On the first weekend of April 1988, the first professional Go tournament in the world, the Fujitsu Cup, was held.

On the day of the game, Li Xiaoqiang came to the training hall of the Go team early. Although he is not qualified to participate in such a world competition for the time being, Li Xiaoqiang still does not want to miss this kind of grand event in the Go world.

When the first Fujitsu Cup first started, it didn't cause much repercussions among the general public, except in the Go world. Especially in China, most people only know about the Ludao Ring Tournament, but not about the Ludao Fujitsu Cup. This is, of course, because of a kind of inertia. The repercussions caused by the tournament in China, and the positive role it has played in promoting Chinese Go, cannot be overstated.

In the real history, in the 5th ring match, the Chinese side established its advantage early and "invited" the Japanese coach Masaki Takemiya very early. The final match of the tournament was held in Nanjing, China, with China's Qian Yuping taking on Wu Gong. When the organizer organized the listing explanation, due to the large number of participants, the ordinary venue could not satisfy the enthusiasm of chess fans. The organizers had no choice but to put the listing explanation in the gymnasium.

The organizers made an oversized chessboard and placed it directly on the football field, and the diameter of one chess piece was 1 to 2 meters. Chess fans watch Go matches just like they watch football matches.

It is said that the number of chess fans who came to watch the game reached 8,000 to 10,000. When Qian Yuping won the most decisive victory, the whole scene was thunderous......

Do all these spectators play Go? Not necessarily, I'm afraid. In China, in this era, the tournament has such an influence that it can make ordinary people who don't play chess much enthusiastic about it.

When the first Fujitsu Cup was first held, it not only had little influence in China. In fact, the Japanese are also relatively low-key. Indeed, if you follow the thinking of "professional competition", although the Fujitsu Cup is known as the "World Championship", it is actually its competition specifications. In Japan, it is also a medium level.

Since it is a "professional competition", it must of course be measured in terms of the number of prize money. The prize money for the winner of the "Fujitsu Cup" is 15 million yen, while the prize money for Japan's "Big Triple Crown" and the "Honinbo Battle" with the least prize money is 32 million yen.

Compared with Japan's "Big Triple Crown", the "Fujitsu Cup" is obviously not a grade in terms of the number of prize money alone. At most, it is at the same level as Japan's "Tian Yuan War". In the eyes of the Japanese, the "Fujitsu Cup" may not even be as good as their "Tengen War".

There should be some truth in their opinion, holding professional competitions, in addition to looking at the championship prize money. In fact, there is another important indicator, which is to look at the "total budget". Due to the size of the competition, the total budget for the Fujitsu Cup is more than 40 million yen. It's just about the same as the prize money for the Japanese "chess holy war". As for Japan's "Tengen War", its championship prize money is similar to the "Fujitsu Cup", but it is a tournament in which all Japanese professional chess players participate, and its total budget is definitely more than the "Fujitsu Cup".

When Mr. Ying Changqi was preparing for the "Ying's Cup", he determined the championship prize of 400,000 US dollars, which was to make the "Ying's Cup" the "No. 1 Go Competition in the World". At the time of its inception, the "Ying's Cup" was indeed a professional Go tournament with the highest prize money for the champion. It surpassed the prize money for the championship of the Japanese "Chess Holy War".

However, since the beginning of the new century, the yen has been appreciating. The prize money of the "Ying's Cup" can only be ranked ahead of the "Ben Yin Fang Battle", behind the "Celebrity Battle" in Japan. You can only rank 3rd on the prize list.

To tell you the truth, just about "professionalism". Japanese Go is the most mature and standardized. This is something that China and South Korea cannot think of. Although the level of Japanese Go in later generations has degenerated a little bit unusually.

In any case, the "Fujitsu Cup" is the first professional Go tournament in the world. Its relevance is still extraordinary. Compared with other professional competitions that followed, the Fujitsu Cup actually has another important feature. It's just that it has a very fixed race time!

Don't underestimate this characteristic, this is actually an important sign of "professional" maturity. For example, in the world of professional tennis, the time of the "four Grand Slams" is basically fixed every year. We can imagine this. Suppose a local tyrant wants to hold a tennis tournament, even if he pays twice the prize money, I'm afraid he won't be able to grab the game time of the "Wimbledon Tennis Tournament", right? This should be inevitable, the International Tennis Federation will not agree, and most ordinary fans probably will not agree either. Because there is a "traditional" issue involved here.

The charm of professional competitions, in addition to high level, in addition to high specifications, in addition to high prize money. There's another source of charm, and that's tradition! To form a tradition, there are only two conditions, one is persistence, and the other is a fixed time.

China's "Tian Yuan Battle" and "Celebrity Battle" are valued by chess fans because they are more "traditional" than other domestic competitions. In the amateur Go world of later generations, there were a variety of amateur "Grand Prix" tournaments every year. However, many amateur masters still attach more importance to the "Evening Cup" and "Yellow River Cup", and Liu Er has publicly stated that the only amateur competition he will insist on participating in every year is the "Evening Cup". Why do you value the "Evening Cup" more? It's nothing more than valuing its traditions!

In terms of adhering to the "tradition", the later world competitions are far behind. The time of the game is changed at will, and there is no seriousness at all. To tell you the truth, your organizers don't respect the competitions you run, how can you tell others to respect you?

The first Fujitsu Cup was attended by 16 players, and although the number of players was small, the competition was fierce. In the words of Hideyuki Fujisawa, of the 16 players who participated, there were as many as seven who had the potential to win the championship. The seven players he refers to include Japan's "Five Supers" in addition to Otake's Hero, plus China's Nie Whirlwind and South Korea's Cao Yanzi.

On the afternoon of the first round, Japan's game was sent back to China. Li Xiaoqiang, like other Chinese players, was eagerly following the course of the tournament. In his previous life, Li Xiaoqiang, as a senior chess fan, also paid great attention to the World Championship. Of course, the mood of watching chess is definitely different.

In the past, when I watched chess, I watched the game with an attitude of "appreciation" at most, and I couldn't even talk about "learning". And now? A thought often involuntarily appeared in Li Xiaoqiang's mind:

"If I were to go to a certain situation now, where would I choose to land......"

In the national Go team, of course, everyone pays more attention to the performance of Chinese players. Among the four Chinese chess players who participated, Nie Whirlwind met a European and American chess player in the first round and was "escorted" to the quarterfinals. Ma Xiaofei ran into an unknown Korean chess player and won with ease. Cao Dafang's luck in the ninth section is relatively poor. He met Kobayashi Koji of Japan and lost in an internal force competition. Yu Bin met Zhao Zhixun and began his journey of "youth destruction".

In the world of chess, a very wonderful thing once happened. In the era when there were not many World Competitions, Yu Bin had participated in the World Championships 6 times. In these 6 competitions, he met Zhao Zhixun and was eliminated by Zhao Zhixun without exception. Yu Bin once laughed at himself and said: His youth is "destroyed" in the hands of Zhao Zhixun. The first Fujitsu Cup was the first time.

In addition to paying attention to the games of Chinese chess players, Li Xiaoqiang paid more attention to Korean chess players. There are 3 Korean chess players participating in this tournament. In addition to the one who was eliminated by Ma Xiaofei, the other two. It was the later famous Cao Yanzi and Xu Bongzhu. Before the rise of Lee Seok-fo and Yoo Chang-hyuk, the undisputed top two positions in the Korean chess world.

This year's competition is also fantastic. In the minds of many people, this should be regarded as the first public appearance of Korean Go. In Li Xiaoqiang's view, the appearance of South Korean Go has shown enough strength. It's just that not many people notice this because of the grades.

Cao Yanzi was very strange and ran into Masaki Takemiya, the biggest sufferer besides his disciples. Through a fierce battle, Cao Yanzi was defeated. Seo Bong-so meets Mr. Lim Hae-bong. It's also a half-sighted defeat. As a result, through the first round, none of the Korean players made it to the top 8. On the face of it, Korean Go clearly didn't get everyone's attention.

Of course. Li Xiaoqiang will not see it that way. You must know that if history has not changed, Mr. Masaki Takemiya and Mr. Lin Haifeng should be the champions and runners-up of this competition. Korean chess players were all eliminated by the champion and runner-up. And only half an eye. That in itself speaks of their strength. What's more, the level of performance they perform on the board is not inferior to the Japanese super-first.

Cao Yanzi lost to Wu Gong. In the world of Go. As long as you encounter a "bitter hand", indeed anything strange can happen. Xu Bong-su lost to Mr. Lin in this game of chess, which is indeed a "unjust case".

After that game of chess entered the official stage, Xu Bongsu was once in a good situation. After the worst, Mr. Lin Haifeng won an incredible robbery, and then he was overturned.

The tribulation that Mr. Lin won was a "slow tribulation". That is, the legendary "Lai Pi Tribulation". Seo Bong-su will even lose such a catastrophe, which can only be described as a ghost envoy.

Generally speaking, it is relatively normal to "slow down the calamity" and often appear on the chessboard. "Slow down the two qi tribulations" is already very difficult to fight. And "slow down the three qi tribulations"...... Ordinary people are embarrassed to fight, which is also the reason why it is called "Lai Pi Robbery".

Li Xiaoqiang has been watching this game of chess. Mr. Lin was able to win this catastrophe, on the one hand, it shows that Mr. Lin is indeed very tenacious, and the "two waists" are worthy of the name. On the other hand, Seo Bong-so really played badly at the last moment. Many of the moves are clearly contradictory. Suffer from gains and losses. Li Xiaoqiang sighed in his heart that the prestige of Japan's six supers is really great, and South Korean Go also has no confidence when it encounters six supers at this time.

Indeed, Seo Bong-so's later moves can only be explained by a lack of self-confidence. Only a serious lack of self-confidence will lead to gains and losses, and will lead to serious deformation of the technical movements.

After the first round, Japanese Go showed great strength in this era. There were 6 Japanese players in the top 8, and all 5 of the top players in the competition passed the test. In the round of eight, the basic pattern changed to China's "Niema" against Japan's super-first-class chess players.

Nie continued his good form in the ring after the match. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Mr. Masao Kato again and took the lead in the top 4. Wu Gong eliminated Ma Xiaofei and avenged the revenge of one arrow in the ring. Kobayashi Koji also successfully entered the top 4. In another strong dialogue, Mr. Lin Haifeng eliminated Zhao Zhixun. In this way, through two rounds of competition, all the top four of the first "Fujitsu Cup" were produced. Nie Whirlwind and 3 Japanese super-first-class players formed the top 4 lineup.

In the minds of most people, such a lineup basically represents the pattern of the entire world chess world in this era.

Watched two rounds of the World World Championship in a row. Li Xiaoqiang's mood couldn't calm down for a long time. In his previous life, when Li Xiaoqiang became a Go enthusiast. These Go superstars are basically his childhood idols. When Li Xiaoqiang played these people's chess games. Even if I was dreaming, I never thought that I would be able to fight these people.

And now......

"I'm sure I'll create opportunities to fight you, while you're still at your peak, before you're old......"

Li Xiaoqiang continues to work hard for his dreams. (To be continued......)