At the end of 2007, on the eve of the final of the 4th "World Chess Holy War". Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info the office of reporter Zhang Da of Shencheng "Go" magazine, Li Xiaoqiang was flipping through an article just written by reporter Zhang Da.

“。。。 At the age of 13, Li Xiaoqiang won his first title, at the age of 16, he won his first world title, and at the age of 22, he began to enter the peak of his career. It is recognized by the entire Go community: since 1997, when Li Xiaoqiang was 22 years old, the world chess world entered the "Li Xiaoqiang era". Ten years, a whole decade! Ten years can change a lot in the blink of an eye... ”

“。。。 When the "Li Xiaoqiang Dynasty" enters its 10th year, can the era that belongs to him continue? This is the topic that the entire Go community is most concerned about at present. Yes, Li Xiaoqiang is about to suffer an unprecedented challenge! In the past 10 years, there has never been a challenger as expected by Gu Dali... ”

“。。。 Since ancient times, famous generals are like beauties, and they are not allowed to see white heads in the world, in the face of the scorching Gu Dali, can Li Xiaoqiang still resist the impact of young people?。。。 What I just want to say now is that it doesn't matter, no matter what the result of this tournament is, it will not affect Li Xiaoqiang's status in the minds of the majority of chess fans, he is great enough, he is a living legend in the Go world... ”

Seeing this, Li Xiaoqiang smiled and shook his head, and he teased reporter Zhang Da who was sitting opposite him:

"I can't think of it, I can't imagine it, the clear-eyed reporter Zhang Da actually has a time of rebellion... I said Lao Zhang, are you really not optimistic that I can defend my title? ”

"Huh? What do you call me ... ”

Since the two met, Li Xiaoqiang has always called him Reporter Zhang Da, and now that Li Xiaoqiang has changed his name, Reporter Zhang Da is really a little uncomfortable all of a sudden.

Li Xiaoqiang laughed: "In your eyes, I, Li Xiaoqiang, am already old, so what's wrong with me calling you Lao Zhang." ”

Reporter Zhang Da stared at Li Xiaoqiang's eyes: "Xiaoqiang, do you really have confidence in defending the title this time?" ”

Li Xiaoqiang did not answer directly, he shook the newspaper in his hand, and continued to say in a mocking tone:

"Reporter Zhang, do you know what I think of your article?"

"What to say."

Except for the word "what everyone wants", everything else is nonsense. ”

This year's Gu Dali is indeed worthy of the adjective "what everyone expects".

Since defeating Chen Xiaoqiang at the end of last year and winning his third crown. The high-spirited Gu Dali learned from Li Shi 2 years ago:

"Now in my eyes, there is only the boss, and my biggest wish in the coming year is to challenge him in the World Chess Holy War. Everyone knows that the boss is made for the big stage, so it only makes sense to beat him on this stage. ”

And unlike Xiao Li's desperate approach two years ago, Gu Dali, who entered 2007, attacked on all fronts, showing a trend of full flowering.

In the domestic competition, Gu Dali snatched the "national player" from Li Xiaoqiang this year, and successfully defended the title by repelling Kong Erjie's challenge in the "Chess King Battle". At present, there are four major titles in China, Li Xiaoqiang holds "Tianyuan" and "Celebrity", and Gu vigorously controls the "Chess King" and "National Player". Although it is still evenly divided on the surface, someone with a heart has counted such a data:

"To Li Xiaoqiang's career so far, he has fought against Li Xiaoqiang more than ten times, and only Ma Xiaofei can have an advantage over Li Xiaoqiang in terms of mutual records, and the two have played a total of 99 times, and Ma Xiaofei has an advantage of 50-49. I have to admit that this is a record that Ma Xiaofei should be proud of, and I originally thought that there would never be such a chess player again. But now I suddenly found out that the second such player seems to be coming soon, and this player is Gu Dali. So far, although the two of them still have the advantage of Li Xiaoqiang, many of them are debts owed by Gu Dali before. If you only compare the records of the two in the last two years, you will find that it was Gu Dali who won two more sets. Considering the age of both parties, considering each other's rise and fall, I think it is a matter of time before Gu Dali surpasses Li Xiaoqiang... ”

In addition to the domestic arena, in this year's World Championships, Gu Dali is even more majestic. "Fujitsu Cup", "Samsung Cup", and the newly created "BC Card Cup" have fallen into the ancient big bag. In just over two years, Gu Dali quickly became the "six champions" of the world chess world, such a speed, but Li Xiaoqiang did not do it back then. Gu Dali's performance shocked the entire world chess world.

Fortunately, the competition in today's chess world is fierce, and another world competition this year, the "LG Cup", fell into Li Shishi's bag, which did not let Gu Dali concentrate on beauty alone.

On the other hand, Li Xiaoqiang, before the arrival of the "World Chess Holy War", he won nothing in this year's World Championship and was empty-handed. This has not been the case since 1997.

Since 1997, Li Xiaoqiang has held the record of winning at least one world championship every year. Will such a record be ended when the "Li Xiaoqiang Dynasty" enters its 10th year?

All of this has made the next "World Chess Holy War" final attract much attention, and when Gu Dali won the right to challenge, even Zhang Da, the most determined "little strong fan", has now been shaken.

"Did you see the game of chess that won against Li Shishi? Everyone says that the current vigorous force, that is the peak of you a few years ago... ”

Li Xiaoqiang nodded and smiled: "Of course I saw it, but it doesn't seem right, I made a similar trick, it seems that seven or eight years have passed... ”

The two were talking about the just-concluded "World Chess Holy War" challenger decisive battle. The battle for the right to challenge this time is between Gu Dali and Li Shishi, two of the best young chess players in the world today.

In fact, it is not only a battle for the right to challenge, but this year's "World Chess Holy War" has almost become a stage for young chess players to show themselves. Li Shifo was eliminated when he entered 32 at 64. In the top 8, Chang Rensheng became the oldest chess player. However, after struggling to reach the top 8, Chang Rensheng was no longer able to advance an inch. The top 4 in this year's "World Chess Holy War" are Gu Dali, Li Shishi, Kong Erjie and Zhang Xu, all of whom are "post-80s" chess players in their early 20s.

In the end, Gu Dali defeated Li Shishi with a score of 3-1 and qualified to challenge Li Xiaoqiang.

In this five-way chess game between Gu Dali and Li Shishi, Gu Dali's performance was highly praised by everyone. Especially in the decisive 4th game, in that game, Gu Dali made a shocking move, this is what Li Xiaoqiang and Zhang Da reporters were talking about just now,

This trick is very similar to Li Xiaoqiang's "70-step trick" when he was competing with Liu Changhe. It is precisely for this reason that there is a popular saying in the current Go world:

"The current Gu Dali is Li Xiaoqiang at his peak."

Reporter Zhang Da looked at Li Xiaoqiang with wide eyes: "Xiaoqiang, I said that you are interesting, everyone says that you are like you, you are at your peak, what does it mean that you always emphasize that it was seven or eight years ago?" ”

Li Xiaoqiang smiled and said, "You should know what I mean." ”

Reporter Zhang Da burst into laughter: "Hahaha, of course I know what you mean, you always emphasize that seven or eight years ago, just to say that you were not at your peak at that time, you are Ah Q's spiritual victory method, that's what it means." ”

Li Xiaoqiang smiled bitterly: "Then do you think that I have any other way than to use the Spiritual Victory Method now?" ”

Reporter Zhang Da restrained his smile: "Xiaoqiang, there are no outsiders here today, you just tell me the truth, don't tell me whether you have faith or not, just tell me directly: Do you think you have a play this time?" ”

Li Xiaoqiang smiled bitterly again: "Don't, don't be so serious, okay." To tell you the truth, this time against Dali, I never thought that I would have a play. The only thing I can tell you is that I'm really looking forward to this race and I'm going to enjoy it. Not everyone ... ”

Li Xiaoqiang stared at reporter Zhang Da's eyes: "... Not everyone can fight against their past self and their own shadow. ”

"Hehe, Xiaoqiang, you know, I'm right to you now...

"Say it quickly."

"I finally have a little bit of confidence in you now."

After saying this, reporter Zhang Da asked Li Xiaoqiang:

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow, I'll fly straight from here to Tokyo tomorrow."

At the end of 2007, Li Xiaoqiang flew to Tokyo, Japan, and began to prepare to fight his shadow. (To be continued.) )