"Xiang Ping, okay, let's stop here today. I believe that through the analysis of these games, you should have a better impression of Li Canghao's style and characteristics, right? He is indeed very strong, but his strength is mainly in the second half of the game. In my opinion, his skills in the middle and front games are just average. Therefore, if you want to defeat him, I personally think you can think of more ways in the middle and front games..."
"...By the way, Xiang Ping, I forgot to tell you something. I will make an appointment with your teacher Ma for you tomorrow, and ask him to come and tell you about Li Canghao's chess. How should I put it? Although your teacher Ma was beaten to a pulp by Li Canghao, and the record was completely horrible, there is a saying that the person who knows you best is often your enemy. As Li Canghao's former biggest enemy, I think you would benefit a lot from listening to his analysis..."
"Xiang Ping, come to the dojo right away. Yes, I have an appointment with your brother Chang today. He is the chess player in our country who has played against Li Canghao the most, besides your teacher Ma. So I want him to tell you what he thinks of Li Canghao..."
"Xiang Ping, why haven't you arrived at the Go Academy yet? Hurry up, let me tell you, today's training program is the magic weapon of our Chinese Go world, the famous 'Pressure Chess', Gu Dali, Kong Erjie and Hu Yaoyu will join forces to deal with you, you have to cheer up, the Samsung Cup final is less than a week away, you can't keep dawdling like this..."
The semi-finals were held in March, and the finals were held in late May or early June. During the preparations, even Li Xiangping himself did not expect that Old Nie was so active and concerned about his own affairs. He simply mobilized all the resources of the entire Go world to help him prepare for the competition.
Li Xiangping had no idea why Old Nie looked at him so differently.
But this does not mean that Li Xiangping does not appreciate Old Nie's kindness.
After all, the resources he enjoys now, or the treatment he enjoys, is unprecedented in the Chinese Go world. Li Xiangping even feels that even Lao Nie himself probably did not enjoy so many resources when he was in the challenge tournament back then.
However, after enjoying such rich resources, Li Xiangping also felt a lot of pressure as the final day approached.
You have to know that in real history, during this period, China only won 3 world Go championships. This number is rare enough, but now because of my time travel, it seems that I have lost Yu Bin's world championship...
As we all know, championships are something that is rare and valuable. The less there are of them, the rarer they are and the more people want them. Therefore, as someone who has experienced this, Li Xiangping understands the Chinese people's desire for championships during this period.
Just like himself, China only won 5 gold medals in the 1988 Olympics. Although so much time has passed, Li Xiangping still remembers which 5 medals they were. But what about the Beijing Olympics 20 years later? China won a total of 50 gold medals. It is impossible for Li Xiangping to remember which 50 medals they were. As for the later 2012 and 2016 Olympics, I'm sorry, Li Xiangping doesn't even remember how many gold medals China won.
Since both are classified as competitive events , the Go world championship is actually the same as the Olympic gold medal. As for the current status of Chinese Go, Li Xiangping believes that it is very similar to the situation after the 1988 Olympics. Now is the time when Chinese people are most eager for the Go world championship.
It is precisely because Li Xiangping understands this desire that while he enjoys super high treatment, he also feels an inexplicable pressure.
It was precisely because of this inexplicable pressure that as the day of the finals drew closer, Li Xiangping became a little restless. He seemed to feel that he should do something to help Lao Shi prepare for the competition.
But unfortunately, or it can be said that Li Xiangping did have some self-awareness. He knew that with his level, in the competition between the chess masters Shi and Li, even if he wanted to help, he could not help much.
It is precisely because he knows this that even if Li Xiangping wants to "do something", when the day of the finals is finally approaching and Li Xiangping is about to set off for Shanghai, he doesn't know what he can do.
On May 28, Li Xiangping packed his luggage and, accompanied by a large group of people from the Go community, headed for Shanghai two days in advance, waiting for the first game of the five-game final to start on the 30th.
After arriving in Shanghai, it was naturally lively and noisy again. Fortunately, due to his age, many social engagements were blocked by the management. Li Xiangping also used the excuse of concentrating on preparing for the battle, and that night he locked himself in the room and began to communicate alone with his external plug-in.
"Brother Ding'an, after these two months of preparation, how do you feel now?"
"It has benefited me a lot. I feel I have benefited a lot from this preparation for the war. Little friend Xiang Ping, I want you to thank those who helped me on my behalf."
Li Xiangping smiled slightly: "There is no need to say thank you, Brother Ding'an, you have to know that the key is to win the game. Victory is the best way to thank everyone. Now let me ask you: After such a long period of targeted research, have you studied this person thoroughly? Can you find a way to restrain this person?"
"Haha, what you said is not professional, young friend Xiang Ping. You know, in the way of Go, I never thought there is any special method to restrain him. It's just that after reading so many chess records of this person and listening to so many chess players talk about what they thought when playing against him, Ding'an now feels that this person's chess is just so-so. I dare not say that I will definitely beat him, but Ding'an is still confident about the next five games."
After hearing what Lao Shi said, Li Xiangping didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He didn't know whether he should be happy or worried.
Based on his understanding of his own plug-in, he knew that Lao Shi was not the kind of arrogant person, and he would not lie to him, so when he said "full of confidence" now, he really was full of confidence, so from this perspective, Li Xiangping should be happy.
However, Li Xiangping knew that it was not the time to be happy yet. The reason was simple, because there were two kinds of top chess players in the world. One kind of chess player was one whose level, characteristics, talent, personality, etc. could be known just by looking at his chess records.
This type of player accounts for the majority in the entire Go community, with representatives including Mr. Wu Qingyuan, Mr. Huang Longshi, Japan's Dosaku and even modern Go player Takemiya. Li Xiangping believes that even Shi Xiangxia himself can be classified as this type of player.
However, there is another type of chess player, which is "You don't know how good he is until you play chess with him."
Although there are not as many players of this type as the aforementioned ones, there are still quite a few in the Go world. Representative figures include Mr. Lin Haifeng, Mr. Kobayashi Koichi, etc.
Li Canghao is exactly this type of chess player!
Li Xiangping even thought that Li Canghao might be the most accomplished person of this type. If he did not possess this attribute, he would not have been able to win so many world championships in real history.
This is what Li Xiangping is worried about. You know, this style is very deceptive. Li Xiangping is afraid that Lao Shi will be deceived by Li Canghao's style.
"I should think of some way to remind myself of my cheat..."
At this time, Li Xiangping finally felt that he had something to do. At this time, Li Xiangping had an idea and he really thought of a way:
"Haha, full of confidence? Are you really full of confidence? Brother Ding'an, you should be humble. The more you say this, the more I feel that you don't know this person well enough. Alas, the prospects for this final are worrying."
"snort!"
Hearing Old Shi's groan, Li Xiangping laughed inwardly. Based on his understanding of his own cheats, he knew that the great chess master Shi was a man who was extremely proud inside. Well, in modern terms, he was also a repressed and shy person, so of course his groan was very normal.
"Haha, it seems that Brother Ding'an doesn't believe me? Well, I have a question to test you. If Brother Ding'an can answer it, it proves that what you said just now is true, and you really did not underestimate Li Canghao."
"Oh! Haha, does little friend Xiang Ping have more questions for me ?"
Li Xiangping smiled slightly. Since they were all so familiar with each other, he could certainly hear that Lao Shi didn't agree with him, so Li Xiangping didn't waste any more words:
"In that case, Brother Ding'an, please accept it."
After saying this, Li Xiangping began to place the chess pieces on the chessboard. The topic he came up with was nothing else, just something like "guess the next move". He placed a half-game of chess played by an expert and asked Lao Shi to guess the next move.
What he could show off in front of Mr. Shi were, of course, the Go pieces developed by later generations' Go AI.
As expected, Old Shi knew what he was doing. When Li Xiangping started to set up the chess pieces, before he even reached the crucial moment, Li Xiangping could already hear his cheater breathing heavily:
"Whose move is this?"