Early October 1998, Seoul, South Korea. The semi-finals of the 2nd "Samsung Cup" are already the second game of the trilogy today.

Just after 4 o'clock in the afternoon, reporter Zhang Da asked Wang Lunan, who led the team to South Korea this time, with a smile on his face:

"This chess Xiaoqiang should be fine, right?"

Wang Lunan also had a smile on his face, but his smile was mixed with a hint of confusion: "Yes, this chess Xiaoqiang should have basically been won, but I always feel that something is wrong this time......

What Wang Lunan said was not that Li Xiaoqiang was "wrong", but that he felt that there was something wrong with Liu Changhe.

In the first game of the trilogy that ended the day before yesterday, Li Xiaoqiang, who was white, won with a margin of 3 and a half meshes, and Li Xiaoqiang led all the way from the beginning of that game, and Liu Changhe did not put up any decent resistance. In the words of Cao Yanzi, who was watching the battle at the time:

"Looking at Chang He's chess today, people can't afford to play any spirit."

If the day before yesterday was still "inhibitive", then today, Liu Changhe still seems to have no fighting spirit, and many of his methods have been questioned by the research office many times. At present, it is just after 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and the research laboratory has judged that Liu Changhyuk's defeat is a foregone conclusion, and it is a foregone conclusion that Li Xiaoqiang will enter the World Series final for the third time this year.

Yoo Chang-hyuk's performance will certainly feel wrong. Although Li Xiaoqiang was generally favored when everyone predicted the outcome of this game before the game, no one could have imagined that his road to promotion would be so easy.

In any case, Yoo Chang-hyuk also won the world championship last year, and he is the second best player in the international arena after Li Xiaoqiang. Although he lost the championship with Li Xiaoqiang twice, the competition in some chess games was quite fierce, especially the few games of the "Ying's Cup" last year, which is considered to be a rare fierce fight in recent years.

But Liu Changhyuk's performance this time ...... Not only did the Korean chess fans who supported him express disappointment, but even Wang Lunan and others were surprised.

"I think this is normal, since the 3rd game of last year's "Ying's Cup" finals, "Liu Langguan" has lost 7 consecutive defeats against Xiaoqiang, I heard that Da Liu is also an emotional player, Wang Lao, do you say that he is also the same as Lao Xu, has been convinced by Xiaoqiang? ”

After listening to reporter Zhang Da's words, Wang Lunan smiled:

"That's what you're talking about...... Don't say it, don't say it, you see Xiaoqiang has come out, let's go meet today's winner......"

Of course, there is some truth in what reporter Zhang Da said, in competitive Go, and even in many competitive events, "losing streak" is a very taboo thing. When you have repeatedly lost a fight, the huge pressure and despair that it brings are unimaginable to ordinary people.

Wang Lunan now thinks that Liu Changhe should be in this situation, besides, even if Liu Changhe is for other reasons, Wang Lunan can't worry about him. Therefore, when he saw that Li Xiaoqiang had come to the research room, he quickly left Liu Changhe's "wrong" behind. The most important thing now is to celebrate the victory.

"Xiaoqiang, how is it? Doesn't it feel a little lighter this time? ”

Li Xiaoqiang smiled: "It's okay, Liu Changhe's tone seems to be a little wrong, and this time it's more comfortable." ”

As a gamer, Li Xiaoqiang's feelings are of course different from those of bystanders. Anyway, Liu Changhe is also one of the top chess players in today's chess world, so when Li Xiaoqiang plays with him, he must maintain enough concentration from beginning to end, so in this case, of course, Li Xiaoqiang will not feel relaxed, he feels a little "handy" at most.

Of course, after defeating Liu Changhe, Li Xiaoqiang also didn't think much else, because Liu Changhe was a former defeated general after all, and he won 3-0 last year, and of course 2-0 this time is normal.

Li Xiaoqiang began to care about his opponent in the final:

"How's it going over there? My opponent in this final will not be Lao Zhao. ”

Li Xiaoqiang is not wrong, the other semi-final matchup is Li Shifo VS Zhao Zhixun, Zhao Zhixun took the lead in the first game, so in the case that the second game is not over, Li Xiaoqiang is more likely to meet the final opponent is indeed Zhao Zhixun.

After listening to Li Xiaoqiang's words, reporter Zhang Da smiled and said:

"It's not over there yet, and it's said that it's still more difficult to understand, as for what the specific situation is, you should go and see for yourself."

Li Xiaoqiang began to pay attention to another game. After only looking at it for a while, Li Xiaoqiang fell into deep thought.

In fact, when he just reached the semifinals, considering Li Shifo's overwhelming record against Zhao Zhixun in real history. Li Xiaoqiang thinks that if he passes Liu Changhe's level, he is likely to have another five-game chess fight with Li Shifo. But judging from the current situation, it's really hard to say whether he can meet Li Shifo again.

At present, the situation in the second game is indeed as Zhang Da reporter said, the situation is still very difficult to solve, and it is possible for anyone to win or lose. And even if Li Shifo can win the second game, Li Xiaoqiang looks at the performance of the two from the chess game, and he thinks that the result of the third game is still unknown.

What is the reason why Li Shifo is not a deterrent to other chess players? Is it that Li Shifo has become weaker than in his previous life? Or has Lao Zhao become stronger? Li Xiaoqiang thinks that this possibility is extremely small, because from common sense, even if it is because of the impact of his rebirth, because Li Shifo is younger than Lao Zhao, he should be more affected.

"Li Shifo's current chess seems to be missing a little bit of spirit......" Li Xiaoqiang sighed in his heart.

Of course, Li Xiaoqiang knew in his heart that the biggest culprit who made Li Shifo "look weaker" was of course himself, but he didn't expect the impact to be so great.

The impact he brought to Li Shifo was twofold: first, because Li Shifo was now overpowered by himself, this made Li Shifo lose a little bit of temperament, which is the so-called "king's spirit"

Don't underestimate this kind of mysterious and mysterious thing, in fact, in the comparison of top chess players, this seemingly illusory thing is also part of the comprehensive strength.

Of course, Li Xiaoqiang believes that this is not the most important, but the most important reason: the first and the second are fundamentally different, and there are many things that are born unique to the first.

It is not wrong that he and Li Shifo are quite equal, it is true that the strength of himself and Li Shifo is close, and the gap between himself and Li Shifo is very small. But because he is now the first and he is the second, there is an essential difference.

In his previous life, when Li Shifo was the first, no one knew where his limit was when he was at his peak.

Fear comes from the unknown!

Therefore, many chess players are afraid of him before fighting, which makes him form an inexplicable deterrent to all chess players.

But in this life, this deterrent power has been transferred to oneself. Although Li Shifo is still strong, he is no longer a mystery. A Li Shifo who is no longer mysterious, of course, will lack a little bit of deterrence.

The "Fujitsu Cup" semi-final loss to Chang Rensheng, this time with Zhao Zhixun like this, in fact, can well interpret this phenomenon.

After finishing his game, Li Xiaoqiang stayed in South Korea for another 2 days. In the second match between Li Shifo and Zhao Zhixun, Li Shifo won this game. However, in the later tiebreaker, in the end, Zhao Zhixun had the last laugh.

In the closing ceremony of the semi-finals of the second "Samsung Cup", it was Li Xiaoqiang and Mr. Zhao Zhixun who held hands together.

Looking at Mr. Zhao Zhixun, who was smiling happily like a child, Li Xiaoqiang paid tribute to Lao Zhao and also set his sights on Li Shifo.

A lonely Li Shifo, a Li Shifo who seems to have fallen into a trough.

Will Li Shifo be silent? Li Xiaoqiang believed more than anyone that he wouldn't.

There are some people who are born with the "spirit of a king". Mr. Wu Qingyuan is such a person, Li Shifo is actually such a person, although he has his own "outlier" existence to suppress him, but Li Xiaoqiang never thinks that this "outlier" will remain unchanged, as long as he is a little careless, his position and Li Shifo's position will be reversed.

Of course, Li Xiaoqiang's emotion was only fleeting. Just as it is impossible for Wang Lunan to care about Liu Changhe's situation, it is impossible for him to worry about Li Shifo.

Li Xiaoqiang is of course more concerned about his journey in the World Series.

"Win Li Shifo first, and then break Li Xiaoqiang, an earth-shattering feat is in front of me."

At the closing ceremony of the semifinals, Zhao Zhixun's joke made everyone laugh. What makes Li Xiaoqiang himself feel funny is that since he broke the "master-apprentice iron curtain" of Cao Yanzi and Li Shifo in the Three Kingdoms Ring Tournament the year before last, no one has said the word "Cao Li Iron Curtain" anymore. In its place is the phrase "two Li Iron Curtain".

According to the statistics of people with hearts, since Li Xiaoqiang and Li Shifo have been active in the international arena, no chess player has ever been able to defeat both of them in the same game at the same time.

The most recent one to hit the "Erli Iron Curtain" was the "Fujitsu Cup" that had just ended. Chang Rensheng defeated Li Shifo in the semifinals, but failed to challenge Li Xiaoqiang in the final.

This time the situation of impacting the "Second Li Iron Curtain" has appeared again, can Mr. Zhao Zhixun succeed?

Although it is said that anything is possible, it is generally believed that there is little hope.

Not to mention the historical records of Li Xiaoqiang and Zhao Zhixun, just in terms of difficulty, Lao Zhao's difficulty this time is much more difficult than Chang Rensheng's.

Chang Rensheng was a single-game winner that time, but Lao Zhao this time, from the semifinals to the finals, both games were chess.

Of course, although everyone thinks that Zhao Zhixun has little hope, everyone still has high hopes for him. Because so far, Li Xiaoqiang is still making great progress in all world competitions, and now he is really showing a situation that has swept the world!

What everyone didn't expect was that the duel between Li Xiaoqiang and Zhao Zhixun had not yet been staged, and Li Xiaoqiang soon encountered a stubborn resistance battle.

In late October 1998, the 2nd "LG Cup" World Chess Champion Top 8 Tournament, also in South Korea, Li Xiaoqiang encountered the same opponent.

As soon as the game entered the afternoon, reporter Zhang Da in the viewing room exclaimed:

"Huh! , today's Liu Changhyuk, and the "Samsung Cup" are like two people. ”

Cao Yanzi, who was also watching the battle, sighed:

"This is Chang Hyuk, this is the cleverness of Chang Hyuk. Now it seems that he knows that there is little hope of defeating Li Xiaoqiang in the chess match, so he deliberately gave up in the "Samsung Cup". Now it depends on whether the resistance battle he has carefully prepared can be successful. ”

In the game room, Li Xiaoqiang was nervously thinking about countermeasures while also sighing in his heart:

"Liu Changhyuk, it's really not a loss to be an assassin-like character......"

Before 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Li Xiaoqiang knew very well in his heart: if he wants to win 4 games and 4 championships this year, then today's game of chess will be the biggest test. (To be continued.) )