Chapter 85: How to deal with the Benge School in good condition
In March 2001, the quarterfinals of the 6th "Samsung Cup" kicked off in Seoul, South Korea. The day , the Chinese delegation boarded a plane to go to South Korea to participate in the competition.
Of course, although it is called a "delegation", this delegation is really a bit shabby. The head of the delegation, Lao Nie, is considered the leader of the entire delegation, and the participating chess player Li Xiangping is probably the only official member of the entire delegation.
As a well-known fact, everyone knew that if only the two of them went to South Korea, they would probably disappear immediately and be included in the missing list after 24 hours. Therefore, the delegation was also equipped with a translator, who was the only staff member of the entire delegation. And this translator was not a full-time staff member, but was temporarily transferred from the foreign affairs department of the chess academy, so he could only be regarded as a temporary worker.
The translator's surname is Zhou, a young man in his 20s but not yet 30. It is said that he was a top student at Beijing Foreign Studies University and now works for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, he was not unhappy at all that he was drafted by the chess academy to serve as a temporary worker. Because according to him, he is a chess fan. At first, his unit wanted to assign someone else to go to Korea, but he heard that it was Lao Nie who would bring "Jueyi" to the competition, so he spent a meal to get this assignment.
At noon, the delegation set off. Although the delegation was so shabby, Old Nie, the head of the delegation, seemed to have no awareness of this. He looked energetic and even ate a lot of kimchi on the plane. After eating the kimchi, Old Nie was still muttering:
"Li Xiangping, I'm telling you, I haven't been a group leader like this for many years. This time I took this job just for you, so you must do your best this time and do a good job for me..."
"Thank you, Mr. Nie."
Li Xiangping appeared respectful on the surface, but secretly complained in his heart, thinking who would want someone like you to lead the team to participate in the competition? Anyway, I thought about it for a long time, but I couldn't think of any benefit for me from having you as the team leader.
They also said they would support me, but can you win a Go game by supporting me? Therefore, this time when I go to Korea, I still have to rely on Zhou the translator. I hope there will be no problems with eating, drinking, defecating or urinating, so that I can play Go with peace of mind.
Thinking of this, Li Xiangping decided to ignore Old Nie and turned to Zhou the translator:
"Translator Zhou, is everything okay in Korea?"
"Don't worry, everything has been arranged." Translator Zhou smiled at Li Xiangping:
"Before boarding the plane, I contacted the tournament organizers. They told me that they have already arranged the venue and accommodation, and they will send someone to pick us up at the airport, so you can just play chess with peace of mind."
Translator Zhou seemed very confident in his job. He didn't want to say more because the next moment, he immediately turned into a chess fan. He said to Old Nie:
"Teacher Nie, can I ask you a question?"
"you say."
"Haha, it's nothing actually. I just want to ask Mr. Nie, do you think Xiang Ping has a chance this time?"
"There's a chance! Of course there's a chance!" Hearing Zhou the translator ask this, Old Nie got excited and gestured with his hands: "Let's not talk about the distant future, let's just talk about this quarterfinals, facing Japan's Yamada Nori... Nori, I think if both sides play normally, Li Xiangping's chance of winning should be more than 50%. Well, he has a great chance of advancing this time. Hehe, I'm not afraid to tell you, if I didn't think so, I wouldn't have rushed to be the head of the group."
"Ah? Master Nie has so much confidence in Xiang Ping? Haha, that's good, that's good."
Although Zhou the translator said "That's good", he was secretly complaining in his heart just like Li Xiangping, thinking that Old Nie's big mouth really lived up to his reputation. You can't even call out his name, which means you don't know him. If you don't even know him, then what right do you have to say that? Li Xiangping has a higher chance of winning. Can you be more reliable?
As for Li Xiangping, he certainly thought the same as Zhou the translator, but considering that Old Nie was praising him after all, he reminded him:
"My opponent this time is Yamada Kissei. He is in pretty good shape now. He won the right to challenge for the Japanese 10th Dan Championship at the end of last year, and he led Wang Licheng 2-0 in the five-game final. Everyone thinks he is very likely to win the title for the first time."
"Oh? He may win the title. Have you seen his chess? What do you think of his chess? What are the characteristics of his chess style?"
This opponent was confirmed several months ago. Old Nie may not be familiar with the opponent, but Li Xiangping and Old Shi certainly cannot. In order to prepare for the battle, the two of them still looked at some of the opponent's chess records in the past few months.
So Li Xiangping answered honestly: "I have read some of his chess records. How should I put it? Maybe my level is low. I don't see anything special in his chess. This time, my opponent may be the most typical 'hardcore' Japanese chess player."
Old Nie laughed and said, "Haha, yes, I've never heard of this guy before. It seems that he should be a real-style fighter. However, since Yamada can enter the finals of the Japanese title match, Xiangping, you are right. This guy is in very good competitive form recently. Have you ever thought about how to deal with a real-style fighter? Especially a real-style fighter who is in very good competitive form?"
Old Nie's advantage is of course nonsense. What is preparation? Preparation is of course to consider how to play chess according to the characteristics of the opponent. However, in this situation, Li Xiangping certainly couldn't express his specific thoughts, so he said vaguely:
"I have thought about it a little, but I can't tell whether my idea will work or not. Anyway, let's wait until tomorrow's game to see everything."
"Haha, right, right, right. In a Go game, strategy is static. What matters most is the ability to react on the spot." Old Nie had a resonant look on his face when he heard Li Xiangping's words. When he said this, he even turned to Zhou the translator and said,
"Xiao Zhou, you heard me, didn't you? I said we have a better chance of winning tomorrow. Now you should believe me, right?"
Hearing what Old Nie said, Li Xiangping could only roll his eyes helplessly, then looked out the window, pretending to appreciate the scenery outside.
Translator Zhou smiled politely: "Haha, Mr. Nie, you are right. I also have confidence in our unique skills."
After that, there was no conversation along the way, and the three of them arrived in South Korea smoothly. While on the plane, Li Xiangping did not lie. He knew that this opponent was in excellent form, and was the runner-up of this "Samsung Cup" in real history. Therefore, he and Lao Shi actually developed a strategy for how to deal with such a "honest style" who was in excellent form.
When he entered the competition venue the next day, Li Xiangping reminded himself of his cheat again:
"Brother Ding'an, there shouldn't be any problems with the method we're thinking of, right?"
The chess master Shi Da seemed full of confidence:
"It's okay, don't worry, little friend Xiangping. Ding'an is confident that he can take down this man today."
