Beijing, China Chess Academy.

The final match of the Chinese Go "Top 10 Battle" Group B qualifying tournament is underway, with Nie Whirlwind playing against Ma Xiaofei. The winner between them will compete with Li Xiaoqiang for the championship of this year's "Top 10 Battles" of Chinese Go.

In the domestic chess world, the competition between Nie Ma is naturally very eye-catching. For a long time, the game between the two of them can basically be regarded as the "peak duel" in the domestic chess world. Of course, in the last year or two, people's perceptions seem to have quietly changed a little. Due to the strong rise of Li Xiaoqiang, the domestic chess world has changed from a pattern of "two heroes competing for hegemony" to "three kingdoms". At present, in China, whether it is the contest between "Nie Li" or the duel between "Ma Li", it has the same attraction as "Nie Ma Hegemony".

The competition was held within the chess academy, and the domestic competition was not so particular. In the afternoon, the two were about to decide the winner. Many chess players of the national team, as well as young chess players such as Chang Rensheng, came to the game room to stop and watch. However, among them, there is no Li Xiaoqiang. At present, Li Xiaoqiang is in a room next to the game room, and he and Chen Chaoyue and Team Leader Hua are chatting with several guests from their hometown of Ganyuan.

"Xiaoqiang, don't you have to go next door to have a look? See who's going to be your opponent in the finals......"

"Hehe, no, you heard the voice next door suddenly get louder, this should be their chess game has been played, and they are currently reviewing the game. As expected, my opponent in the final should be Mr. Nie...... That's right, it should be Teacher Nie who won, and he won't be wrong. ”

"Oh? Why are you so sure? ”

"By the tone of their voices, and by the sound of their laughter......"

Before Li Xiaoqiang's words fell, the characteristic loud voice of Nie Whirlwind next door came in. Ordinary people's words are actually not heard at all at this time. Listening to Nie Whirlwind's meaning, at this time, he seemed to be still accusing himself of playing a few stinky moves, and he looked very dissatisfied. However, Li Xiaoqiang is different, as a teammate who gets along day and night. Li Xiaoqiang is too familiar with Nie Ma and other major domestic opponents, as long as he listens to the tone of their voices and their voices after the game, it is a matter of knowing who wins and who loses.

"Good, good! It's good that Lao Nie wins! In this way, if you compete with Lao Nie for the championship, everyone likes to watch it, and the game will be more interesting, and we will definitely organize the competition more smoothly......"

"I said Xiong Lao, even if you want Teacher Nie to win, you don't need to be so direct. Not to mention so loudly. You know, Mr. Ma is next door, he just lost chess, and he must be in a bad mood now. If he hears this, he will offend people. ”

"Hahaha, yes yes yes ,......"

Li Xiaoqiang was accompanied by Xiong Guotao and Jiang Chenghua from the Go team of his hometown of Ganyuan Province. At present, Xiong Guotao has retired, and he came to the capital this time for nothing else. The main purpose is to discuss the settlement of the "top ten" of Chinese Go.

Since Li Xiaoqiang won two consecutive world championships, one thing is different from his previous life, Chinese Go has not encountered a "Xiaoice period". At present, the popularity of Go in China continues unabated. There is a lot of enthusiasm for holding Go tournaments in various places. In particular, the various applications for the "Invitational Tournament" with various names have overwhelmed the management of the chess academy.

Ganyuan Province is Li Xiaoqiang's hometown, although the Go foundation here is not strong, and the economy here is not very developed. But with the birth of Li Xiaoqiang, the people of his hometown are honored, and everyone has long been in the mood to hold a Go competition.

Xiong Guotao: They went to the capital this time. That's what it's for.

Of course, as the pride of the people in his hometown, Xiong Guotao also consulted Li Xiaoqiang's opinion in advance. This kind of thing is beneficial to his hometown and Go, Li Xiaoqiang is naturally obliged.

So what kind of contest is it necessary to hold it? At this time, Li Xiaoqiang actually had his own specific ideas. It is precisely because of this that this time will promote the "Top Ten Battle" to settle in Ganyuan.

In Li Xiaoqiang's view, if Ganyuan Province wants to hold a Go competition, it is nothing more than two forms: one is to hold the so-called "invitational tournament", inviting several well-known national players to go to the local area. Play a few games there, interact with the fans, and then have a blast in the local area, and when it's all gone, everyone will do what they do.

To be honest, there is no shortage of "invitational tournaments" similar to this form in China. Such a competition has also been criticized by many chess fans, believing that this kind of competition is not stressful for chess players at all, and has great value. It is even jokingly called such a tournament a "money-sharing contest" between well-known chess players.

However, Li Xiaoqiang believes that this kind of "invitational competition" actually has its merits. You must know that it is only 92 years now, and there are not many rich people, but there are not many local tyrants in China who have background and strength, especially those who like Go. I don't have the strength, but I like Go, and I want to hold a Go competition, so what should I do? As you can imagine, the best way to do that, of course, is to hold a one-off "invitational tournament".

In fact, this is how the various Go invitational tournaments in China came into being. You can look down on these contests, but there's no denying the enthusiasm and kindness of the organizers.

Of course, Li Xiaoqiang will not deny the role of the invitational. However, in his heart, he still attaches more importance to the kind of tradition and inheritance, and the schedule is also very stable, and he will not hold an official competition that has not been held in the previous year.

Just like Japan's 7 major news chess battles, even in later generations, Japan's Go strength has been thrown away by China and South Korea. However, their stable domestic chess battles, the connotation and heritage of chess battles still make Chinese and South Korean Go and even chess fans envious.

Therefore, when Li Xiaoqiang knew what Xiong Guotao meant, Li Xiaoqiang's first thought was to let his hometown take over the hosting of the "Top Ten Battles" of Chinese Go.

In Li Xiaoqiang's view, the "Top Ten Battle" is actually very distinctive. Different from ordinary title battles, the biggest feature of the "Top 10 Battles" is that there is an interactive session with chess fans. Just like the NBA All-Star Game, the players who can play are selected by the fans.

In real history, the "top ten" of Chinese Go did not last long, and disappeared after a few years. In the history of Japanese Go, there was actually a competition with a similar format, they called "Ten Masters of Professional Chess Players", but this competition did not last long.

The reason for the decline of this competition system should be limited by the environment of this era, or rather. This format didn't catch up with a good era.

In this day and age, the "metabolism" among chess players is very slow. It is conceivable that the top ten selected every year have almost no change from the previous year, and even if there is, there will be one or two at most, and it is likely to be the one or two at the bottom, and the front is basically unchanged. It's always those old faces that go over and over, and there's nothing new. The voting has not yet begun, and everyone can almost guess which players are playing. So. Naturally, the fans will get bored, and the organizers will naturally lose interest in continuing the event.

Besides, the Internet era has not yet arrived. If a chess fan wants to cast a vote, he must also cut out the ballot in a magazine and vote by mail. This is not only a hassle for chess fans, but also a cumbersome job for the organizers to keep tickets. Therefore, it is likely that these two reasons made the "Ten Great Wars" or "Ten Outstanding Wars" between China and Japan disappear in the long river of history.

In just a few years, things will be different. The first is the popularization of the Internet, which makes it easy to vote and count votes. And then as the player grows, the cycle becomes shorter. The speed of "changing the dynasty" in the chess world will also accelerate. To take the simplest example, take the latest Chinese chess scene as an example, if a new Chinese Go "Top 10 Battle" is to be held, who can ensure the final selection of the lineup. Will it be exactly the same as your own vote? I'm afraid no one dares to play this package ticket, right?

Therefore, Li Xiaoqiang believes that it is actually very promising to let his hometown Ganyuan Province host this "top ten battle". First of all, the "Top 10 Battle" is not really a chess battle that all chess players can participate in. There are not many players participating in the game, so the cost is not much, which is suitable for a poor province like Ganyuan.

Another one. The scale of the competition is not large, but after all, the participants are star chess players, and the influence of the competition will not be small. As long as the competition is influential, the organizers will naturally benefit from it.

To be honest, Li Xiaoqiang's ability to let his hometown host the "Top Ten Battle" was actually inspired by the "Tianyuan Battle" of Chinese Go in later generations. In Li Xiaoqiang's view, although the model of Japan's news chess battle is very good, their model may not be suitable for China's national conditions. The chess battle model that is really suitable for China may still be like the "Tianyuan War" in later generations. The "Tianyuan War" and the local government have formed an alliance, and a small Tongli ancient town can make the Tianyuan War sound and impressive. It's super stable, and both sides benefit from it, which is actually very valuable.

For example, a chess fan like Li Xiaoqiang, he can know that Tongli, an ancient town in the south of the Yangtze River, is actually because of the Tianyuan War, and it is precisely because of the Tianyuan War that during the game, Li Xiaoqiang also went to Tongli twice, adding a little bit of "chicken fart" to the local area.

And what about in Ganyuan? In fact, there are similar conditions. For example, the place in northeast Jiangxi that is known as "the most beautiful village in China" is not much known these days. However, as long as a few years pass, when everyone's pockets are a little bulging, when the domestic traffic situation improves, and when everyone is interested in traveling, the fame of this place will become great.

Li Xiaoqiang even thinks that this place has another advantage compared to Tongli. Anyway, there is still a little bit of relationship between this place and Go, that place originally belonged to ancient Huizhou, and it was the nest of the "Xin'an School" of ancient chess. Li Xiaoqiang has always been known as a "successor of ancient chess", and it is natural for him to make a little contribution.

What Li Xiaoqiang is doing now is to strive for the "top ten battles" of Chinese Go to settle in Ganyuan, and he has been doing it unremittingly all year round. And the final qualifying round of this year's "Top 10 Battle" is the first step to be taken.

In the final qualifying round, Li Xiaoqiang and Nie Whirlwind will compete for the championship. From an eye-catching point of view, this is certainly the best result. It's no wonder that Xiong Guotao is overjoyed.

When the final of the "Top 10 Battle" began, it was already late May. Li Xiaoqiang's "Fujitsu Cup" top 8 match against Otake Hero will start soon. But before that, Li Xiaoqiang wants to go back to his hometown. He had to make a small break with Nie Whirlwind first. (To be continued......)