At the end of July 1998, the challenger of the Chinese Go "Chess King Battle" decided to fight. is still in the Chinese Chess Academy, it is still Chang Rensheng against Ma Xiaofei, and Li Xiaoqiang is paying attention to this game throughout the whole process.

In the afternoon of the game, reporter Zhang Da, who had come to the capital, joked with Li Xiaoqiang:

"Seeing Xiao Chang's performance today, Xiao Qiang, do you have a trace of coolness behind you? I now think that you are really ...... in the next "Fujitsu Cup"

Li Xiaoqiang smiled and did not pick up the stubble of the reporter. This is the last match before the Fujitsu Cup final. After this game, Li Xiaoqiang and Chang Rensheng will go to Tokyo, Japan together to compete for this year's "Fujitsu Cup" championship.

When the two had just reached the finals, the domestic media was more immersed in the joy of the Chinese chess players meeting in the finals, and rarely mentioned the final championship. But as the final day approaches, will Chang Rensheng be able to beat Li Xiaoqiang in the final? Or how much of a threat does the current Chang Ren Shengneng pose to Li Xiaoqiang? Now this issue has been mentioned in more and more media.

And unlike in the past, most of the pre-match prediction articles this time are almost one-sided analysis. No one mentions whether Li Xiaoqiang can add another world champion to himself, and almost all of the domestic media reports are discussing the possibility of Chang Rensheng defeating Li Xiaoqiang.

It's normal to think about this situation, if you write about Li Xiaoqiang's defeat of Chang Rensheng, it doesn't seem to be anything to write about. Isn't this a normal thing to do in the eyes of media reporters? What else do you need to analyze for this? What reason to look for?

Li Xiaoqiang usually pays attention to this aspect of the report, he found that although almost all the media believe that he is more likely to win, but maybe human beings have the nature of "hoeing the strong and helping the weak", almost all review articles will add a sentence after making the above predictions: I hope Chang Rensheng can win this time.

In short, "Li Xiaoqiang is more likely to win the game, but this time I hope Chang Rensheng wins", which was the mainstream public opinion of the domestic media before this final.

Since he hopes that Chang Rensheng will win, he must always find a few reasons for him to win. However, everyone looked around, but found that this reason was really hard to find. Therefore, the reasons found by various media for Chang Rensheng are also varied. One of the funniest and most bizarre reasons is:

For Chang Rensheng, the biggest good news for him this time is that he is a Chinese chess player. This is the 8th time Li Xiaoqiang has entered the finals of the World Series, and in the first 7 finals, Li Xiaoqiang won 6 championships, and the only time he missed was to lose to his own chess player......"

Of course, it is impossible for all reasons to be so nonsensical. Li Xiaoqiang noticed that the main reason why everyone hoped that Chang Rensheng would win this time, or the most common reason the media found for Chang Rensheng: Chang Rensheng's performance in front of this "Fujitsu Cup" was too amazing.

"Defeated Liu Changhyuk and Zhao Zhixun in a row, and defeated Li Shifo in the semifinals, if we can beat Li Xiaoqiang in the final...... Now you know why I support Chang Rensheng, right? If Toneshi can really complete this task, then his trip to the "Fujitsu Cup" will definitely be a new legend, to paraphrase a popular phrase now: if Toneshi can win, as long as you think about it, you will feel very ......."

The civil war between the two Chinese chess players, everyone originally had no position. Maybe it's because everyone wants to see the "new legend", so this time many people choose to support Chang Rensheng. Even the former hardcore "little strong fans" like reporter Zhang Da seem to have defected this time.

"Xiaoqiang, why don't you answer my question, if you don't open your mouth again, I think you are really weak now."

Seeing that Li Xiaoqiang didn't speak, reporter Zhang Da became more and more energetic. Li Xiaoqiang certainly understood what he meant. Since this is a civil war between Chinese chess players, both Li Xiaoqiang and Chang Rensheng were very modest in their media interviews before the game. Li Xiaoqiang praised Chang Rensheng's previous performance, but did not mention the prospect of the final.

Chang Rensheng said that he was very satisfied to reach the finals this time, and he didn't dare to expect to defeat Li Xiaoqiang in the finals, so his goal in the finals was to "learn a good game from Li Xiaoqiang".

Of course, everyone knows that in the world of Go, the connotation of the phrase "learn a game from someone" is very rich. This sentence can be understood in many ways.

It was because the statements of the two before the game were very vague, so Zhang Da reporter relied on his acquaintance with Li Xiaoqiang, and he wanted to dig out a little scoop news and hear what Li Xiaoqiang thinks now.

Of course, Li Xiaoqiang knows this little trick of reporter Zhang Da. However, since it is an old relationship for so many years, Li Xiaoqiang still decided to cooperate with him.

"Of course, Chang Rensheng has a good chance of beating me in the final, his chess skills are mature now, as you can see his form today, if he can play the same level in the Fujitsu Cup final, I think it will be very difficult for me to win in the final......

Li Xiaoqiang is talking about the "Chess King Battle" challenger decision battle that is going on today. When he was talking to reporter Zhang Da, the outcome of this game of chess had actually been decided. Chang Rensheng played extremely well in today's game, he led all the way from the beginning of the prelude, and never gave Ma Xiaofei a clear chance. In this way, in the "National Hand Battle" and "Chess King Battle", Ma Xiaofei and Chang Rensheng were evenly divided, and each of them won a challenge right.

"Don't say such polite words to me, you can be honest with me, in your mind, how much hope do you think Chang Rensheng will beat you in the final of the "Fujitsu Cup"? ”

Li Xiaoqiang said with a smile: "If I say that the finals are five or five, then it is estimated that everyone will say that I am hypocritical or hypocritical, and no one thinks that I am telling the truth." Well, in my mind, this final is 51 against 49, so I have a slight advantage. ”

Reporter Zhang Da was skeptical: "Do you think Chang Rensheng's hope of victory is really so big?" Is this what you mean by the truth? ”

Li Xiaoqiang said: "Of course! Let me tell you the truth, in today's world chess world, I think Chang Rensheng is one of the most promising players to defeat me, and he is even more dangerous to me than Cao Yanzi, Liu Changhyuk, Zhao Zhixun, Kobayashi Koji and others. ”

"Oh?"

Zhang Da reporter expressed surprise at Li Xiaoqiang's words, although Chang Rensheng is now very strong, but whether it is from the status of the world chess or from the chess skills he has shown, no one thinks that Chang Rensheng is more powerful than these people.

"Why do you think so?"

"The reason why I say this is not because Chang Rensheng is my teammate and deliberately praises him, nor because Chang Rensheng is younger and he seems to have more potential. It's because he has his own unique way of playing Go, and I think I may not be as good as him in some technical aspects, so I think he is still a threat to me. “

"Oh?" Reporter Zhang Da let out an "oh" again. Li Xiaoqiang's point of view is relatively novel and the perspective is relatively unique, but reporter Zhang Da still thinks that Li Xiaoqiang's words are very reasonable at this time.

Who is currently recognized as the closest to Li Xiaoqiang in the world chess world? It's Li Shifo. Why is Li Shifo the greatest threat to Li Xiaoqiang? This is because compared with Li Xiaoqiang, Li Shifo also has his own uniqueness, for example, it is recognized that Li Shifo is still slightly stronger than Li Xiaoqiang in the official field.

Looking at Chang Rensheng's situation now, it seems to be a bit similar. Where is Chang Ren Shengqiang? He is mainly strong in his overall view and strong in his prologue kung fu. After Hideyuki Fujisawa, Nie Whirlwind, Otake Hero and Mr. Lin Haifeng gradually faded into the background, Chang Rensheng's prologue kung fu is recognized as the best among young chess players.

It is for this reason that Li Xiaoqiang said that Chang Rensheng threatens him more than Cao Yanzi and Liu Changhe and others, and it is also easy to understand. Although in terms of comprehensive strength, the current Chang Rensheng may not be stronger than those few. But there is a difference between a player who has something unique and a player who doesn't.

Of course, it can't be said that those chess players don't have uniqueness, but compared with Li Xiaoqiang, their "uniqueness" doesn't seem to be obvious, and none of them has any technical expertise that can completely overpower Li Xiaoqiang. In this way, it will be very difficult for them to defeat Li Xiaoqiang.

Li Xiaoqiang has always maintained a high winning rate against these chess players, and the main reason for this is this.

"In this way, do you think that if Chang Rensheng wants to defeat you, the most important thing is to give full play to his strengths?"

Seeing that reporter Zhang Da had understood what he meant, and he could draw inferences from one another, Li Xiaoqiang joked with reporter Zhang Da in turn:

"That's what you said, I didn't say that."

Indeed, although Li Xiaoqiang sincerely thinks that Chang Rensheng is more of a threat to him than Lao Cao, he does not think that Chang Rensheng's use of his technical expertise is the key to defeating him.

Because among all the Go techniques, the prelude technique is the most "virtual", how to turn the prelude advantage into practical benefits is a super problem for any chess player. If you want to do this, you need solid basic skills, matching mid-to-late game skills, and even a good mentality and normal game psychology during the game.

Li Xiaoqiang believes that these are the keys to whether Chang Rensheng can beat him in this game.

After the match between Chang Rensheng and Ma Xiaofei, I don't know what the reason is, Chang Rensheng also came to Li Xiaoqiang and Zhang Da reporters. Reporter Zhang Da deliberately asked Chang Rensheng:

"Xiao Chang, are you ready?"

Chang Rensheng glanced at Li Xiaoqiang, and Li Xiaoqiang responded with a smile.

"I've ...... You ready. ”

On the first weekend of August, the final day of the Fujitsu Cup. Li Xiaoqiang returned to Tokyo, Japan, and for the first time in his career, he faced a younger player in the final of the World Championship.

This is Li Xiaoqiang's 8th time participating in the World Series finals, what will happen in this final? (To be continued.) )