"Xiangping, get ready. I will accompany you to Japan to participate in the competition tomorrow."

"Okay, Teacher Zhang."

The "Teacher Zhang" Li Xiangping refers to is Zhang Wendong 9th Dan from the Competition Department of the Chess Academy. Zhang Jiuduan is over 1.8 meters tall and weighs over 100 kilograms. In short, from the appearance, he looks tall and thick, and he does not look like a professional chess player.

The look of the hands.

But even though he doesn't look like it, Zhang Jiudan is actually considered the number one figure in the domestic chess world. The highlight of his career should be the Sino-Japanese Go Tournament in his early years - more than 10 years ago.

, any Chinese chess player who could appear in this competition was a well-known figure in the domestic chess world at that time.

Zhang Jiuduan not only participated in several competitions, but his results seemed to be quite good. At least the overall results were more wins than losses and less than breakeven, which was considered awesome back then.

Zhang Jiuduan is not only awesome, Li Xiangping also thinks that this person is very talented and self-aware. He should have understood the truth that "Go is actually a game between geniuses" very early, so when he realized that his talent was not top-notch,

Later, he quit the job at the peak of his career and entered Renmin University to study.

Li Xiangping couldn't remember whether he studied history or philosophy, but after completing his studies, he returned to the Chinese Chess Academy and entered the management. He is currently considered to be the middle-level management of the Chess Academy. Needless to say, at least there is nothing else to say.

Li Xiangping thought Zhang Jiuduan had done a pretty good job in planning his own life.

The next day, when Li Xiangping and Zhang Jiuduan met at the airport, they unexpectedly found that they were not the only ones traveling with them, but also reporter Zhang Da from "Go World" was waiting there.

Because reporter Zhang Da was a friend of his father, Li Xiangping greeted him politely:

"Teacher Zhang, are you going to Japan too?"

Reporter Zhang Da chuckled: "Yes, thanks to you Xiangping, I also got an opportunity to go to Japan for a business trip."

Li Xiangping was a little surprised when he heard this. You must know that it is only 2002. Although the entire country's economy is booming, it is not rich overall.

To give a simple example, in real history, our country's GDP will not reach one-third of Japan's until next year, and Japan's Tokyo Bay City Circle actually accounts for one-third of Japan's GDP.

In other words, the GDP of our entire country will only just catch up with the city of Tokyo next year.

This is of course unimaginable in the eyes of future generations. Who could have imagined that in just over 10 years, let alone Tokyo Bay, even Japan's entire country's GDP was only more than one-third of our country's

a little.

Therefore, Li Xiangping has always felt that sometimes, reality is really more exaggerated than literary works.

Take the development of our country over the past few decades as an example. If an Internet writer traveled back to the 1980s, and if there were YY novels at that time, the Internet writer would not need to use any imagination to describe the development of the country.

Write the true situation truthfully.

Li Xiangping can guarantee that this novel will definitely be criticized by many people of that era, thinking that it is too novice and too YY. Just like at this time, if Li Xiangping tells others, as long as a mere 10

In many years, the Go AI will be available, and the Go AI at that time will defeat humans. So Li Xiangping can guarantee that it is hard to say how other people will react, but as for the first reaction of his old man, he will definitely be the first

Take yourself to the hospital.

It is precisely for this reason that Li Xiangping was a little surprised by the accompanying reporter Zhang Da. Everyone knows that in a magazine company, although it will never die of hunger, it is definitely not a rich and powerful company, and it is only now.

In the semi-finals, if a reporter was sent to watch the game at this time, it could be considered that Li Xiangping was very valued.

"Who are you? You are a master of martial arts, and now you are shouldering the greatest hope of China's Go. So it is normal for this Go world to send their chief reporter."

Zhang Wendong Jiuduan commented next to him: "Judging from the World Series that has started this year, Teacher Ma is already old. It may be possible to concentrate on breaking through one competition, but it is obviously unrealistic to expect him to fully blossom. In addition to

Apart from Teacher Ma, Chang Hao always feels like he is short of breath, and Gu Dali and Kong Erjie are not really mature yet, so Xiangping..."

Speaking of this nine-dan piece, he paused: "Although you are still young, logically speaking, you should not be allowed to shoulder this heavy responsibility, but the real situation now is that you are really provoking the backbone of Chinese Go. So in the world of Go,

Of course it’s not surprising at all to have a reporter from Zhang Da accompany us for the first time.”

"Haha, please don't say that," Li Xiangping said haha:

"Teacher Zhang, it's wrong for you to say that, especially at this time. You're clearly adding to my mental burden."

"Yes, if it were another chess player, then I promise not to say this at this time," Zhang Wendong said with a smile:

"But who are you, Li Xiangping? I've seen it a long time ago. Your heart is twice as big as the average person. The bigger the game, the more energetic you become. The stronger the opponent, the more you perform. How about Xiangping, this time

Are you ready to face South Korea's Xiao Li again?"

Li Xiangping was very happy after hearing this. He said to himself that my heart is not twice as big as others. The real situation is that I have two hearts. However, Li Xiangping had no way to deal with Zhang Wendong's subsequent problems.

Answered.

Because since Lao Shi told him that he had prepared some "new skills" this time, Li Xiangping himself was looking forward to it, and in order to keep it fresh, he didn't even ask himself this time.

"Haha, keep it secret."

At the end, Li Xiangping could only say this, but Zhang Wendong looked at him smiling:

"Haha, it seems that Xiangping is already confident. That's fine, that's fine. Let's see you at the game then."

Silently all the way, the group quickly arrived at the venue for this competition.

The semi-finals of the "Fujitsu Cup" are usually held in Japanese cities other than Tokyo, either Osaka or Nagoya. This is also the convention of this competition, and this competition was held in Osaka.

Since after the semi-finals, all the Japanese players have been eliminated, which makes the host a little embarrassed. At the same time, the reception is naturally simple. For example, this time, at least there is no sense of ceremony in the past.

Of course Li Xiangping doesn't care about this. Anyway, in his opinion, as long as the prize money agreed before the game is not less, what's more, what he wants to know most now is Lao Shi's "new kung fu", so in

He didn't care about these aspects at all.

Without further ado, the day of the competition came soon. When he and Li Shishi entered the game room, Li Xiangping guessed the black chess piece through guessing, which made Li Xiangping look forward to it even more.

Although under the rule of 6 and a half black posts, playing black and white are actually the same, and it is not particularly advantageous for one side, but didn't Lao Shi say that he has "new skills"? When playing Go, it is easier for the side to go first.

It is a well-known fact that he can carry out his own intentions, so Li Xiangping believed that since he had guessed the first move, it should be easier to see Lao Shi's "new skills".

So what did Li Xiangping see?

Let’s not mention what Li Xiangping saw in the game room, but let’s talk about the situation in the viewing room next door.

At the beginning of the game, the on-site viewing room was quite deserted. Think about it, this situation is normal. Let’s not mention that there are no Japanese players in the semi-finals. Just think about this, this is Osaka, which belongs to Japan.

The Nishi region is the headquarters of Japan's "Kansai Chess Academy".

In the world of Go, the conflict between the Nippon Go Academy and the Kansai Go Academy is well known to everyone. So when a match is held in this place, it is normal for the viewing room to be deserted. For example, at the beginning of the match, except for those necessary by the match organizer,

Among the staff, the Chinese and Korean team leaders, and the accompanying reporters from China and South Korea, there were almost no other Japanese chess players to be seen.

However, around 10:15 a.m. Japan time, that is, about 15 minutes after the game started, the situation changed a little. An old-timer in the Japanese Go world came to the scene.

As soon as this person arrived, people from both the Japanese Go community and the Chinese and Korean Go communities all stepped forward to say hello respectfully:

"Mr. Sakata, why are you here today..."

That's right, it's none other than Eio Sakata, a great figure in the Japanese chess world, the once famous "Razor Sakata".

What is Sakata Eio's status in the Go world? I remember in his early years, when South Korea's Cao Cao had become famous and became the "Go Emperor" of South Korea. At that time, a reporter asked him: Who do you think has the highest Go talent in history?

, Lao Cao did not hesitate about this. He said without hesitation that it was Mr. Wu Qingyuan, and said that he could feel that Mr. Wu was the number one just by looking at Mr. Wu's chess records.

When the reporter asked Lao Cao who was second, Lao Cao pondered for a long time and finally said:

That should still be Mr. Sakata, the ghostly Mr. Sakata...

Although this is just the opinion of Lao Cao, it can also be seen from this that Sakata Eio's status in the Japanese chess world and even the world chess world.

Mr. Sakata is now over seventy years old, but he looks energetic and glowing. He responded to everyone's greetings and explained cheerfully:

"Haha, I happened to be on vacation in Osaka. Didn't I hear that China had an unparalleled Go genius, and he happened to be playing here, so I came here to have a look."

Everyone looked at each other in shock after hearing this. "Razor Sakata" was actually here to watch Li Xiangping's chess game?

It was at this time that the first chess score was passed to the viewing room, and many people laughed after reading it. One of the Japanese staff members even said to Mr. Sakata:
Chapter completed!