In late November 1996, Li Xiaoqiang, who had been "resting" in Shencheng for more than 10 days, ushered in the opening of the 3rd "Yingshi Cup" World Professional Go Championship.

From this time until the Spring Festival of 97, the four major Go tournaments rarely gathered together and were lined up. At this time, Li Xiaoqiang also regained his spirits. It is foreseeable that in the next period of time in the world chess arena, there must be a new dragon fight.

The "Ying's Cup" is the first of these four major tournaments, and the "Ying's Cup", which is held every four years, has always been known as the "Go Olympics", and has the highest prize money among all world competitions. Therefore, the opening of this year's "Yingshi Cup" has attracted much attention from the outside world. Like the final of the "Zhenlu Cup" Three Kingdoms Ring Tournament more than 10 days ago, on the day of the opening of the "Yingshi Cup", reporters from all walks of life gathered in Shencheng again.

"For this Ying Cup, my only goal is to win, and any other place other than the championship will be regarded as a failure......

At the opening ceremony of any World Championship, as usual, the players are always asked to "say a few words". At today's opening ceremony, Li Xiaoqiang, who just created a miracle on the stage of the Three Kingdoms Arena a few days ago, was originally one of the most concerned chess players, and was most sought after by reporters. When Li Xiaoqiang delivered his "pre-game speech", his speech attracted everyone's attention.

I've seen a high-profile one, but being able to be high-profile like he is now, which is really rare in the Go world. However, everyone knows that Li Xiaoqiang has never been the kind of unreliable person, since he is so high-profile, there should definitely be his reasons. Therefore, when Li Xiaoqiang issued a declaration of winning the championship, the whole venue was quiet, and they all wanted to hear what Li Xiaoqiang had to say later.

"Of course, there is a reason why I am so eager to win the championship, not to mention that the Ying's Cup is a Go tournament held in Chinese, and I don't mention that the championship prize money of the Ying's Cup is so generous......" Li Xiaoqiang still had a smile on his face when he said this. However, when it came to the next sentence, the smile on Li Xiaoqiang's face had been retracted, and he looked at the center of the entire venue, where the portrait of Mr. Ying, the founder of the "Ying's Cup", was hung.

“…… The reason I want to win the championship so much is because of Mr. Ying. As you know, Mr. Ying and I are old friends. Back in the time of the last competition. Mr. Ying once hoped that I could win the Ying Cup. However, the final result is unfortunate, and I disappointed Mr. Ying. Now Mr. Ying has gone to the crane fairy, but as a chess fan who loves chess, presumably in heaven, Mr. Ying will also pay attention to the games of our people. Therefore, in order to comfort Mr. Ying's spirit in the sky, and in order not to disappoint him again, I will definitely go all out in this competition and strive to win the final championship......"

Since Li Xiaoqiang has moved Mr. Ying out, others naturally have nothing to say. Maybe it was influenced by Li Xiaoqiang. The players who spoke behind him also began to become high-profile. Of course, no matter which chess player speaks, their tone does not seem to be as high as Li Xiaoqiang. Li Xiaoqiang expressed a strong desire to win the championship personally. Most of the other players expressed their hope that the "national chess player" would win the championship. For example, the Japanese chess player Kiki Ita said this:

"The Ying Cup is not only one of the most important events in the world chess world, but also everyone knows that the Ying Cup, which is held every four years, has always been called the vane of the chess world. The first Mr. Cao won the championship and led the rise of Korean Go. Mr. Nie won the championship in the 2nd edition, and has the best record in Chinese Go in recent years. The outside world has always said it. At present, the world chess scene is showing a three-country trend: Japan, China and South Korea. Then I was thinking, the next 3rd Yingshi Cup. It's our turn to win the championship. Compared to a lot of the players in this room, I know that I am not good enough, and I know that if I say that I want to win the championship too, many people will laugh at me for being a fool. But what I want to tell you is: my level may not be enough, my strength may not be good, but in the game. No matter which player I meet, I don't lack the courage to fight against them! ”

Ita Kiki's words drew applause. After his words were finished, it was the turn of South Korean chess player Yoo Chang-hyuk to speak. Li Xiaoqiang watched interestingly from the side, in real history, it was these two chess players who entered the final of this "Ying's Cup". With this bit of "foresight". Of course, Li Xiaoqiang will pay a little more attention to these two players. Now that I see that they even make "pre-game speeches" together, it can be seen that some coincidences are indeed everywhere.

Yoo Chang-hyuk's speech also did not mention that he won the championship, but emphasized that he hoped that the Korean chess player would win the championship.

“…… As you know, Go is currently very hot in South Korea......" As soon as Yoo Chang-hyuk spoke, his words caused people in the chess world to smile.

Indeed, in South Korea at the moment, the game of Go is indeed very hot. From Cao Yanzi winning the first "Yingshi Cup", after so many years of fermentation, to this year's Li Shifo winning the "Toyo Securities Cup" and "Fujitsu Cup", the popularity of Korean Go has indeed reached a very high height.

TV station's dedicated Go channel. It is claimed that 1 in 3 Korean men can play Go. The mushrooming of new chess battles, such as the creation of two new world championships, is a testament to the current popularity of Go in South Korea. Although this happened in South Korea, for a niche sport like Go, no matter how well that country develops, people in the chess world are always happy to see it.

“…… A good momentum of development needs to be supported by good results. And we, the professional chess players, are responsible for creating good results. In order to maintain the good development momentum of Korean Go, I will definitely work together with other Korean players in this competition. Mr. Yitian also said just now that the Ying Cup is the vane of the chess world, and this time we want to win the Ying Cup again in South Korea after a 4-year absence......"

On the second day after the opening ceremony, the first round of competitions began. Li Xiaoqiang was the top four in the last competition, and he automatically became a seeded player according to the rules of the competition, and he did not have to participate in the first round. So on the first round day, Li Xiaoqiang, like most of the other seeded players, watched from the wall in the research room.

"In today's world chess world, there are two triple champions Li Xiaoqiang and Li Shifo, Wu Gong, Lao Cao and Ma Xiao three people have two crowns, as well as Lao Nie, Mr. Lin, Dazhu and Liu Changhe and other champions. So far, these nine have won the world championship. Coincidentally, all nine of them are in the lineup for this tournament, which is rare in the last two years of the World Championships. But although they are both world champions. By now, it seems that it has been able to distinguish three, six, nine and so on. Dazhu and Mr. Lin are old, Wu Gong is drifting away, and Lao Nie has been playing Happy Go for a long time, so several of them should be able to be eliminated from the candidates for the championship this time, right? , then the remaining 5 digits. I think they are all the favourites to win this tournament, and this championship is likely to be won among the five of them. Of course, among these 5 people, I think it is still possible to divide the grade again, and the first grade naturally needs not be said, of course, it is Li ......"

Soon after the game began, there was nothing to say about chess, Li Xiaoqiang mixed with a group of reporters, listening to Zhang Da's reporter analyze the "general trend of the world". Seeing that Zhang Da reporter was ready to brag about himself again. Li Xiaoqiang interrupted him with a smile.

"Reporter Zhang, what you said is a bit one-sided, do you think that this competition will not produce a new world champion?"

"The new champion? Then who do you think has a champion among the other participating players? ”

Li Xiaoqiang glanced at the match bracket and found that except for those players who played soy sauce on behalf of all continents, the chess players participating in this year's "Ying's Cup" were all older. Since the "Ying's Cup" is held every four years, it is a bit slow to "renew" chess players, which is where the "Ying's Cup" is not as good as other world competitions.

Except for those who have already won the World Championship, there are the most powerful ones left. It may be Kobayashi Koji and Zhao Zhixun. But in this year's "Ying's Cup", Kobayashi Koji did not appear.

"I'm talking about reporter Zhang Da. You dare to look down on Lao Zhao, do you think that Lao Zhao doesn't have a champion statue. ”

"Hehe, don't say it, I'm really not optimistic about Lao Zhao. If you want to talk about this person, sometimes it depends on fate. After so many years, if only statistics are counted to enter the top 4 of the World Series. The number of top 8 may not be able to surpass Lao Zhao. But why didn't he win a single championship? So, it's not that I don't recognize Lao Zhao's strength, but Lao Zhao may not have the life of a world champion. ”

Li Xiaoqiang remembered that Zhao Zhixun won the 4th "Fujitsu Cup" championship in his previous life, and he was snatched away by himself. Therefore, I heard reporter Zhang Da say this. Naturally, there was nothing to say.

"The reason why I am not optimistic about Lao Zhao is actually another reason, although Lao Zhao is infinitely beautiful in the Japanese chess world, he is flawed in the international arena. He has a lot of tough players on the international stage, and there is more than one. Think about your and Li Shifo's record against him. If there is only one bitter player, then it is possible to avoid it in this single-elimination system, but if he has two bitter opponents at once, it will be difficult for him to make a difference in the World Series. You say so, right? ”

In any case, Zhang Da's analysis seems to be like this, at least many of his peers are nodding their heads around frequently. Although Li Xiaoqiang's heart also agrees with Zhang Da's analysis, he just can't see his smug appearance.

"Even if Lao Zhao can't do it, isn't there anyone else who has a champion statue? For example, him. ”

Li Xiaoqiang refers to Yitian Kiki.

"What? You say Yitian! Haha, haha, I said Xiaoqiang, you just want to talk to me, right? ”

Seeing that Li Xiaoqiang actually pointed to Yitian Jiji, reporter Zhang Da laughed twice. He didn't even bother to argue with Li Xiaoqiang. Indeed, although Ida Kiki has been the "crown prince" of Japanese Go for so many years, he has never won the title of Japan's seven major news chess battles so far. He can't stand out in Japan, so in today's world chess world, it's no wonder that Zhang Da reporter looks down on him.

"What's the matter, you really underestimate Yitian Jiji, I said that your vision is really problematic, or let's make a bet, I bet that Yitian can at least enter the top 4 this time."

In fact, Li Xiaoqiang couldn't find a reason to be optimistic about Yitian Jiji...... But at this time, he can't help it, he can only hope that the "historical inertia" is strong enough.

"Bet on it."

Reporter Zhang Da happily accepted the bet.

What Li Xiaoqiang didn't expect was that such a simple bet put himself in an embarrassing situation.

On the evening after the first round of the competition, reporter Zhang Da asked Li Xiaoqiang with a smile:

"Xiaoqiang, our bet in the morning, do you still bet?"

Li Xiaoqiang's opponent in the second round happened to be Yitian Kiki. (To be continued.) )