cup", Li Xiaoqiang's most important game of the year is a few chess matches left. The international competition is the "Samsung Cup" five-game chess final with Zhao Zhixun, and the domestic competition also has the title defense battles such as "National Hand Battle" and "Chess King Battle". Among them, Ma Xiaofei, who won the right to challenge the "Chess King Battle", happened to bear the brunt.

Speaking of domestic chess battles, reporter Zhang Da reminded again: "By the way, there is also a celebrity battle, this time Xiaoqiang is also very promising to challenge, anyway, this year's World Series depends on the two of you, you better pinch it in China first." ”

The "Celebrity Battle" is a round-robin system, and the round-robin competition has not yet been completed, but Li Xiaoqiang has a good result at present, and he is the most hopeful to get the right to challenge. Referring to the topic of "celebrity war", Li Xiaoqiang joked with Ma Xiaofei again: "In fact, compared with other titles, what I value most is "celebrity", that is my first crown, I have not been a "celebrity" for many years now." Mr. Ma, if you are willing to exchange "celebrities" for "chess kings", I promise that you will be fine. ”

In real history, Ma Xiaofei's "celebrity" has been dominant for 13 consecutive years, and now he has achieved 7 consecutive hegemony. Therefore, Li Xiaoqiang's words really can't be said to be all jokes, he continued to sigh to Ma Xiaofei: "I may be able to break or create other records, but your record, I'm afraid it's a little difficult to break it." ”

Ma Xiaofei responded with a smile: "Xiaoqiang, you are hypocritical, haven't you Tianyuan Zhan been dominating for several consecutive sessions, according to this trend, what is my record, it is a matter of minutes for him to break it." ”

Of course, Ma Xiaofei won't know that Li Xiaoqiang is talking about the 13 consecutive hegemony created in his real history, not the current 7 consecutive hegemony.

After returning to China after the "LG Cup" competition, Li Xiaoqiang focused on other competitions. Although he joked with Ma Xiaofei, what everyone values most is undoubtedly international competitions.

Although the "Samsung Cup" started earlier than the "LG Cup", it ended later than the "LG Cup". According to the schedule, the final of the "Samsung Cup" will not start until mid-December and end at the end of December. In this way, the final between Li Xiaoqiang and Zhao Zhixun has become the finale of 98.

After returning to China, Li Xiaoqiang first competed with Ma Xiaofei for the title of "Chess King", Li Xiaoqiang did not fulfill his joke, and he defeated Ma Xiaofei with a score of 3-1 to defend the "Chess King". At about the same time, Li Xiaoqiang won the right to challenge the "Celebrity War" as he wished, and will play five games with Ma Xiaofei again a little later.

In November 1998, Li Xiaoqiang ushered in Chang Rensheng's challenge in the "National Hand War", and Ma Xiaofei went to the semifinals of the "LG Cup".

Everything was normal for Li Xiaoqiang's side, and he defeated Chang Rensheng with the same score of 3-1, further consolidating his dominance in the domestic chess world. Ma Xiaofei missed on his side, he lost to the Japanese chess player Wang Licheng and missed the final again.

The two players who reached the final of the "LG Cup" were Wang Licheng and Liu Changhyuk.

The final result was a little unexpected, and the defending champion Yoo Chang-hyuk, who eliminated Li Xiaoqiang in the round of 8, lost 1-3 to Mr. Wang Licheng.

This is the third time that Mr. Wang Licheng has reached the World Series finals and won the championship for the first time.

With this championship returning to Japan, South Korean Go unexpectedly came to the bottom of this year's competition between China, Japan and South Korea. Because there are no Korean chess players in the subsequent "Samsung Cup" finals, this means that Korean Go will not be able to win in the four international competitions this year.

And with the defeat of Liu Changhyuk, a new argument has emerged in the world chess world. This argument is related to Li Xiaoqiang, and is called "Li Xiaoqiang's curse" by good deeds.

The specific content of this argument is that anyone who wins Li Xiaoqiang in a certain competition will not win the championship in the end.

The so-called "Li Xiaoqiang's curse" is actually not much, and there are only a few to count.

For example, this year's Liu Changhyuk, such as last year's Li Shifo, he also defeated Li Xiaoqiang in the semifinals of the "LG Cup", but ultimately lost to Liu Changhe in the final. Further forward, there are actually others, such as Kobayashi Jue, Cao Yanzi, Kobayashi Koji and others, they have all eliminated Li Xiaoqiang in the World Series, but none of them have won the championship of the current competition, but everyone has a vague impression of these.

This argument reached Li Xiaoqiang's ears, and Li Xiaoqiang felt angry and funny again. He said in his heart what is the "Li Xiaoqiang curse", this is clearly the "LC Cup curse", in real history, the "LG Cup" is the most popular in all world competitions.

But Li Xiaoqiang can't take care of these now.

December 1998 is coming, and Li Xiaoqiang is about to participate in this year's finale. (To be continued.) )