Chapter 62: Paying a visit to the Chinese Chess Institute
When it comes to the other three "A"s in the Go world, the two of them started talking. After all, there are already quite a lot of such candidates. After reporter Zhang Da reported a lot of names, Li Xiangping gave the answer in his mind.
"Haha, do you think that Japan's Shusaku can take up an 'A' spot?"
Li Xiangping nodded: "Yes, I just said my criteria for judging: First, this chess player has absolute dominance in his own era, and second, this chess player has his own contribution to the development of Go. In fact, compared with the previous three, I think the achievements of others are not as good, so if we have to settle for the second best, Japan's Shusaku is already one of the best. How should I put it? If Dosaku is the founder of Japanese ancient chess, then Shusaku is the epitome of Japanese ancient chess. 'Unbeatable with black', '19 consecutive wins in the Imperial City Go', and the creation of the famous 'Shusaku Style' are the reasons why he can be selected. It's a bit regrettable that Shusaku was short-lived and only lived for more than 20 years, so he failed to create greater glory, which also discounted his dominance. Therefore, although he is an 'A' in my mind, he is only an 'A' of diamonds."
Reporter Zhang became more and more interested in Li Xiangping's interesting talk:
"Shusaku is the 'Ace of Diamonds'? Does that mean he is ranked 6th in your mind? Then who are the 4th and 5th? Xiangping, tell me who the 'Ace of Hearts' and 'Ace of Clubs' are in your mind."
Li Xiangping showed a strange smile:
"My idea of the 'Ace of Clubs' is shared by two players..."
Shared by two players? Reporter Zhang was stunned at first, but he was a veteran Go reporter after all. Based on the characteristics of Li Xiangping's ranking, he quickly guessed who the two people were:
"Haha, I see. The two chess players Xiang Ping mentioned should be the two people in your name, right?"
Li Xiangping continued to maintain a strange smile, not for any other reason, but because he could feel that when he said this just now, his plug-in seemed to be breathing heavily.
"That's right. Seniors Fan and Shi are both very dominant. Fan Xiping wrote 'Peach Blossom Spring' and Shi Xiangxia wrote 'Summary of Important Points'. They have made outstanding contributions to the development of Go theory. The only flaw is that they are two heroes, so I let them share the position of 'Ace of Clubs'. It should be reasonable."
Anyway, this is just one person's opinion, so Reporter Zhang certainly doesn't care whether Li Xiangping's statement is justified or not. He just urged:
"What about the 'Ace of Hearts'? Who does Xiang Ping think is the 'Ace of Hearts' in the Go world?"
When it comes to "Ace of Hearts", Li Xiangping hesitated for a moment. After about 10 seconds of silence, he replied:
"In my mind, the 'Ace of Hearts' in the Go world is the best player in the world today."
"Ah?! Lee Canghao? You actually think Lee Canghao is the 'Ace of Hearts' in the Go world..."
It's no wonder that reporter Zhang felt surprised. Look at the people ranked ahead of Li Xiangping. The youngest, Mr. Wu Qingyuan, is almost 90 years old. They can be said to be ancient masters in the Go world. Therefore, he never expected that Li Xiangping would actually put Li Canghao, who is only in his early 20s, on the list, and rank him at the high 4th place.
However, this is indeed the real ranking in Li Xiangping's mind. The reason why he hesitated just now was not because of anything else, but mainly because it is only 2000. In real history, Li Canghao won his first world championship in 1992, but his real peak period was believed to be from 1996 to 2005. These 10 years are recognized by everyone as the "Li Canghao era."
Now that only half of the time has passed, it is far from the time to make a final judgment, so Li Xiangping hesitated just now. However, after hesitating, Li Xiangping decided to speak out his true thoughts:
"Yes, I do think that Lee Canghao is the 'Ace of Hearts' in the Go world, because apart from him, I really can't think of anyone else who can replace him. Reporter Zhang, you can think about it. If we continue to nominate candidates, it will be nothing more than choosing one from Mr. Sakata Eio in Japan, Mr. Nie in China, Lao Cao in South Korea, and Cho Chikun 9th Dan in Japan. Reporter Zhang, who do you think can replace Lee Chang-ho?"
Reporter Zhang thought about it and found that what Li Xiangping said seemed to be true. The ranking of these four people should not be higher than that of Big Li. Needless to say, Lao Cao and Lao Zhao. Lao Cao was beaten to a pulp by Big Li in China. It can be said that Li Canghao stepped on his master to get to the top. As for Lao Zhao, Big Li is even more of a nemesis of his. So far, Zhao Zhixun seems to have never beaten Big Li in a formal competition. Therefore, if these two are ranked in front, no one will certainly be convinced.
As for China's Lao Nie, well, he is not afraid of Li. So far, his record against Li is 2 wins and 2 losses . In the beginning, Lao Nie even crushed Li with two beautiful victories. But Lao Nie has a fatal flaw, that is, he is not a world champion. He has never won any world championship!
As for Li? Even up to now, he has won 11 world championships, so it is not convincing to put Nie ahead of Li.
What about Mr. Sakata Eio, the former overlord of Japan? Reporter Zhang shook his head and quickly rejected this candidate. It was true that Mr. Sakata was the former overlord, but his hegemony was very short-lived. In the early days, he was completely suppressed by Mr. Wu Qingyuan. When Mr. Wu finally left the stage of history, he was beaten by Mr. Wu's disciple Mr. Lin Haifeng.
Another point, according to Li Xiangping's judging criteria just now, Mr. Sakata seems to have made no contribution to Go theory. He can be regarded as a top "winner and loser", but it is difficult to be called a true Go "master". Therefore, if he is ranked in the front, especially in the high position of "Ace of Hearts", it seems unreasonable.
Reporter Zhang stopped pestering her. He smiled and said to Li Xiangping:
"So, Xiang Ping, the four people you just mentioned are the four 'Old Ks' in your mind, right?"
Li Xiangping also smiled and nodded, and with his nod, the two did not continue this topic. After all, this "Weapon List" only ended here, and there was no point in going any further.
After asking about "Li Xiangping's version of the Go Weapon List", there was nothing much worth mentioning in the rest of the interview with reporter Zhang. It was just some routine and common questions. Finally, he asked Li Xiangping to comment on a few games he played in this qualifying tournament, and the interview ended.
To be honest, we were only discussing the technical issues of those games, which should have been interesting, but unfortunately all of them were skipped by reporter Zhang. The reason is simple, because Li Xiangping is not famous at present, and he has no status in the Go world, so although his moves are novel, no one believes his judgments.
Just like the game against Cui Mingxun, Li Xiangping knew that he won because of the "Demon Sword Variation" at the beginning, but when he told this to Gu Dali and Luo Xihe, the two did not believe his judgment at all and had no interest in what he said.
Professional chess players are all like this, and so is a Go reporter like Zhang Xiaoyong. How could he possibly believe the judgment of a guy who can't even get into the professional level?
It is precisely for this reason that Li Xiangping is well aware of this, so when it comes to the "self-commentary" later, Li Xiangping himself also holds a perfunctory attitude, which leads to the entire interview ending in a hasty manner.
But after all, they chatted for a few hours, and after this interview, the relationship between the two became familiar. After the interview, reporter Zhang said to Li Xiangping:
"By the way, Xiangping, I heard from Coach Wu last night that you will be training at the Chinese Chess Institute for the next month or so, right? Do you want me to take you to Baibai Wharf this afternoon?"
Li Xiangping agreed with a smile. The "Samsung Cup" is only more than a month away. So in the next month or so, if he can go to the Chinese Chess Academy for training, Li Xiangping believes that the effect should be better than his own online training.
Yesterday, Coach Wu introduced her to him, and now Reporter Zhang wants to be a matchmaker for her. So Li Xiangping certainly has no reason to refuse.
So, that afternoon, Li Xiangping, accompanied by reporter Zhang, came to the Chinese Chess Institute to formally prepare for the next stage of the competition.
After all, he is a player who has made it to the world championship through his own efforts. Therefore, the chess academy welcomed Li Xiangping's arrival and made it very convenient for him to train. In particular, through the care of Coach Wu, a large number of masters of the national team were arranged to take turns to play training games with Li Xiangping.
The national team masters actually welcomed Li Xiangping's arrival. You should know that on the current Qingfeng website, "Jueyi" ranks first with a record of 122 wins and 0 losses. Among these 122 wins, many of them are national team chess players. So everyone is of course welcoming the arrival of such a chess player.
So, Li Xiangping started training at the pace of playing one game of chess per day on average. After training for one month, how was Li Xiangping's training performance?
His training record is shocking and also makes people laugh and cry.
What was surprising was not that Li Xiangping's results were too good, but that they were too bad. In a whole month, Li Xiangping's total record was 5 wins and 25 losses, with a winning rate of less than 20%.
If Li Xiangping is really an amateur chess player, then such a record is still acceptable. However, considering the great reputation of "Jueyi", especially in the previous Samsung Cup qualifiers, he seemed to advance easily, so such a record, of course, seems a bit shabby.
But no one underestimated Li Xiangping because of this, because although Li Xiangping only won 5 games, the 5 opponents he defeated were Chang Hao, Luo Xihe, Zhou Heyang, Wang Lei and Gu Dali.
In other words, Coach Wu arranged 30 opponents for Li Xiangping. Li Xiangping lost to all the others, but won against the strongest 5 among them.
This will of course make people laugh and cry.
No one knows why, except Li Xiangping herself.
During this training, December arrived unknowingly and the Samsung Cup competition was about to begin.
