"Mr. Hu, what do you think of the young chess players now?"

"Today's young chess players are amazing, in short, I can't understand the world of young people, how can they be so powerful?"

The growth rate of young chess players has been a hot topic in the Go world in recent years, so there is no obstacle for Hu Yi and Zhang Da to communicate with reporters.

More than 10 years ago, when Li Xiaoqiang's group of chess players first entered the stage, in addition to Li Xiaoqiang's "outlier", Chang Ren Shengdu had to be conceded by Zhang Xuan to have 2 sons. But now, for any young man who has just entered the stage, let alone let alone let 2 sons, the top masters dare not win lightly even if they let the first.

When Chang Rensheng was 15 or 6 years old, they only had the strength to compete with local stalwarts chess players, and if they faced Liu Dazhui and Cao Dafang and others, they would still be obviously at a disadvantage at that time.

But when it comes to Gu Dali's group of chess players, they are now 15 or 6 years old, and it is no longer news that they have defeated Liu Dazhui Yu Bin and others, only the victory over Li Xiaoqiang or Ma Xiaofei is news, which has been proven many times in China's "Weijia" arena.

The 15-year-old Gu Dali may not be able to compare with Li Xiaoqiang at the same time, but he is definitely stronger than Chang Rensheng at the age of 15, which is a fact that everyone can see clearly. In short, the growth rate of today's young chess players is accelerating, and the maturity cycle is getting shorter, which has become a consensus among everyone.

The situation is not only for young Chinese players, but also for other countries, especially in South Korea, where young players grow faster and have a shorter maturity cycle.

"If you hold a competition and let Xiaoqiang and these young people go up and down, Mr. Hu, what do you think of this idea?"

"Lifting? You mean the lifting race? ”

"That's right, it's the lifting race."

"Oh, that big reporter tell me what you think specifically......"

It must be admitted that the reason why reporter Zhang Da's words can attract Hu Yi is that "lifting competition" is the most important keyword.

Since the end of Mr. Wu Qingyuan's 10 Shiban Lifting Tournaments, this special charm of the competition system has been extinct for many years.

The Shiban Lifting Competition, which reached the most brilliant in the hands of Wu Qingyuan, actually ended in the hands of Mr. Wu Qingyuan. Back then, when the Japanese Go community hosted the first "Old Celebrity Battle", the organizers invited Wu Qingyuan to participate in the competition, and also asked Mr. Wu for his understanding. Mr. Wu came to say at that time:

"I've worked hard for so many years, so it's not counted......

Yes, the reason why the Juban Lifting Tournament could not be held at that time was because he could not help Mr. Wu Qingyuan find a suitable opponent, and all the top players in the Japanese chess world were ravaged by him, in this case, the organizers had no choice but to host a new format of the competition.

So, to paraphrase a very common saying: "History has now turned a new page".

Although there was an even older "Honinbo Battle" in the Japanese chess world before the "Old Celebrity War", many people believe that the "Old Celebrity War" is a new beginning, a game that is not so exciting, not so cruel, and all players use the game mode of splitting the game first to become the mainstream of the world chess world, and it has continued to this day. Including the current world chess battle mode, it is actually fundamentally different from the lifting tournament.

An interesting question: which of the two types of games is more difficult? For example, let Li Xiaoqiang come to the next Shiban chess rise and fall and the next World Series final to compete for the world championship? Li Xiaoqiang thinks that the former is much more difficult.

"In a World Series final, a certain chess player lost the game regrettably due to serious technical deformation due to excessive psychological pressure......"

After entering the modern era, many people are feeling how fierce the competition is now, how cruel the competition is, and so on. Li Xiaoqiang has always thought this statement is funny, is modern competition really as cruel as imagined?

Li Xiaoqiang even imagined that if he saw it, he would definitely feel very incomprehensible, wouldn't it be the next final? Where do you get so much pressure?

"Compared to our time, you are much luckier and happier now, because you lose this game, and that game, lose this championship, and you can compete for that championship. And what about us at that time......"

If you don't understand the background of that era, you will never understand how cruel Juban Lifting Tournament really is. Why is Juban Lift called "Fighting on the Edge of a Cliff"? Because the next ten-game chess requires not only the honor and status of the chess player, but sometimes even the life of the chess player.

For example, Mr. Wu Qingyuan played Shiban chess back then, and as long as he lost any time at that time, the Japanese Go community would probably give him another chance. He was about to be removed from the Japanese Go world and faced the dilemma of having no chess to play......

Of course, the times are different now, and there is no soil for the growth of the lifting race in modern society. However, mentioning this cruel and exciting competition system still makes Hu Yi excited.

"Why look for young players? Can't you find someone else? For example, Li Shifo, let Xiaoqiang and Li Shifo have a ten-game chess ......"

In this regard, reporter Zhang Da rolled his eyes: "Do you think Li Shifo is really suitable?" First, he may not be willing to agree, and secondly, even if we want to promote Xiaoqiang and Li Shifo to play ten chess, it doesn't seem appropriate for us to propose it, if someone from South Korea proposes it, we will agree to it. ”

Hu Yi thinks about it, what is the most important thing about Shibanqi? It's about reciprocity. Although in today's world chess world, it is generally recognized that Li Shifo is the one closest to Li Xiaoqiang, but no matter what, the 8-crown Li Xiaoqiang and the 3-crown Li Shifo are still a bit unequal, and Li Xiaoqiang's status is obviously higher than Li Shifo.

What's more, as reporter Zhang Da said, if Li Shifo wants to challenge Li Xiaoqiang, it is almost the same as being proposed by the South Korean side, and the party with a high status takes the initiative to propose to play Shiban chess, which is of course a bit inappropriate.

Li Shifo can't do it, so the others naturally can't do it, so they can only retreat to the next best thing and find some young people to play with Li Xiaoqiang.

"Anyway, we are not pursuing cruelty, just pursuing excitement and fun," reporter Zhang Da said with a smile......

“…… So from this point of view, I think it's very appropriate to find some young people to go up and down with Xiaoqiang, this game is definitely exciting, and I believe everyone will love to watch it. ”

Just in the words of reporter Zhang Da and Hu Yi, the two also finalized some details of the game, and Li Xiaoqiang listened with a smile on the side, and from time to time he also said his opinions.

According to Zhang Da's plan, find a group of the most outstanding new chess players in the world chess world to play ten games with Li Xiaoqiang, and the list of chess players has yet to be determined.

They played against Li Xiaoqiang, and the initial chess was set as "fixed first", that is, when the first game of chess was played, Li Xiaoqiang gave the lead.

Since it is a lifting competition, it needs to reflect the characteristics of the lifting competition, and now it is the era of closeness, which is different from the era of Mr. Wu Qingyuan. Therefore, reporter Zhang Da came up with a solution, that is, two eyes and one lift. In other words, the pieces are different in each game.

For example, the first game of chess is to let go first, if Li Xiaoqiang wins the first game, then the second game will be changed to Li Xiaoqiang to let the first paste 2 mesh, if Li Xiaoqiang loses, then the second game will be changed to a new chess player holding a black paste 2 mesh. Play 10 full games with this method of 1 game and 1 up and down to see where the final piece will stay.

Li Xiaoqiang thinks about it and thinks that this method is more appropriate, because this method also has similarities with the rules of ancient times. As a simple example, if Li Xiaoqiang uses this rule to win 3 sets in a row, then in the 4th game, instead of letting 6 eyes be posted upside down, it will be changed to 2 sons.

Win 4 games to modify the chess game, this is the rule of Wu Qingyuan's era. Reporter Zhang Da's method is also in line with this rule.

Of course, a draw may occur when playing chess with this rule, but in a lifting match, it has nothing to do with the occurrence of a draw. If there is a draw, the next game will not change.

After discussing some details, reporter Zhang Da stared at Hu Yi and said:

"The rules and the timing of the game should be fine, these things are negotiable. Now there are only two important questions left: first, find those new chess players to play with Xiaoqiang? Second, what specifications is Mr. Hu going to make this competition? ”

After listening to reporter Zhang Da's words, the local tyrant Hu Yi slapped his chest loudly:

"Isn't the so-called specification you talking about money? You can rest assured that money is definitely not an issue. What is the total budget of the "Autumn Chrysanthemum Cup"? Anyway, my money in this competition is not less than his, 5 million yuan, I think it should be enough, now the key is people, which needs to be coordinated by you Zhang Da. ”

The championship prize of the "Qiu Ju Cup" is 150,000 US dollars, and Hu Yi proposed 5 million yuan to hold this competition, with an average of 500,000 yuan a game of chess, which is of course a high budget. After hearing this, reporter Zhang Da was greatly excited:

"Okay, with your words Mr. Hu, I believe that this competition is very likely to be successful. Others don't dare to say it now, but the gang of Gu Dali Kong Erjie of the national junior team must be fine......"

In fact, not only China's cutting-edge is fine, but also the cutting-edge of other countries. While the two of them were planning this competition, many people had already heard the rumors.

The first to walk through was Mr. Lin Haifeng, who also came to participate in the "Qiu Ju Cup" this time.

"Xiao Zhang, if you want to hold this competition, then you must reserve a place for me......"

Mr. Lin Haifeng first reserved a place for his beloved apprentice Zhang Xu.

Also unable to sit still was South Korea's Park reporter, who soon found South Korea's "Go Emperor" Cao Yanzi after hearing the news. Lao Cao laughed after hearing it:

"Okay, this competition is good, young people should go to learn Li Xiaoqiang's tricks......"

Qiu Ju Company is a little sad, this is obviously the opening ceremony of the first "Qiu Ju Cup", but the limelight was stolen by another competition. In the past few days of the "Qiu Ju Cup",

The matter of "Li Xiaoqiang VS International New Chess Players Joint Column Lifting Competition" was quickly finalized. Everyone quickly came up with a list of "international columns":

On the Chinese side: Gu Dali, Kong Erjie, Hu Yaoyu and "Brother Niu".

South Korean: Lee Seok, Choi Poison, Park Yongxun.

Japan: Zhang Xu, Keigo Yamashita.

It's not that the Japanese side doesn't want to be more talented, but there is no way, many of their so-called "new chess players" are older, such as the feather and Takao in the "Heisei Four Heavenly Kings", they are about the same age as Li Xiaoqiang, and some are even older than Li Xiaoqiang, even if it is confirmed that the Yamashita who will play, he is actually only a few years younger than Li Xiaoqiang, but at this time, he can only reluctantly pretend to be Li Xiaoqiang's junior.

There are a total of 9 chess players in China, Japan and South Korea, and the last place was originally intended to be given to the "calm brother" Sheikh, but there is no way, everyone's enthusiasm for participating is too high, in order to reflect the internationality of the competition, the last place was given to Taipei's "red-faced chess king" Ah Xun, and the youngest Sheikh could only lose this opportunity depressed.

"Hehe, that's interesting......"

Li Xiaoqiang looked at the list and smiled.

Seven of the 10-man roster are future world champions. (To be continued.) )