Chapter 38: A chess game that ruins your worldview
At 9:30 in the evening, when the game had gone through more than 120 moves, even Li Xiangping could see that the black pieces had gained a slight advantage.
Although the advantage was very slight, which was what is commonly known as "Black's slightly better fine chess pattern", Li Xiangping was professionally trained after all, and he could not judge a situation that was too complicated, but he was still confident in such a fine chess pattern.
Li Xiangping was happy to feel the advantage, and he began to chatter in front of Lao Shi again:
"Haha, Brother Ding'an, what do you think? Wasn't the black chess at a disadvantage with that change at the beginning? At this point in the game, according to my judgment, the black chess has about seven to eight points better on the board. Where does this advantage come from? According to the current rules, this advantage is already quite large. Brother Ding'an, keep working hard, and don't make the same mistake as last time..."
While Li Xiangping was nagging there, the Chinese Chess Institute and a group of national players naturally made a clear assessment of the current situation. They were also discussing the question of "Where does the black chess advantage come from?"
"Alas! The captain's move is still too soft..."
Gu Dali slammed a chess piece on the chessboard. He quickly arranged the variation diagram and expressed his opinion: "I think the problem may be here. You know, the white chess piece has plucked a flower. How can such a thick chess piece be so insignificant to defend the empty space? Don't you think so? This chess piece should be attacked no matter what. If it were me, I would definitely play this. No matter what, I would attack first..."
Of course, there is nothing wrong with what Gu Dali said from the perspective of Go theory. After all, there is a saying in Go that "don't surround empty spaces when you are in a thick position." This is a truth that all amateur Go enthusiasts with a level above dan know.
Although it makes sense in terms of chess theory, some national players questioned the specific reference diagram that Gu Dali laid out. The first to raise doubts was Luo Xihe:
"Attack? How to attack? You are going to do this, right? What if the opponent plays like this..."
The two quick shooters of the national team began to compete in speed. Gu Dali stood on the white chess side, while Luo Xihe stood on the black chess side. They quickly arranged various variation diagrams on the chessboard and conducted a detailed study of today's game.
After putting out N reference pictures, it seems that Luo Xihe has a slight advantage this time, because after everyone's analysis, all the national players unanimously agreed that the attack method recommended by Gu Dali is not valid. If they really follow his method, the effect may be worse than Yu Bin's actual combat.
As time went by, the national players' research became more and more in-depth. During this period, Chang Hao, Wang Lei, Shao Weigang and others also joined in. Countless ideas were proposed, and countless plans were rejected. Around 10 o'clock, when everyone finally came to a relatively clear conclusion, Chang Hao sighed:
"Now it seems that the problem lies in the initial change. After the flower is pulled out, the white pieces don't have as much advantage as we thought. It's even possible that there is no advantage at all. Hehe, the flower in the middle of the belly is 30 points... Who is this Jueyi? After watching a few games of his, I feel like my outlook on life is being ruined by him."
After hearing Chang Hao's words, everyone smiled bitterly. Indeed, Chang Hao was not the only one who felt that his worldview was destroyed today.
This is because in our previous research, we found that the change that Black made at the beginning seemed to be actually valid.
The move Gu Dali had envisioned was proven to be unworkable, and in actual combat Yu Bin's moves were now at a disadvantage. Later, after collective efforts, everyone helped White find what everyone thought was the best response.
But what everyone can't stand is that even if White can make this "best response" in actual combat, if you calmly judge the situation, everyone will find that after doing that, it seems that Black is still in a "fully combatable" situation. In other words, White, who has made the best response, still seems to have no advantage.
Such a research conclusion is of course difficult for everyone to accept, because it is the kind of conclusion that "destroys all three views."
What does this conclusion mean? Of course, it means that, as Chang Hao said, Black's initial move may be valid!
But if that is true, then what about "30 eyes blooming in the middle of the abdomen"? What has become of this statement that everyone has always regarded as the truth? Isn't this "destroying the three views"?
Yesterday, he overturned the "Big Avalanche" routine, and today he overturned the "30-point mid-belly blossom". Such "unique skills" naturally attracted more and more people's interest. After the national players expressed their feelings, Chang Hao continued:
"Alright, alright, let's continue watching the game. This 'Jueyi's' opening is very innovative. Whether it was yesterday or today, I'm impressed by his openings. Now let's take a look at his second half, starting from Dali's first game. We've seen his middle game and his layout, but it seems we haven't seen his endgame yet. Today's game is just right. Although the situation is slightly worse for White, it's still a fine game after all, right? Now let's see if our captain's small washing machine can wash the situation back."
Hearing Chang Hao say this, everyone thought about it. Although everyone now admitted that black had an advantage, the game was not over yet, right? Moreover, this kind of "fine chess pattern" was what Yu Jiudan was good at. With the thought of "let's see how strong this guy is?", everyone refocused their attention on the chess game.
By the time everyone focused their attention back on the chess game, the game had already gone through 150 moves and had truly entered the endgame stage.
After everyone reviewed the previous dozens of moves, several national players looked at each other, and finally Chang Hao made the final comment:
"His basic skills are still very solid, but if we only look at the official moves, he seems to be slightly inferior to the captain, right?"
Hearing Chang Hao say this, the others nodded slightly, seeming to agree with Chang Hao's evaluation.
Seeing that everyone agreed with his opinion, Chang Hao smiled and said:
"It's not bad, it's not bad. I can finally see some weaknesses in this guy. I feel much better when I think about it. I heard that this guy is a teenager who is trying to get a dan. But judging from the previous games he played, he doesn't look like a teenager at all. He is a complete pervert. I even think that his degree of perversion may be even greater than Li Canghao. Suddenly, I feel a little conflicted. I hope that the captain can lose this game, so that I can have a chance to play the next game with him. Let's make a deal first. If the captain really loses this game, I will play the last game, and no one else can snatch it from me..."
So does Chang Hao, who ranks first in the domestic ranking, have a chance to play the last game?
At 10 o'clock in the evening, Li Xiangping, who was far away in Jinling, was no longer as contented as before. He stared at the computer screen nervously, muttering to himself:
"Brother Ding'an, hold on, hold on..."
