Seoul, South Korea, the 2nd "Ying's Cup" top 8 match was played here.

As usual, Li Xiaoqiang walked into the game room a few minutes early and made all the preparations before the game. Although he is already a world champion, for so many years, Li Xiaoqiang has spent most of his time playing against chess players older than him. As a basic etiquette, entering the game room early has almost become a habit for Li Xiaoqiang.

2 minutes before the start of the game, Zhao Zhixun stepped on the point and walked into the game room. Different from yesterday's chatting and laughing, today's Zhao Zhixun's expression was slightly serious, and after nodding and saying hello to Li Xiaoqiang, he sat in his place and closed his eyes to recuperate, quietly waiting for the arrival of the game. ，

The referee gave the order and announced the start of the game. Zhao Zhixun grabbed a chess piece and let Li Xiaoqiang guess first. Li Xiaoqiang didn't guess right, and Zhao Zhixun was given the right to choose.

In the "Ying's Cup" competition, the rules of guessing first are different. In other competitions, whoever guesses correctly will be black, and there is nothing to say. However, the "Ying's Cup" is different, because the Ying's rule is the first to advocate the purpose of the big sticker, it is not so much "guess first" as "guess the right to choose". The party who guesses correctly has the right to choose whether he will be black or white.

Before the game had even started, there was a hiccup. Zhao Zhixun, who had obtained the right to choose, had a tangled expression on his face, and muttered something in his mouth, looking in a dilemma, as if this choice was very hot.

Li Xiaoqiang thought about it, and he quickly figured out why Zhao Zhixun was entangled, so he smiled at Zhao Zhixun.

In this era when it is still customary to stick 5 and a half mesh, don't think that everyone wants to choose white. In fact, in the "Ying's Cup" competition, there are still many people who choose black. The current world chess scene is actually transitioning from small stickers to big stickers. More and more chess players believe that sticking two more goals does not have a big impact on the outcome of the game, and at most it may only affect the psychology of the game.

In the case of big stickers, choosing to hold black or white represents a different game strategy. Under normal circumstances. If you choose to be black, it means that you need to be proactive and work hard to implement your intentions. What about white? Just keep it the same for all changes.

Don't underestimate this slight gap, different choices may mean a different attitude towards this game of chess.

Li Xiaoqiang knew that before the game, Zhao Zhixun would definitely be ready to deal with his own strategy. Having this option may reveal your intentions in advance. Li Xiaoqiang believes that this should be where Zhao Zhixun is entangled. If it were possible, he would rather not have this option.

Of course. It's just a trivial thing for a set. Zhao Zhixun couldn't be entangled for too long, and after a little hesitation, Zhao Zhixun chose to be white, leaving the burden of the big sticker to Li Xiaoqiang.

After Zhao Zhixun made his choice, the game officially began. Li Xiaoqiang settled down and calmly dropped the first move of the game.

Li Xiaoqiang's move was very fast, and it seemed that he had been prepared, and the first few moves did not take much time at all. It would have been a very ordinary opening. However, the game has just reached the 7th hand, that is, when Li Xiaoqiang has just dropped his 4th hand. Zhao Zhixun paused again, looking very surprised, and looked up at Li Xiaoqiang. saw Zhao Zhixun's appearance. Li Xiaoqiang smiled at him again.

Yes, Li Xiaoqiang's openings are very common, at least in this era. In the current era, the popularity is comparable to this layout. There may only be Mr. Takemiya's favorite "triple star" or "double star".

The beginning that Li Xiaoqiang used today is the famous "Xiaolin Liu".

Strictly speaking, there are two types of so-called "Kobayashi-ryu" layouts. One and "star." "Worry-free corner" has a similar layout. Comparing the two layouts, it's just that the "carefree corner" is rotated in one direction. In terms of layout type, like "Star, Worry-Free Corner", this "Kobayashi Flow" is also a relatively balanced method, which is easy to form a situation of competing skills.

The second type of "Kobayashi Stream" is similar to the "Chinese Stream in Disguise", except that the combination of chess pieces on the side road is different. In the same way, the nature of this "Xiaolin Stream" is similar to that of the "China Stream in disguise", and it should be regarded as a fast-paced layout.

What Li Xiaoqiang chose today is this fast-paced "Xiaolin Stream".

The name "Kobayashi-ryu" is very simple, because Mr. Kobayashi Koji, who currently dominates the Japanese chess scene, is very fond of using these two layouts. Kobayashi is a chess player who likes to "adapt to change". As long as he plays black, except for the occasional "double star", it is basically the exchange of these two layouts.

Because of his fame, because of his prominent position, "Kobayashi-ryu" was also named.

In the Japanese chess world, everyone knows the relationship between Kobayashi Koji and Zhao Zhixun. They are so entangled, so evenly matched, that they are called "lifelong rivals".

It can even be said that throughout the history of Go, it is difficult to find "good opponents" like them. Fan Xiping's predecessors and Shi Xiangxia's predecessors may be counted as a couple, and the later generations of Gu Dali and Li Shishi may be counted as a pair. But like the two of them, they have played each other more than 100 rounds, but there are still very few opponents who are inseparable.

When Li Xiaoqiang sacrificed "Xiaolin Liu" today, Zhao Zhixun's accident certainly had its reasons. You know, just before this game, Zhao Zhixun had just repelled Kobayashi's challenge in the "Ben Yin Fang Battle". And it can be expected that if he loses the game in such a tragic way, Mr. Kobayashi must be very hurt now.

It is conceivable that when Zhao Zhixun saw that Li Xiaoqiang also sacrificed "Xiaolin Liu" today, he must be muttering in his heart now, and he didn't understand what Li Xiaoqiang meant.

Li Xiaoqiang also knows that if Mr. Zhao Zhixun really has research on himself, then his "accident" will be more normal. Because since the rebirth, the first type of "Xiaolin Flow" has occasionally fallen, but the second type of "Xiaolin Flow" has never been used by Li Xiaoqiang.

In today's game, Li Xiaoqiang used a layout that he had never used in an official game. Not only that, but this layout is also a favorite of his sworn enemy. He didn't know if he was familiar with this layout, but he had too much experience in dealing with it himself. He is not afraid of touching the mold, and he just used this layout today. What does he mean?

Therefore, it is conceivable that it is no wonder that the current Mr. Zhao Zhixun will mumble again.

Guilty muttering is guilty of muttering, but the game has to go on. Mr. Zhao Zhixun cleaned up his mood and concentrated all his thoughts on the chess game. However, it can be clearly seen that the current Mr. Zhao Zhixun is a little cautious. The speed of his fall slowed down significantly, and there was a more cautious look on his face.

Seeing this situation, Li Xiaoqiang smiled secretly in his heart, and slowly maneuvered with his opponent with the same patience.

It must be pointed out that Li Xiaoqiang did not play this "Xiaolin Liu" before, not that he didn't like it, nor did he not understand it. On the contrary, it is precisely because Li Xiaoqiang knows too well that he does not use this method very much.

In later generations, among amateur chess players, "Kobayashi Liu" was still very marketable. For example, on the Internet, "Kobayashi Stream" can still be seen everywhere. But in the professional game, "Kobayashi Ryu" is almost invisible. The reason for this situation, Li Xiaoqiang believes that it is likely to be related to a game in later generations.

That game is similar in nature to "point three, 3 makes the Chinese flow layout disappear". In a way, the nature of the game was more serious. If it is said that "point three, three makes the layout of China's flow disappear", this view is still debatable. So when that game is over, "Kobayashi Liu" is indeed really rare to see in the professional chess world.

It was a game between Chang Rensheng and Li Shifo. In the competition, Li Shifo sacrificed "Xiaolin Flow". "Kobayashi Flow" is a fast-paced layout with its center of gravity placed on one side of the board. Black can attack or expand to enclose a certain amount of space on this side. This is the general understanding of this kind of play.

After this game of chess, everyone's perception has changed a little. In the actual battle at that time, Chang Rensheng deeply "entered" on this side road, and Li Shifo saw that the opponent ran into his "basic space" to make trouble, of course, he was not merciless, and he launched a strong attack on that piece of chess.

The result? As a result, Li Shifo got his wish, and he did completely annihilate the white son who entered. In short, if you look at it, Chang Rensheng's white chess pieces are full of casualties and look miserable.

But Go is so wonderful, when that part is finished, everyone finds that it is actually white chess. There are two reasons why white is favorable: first, black needs to "collect gas and eat", so although it eats a lot of white pieces, the number of eyes is not as large as expected. The second, and most important, is that due to the problem of "recovering from gas and eating", White has nearly 10 huge looms.

The final result of that game of chess was that Chang Rensheng won, and his later play was to rely on those robbers to fan the flames everywhere. As for Li Shifo, it was precisely because he didn't dare to rob his opponent that he tied his hands and feet everywhere, so he lost that game......

Since that game of chess, "Xiaolin Liu" has almost disappeared in the rivers and lakes. The reason for this is very simple, because one of the biggest advantages of the "Kobayashi Stream" is that it can enclose the borderlands. Well, now that someone else has entered your side, you have indeed surrounded it. However, after you succeed locally, you will gain a global disadvantage. Then with this understanding, of course, everyone will continue to study in depth. It would be thought that this kind of chess piece configuration might be a bit problematic.

In this way, the layout with the configuration is questionable, and of course everyone will not adopt it.

Li Xiaoqiang didn't use this layout before, just because he knew about this change. So he never went down the "Kobayashi Stream".

But today, he used this layout in the match against Cho Ji-hoon.

What does he mean?

The game continues step by step. (To be continued......)