Chapter 54 How did we win so quickly again?
The next day, the penultimate round of this year's Samsung Cup qualifiers, when the game was about to begin, Coach Wu had already been standing at the entrance of the stadium, watching the Chinese chess players enter the stadium one by one.
At this point in the game, with more than 80% of the players having been eliminated, the entire arena has become much quieter, and this quietness has added a bit of tension to the entire arena.
Li Xiangping was also preparing to enter the stadium. When he saw Coach Wu at the door, he greeted him politely:
"Hello, Coach Wu!"
Coach Wu patted Li Xiangping's shoulder affectionately, and while saying "Play well", he also felt a little strange:
This is strange. Isn't it said that this kid has poor mental quality and gets nervous easily at critical moments? How come he looks so relaxed today? Even among all the chess players who walked past me, he looks the most relaxed? It seems that my previous intelligence was wrong. This kid is clearly a good material for playing chess...
It must be admitted that more than ten years of coaching career has trained Coach Wu to have a pair of sharp eyes. He was not wrong today. Li Xiangping is indeed very relaxed now. However, Coach Wu certainly does not know that the reason why Li Xiangping is relaxed today has nothing to do with his "psychological quality". It does not prove that he is a good chess player.
The reason why he was relaxed today was simply because when he was preparing for the game yesterday, his "plug-in" clearly told him that Li Xiangping didn't need to intervene in this game, and from the first step onwards, everything was entirely up to Lao Shi. So for today's game, Li Xiangping was actually just a spectator. Entering the arena with this mentality, he certainly looked relaxed.
To be honest, Li Xiangping was not only relaxed, but he was even a little impatient to see what Lao Shi would do. The reason was simple, because this was the first time Lao Shi took the initiative to make such a request.
Li Xiangping reviewed the past carefully. It has been a while since he traveled through time with the plug-in. During this time, he also played a lot of chess with Lao Shi. Although Lao Shi was the main force in winning every time, Li Xiangping noticed a phenomenon: that is, his plug-in was really good-tempered. He never fought or competed. He would play if you asked him to, and would not play if you didn't let him. Even when the two of them were working together, he would take over when Li Xiangping asked him to. He himself never took the initiative.
As far as Li Xiangping can remember, it was the first time that he actively asked to play a whole game. It was precisely because of this first time that Li Xiangping couldn't wait. He was eager to see how far his cheat had grown.
At 10 o'clock in the morning, the game officially started. After guessing the first move, Li Xiangping guessed that the black chess piece was in this game.
Following the instructions of Old Shi, Li Xiangping laid out the "Diagonal Star" without hesitation. Li Xiangping himself was very happy. It seems that in a game that he completely dominated, the great chess master Shi still believed more in what he was most familiar with.
"Brother Ding'an, I remember you told me a few days ago that in the big-game Go, the 'Diagonal Star' might not be the best opening?"
"Xian Ping, please stop talking so much. You are disturbing my thoughts."
Li Xiangping was even happier in his heart. It seemed that this cheater of his also had a temper. A smile appeared on Li Xiangping's face unconsciously: "Okay, okay, I'll shut up. Just focus on playing chess."
Although only Old Shi could hear what he said, his smile was seen by Coach Wu who was patrolling the field.
Coach Wu felt strange and thought, "I know you are very relaxed today, but why are you laughing while playing chess? I don't think I have ever heard of anyone who can be so relaxed that he can laugh foolishly."
It was for this reason that Coach Wu took a few more glances at the chessboard. After looking at the previous 20 moves, he was even more surprised by the strong medieval style of black chess.
Coach Wu looked at Li Xiangping deeply. To be honest, Coach Wu had been paying attention to Jueyi relatively early. After all, it was largely due to Coach Wu that Jueyi was able to meet Wang Lei and Yu Bin on the Internet.
Although Jueyi often showed off his medieval style on the Internet, Coach Wu didn't care much at the time, because he, like many chess players of that era, believed that the Internet is the Internet and actual combat is actual combat, and online games and face-to-face combat are always two different things.
But now...
"Could it be that this kid really has such a deep understanding of medieval chess ..."
It was with this thought in mind that Coach Wu stopped in his tracks. He wanted to see how the game would turn out.
It’s a pity that although Coach Wu wanted to watch the game, there was someone who didn’t cooperate. The one who didn’t cooperate was not Li Xiangping or Lao Shi, but his opponent Jin Chenglong, 7th dan.
The reason for the lack of cooperation is of course very simple. After all, the medieval style of play is very rare these days, especially for a chess player like Jin Qidan who believes in the "floor style". It is even more impossible for him to be familiar with the medieval style.
The consequence of his unfamiliarity, of course, was that he frequently and for a long time thought about the situation, and the consequence of his frequent and long thinking was that he only made less than 40 moves in the two-hour game in the morning.
Compared with modern Go, the medieval style is a more open style of play. If a game is played more openly, it is usually impossible to make a clear judgment of the situation before move 40. At least after watching the morning game, Coach Wu did not have any feelings. He did not think that the situation of the black chess pieces was very good, but he also did not think that the situation of the black chess pieces would be very bad.
It was for this reason that during the lunch break, Coach Wu casually asked Li Xiangping:
"Xiang Ping, how do you feel?"
"Hehe, I don't know. I actually... don't feel anything."
We have to believe that what Li Xiangping said was actually the truth, because in the morning, the great chess master Shi had not allowed him to speak, so at this point in the game, of course he didn't feel anything.
However, his answer made Coach Wu stunned. He thought to himself that it was okay for me, a bystander, not to feel anything, but as a player, how could you not feel anything? So Coach Wu misunderstood Li Xiangping again. He thought that Li Xiangping must have said this because he thought he was in a good situation, so he "modestly" said "I didn't feel anything".
So Coach Wu smiled and patted Li Xiangping on the shoulder to encourage him:
"Okay, it's good to have confidence. Let's continue working hard this afternoon and try to win this game."
It must be admitted that this shot of Coach Wu's shoulder actually made Li Xiangping a little confused.
However, Li Xiangping did not have much time to be confused, because after a short break, the afternoon game would begin immediately.
In the afternoon, Coach Wu originally wanted to watch Li Xiangping's game more, but unfortunately he didn't have time to do so. After all, there were 14 Chinese chess players in the competition today, and with so many games to watch, Coach Wu couldn't just watch one game.
At 3:30 in the afternoon, Coach Wu strolled around the stadium and came back to Li Xiangping.
However, he was not watching Li Xiangping's game now, but paying attention to the table next to him - after all, in Coach Wu's opinion, and even in the opinion of most people, this game was the highlight of Group F in the Samsung Cup qualifiers, and the winner of this game was most likely to snatch the qualifying spot from Group F.
And this game, of course, is the one between Chinese chess player Luo Xihe, 8th dan, and Japanese veteran and top-notch player Kobayashi Koichi, 9th dan.
Well, the progress of this game is much faster than that of Li Xiangping, and judging from the moves made by both sides, it does not seem as open as that game, so it is relatively easier to judge the situation in such a game.
Coach Wu stood between the two chess games and began to assess the situation of Luo Xihe's game.
After judging it once, Coach Wu frowned slightly. After judging it twice, Coach Wu's expression became serious.
When Coach Wu still didn't give up, he reassessed the situation for the third time and sighed in his heart.
When Coach Wu finished sighing and was about to look at Li Xiangping's game again, he found that he didn't need to look at it anymore. At least, it seemed that he didn't need to judge the situation of this game.
Because at this moment, Coach Wu found that the face of Korean player Kim 7th Dan seemed to become a little ugly, and he looked a little unwilling. He picked up two white pieces unwillingly and gently placed them on the relatively empty chessboard.
Yes, at this time the chessboard is indeed quite empty, so empty that there are less than 100 chess pieces.
There were a total of 92 moves in the game. Li Xiangping... no, Shi Daqi Master defeated Jin Chenglong in the middle game and entered the final round of the Samsung Cup preliminaries.
"What on earth happened? How did we win so quickly..."
Coach Wu came over immediately...
