Chapter 89: Cheat Upgrade
The day after the competition, Li Xiangping and his party set off for home.
On the return journey, Old Nie was still full of energy. From the moment he boarded the plane, he kept chattering to Li Xiangping:
"Li Xiangping, I find you are really not modest. How could you say that yesterday? You should know that your opponent in the next round is Liu Changhe, who may be the most popular professional chess player last year, right, Xiao Zhou?"
Zhou the translator beside him agreed with a smile: "Yes, yes, Liu won the 'Fujitsu Cup' and 'LG Cup' last year, and defeated Lee Canghao to defend his title in the 'King's Battle', the largest chess tournament in Korea. If we only look at the prize money, he may have won more than Lee Canghao, so it's not an exaggeration to say that he was the most unpopular last year. After all, Lee Canghao only won one 'Samsung Cup' in the whole year of last year."
"Yes, yes." Hearing Zhou the translator's support, Old Nie became more excited. "I know you have won a few games online, but what does a few games mean? Can online games be compared with official competitions? What's more, this semi-final is a three-game match. So young people, don't be so confident when speaking in public in the future, or you will suffer."
Li Xiangping listened to Old Nie "educating" him with a smile. Strictly speaking, there was nothing wrong with what Old Nie said. However, Li Xiangping felt it was weird to hear such words coming from Old Nie's mouth.
Li Xiangping acted obediently: "Haha, I was wrong. I will pay attention next time. So, Mr. Nie, do you think that with my current level, I can compete with Liu Changhe, the ninth dan, in the game of chess?"
Old Nie seemed very satisfied with Li Xiangping's attitude: "Haha, that's just childish talk. What do you think? Do you think it's possible for you to win the world championship in the Fanqi tournament?"
The next moment, Li Xiangping was no longer obedient. He pretended to be innocent and said to Old Nie seriously:
“I feel like I have a real chance.”
Old Nie laughed: "Hahaha, good, young people should be ambitious like this..."
Li Xiangping could see that neither Old Nie nor Zhou the translator took his words to heart, but Li Xiangping himself knew that he was "telling the truth" just . He really believed that his cheat had a high probability of defeating Liu Changhe in a three-game match.
Compared to the time when I played three games of online chess with him, my chances of winning are much greater now!
It was not because of anything else, but Li Xiangping thought that Lao Shi’s chess skills should have improved. In other words, his “plug-in” was successfully upgraded for the first time!
The reason why Li Xiangping came to this realization was entirely because of the game of chess that ended yesterday.
It’s not because of how well Mr. Shi played yesterday, and it’s certainly not because of how strong his opponent was yesterday. The key is the way Mr. Shi won yesterday.
Because of the way he won yesterday, Li Xiangping believed that it had completely deviated from the framework of medieval chess. This was the standard way to win in modern chess, and this was what Li Xiangping valued most.
As we all know, in medieval chess, because of the existence of "seats" and the rule of "returning chess pieces", medieval chess players basically have no concept of "surrounding a large pattern".
Although it is said that medieval chess emphasizes "momentum", the "momentum" they emphasize is the "momentum" of battle. The "cosmic flow" like that of Mr. Takemiya has no place to survive under the rules of medieval chess. Even a chess master-level player like Lao Shi has no such concept at all.
This is actually what Li Xiangping believes is a major flaw in his plug-in.
In Li Xiangping's view, Lao Shi some time ago was like a lame giant. In fact, his main way of winning chess games was just one move, which was called "conquering others by force."
Although there is nothing wrong with being able to "conquer others with force", in fact, Li Xiangping himself believes that the calculation ability or combat ability in Go should be the foundation of all Go techniques and the most important indicator to measure the level of Go.
However, if you only know this one trick, it will be difficult to become a top master, right?
What made Li Xiangping happy was that in yesterday's game, the great chess master Shi played a different kind of chess. Although no big pattern was formed in yesterday's game, the overall idea was in line with the pattern chess.
This way of playing might be commonplace for a modern chess player, but Li Xiangping knows that it is extremely valuable for his plug-in, and it is a major improvement!
"Everyone calls Ma Xiaofei Ma Yao Ma Yao. It seems that the word 'Yao' is not a random name. What's so good about the method he taught Lao Shi? How can such a big bad habit of Lao Shi be corrected in such a short time? Is this method good? Or is my cheat too excellent and talented..."
On the plane, Li Xiangping had been thinking about this. He attributed a large part of the credit for Lao Shi's obvious progress to Ma Xiaofei. However, Li Xiangping still couldn't figure out what was so good about the method he taught.
If you can't figure it out, don't think about it. After Li Xiangping returned to China, he naturally began to prepare for the semi-final with Liu Changhe.
The semi-finals will be held in May, with a three-game format. It is about two months away from now, which is neither long nor short.
If he can get past Liu Changhe, the final will be held in late June or early July. The current final of the Samsung Cup is still a five-game match. Li Xiangping believes that if he can really make it to that stage, he will most likely meet Li Canghao in the final.
Because the other semi-final is between Lee Cang-ho and Seo Bong-soo, Lee Xiangping really doesn't underestimate Old Xu. After all, in real history, Old Xu was the one who was most afraid of Lee Cang-ho.
No one knows why, but the Korean Go "Field Officer Commander", who usually plays tough and tenaciously, won't play chess when he meets Li Canghao. It's not just a problem of technical level. When Old Xu meets Big Li, it seems that he has no fighting spirit. It is for this reason that Li Xiangping certainly cannot be optimistic about Xu Bongzhu.
As time went by, Li Xiangping's preparations were proceeding in an intense and orderly manner. The reason why I say "orderly" is that in the following period of time, Li Xiangping did not try any new tricks in training.
Come to think of it, since the method taught by Ma Xiaofei is effective, of course we should continue to follow this method.
Li Xiangping is in intense preparation because this is the only competition he can play. However, since April, the international chess world has become lively again with the start of many world competitions.
The first is the "Fujitsu Cup", the oldest Go world championship, which starts in April every year without fail.
In addition to the "Fujitsu Cup", the more important one is the "Ying Cup". The "Ying Cup" started last year, but it has not been finished yet. Currently, Chang Hao and Li Canghao have entered the final.
In the first two sets of the final held in late April, Chang Hao was behind 0-2.
It is against this background that the semi-finals of the sixth "Samsung Cup" are about to begin.
