The "LG Cup" World Chess Championship is similar to the "Samsung Cup" in terms of the scale of the competition and the form of the competition. Even the age structure of the participants is similar to that of the "Samsung Cup", after the previous stage of the large-scale qualifiers, there are more new Korean players in this tournament, more old Japanese players, and more Chinese players.

At the beginning of September 1998, the 2nd "LG Cup" main tournament was held at the Korea Chess Academy. Although all aspects are similar, the "LG Cup" generally does not have as many new tricks as the "Samsung Cup", and the most normal draw method was adopted after entering the main event, with 16 seeded players and 16 unseeded players fighting each other.

In the first round, the level of everyone was uneven, so the highlights of the competition were also varied, some people liked to watch the performance of veteran players, some liked to watch the impact of new players, and some liked to watch the performance of top players.

In the first round of the game, Li Xiaoqiang drew a Korean professional six-dan chess player named Jin Yuan, this chess player is not well-known even in the Korean chess world, neither a famous veteran, nor a young talent, if it were not for Li Xiaoqiang's game, it can be said that this game has nothing to watch at all. Including Li Xiaoqiang himself, he didn't take this game much to heart.

In fact, when the draw results came out, Li Xiaoqiang's attention was drawn to another match, which was the match between South Korea's Li Shi vs. Chang Rensheng, where "South Korea's Li Xiaoqiang" played against China's top 3 players.

Not only Li Xiaoqiang, this is the famous "Bird Island Boy" in later generations, who is highly expected by the Korean Go community, and is even considered by Cao Yanzi to be the most promising new chess player to defeat Li Xiaoqiang, making his debut in the World Championship. Therefore, in the first round, the match between Li Shi and Chang Rensheng was quite eye-catching.

After the start of the first round, Li Xiaoqiang established an advantage early. He originally wanted to end the game early to see Xiao Li's chess, but unfortunately this time the opponent was a chronic son, although the situation was already very unfavorable, and he was still unhurried when he started to play chess, Li Xiaoqiang didn't have time to watch chess, Chang Rensheng had already come to his chess table.

"How do you feel?" This is the first sentence that Li Xiaoqiang asked Chang Rensheng during the post-game exchange.

"Hey, what do you say" South Korean Li Xiaoqiang ", I feel obviously a little bit unworthy of the name. It's so unreasonable! That kid is so unreasonable to play chess......"

After Li Xiaoqiang's game, he didn't review his own chess, mainly playing that game of chess with Chang Rensheng. After going through this game of chess, Chang Rensheng asked Li Xiaoqiang in turn:

"Boss, what do you think of this "Korean Li Xiaoqiang"? ”

Li Xiaoqiang smiled slightly, judging from today's game of chess, it should be said that Xiao Li's characteristics are still displayed, his chess is full of all kinds of weirdness, full of all kinds of whimsy. However, the current Xiao Li is obviously still relatively immature, and his skills are obviously not enough, so when he encounters the current Chang Rensheng, he is completely suppressed by Chang Rensheng, and it is also very normal for Chang Rensheng to be accused of "all kinds of unreasonableness" by Chang Rensheng.

"I don't know why, after watching your game of chess, I remembered what Kobayashi Koji said."

"Oh? Which sentence? ”

"You can't let a player like this win the first set!"

Seeing that Li Xiaoqiang didn't seem to be joking, Chang Rensheng was a little skeptical: "Is it so serious......

Li Xiaoqiang smiled bitterly, saying in his heart that this sentence may not be suitable for others, but it is very suitable for you Chang Rensheng.

In real history, Li Shishi in the early days has always been unscathing to Chang Rensheng. When Xiao Li's skills were insufficient, his unreasonable characteristics of chess were easily grasped by Chang Rensheng, who had an orthodox chess style, and was repeatedly beaten by Chang Rensheng for a long time. It's a pity that when Li Shishi won the first game of chess, even if he won Chang Rensheng for the first time, it was a reversal, and Chang Rensheng never won against Li Shishi after that.

Especially in the "BC Card Cup" final in later generations, it was Chang Rensheng's last World Series, and he was defeated by Li Shishi with a score of 3-0 in the final. Why did that final impress a lot of people? Because that final was called "the most disparity in strength in history" by many chess fans, from the score to the content of the chess game, Chang Rensheng was not only completely suppressed, but even seemed that he and Li Shishi were not at the same level at all.

Although there are reasons for the competition system, the "BC Card Cup" takes a very short time, and there is also a reason for the age gap between the two, at that time, Li Shishi happened to be in the prime of life, and Chang Rensheng was no longer at his peak. But thinking of the situation at that time, Li Xiaoqiang couldn't help but sigh.

The so-called "the road is one foot high, the magic is one foot high", this sentence has become a prophecy. Such a sentence seems to be talking about Chang Rensheng and Li Shishi......"

There are some things that Li Xiaoqiang can't say, so he can only sigh in his heart at this time.

Because during the competition, Li Xiaoqiang and Chang Rensheng did not talk too much about Xiao Li. Before the start of the first round, the match between Chang Rensheng and Li Shi was one of the focal points of the game. Then after the first round, the result of another game of chess became the biggest news in the game.

"Hehe, Yitian is embarrassed enough this time, why do you say they always lose to amateur chess players."

When Chang Rensheng said this, there was a hint of schadenfreude and ridicule. Li Xiaoqiang continued to ridicule:

"Xiao Chang, this is not right, Hans has also obtained the first stage exemption in the Japanese Chess Academy, so in this sense, Yitian can be regarded as losing to a professional chess player this time, which cannot be regarded as too embarrassing......"

Yes, the biggest upset in the first round was when Kiki Ita was defeated by Hans Chudan, who represented Europe. In the World Championships, it is not once or twice that amateur or female chess players have been upset. However, there is a phenomenon that all the "victims" are mostly Japanese chess players, which has to be thought-provoking.

"The point is that they're too comfortable." Li Xiaoqiang and Chang Rensheng sighed at the same time.

For example, Yitian Kiki Jiudan, he has become famous very early, and his strength cannot be said to be not strong, but why has he not been able to go further? Needless to say about anything else, the leopard in charge of the rules, in fact, from this point, from the fact that he is often upset, it can explain a lot of problems.

Round 2 continued after a day of rest. In the second round of the game, Li Xiaoqiang continued his good luck in the recent draw. His opponent in the second round was Hans Hatsudan, who defeated Kiki Ita in the first round.

For the draw of Li Xiaoqiang, Hans was very excited at the beginning:

"It was something I never dreamed of beating Mr. Kiki Ita in the first round, and now I have the honor to play against Mr. Li Xiaoqiang, the world's No. 1 player, which is even more honorable......

Li Xiaoqiang's response was also very formal: "I will definitely take this game of chess very seriously......"

Li Xiaoqiang's statement is not for other reasons. In real history, Mr. Hans has made headlines in the Go world twice, one of which was this upset defeat to Noriki Ita. The other time was when Mr. Hans died. When he was sent by the Japanese Chess Academy to South America to popularize Go, he was accidentally killed by robbers.

In any case, it's a sad story. Of course, Li Xiaoqiang doesn't know if he can change Mr. Hans's life now, but what he can do now is to play a game of chess with Mr. Hans with the most serious attitude, Li Xiaoqiang thinks this is the greatest respect for Mr. Hans.

Naturally, there is nothing to say about the match against Mr. Hans, and even the official match time is not as long as the post-match review. During the review, Li Xiaoqiang explained very carefully, and his analysis of the chess game was very detailed. This benefited Mr. Hans a lot, and it also made him keep saying thank you when he reviewed it.

After the first two rounds of the "LG Cup", although the opponents in these two games were relatively weak, Li Xiaoqiang's victory was reasonable. However, Li Xiaoqiang's winning record continues, and he still has no record of missing a beat in the international arena this year, and he is still on a high trajectory in all world series.

Who will stop Li Xiaoqiang now?

After the "LG Cup" top 8 match came out, Li Xiaoqiang's opponent this time was a suitable candidate, but everyone really didn't have much confidence in this chess player this time.

Li Xiaoqiang's opponent in the top 8 this time is Liu Changhe, who lost to Li Xiaoqiang twice in the World Series finals last year.

In the first two rounds of the "LG Cup", the Korean team won a big victory in terms of numbers, and they had four players, Yoo Chang-hyuk, Lee Seok-fo, Seo Bong-so and Choi Myung-hoon, break into the top 8. In addition to Li Xiaoqiang, the Chinese team also has Ma Xiaofei in the top 8. After Chang Rensheng defeated Lee Shi-seok in the first round, he was defeated by Seo Bong-so in the second round.

It may be that he has encountered "Korean unreasonable flow" in a row, which has caused some problems in Chang Rensheng's mentality, Li Xiaoqiang has seen his game of chess with Xu Bong-so, and in the face of Xu Bong-so's many "unreasonable" moves, Chang Rensheng was obviously enraged, and he began to chase down Xu Bong-so's big dragon in a straight line very early. It's just that in Li Xiaoqiang's opinion, Chang Rensheng's choice is a bit too blunt, and Xu Fengzhu is not the current Li Shishi, so when Xu Fengzhu Dalong is working, Chang Rensheng has no way to continue, and he can only choose to admit defeat helplessly.

In addition to the South Korean team of 4 people, the Chinese team has 2 players, and the remaining two are Japanese chess players, they are Wang Licheng and Kobayashi Satoru. Japan's "Mesozoic" is now gradually replacing the "six supers" and becoming the main force in the international arena.

Judging from the matchups in the top 8, in addition to Li Xiaoqiang vs. Liu Changhe, Ma Xiaofei's opponent is Li Shifo. This is the second time this year that the two of them have met in the quarterfinals of the World Series after the "Samsung Cup". The other two sets are Seo Bong-so vs Wang Licheng and Kobayashi Satoru vs Choi Myung-hoon.

It can be clearly seen from the results of this match that the focus of this top 8 battle is two of the confrontations between China and South Korea.

After the first two rounds of the "LG Cup", it was soon the turn of the "Samsung Cup".

In late September 1998, the quarterfinals of the 2nd "Samsung Cup" were still being played in Seoul. Li Xiaoqiang defeated Japan's Kobayashi Satoru Kudan, and while avenging last year's "Toyo Securities Cup", he once again broke into the top 4 of the World Series.

For a while, the voice of "who can stop Li Xiaoqiang" sounded again.

Although in the "Samsung Cup" top 8 match, Ma Xiaofei lost to Li Shifo again, Chang Rensheng was also defeated by Zhao Zhixun, and only Li Xiaoqiang of the Chinese team broke into the top 4 alone. But it doesn't matter, everyone is still optimistic about Li Xiaoqiang's prospects for winning the championship, and he is still the biggest favorite to win the "Samsung Cup" this year.

The reason why everyone is optimistic about Li Xiaoqiang is because since the semi-finals, it has been a chess match.

"It's very difficult to win a game of chess against Li Xiaoqiang now, and it's even more difficult to win Li Xiaoqiang in a chess match."

This is the current opinion of everyone in the Go world.

"This is called Dan Envoy Flying Dragon Fierce General, not Hu Ma to cross Yin Mountain, Xiaoqiang, do you say that you have such a meaning now?"

After the end of the "Samsung Cup" top 8 match, reporter Zhang Da dragged such a sentence to Li Xiaoqiang, which made Li Xiaoqiang happy.

Just when Li Xiaoqiang attacked on all fronts in the international arena and made great progress in all world series. At the end of September in the capital, Li Xiaoqiang unexpectedly saw his uncle.

"Yo, why does Mr. Hu have time to come to the capital at this time?" Li Xiaoqiang joked with his uncle.

"Xiaoqiang, do you think our competition should be held now?"

"Oh?"

Hearing his uncle Hu Yi say this, Li Xiaoqiang knew his intention this time, Hu Yi must have heard something, he was clearly here for the upcoming "Qiu Ju Cup" this time. (To be continued.) )