Chapter 32: Encounter with the "World's No. 1 Attacker"
As soon as he landed in Qingfeng, he encountered "Long Feihu" playing chess. Especially since his opponent was actually a Korean chess player, Li Xiangping immediately turned into an ordinary chess fan. He had to watch such a game no matter what.
Although Li Xiangping knew the true identity of "Long Feihu", he was Ding Wei, 8th Dan, one of the "Seven Little Dragons". Objectively speaking, although Ding Wei 8th Dan was one of the "Seven Little Dragons", he was the weaker one among the "Seven Little Dragons". Even at his peak, he could only rank in the top 10 in the country, and was the most standard so-called "core chess player".
However, Li Xiangping knows that playing online chess is different from playing "face-to-face" chess. Some people have first-rate face-to-face skills, but they can't perform at their best when playing online chess. Some chess players may not have reached the top level, but they can always perform above their level in online games.
No, since the quality of online chess games is usually lower than that of official competitions, as long as a player can perform at his normal level in online chess games, and if the chess games he plays are also entertaining to watch, then such a chess player can easily become an "Internet celebrity."
And "Long Feihu" is obviously such a chess player.
After Li Xiangping entered the game room, he found that the game had already been played for dozens of moves. The time setting was still the most common fast chess game in online games. Each side had a fixed time of 5 minutes, and then the seconds were counted down for each move every 30 seconds.
"3304? Haha, this guy is called 3304. Which Korean chess player is he?"
After watching for about 5 minutes, Li Xiangping began to guess who this person named "3304" was. After watching the previous dozens of moves, Li Xiangping immediately determined that this person must be a master. And the "master" here does not refer to amateur masters or ordinary professionals, this is definitely a first-tier professional.
In the first few dozen moves, Li Xiangping saw that this man's moves were well-paced, sophisticated and rigorous. Not only did he not lose to "Long Feihu" in the confrontation, but according to Li Xiangping's own judgment, he believed that after more than 50 moves, the Korean chess player named "3304" should have gained a slight advantage.
"3304? Is there a Korean master with this name these days..."
Li Xiangping began to search his memory, but unfortunately he traveled back from 18 years ago, so the time span was a bit long, and he had no impression of this person in his memory at all.
In fact, it was not just Li Xiangping. When the game reached the middle stage, those discerning chess fans also began to speculate on the identity of this chess player.
You have to know that it is only the year 2000. Not only have most of the top players not yet developed the habit of playing chess online, even the Chinese and Korean chess websites have not yet been connected. Therefore, on the domestic chess websites of these days, there are actually not many Korean chess players, and top-notch players are even rarer.
This guy called "3304" challenged Qingfeng's top master Long Feihu right away, and judging from the progress of the game, he was actually able to gain the upper hand. This naturally caused everyone to speculate.
It's just that the saying is still right, "the eyes of the masses are sharp", and among Go fans, there are more such people who understand. Not long after, what a spectator said was recognized by many onlookers:
"Don't think too much. There haven't been many international competitions recently. And today is Monday. The Chinese Weiqi League just finished a round. So this person is most likely a Korean foreign aid for a Chinese Weiqi League team. Just guess within this range."
Everyone thought it made sense. Since this person came to Qingfeng to play chess, he must be logged in from China. And the Korean chess player who logged in to the domestic website at this time is most likely a Korean foreign aid in the Chinese Go League.
Now that the scope has been narrowed down to this, the majority of the onlookers have begun to discuss:
"Could this be the Stone Buddha Li Canghao?"
As the world's number one chess player today, it is natural that Li Canghao is mentioned first, but this speculation was quickly denied by everyone.
"It's definitely not him. Shifo did not participate in this round of Weiqi."
"Since it's not the stone Buddha, could it be Lao Cao? Lao Cao is here this time."
The "Old Cao" that everyone mentions is Li Changhao's master, Cao Xunxuan, 9th dan. It is very normal that he is mentioned second because he is the "Go Emperor" of South Korea and also a meritorious figure in the rise of Korean Go. He is currently one of the most powerful top-notch masters in the world.
However, this speculation was once again denied by everyone:
"Lao Cao is competing in Shanghai this round. I've read reports that he boarded a plane back home right after the competition yesterday."
The chess fan's words were quickly confirmed by the crowd: "Yes, I met Lao Cao at Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport last night. I was a little excited. I even asked Lao Cao for an autograph..."
Li Canghao was rejected, Cao Xunxuan was rejected, and the third candidate was proposed again:
"Everyone, do you think this '3304' could be Mumu?"
"Mumu" as everyone calls him is a young Korean chess player. Although he is young and his strength is not top-notch, he is the most successful foreign player in all the Weiqi teams of this era. Shancheng Weiqi team was able to achieve 7 consecutive championships in this era, and this "Mumu" can be said to have made an indispensable contribution. Not only that, this "Mumu" is also an expert on China, he speaks Chinese very well, so it is normal that he is the third person mentioned by everyone.
However, this speculation was once again denied by everyone. A chess fan who was obviously very familiar with "Mumu" said;
"I don't think this person looks like Mumu. I am very familiar with Mumu's chess accounts, and he has a habit of chatting with everyone while playing chess. But this '3304' has not said a word so far, which is obviously not Mumu's style ..."
After rejecting the first three candidates, when a chess fan proposed a fourth candidate, this time it was recognized by many people:
"Da Liu! Everyone, do you think this 3304 is Da Liu, the world's best attacker Liu Changhe..."
"Yes, yes, Liu Langguan also participated in this round of Weiqi, and judging from his chess style, he is quite similar to Liu Changhe..."
"Fuck, what's going on in this game? Why do I feel like Boss Long is going to lose? If someone could defeat Boss Long so easily, then this person might really be Liu..."
In the crowd, only Li Xiangping expressed doubts about this speculation. It was not because he saw any other clues, but mainly because he was the only one who knew the true identity of "Long Feihu". He also knew that in this era, "Long Feihu" and Liu Changhe were from the same Weiqi team.
So is it possible that as teammates in the same Weiqi League team, they suddenly went online to play chess the day after the game? Although it cannot be said that it is completely impossible, Li Xiangping thinks it is unlikely. It is for this reason that he thinks it is unlikely that this "3304" is Liu Changhe.
"So besides these four, who else could it be..."
Li Xiangping shook his head. He thought for a long time but still had no clue, because in those days, there were not as many Korean players entering the Go arena as in later generations. Apart from these four, Li Xiangping really couldn't think of anyone else with such strength.
As everyone was discussing, the first game between "Long Feihu" and "3304" had ended, and 3304 won the victory easily. Without saying a word, the two quickly started the second game.
From the second game, Li Xiangping didn't think about who the chess player was, because he was more focused on the game. Li Xiangping didn't know if his feeling was right, but he personally thought that the strength of "3304" seemed to be stronger than "Long Feihu". He seemed to be more comfortable most of the time, showing a higher strength.
Although "Long Feihu" won a game in the second game, he actually won this game by luck. When the two started the third game, "3304" quickly gained the overall advantage and kept suppressing his opponent.
Before 3 o'clock in the afternoon, seeing that the victory of "3304" was a foregone conclusion, Li Xiangping smiled and said to Lao Shi:
"Brother Ding'an, after watching this guy's chess, I'm sure you're itching to play. Do you want to compete with him?"
“This… hehe…”
Li Xiangping smiled again, and this time he didn't say any more nonsense:
"Okay, Brother Ding'an, I'll change my account right away, but you have to be careful. If the opponent agrees to play a game, it will definitely be a fast game like this. You have to be mentally prepared for this."
At 3:00 p.m., Li Xiangping logged in again using the Jueyi account. At this time, the third game between Long Feihu and 3304 had just ended. In the end, 3304 defeated Long Feihu 2-1.
The appearance of "Jueyi" at this time also caused a small commotion among the onlookers:
"Haha, amazing! I was just worried that there wouldn't be any experts , but I didn't expect this guy to come at this time..."
"Boss Jueyi, hurry up! A Korean chess player came here today and acted arrogantly. Go and invite him to play chess..."
Li Xiangping laughed and said something in the hall: "Don't compete with me, let me play the next one."
Immediately afterwards, Li Xiangping requested a game with "3304".
At the time when Li Xiangping sent in his game request, in the terminal hall of Shancheng Airport, "Mumu" was saying to Liu Changhe, "Brother, I'm sorry. I just asked again. Due to weather reasons, this flight will be further delayed... Oh! Jueyi? Brother, let me tell you, this guy is a master, and his chess is quite interesting. Anyway, we still have plenty of time, why don't you play a few games with him?"
Hearing Mumu say this, the good-tempered Liu Changhe naturally followed suit. He smiled slightly and said, "Okay."