Chapter 39: Long-term planning
At 10:30 in the evening, after 3 and a half hours, the match between "Jueyi" and "Leimeng Nie Zheng" finally came to an end.
In the endgame, the great chess master Shih did not display his previous magical skills. He made several small mistakes in succession. Fortunately, since black had a 5.5 point handicap in this game, "Jueyi" still managed to hold on to the victory in the end, winning exactly half a point, neither more nor less.
Feeling that Lao Shi was still in shock, Li Xiangping smiled and said to him:
"Brother Ding'an, what do you think of this opponent?"
"Amazing, awesome! This guy is very strong. Ding'an was lucky to win this game."
"If this person were placed in your era, where do you think he would be ranked?"
"He is definitely a master. His chess moves are very precise and precise. His level of detail is something Ding'an has never seen before. I am ashamed to say that I am not as good as him. Therefore, Ding'an believes that this alone is enough to make him a master."
Li Xiangping was amused when he heard this. He didn't expect that Lao Shi would say such a thing. But on second thought, he thought it was normal for Lao Shi to say this.
Compared with modern chess players, medieval chess players are naturally inferior in terms of sophistication and delicacy. This is related to both their chess style and the environment they are in.
For example, people like Lao Shi, when they played chess, even if they had to time it, they would always count by "one incense stick" or "two incense sticks", and never played chess with a countdown like the modern ones. This is actually the main reason why he suffered a slight disadvantage to Yu Jiudan in the long endgame today.
Considering that among medieval chess players, if we only talk about endgame techniques, the great chess master Shi, who was known for his "meticulous and meticulous planning", was already one of the best, it is normal for him to say "the best I have ever seen" after suffering a loss at the hands of Yu Jiudan today.
"Haha, Brother Ding'an, let me tell you, your comment of 'the only one I've ever seen' may be premature. Compared to you, today's chess players are all rigorous and meticulous. Take your opponent for example, although he is good at this and is considered one of the best, he is not the strongest in this field. There are many people who are better than him, both at home and abroad."
"oh?!"
Listening to the tone of Lao Shi, he was obviously a little bit unconvinced. Li Xiangping thought to himself, "How can I lie to you? Although Yu Jiudan's skills in the second half of the game are pretty good, he is definitely not the world's top level in this field. Let's not talk about others. South Korea's Li Canghao and China's Ma Xiaofei are definitely better than him. The reason why the word "small" is added to "small washing machine" is to distinguish it from Ma Xiaofei the real "magician".
Not to mention these two, even Japan's veteran top-notch player Cho Chi-hun seems to be better than Yu Bin in the second half of the game, otherwise he would not have won N consecutive victories against him in the world championships, forcing him to reach the world championships finals for the first time this year.
"Brother Ding'an, let me tell you this. If we only consider the second half of the game, your opponent might be ranked in the top 10 in the world. It would be a stretch to rank in the top 5, and it is absolutely impossible to rank in the top 3."
"Oh? Then may I ask, little friend Xiang Ping, who is the strongest person in the chess world today?"
Li Xiangping sighed inwardly, thinking, who else could it be? Of course it must be Lee Canghao from South Korea, who was able to dominate the world chess world for such a long time only because of his superb second-half skills.
"Brother Ding'an, I am ashamed to say that the strongest player in this field is a Goryeo chess player. His name is Li Canghao, and he is called 'Stone Buddha' and 'Young Jiang Taigong'. I think just from this nickname, Brother Ding'an can probably guess what kind of chess style he has. Not only is he very strong in the second half of the game, far better than your opponent just now, he is also the de facto number one in the chess world today, dominating the chess world... well, he has dominated the chess world for several years."
"You younger generations are incompetent. Goryeo is just a small country, a land of barbarians. How could you...how could you let a Goryeo chess player dominate the chess world?"
Li Xiangping was at a loss whether to laugh or cry after hearing this. He had not expected that the great chess master Shi actually had some great power chauvinism and had the temperament of an angry young man.
Li Xiangping said, "Brother Ding'an, please don't be upset. Although we younger generations are incompetent, the Li Canghao I just mentioned is indeed a rare genius. I have heard people say that the art of Go is driven by geniuses, but now, God has favored Goryeo and let the strongest genius happen to be born in their place."
Hearing what Li Xiangping said, the great chess master Shi was silent, but sensing that he was still a little indignant, Li Xiangping continued to say to him:
"Well, if Brother Ding'an still feels aggrieved, then if you have the chance in the future, you can go and learn it for yourself. But Brother Ding'an, I'm not saying anything bad about you. I see that you won this game with such If you play against Li Canghao according to modern rules, I think you will be in great danger."
After hearing what Li Xiangping said, the great chess master Shi fell silent. This time he was really silent.
Li Xiangping was not talking nonsense, what he said just now was indeed his true thoughts.
It has been nearly half a month since he traveled through time. He has played a lot of chess with Old Shi online these days. Through close observation, Li Xiangping believes that he has a pretty good idea of the great chess master Shi's background and should now have some say.
First of all, Li Xiangping believes that Shi Xiangxia is worthy of being the chess master of medieval times, and may even be the strongest chess master (Danghu Shiju played a total of 13 games, and now there is more and more evidence to show that Shi Xiangxia may have won one more game among those 13 games).
The reason why Li Xiangping thought so was not because Lao Shi had been undefeated these days, but because through these online chess games, Li Xiangping saw his super combat ability, super adaptability and super understanding ability.
In other words, Li Xiangping believed that he saw the quality and accomplishment of Lao Shi. It was because he demonstrated his extraordinary Go accomplishment that Li Xiangping believed that he was worthy of the title of "Go Saint".
Of course, through these days of living together day and night, Li Xiangping also believed that he had seen Lao Shi's weaknesses and shortcomings.
There are two biggest weaknesses: First, because of the "seat system", Lao Shi is not familiar with "small-eye Go", at least not as thoroughly understood as modern chess players. Second, because there was no countdown in ancient times, Lao Shi is not so adapted to the modern way of chess games.
It is precisely because of these two shortcomings that Li Xiangping believes that the current chess master Shi Da is not yet good enough to compete with the top professional chess players today.
It's okay to play online chess like this, but if he were to play a regular professional chess game, his two weaknesses would be infinitely magnified.
"Then let me ask you, my friend Xiang Ping, how can we go and fight with that... that Korean chess player named Li Canghao you mentioned?"
While Li Xiangping was still daydreaming, he suddenly heard Lao Shi say this. Li Xiangping couldn't help laughing:
"It's hard to say. It seems that this person rarely plays online chess nowadays, so the possibility of meeting him online is very small. If it is another competition... Well, Brother Ding'an, let's take a long-term view."
Of course, we can only say this about poor Li Xiangping. Think about it, he is not even a professional chess player now, while Li Canghao is now standing at the top of the professional Go world.
If you want to play chess with him, you can only "take the long view".
"Xiang Ping, Xiang Ping."
A voice interrupted the conversation between Li Xiangping and Lao Shi.
Seeing the people coming, Li Xiangping quickly stood up and said, "Grandpa, grandma, why are you here? It's so late, why haven't you rested yet?"
"You also know it's late now, right? Play less chess. The most important thing now is to take good care of your health."
Grandma first said something in a doting way, and then talked to Li Xiangping about serious matters:
"Your Aunt Lin is here and said she will take you to the capital tomorrow."
"Going to the capital?"
"Yes, she said your father contacted a doctor in Beijing and asked you to go to Beijing for a re-examination."
