Chapter 88 I Think You Can Ask Him
"Haha, the other three who made it to the semi-finals are all Korean..."
After hearing the news brought back by Lao Nie and translator Zhou, Li Xiangping looked thoughtful and then said this.
When Old Nie saw him like , he thought he was scared, so he quickly said:
"Xiang Ping, even though these Koreans are quite powerful, you don't have to be afraid. We can just play well when the time comes."
Li Xiangping looked at Old Nie strangely and said, "Teacher Nie, what should I be afraid of now? Don't you think they should be the ones who are afraid now?"
Old Nie was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter. He and translator Zhou laughed together:
"Haha, that's right, it's said that those who are barefoot are not afraid of those who wear shoes, then the other way around, of course, those who wear shoes are afraid of those who are barefoot, so Xiangping, what were you sighing about just now?"
"I was just sighing. In the quarterfinals, Japanese players still occupied half of the field, but in the blink of an eye, they were completely wiped out. This reminds me of someone's evaluation of Go."
This time, it was Zhou the translator who answered Li Xiangping's question: "Yes, yes, it seems that Japanese Go is getting worse and worse nowadays. Their decline is already very obvious... Hmm? Xiangping, what did you just think of?"
"I once heard someone say that Go is always a one-person game. Seeing today's game reminded me of this saying. Teacher Nie, do you think this saying makes sense?"
Old Nie laughed and said, "Haha, who said that? It makes sense, but Li Xiangping, I'm telling you, don't say this kind of thing anymore."
Li Xiangping smiled after hearing this. These words were said by the Korean Li Xiao. As a former hero in the arena and a lone hero in the Chinese chess world, Li Xiangping believed that Old Nie must agree with these words in his heart.
But how should I put it? This sentence is different from the overall values of our country. Our country emphasizes collectivism. In the Go world, what is promoted is "the prosperity of the country, the prosperity of Go." To be honest, Li Xiangping thinks that this sentence is just "politically correct", but it is logically untenable .
To give a very simple example, medieval chess had an obvious peak period, which was the period from the Guo Bailing era to the Huang Longshi era. Li Xiangping even believed that this should be the golden age of medieval chess. Even the later Fan Shi era was not as vibrant as this period.
However, this period happened to be the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, a period of great turmoil when dynasties changed. It is nonsense to say that the "national fortune prospered" during this period, but it was during this period that chess flourished. How can this be explained?
"Okay, Xiangping, get ready. We're going to attend the dinner hosted by the sponsor. There will definitely be a press conference to interview you later, so remember not to say anything nonsense."
Li Xiangping chuckled: "Okay... By the way, this is a Korean dinner, so should we eat something first?"
This made Old Nie and Translator Zhou laugh. Old Nie laughed and scolded:
"Get lost!"
At 7 o'clock in the evening, Li Xiangping, accompanied by Lao Nie and translator Zhou, appeared at the dinner hosted by the organizer. In fact, the most important thing was the draw ceremony for the semi-finals.
After the three people arrived at the venue, Li Xiangping immediately became the focus of the whole audience. From the moment he appeared at the entrance of the venue, countless eyes were focused on him.
This situation is of course very normal, and it should also be said that this was within Li Xiangping's expectations.
Because in the professional Go world, the top four in the World Championship has always been a watershed. Since the birth of the first Go World Championship in 1988, due to the allocation of participating places, everyone can actually see that the top eight in the Go World Championship is actually nothing, and many average players have had such a record.
However, the top four are different!
It can be said that reaching the semi-finals of the World Championship is a height that 80% of the professional chess players in the world have never reached in their lifetime.
In addition, there are about 10% of chess players who may only reach the semi-finals of a world championship once in their lifetime.
And if a person can become a regular in the top four of the world championships, then there is no doubt that this is definitely the standard for a famous chess player in the world and a first-class player in the Go world.
Considering Li Xiangping's age, his current status as an amateur chess player, the fact that he has passed so many rounds of preliminaries, and finally the composition of the other three semi-finalists... To be honest, if this still doesn't attract attention, it would be really strange.
"Mr. Nie, this way please."
What Li Xiangping didn't expect was that he actually saw Lao Cao at the venue today. It can be seen that the organizer of the event was really thoughtful. Come to think of it, apart from Lao Cao, there is really no other suitable person in the Korean chess world to receive Lao Nie.
Lao Cao and Lao Nie started talking, of course, they didn't need a translator, because Lao Cao had studied chess in Japan in his early years, and domestic chess players like Lao Nie basically knew a little Japanese. So it looked very strange that in a tournament hosted by Koreans, a Korean chess player and a Chinese chess player were actually having a strange conversation in Japanese.
Li Xiangping didn't understand Japanese, so he couldn't understand what they were talking about. He only knew that they were definitely talking about him, because when they were chatting, Lao Cao looked at him several times, and Lao Nie was gesticulating with great excitement. Seeing this, Li Xiangping guessed that Lao Cao was probably asking him about some basic information about him.
While they were chatting, Li Xiangping observed the entire venue and found that it was basically filled with Koreans. Normally, the Japanese delegation should have been invited to a banquet like this. Perhaps because the whole team was annihilated, none of the four Japanese chess players who were eliminated today were seen. Only the head of the Japanese delegation attended out of courtesy.
I have some impression of this Japanese team leader Li Xiangping. He should be Hiroshi Yamashiro. He participated in many Sino-Japanese Go competitions in his early years and had good strength. However, he never won a Japanese title. He was a typical tragic figure.
Apart from this old man, the people who attracted Li Xiangping's attention the most in the entire venue were of course the other three contestants who had entered the semi-finals. The three of them were currently sitting together, and their attention seemed to be equally focused on him. Not to mention Old Xu and Big Liu, even Li Canghao, who had a perennial expressionless face, frequently cast his gaze towards him.
The banquet began. Of course, there is nothing much to describe about the Korean kimchi banquet. The highlight is the drawing of lots after the banquet.
The host was a pretty young lady. She spoke a lot of words in her opening remarks, but Li Xiangping could not understand her at all, so she had to focus her attention on the person. After all, Koreans are famous for their plastic surgery technology, and Li Xiangping wanted to see if this was a natural beauty or a reshaped beauty.
It’s a pity that Li Xiangping’s Taoism is not enough, so he can’t see it at all.
"Xiang Ping, it's your turn."
In the end, it was Zhou the translator who interrupted Li Xiangping's research. He just pushed Li Xiangping from behind.
"Ah? What?"
"Now the host invites you to go up and draw lots. Come on, I'll go up with you."
When it comes to the semi-final stage , the draw is of course very simple. As long as one person goes up, the matchups of the two games can be determined.
Precisely because it was so simple, after Li Xiangping finished drawing, the young lady didn't let him unfold it, but pretended to ask questions.
"The host asks you, whoever you meet in the next round will be a world champion. He asks you which of these three world champions would you most like to meet?"
"It doesn't matter, everyone is the same."
"Ah? It's the same for everyone. Xiang Ping, isn't this answer too simple?"
Li Xiangping smiled and whispered to Zhou the translator, "Brother Zhou, just answer like this. If you want to win the championship , it doesn't matter who you fight with now, right?"
The translator was obviously stunned for a moment, and then started talking to the Korean girl. Judging from his expression, Li Xiangping highly suspected that he definitely did not translate according to his original words.
There was another round of chattering, and translator Zhou finished his communication with the host, then motioned for Li Xiangping to unfold the small piece of paper in his hand.
Li Xiangping unfolded it in front of everyone, it was Liu Changhe.
Li Xiangping’s opponent in the semi-finals is South Korea’s “Jade-faced Killer” Liu Changhe!
"The host asked you again, how do you feel now when facing last year's double world champion Mr. Liu Changhe?"
After hearing this question, Li Xiangping laughed again. For some reason, at this moment, he suddenly remembered an anecdote in the Go world. It should be not long ago, when Japan's Noriki Yoda was still Lee Chang-ho's "nemesis", in a world competition, Noriki Yoda encountered Lee Chang-ho. Also, when the draw was just over, Noriki Yoda ended the interview with the host.
Maybe the host who interviewed him was a rookie who had just entered the industry, and he asked the same question as I just asked.
"Regarding this question, I think you can ask my opponent how he feels now."
This was Noriyuki Yoda’s answer at the time.
This is also Li Xiangping’s current answer.
