Chapter 37: Alternative "Dog Tricks"
"My friend Xiang Ping, your opening today was boring. Although you gained a little ground in the corner, your black chess piece was taken away from you in the middle. You should know that this piece taken away is very powerful. This exchange is a loss. Ding An even thinks that it is difficult for black chess to move at this point in the game ."
Li Xiangping smiled: "Oh, Brother Ding'an, do you also think that this change is a loss for Black?"
To be honest, Li Xiangping was not surprised by Lao Shi's judgment. Because the change he just made was the most typical "terrain confrontation" pattern in Go. The black pieces gained a certain amount of real estate in the corners, while the white pieces "bloomed in the middle", forming the so-called thick position.
As we all know, due to the existence of seats and "returning chess pieces", medieval chess players generally have the habit of "focusing on momentum more than territory".
So, if even modern chess players think that the change that Li Xiangping just made is not a good move for Black, and that the little territory gained by Black may not be as good as the "blossoming of the center" by White, then it is natural for Shi Xiangxia to make the same judgment.
But are everyone's judgments correct? Li Xiangping thinks the problem may not be that simple.
The reason is very simple, because the change he just made was actually a "dog trick".
Although the Go AI that made this variation is not top-notch and it was made during a game with a handicap, Li Xiangping still believes that this move is likely to work.
This is not to say that Li Xiangping has blind faith in or worship of Go AI. The main reason is that Li Xiangping believes that Go AI will not "spend time" when playing chess.
Although in the eyes of humans, Go AI has been making "wasteful moves" since its birth, but if you think carefully about its principles, you will know that it is the only one that plays chess in a truly "non-wasteful" way.
It's just like when Li Xiangping encountered this change for the first time. If the one who gave him a piece was a human master, he wouldn't think so much and would just think that the human master was deliberately playing this "unreasonable chess" to bully him because he was giving him a piece.
However, Li Xiangping was playing against a Go AI at the time, and since it was the AI that made this move, Li Xiangping had to think deeply about it. After all, the Go AI does not have the mindset of "testing the opponent". Whether it is a double move or a handicap move, it has no other distractions and only chooses the best move on the board based on the algorithm.
Since the Go AI played like this, it must have thought that it was feasible for White to play like this.
It is precisely because this move is also a "dog move" that even though Li Xiangping himself does not quite agree with this move, or in other words, until this moment, his judgment is still consistent with that of humans, but on this occasion today, he still decided to use this move. While testing everyone's reaction, Li Xiangping also wanted to see what the final result would be if Lao Shi and Yu Jiudan continued to play this move.
"Alright, Brother Ding'an, my mission has been completed. I'll trouble you to continue it now."
"Ah? Let me continue now. Why don't you continue on your own, Xiang Ping? I thought you had some other ."
Li Xiangping smiled and said, "I don't have any tricks today. This is the interesting opening I prepared for you. Okay, Brother Ding'an, stop talking nonsense. Please go in."
"Ah, that's it? Well, I'll do it, but Xiang Ping, let's make it clear first, if you lose this game today, you can't blame me."
Li Xiangping chuckled: "Haha, I don't blame you, I don't blame you, even if we lose this game, it's not your fault. But Brother Ding'an, I'm not saying anything. How can you, a chess master, easily admit defeat at this time? You have to know that the game has just started. Even if you think that the black chess is at a loss, there is still a lot of room for maneuver on the chessboard, not to mention..."
"Besides what?"
Of course, Li Xiangping wanted to say: What's more, this change does not necessarily mean a loss for Black. Your judgment, Mr. Shi, may be biased or even wrong.
However, considering that it might affect Mr. Shi's chess playing, Li Xiangping finally did not say this.
"Okay, Brother Ding'an, don't ask any more questions. Just concentrate on playing chess. If you have any questions, we can discuss them after the game."
Old Shi was still very obedient. After hearing what Li Xiangping said, he really stopped talking and focused on the chess game. After the task of playing chess was handed over to Old Shi, Li Xiangping also shut up. Apart from occasionally checking the chat in the dialog box, he also focused his main energy on observing the progress of the entire chess game.
Since the opening change, the overall situation of the game has become relatively simple. This is a typical "terrain confrontation" situation in Go, and the focus of the focus is the "flower" of the white chess.
How to bring out the power of the "flower pulling" is a problem that the white piece needs to consider, and on the contrary, how to suppress the use of the "flower pulling" is a problem that the black piece faces.
However, Go is like this. When you form a simple pattern, it does not mean that the subsequent process and subsequent means will become simple. On the contrary, the more "simple pattern" can be explained in one or two sentences, the more abundant and complex the subsequent means are.
How to describe it? You can think of the "pattern" in Go as something at the strategic level. The simpler the pattern, the clearer the strategic intentions of both sides are. They both know what they want to do and what they want to achieve. In this case, both sides have more tactical means, because as long as it conforms to their overall strategic intentions, any means can be used on the board.
Lao Shi and Yu Jiudan are both masters, so you certainly don't have to worry about them lacking tactical means in Go. Therefore, since Lao Shi took over this game, the two began to battle wits and courage on the chessboard. Both sides used various means one after another, and the fight was extremely fierce.
Not only was the game intense, but the progress seemed to be very slow. When both sides' reserve time had been used up, the game had not even reached 100 moves.
In an online game, this speed is of course a bit slow. You have to know that this is a game with a fixed time of 1 hour for each side. In the afternoon, I could practice 3 games with "3304" in almost the same amount of time, but now I have only played less than 100 moves. This shows the caution and attention of both sides.
"Hehe, it seems that Yu Jiudan still takes this game very seriously..."
Li Xiangping thought this in his heart while watching the battle.
Li Xiangping was not surprised at all why Lao Shi played so slowly. You know, although Lao Shi was a chess master, he was not a person with "quick thinking", never!
Whether based on historical evaluations or based on Li Xiangping's own close observations now, he found that Lao Shi's reaction speed seemed to be really average. Not to mention compared with those famous "quick shooters" in the Go world, even himself seemed to play chess a little faster than Lao Shi.
For this reason and the fact that the great chess master Shi may have been aware of his disadvantage from the moment he took over the game, it is understandable that he played slowly.
It's easy to understand what Old Shi is doing, but why is Yu Jiudan so slow? Of course, there is only one explanation: he takes this game of online chess very seriously, otherwise he has no reason to play so slowly. Because Li Xiangping doesn't believe that he will have any sense of disadvantage after playing that change at the beginning.
Of course, Li Xiangping was just thinking about these minor issues casually. What he really cared about was, of course, the situation on the chessboard and who might win in the end.
At around 9 o'clock in the evening, when both sides had just played about 100 moves, Li Xiangping took the time to assess the situation. He felt that the current situation seemed difficult to say. Although he could not say that black had gained an advantage now, if someone said that white had the upper hand now, no matter who that person was, Li Xiangping would find it difficult to agree.
Unsure, Li Xiangping couldn't help but ask:
"Brother Ding'an, what do you think of the current situation? Is it good or bad?"
"This is a critical moment, so please don't disturb me, my friend Xiang Ping."
“…”
Li Xiangping was at a loss for words after hearing what Old Shi said. Of course, he was too embarrassed to ask any more questions:
"Okay, okay, I won't bother you, I won't bother you, just play chess in peace."
Li Xiangping shut up and waited patiently for the moment when the situation became clear.
However, at the same time when Li Xiangping kept silent, a group of national players from the Chinese Chess Institute, who had just assessed the situation, became restless. For fear of disturbing Yu Jiudan's chess game, Chang Hao, Luo Xihe, Gu Dali and others were whispering in front of another computer.
Gu Dali: "Chang...Brother Chang, what do you think of the current situation?"
Facing Gu Dali's question, Chang Hao did not answer immediately. After re-examining the chess game, he asked Luo Xihe:
"What do you think, little pig?"
"It's very strange. The captain's every move was normal, but why do I think the black chess still has a slight advantage now ?"
After Luo Xihe finished speaking, everyone looked at each other, and could see from each other's eyes:
Everyone's judgment is consistent with Luo Xihe's.
