"Ma Xiao and Xiao Qiang, the two of you came over, and the candidates to represent China were born between the two of you. I think it's better for the two of you to discuss it for yourselves, and see who is going to play this show chess later. ”

"Needless to say, of course it's Xiaoqiang, I see, people are so ingenious, in fact, they are coming for Xiaoqiang's name, and the organizer's mind must be willing to let Xiaoqiang go. I'm playing for nothing. ”

"Hehe, I said Mr. Ma, I think you should be on it, you didn't listen to other people's requests, but they asked for a "respectable" chess player. Isn't this clear, look at where I have a "respectable" appearance. That's why I said it's better for you to go up, and it's definitely more appropriate for you to go up than for me. ”

At the opening ceremony of the 5th "Fujitsu Cup", the organizers organized several exhibition matches with ingenuity, preparing to let China, Japan and South Korea each send a master to guide the three freshly baked Japanese beginners.

Naturally, everyone will not refuse such an arrangement, but after all, this kind of activity is relatively casual, and the Japanese side does not appoint a candidate, but only allows the Chinese and South Korean sides to negotiate on their own, and notify them after determining the good candidates, so that they can make arrangements.

This exhibition match is part of the opening ceremony, and as soon as the opening ceremony is over, the first round of the competition will start on day 2. Therefore, the Chinese side is in the process of making sure that ... When the selection is made, players who need to participate in the first round are excluded first. In this way, the candidates can only be selected between Li Xiaoqiang and Ma Xiaofei.

In the last tournament, only Li Xiaoqiang and Ma Xiaofei of the Chinese team made it to the top 8, so they are seeded players and do not have to participate in the first round. Nie Whirlwind lost to Seo Bong-so in the last round of 16, and this tournament also needs to start from the first round.

Seeing that Ma Xiaofei and Li Xiaoqiang were both giggling and humbling there, Wang Lunan, who was the head of the Chinese delegation, finally made the final decision. He thought for a while, and then said to Ma Xiaofei with a smile:

"Ma Xiao, I think it's better for you to work hard, and you will still represent our Chinese team in this event. Originally, it didn't matter if you were on or Xiaoqiang. But I just observed, and the few new junior dans produced in Japan this time are not young, and the age of that female junior dan seems to be older than our Xiaoqiang, right? The other two should also be over 15 years old. In this way, they and Xiaoqiang are actually the same age. I'm mainly thinking about them, too. Think about it, if Xiaoqiang is arranged to play, and Xiaoqiang is too ruthless, it is not good to leave a psychological shadow on other children, which is not good for people's future careers, do you say ......"

"Hahahaha."

Wang Lunan's remarks made the rest of the Chinese delegation laugh. And so the matter was settled. It was Ma Xiaofei who represented China, not Li Xiaoqiang.

Wang Lunan will make this decision, which is also based on the judgment of the strength of Japan's new early section, he believes that the Japanese early section should still have little hope of winning when he is conceded by a top master, so he will make such an arrangement.

As for Ma Xiaofei, according to Ma Xiaofei's current strength, everyone recognizes that he is still a little bit short of being "super first-class". But when it comes to handicap chess, a fact that is not well known. In terms of handicap chess alone, Ma Xiaofei's skills are extremely terrifying, and it is not too much to say that it is super-first-class among super-first-class.

It is rumored in the rivers and lakes that Ma Xiaofei once beat a woman's professional fourth stage to let 4 sons. And he won the battle, which shows how powerful his handicap chess kung fu is. Of course, Ma Xiaofei can achieve such a "brilliant" result, and it does not completely rely on his absolute strength. It can only be said that it is under various coincidences that this kind of mythical story has been achieved.

The female chess player who played chess with Ma Xiaofei was an old acquaintance of Ma Xiaofei. Strictly speaking, she is also Ma Xiaofei's senior sister, when Ma Xiaofei first joined the provincial team, she was also taken care of a lot, so they have been very familiar with each other since childhood.

Things are interesting in this place, the reason why the female chess player lost was because she was too familiar with Ma Xiaofei. To say that although this female chess player has been out of the professional line for many years, in all fairness, it is basically impossible for Ma Xiaofei to let 4 pieces move. However, Ma Xiaofei also wilted when he played chess, he knew that his senior sister was very familiar with him, so when playing chess, Ma Xiaofei incarnated as the "Emperor of Expressions", all kinds of off-board moves emerged in an endless stream, and when people played good chess, he deliberately bared his teeth and grinned, with a look of contempt, and pretended to say "You can also play this kind of stinky chess......

And when people really play bad chess, Ma Xiaofei deliberately made a serious appearance, pretending to take a long test there: "Alas, it's difficult to do now, this move is really difficult to deal with......"

This is how things happened, his senior sister was deceived by Ma Xiaofei's various expressions. As a result, the senior sister was also tragic in the end, and she was so angry that she never played chess with Ma Xiaofei again.

Of course, considering the face of Senior Sister Ma Xiaofei, this anecdote is not widely circulated, but there are still many people in the Go world who know it, although this story is not representative. However, Ma Xiaofei is very good at chess and is also famous in the circle. Everyone decided to let Ma Xiaofei accompany a Japanese early dan to play a game of backgammon, and no one thought there would be any problems.

Truth be told, a top chess player has a new junior 2 pieces, and in this day and age, no one will find anything wrong. However, as long as the time is pushed back 20 years, then no one will think that the ninth section can make the first stage 2. From this change in detail, we can actually see the changes of the times and the inevitability of the collapse of the rank system.

When Japan first established the rank system, there were strict boundaries between dans, and the ranks were quite strict. The 9th and 8th dan are the "first to first" chess, and the seventh dan is the "fixed first...... If we follow the "first phase", "set first" and so on, then in the end, the gap between the ninth section and the first stage is about 3 to 4 children. This should be the initial hierarchy.

How do you say that? To illustrate with a figurative example, if it is divided according to this hierarchy, then all the 9Ds on the Internet in later generations, as well as some of the 8Ds, should have the "professional level" of ancient times.

With the development of the times, in fact, the most important thing is that with the popularity of Go, more and more people are learning chess, and the professional threshold has gradually increased. For example, chess players like Chang Rensheng and Luo Shenzhu. When they become professional chess players, they are about 2 pieces with top chess players.

However, this situation did not last long, with the strong rise of Go in South Korea, and as the game became more and more popular in China, the professional threshold was raised again. For example, in the next life, if you want to cross the threshold of professional Go, if you do not reach the level of top chess players, then if you want to pass the fixed stage exam, it is basically impossible. Especially in South Korea, where the situation is even more exaggerated. For a long time, it was generally believed that Korea was the strongest in the early stage, which is why South Korea has staged the so-called "early stage storm" one after another.

The reason for this situation is mainly due to different systems. Why is South Korea so strong in the early stages? This is because their career threshold is particularly high, and the number of places to enter the stage each year is particularly small. At its most relaxed, South Korea only had 6 quota places per year, and later it was even being reduced to only 2 to 3 quota places per year.

Why are they doing this? This is actually determined by the market capacity. Because Go is a niche sport after all. Moreover, the situation of Go is special after all, and the career of chess players is generally relatively long. In other words. The "metabolism" of the Go world is relatively slow, and if the professional threshold is lifted, the number of professional chess players will increase dramatically. The whole market can't accommodate so many professional chess players. It is with this situation in mind that the Korean chess world is particularly strict at this level. It is for this reason that for a period of time, the first stage of Korea felt particularly strong.

Think about it. Top chess players let go first, and if this is in ancient Japan, it is also a seven-dan "master". In the next life, you must be at or near the "Beginner" level to pass the career threshold.

The situation is slightly different in China, where the competition is getting fiercer, but there are still more than 20 places to enter the stage every year, so the environment is a little more relaxed. Why is China doing this? This is because compared to Japan and South Korea, the boundaries between amateur and professional in China are relatively blurred. In China, everyone is aware of the fact that even if you successfully pass the fixed stage exam, you may not have any professional competitions. In other words, you may not be a real professional chess player at this time. This is the biggest difference between China and Japan and South Korea.

In Japan and South Korea, if you pass the vocational exam, it is equivalent to you obtaining an "identity certificate", as long as you have the ability, you can participate in any professional competition. Therefore, they have to strictly control the issuance of this "proof of identity". And in China? Your attainment of the status of the first stage of your career is more like a "level certification", which only proves that you have reached the professional level, but does not ensure that you have actually become a professional chess player. If you want to really support yourself by playing chess, you need to work tirelessly.

This is the gap caused by different systems.

In later generations, the decline of Japanese Go was actually evident in the new early stage. Li Xiaoqiang remembered that after entering the new century, there was a time when it was also a "lion battle", and Kobayashi Satoru participated in this competition as the reigning "chess saint" of Japan at that time. In the game, also in the case of making 2 sons, Kobayashi Satoru easily defeated the new early section. When he first saw this news report, Li Xiaoqiang lamented the lack of successors to Japanese Go. In the Chinese and Korean chess world, young chess players must reach the level of "getting started" in order to be successful. And at that time, in the new early stage of Japan, there were still only top masters who made 2 sons. It can be seen that there are indeed fewer and fewer people learning chess in China, and the competitive environment is far less fierce than that of China and South Korea.

The Chinese side decided that Ma Xiaofei would go after the war. The South Korean side has also been confirmed. Probably based on the same considerations as the Chinese delegation, South Korea's candidate for the tournament is Seo Bong-so, who is the top 8 of the last "Fujitsu Cup" and the only seeded player in the Korean delegation this year.

When everyone walked into the venue with great interest, they were ready to attend this ingenious opening ceremony. The candidate for the Japanese Chess Academy has also been determined, and it is Mr. Zhao Zhixun. When everyone knew the news, it caused a sensation at the venue, and everyone agreed that the Japanese Chess Academy sent Zhao Zhixun to play, is it a bit "too heavy"? It's not good for the newcomers.

Why do you think so? If Ma Xiaofei's handicap chess kung fu is known, only a few people in China know it. Then Mr. Zhao Zhixun's handicap level is famous all over the world.

One of Cho Ji-hoon's most famous events was a few years ago, when Mr. Cho Ji-hoon became Japan's "Big Triple Crown" for the first time. The Japanese side held a special up-and-down chess battle, which was played by Zhao Zhixun against the young talents of Japan at that time, and the cutting-edge combination composed of Hiroshi Yamashiro, Satoru Kobayashi and Wang Licheng. At the time of this competition, these three players were already 7th and 8th dan high-level chess players, and their results in Japan at that time were also very good, and they belonged to the best young chess players in Japan at that time. Judging from their later development, these chess players are indeed very good, Kobayashi Satoru and Wang Licheng later won the title of Japan's "Chess Saint", and they, together with Yida Kiki, are the most outstanding representatives of Japan's "post-six super era".

When playing this game, something shocking happened: three outstanding young chess players took turns to play, but they couldn't resist Zhao Zhixun's offensive at all. was brutally demoted to 2 sons by Zhao Zhixun!

When he was relegated to 2 sons, the game was not over. It's time for Satoru Kobayashi's turn to play. Mr. Kobayashi Jue, who was sad, had no choice but to accept Zhao Zhixun's "guidance" from his two sons. But the result was okay, Kobayashi Jue withstood the pressure, and finally blocked Zhao Zhixun's crazy praise in the case of letting the two sons, otherwise he would really lose face.

However, when everyone carefully analyzed the content of the chess game, everyone was still very shocked, because in this game of chess, Zhao Zhixun was not without a chance, because it was a handicap, he played countless sets for the opponent, so that the chess kung fu was vividly performed. Fortunately, these traps were dodged by Kobayashi Jue one by one, which did not let Zhao Zhixun succeed.

"If you can play 2 backgammon with 7 dan like this, Mr. Zhao's real chess strength is not 11 dan ......"

This is what many people said about Mr. Cho Ji-hoon after this competition. Since this is an open competition, the games are published in magazines and newspapers. Therefore, Zhao Zhixun's handicap chess kung fu is strong, and it can be said that many people know it.

"Let's take the lottery ceremony...... Well, the results of the draw are out, so let's first invite Miss Yukari Umezawa to play, she is the winner of this year's Spring Festival big hand and the first female champion since the establishment of the Japan Chess Academy. Her opponent today is ...... Zhao Zhixun Ben Yinfang ......"

After knowing that her opponent was Cho Ji-hoon, Yukari Umezawa's little face turned a little pale. Seeing her expression, Li Xiaoqiang secretly laughed.

What will the game of chess between Yukari Umezawa and Zhao Zhixun become? (To be continued......)