In June, in the capital in early summer, in a training room of the China Chess Academy, Li Xiaoqiang was holding a few of Liu Changhe's latest chess games and looking through them.

June is the off-season for professional chess, and Li Xiaoqiang has no other games except for 2 games in the "Celebrity War" round-robin circle and a TV rapid chess game to play. The most important thing this month is, of course, to prepare for the semi-finals of the Fujitsu Cup in early July.

Find out what's going on with your opponent and see what he's been up to lately. This is very necessary. This is also one of the most common preparations for war. Li Xiaoqiang believes that if nothing else, his opponent must be doing the same.

"Xiaoqiang, are you busy preparing for war?"

"Yo, Elder Xiong, Coach Jiang, when did you come to the capital? Please sit down, please sit down......"

Li Xiaoqiang put down the chess game in his hand and hurriedly greeted the guests who came in. Those who came in were Xiong Guotao and Jiang Chenghua from their hometowns.

"Old Xiong, why did you come to Beijing in person? Is there anything that matters? ”

Now Xiong Guotao has officially retired, and if there is anything in his hometown, Jiang Chenghua is usually running. Li Xiaoqiang knew that now that the two of them came together, there should be something more important.

"Xiaoqiang, seeing that you are busy preparing for the war, we will not go around in circles with you, we came to the capital this time just to invite you...... Would you like to represent your hometown in the team competition? ”

"Oh?"

Seeing Jiang Chenghua's demeanor twisting and pinching, Xiong Guotao even looked a little embarrassed when he spoke. Li Xiaoqiang instantly understood the meaning of the visitor, so Li Xiaoqiang smiled.

Rank, individual and team competitions are the three major traditional competitions of Chinese Go. The team competition was also the predecessor of the later Go League. Li Xiaoqiang knew that the intention of the visitors from his hometown should be related to several big initiatives being brewed in the domestic chess world, and they should have heard some rumors, so they came to find themselves.

Several initiatives in the pipeline, the first. It is to prepare for the implementation of the rating system, and second, it is to prepare for the change of the team competition to a league.

Li Xiaoqiang is familiar with history, and it is naturally not surprising that the implementation of the grading system is not surprising. The only thing that surprised Li Xiaoqiang a little was that the "Weijia" that appeared in real history in a few years may be because the current results are much better than those in the same period in the previous life, resulting in a better external environment for Chinese Go than in the same period in the previous life. The "Weijia League" is likely to appear a few years earlier.

The management is preparing to launch the Go League next year, and is actively making preliminary preparations this year.

"What? Are we Ganyuan also ready to participate in the league? That's a good thing, there's something I need to do. I will give it my full support. ”

"If we are in the armor, we naturally want to participate, but we also need to have that qualification, so we came to the capital this time, and we wanted to ask if you would like to...... Would you like to participate in this year's Group B team competition......

This is the intention of Xiong Guotao and Jiang Chenghua to come to the capital.

The current national Go team competition, divided into Group A and Group B, Ganyuan's Go foundation has been relatively weak, in addition to a Li Xiaoqiang, there is also a professional low-level chess player in Hongcheng and Porcelain. Therefore, let alone participating in Group A, even if you participate in Group B, it is only in the last year or two.

Li Xiaoqiang has not participated in previous team competitions. This is not to say that Li Xiaoqiang is unwilling to contribute to the provincial team, but because the number of participants is limited, and there are only 2 in the previous Group B team competition, in this year. The opportunities for the lower level of the local profession are very limited, and if Li Xiaoqiang occupies a spot, he will inevitably squeeze out the opportunity for one of them. Therefore, in the absence of grade requirements, in line with the original intention of training newcomers. The province has never asked Li Xiaoqiang to participate.

But this year things are different.

"It is said that in preparation for next year's league, Group B will be in line with Group A, and this year's Group B will also be increased to four. With my words, we only have 3 in our province. Who else are you going to ask for? ”

"If it really doesn't work, then I'll have to go up and make up the numbers." Jiang Chenghua replied in a muffled voice.

In these years, it is not uncommon for amateur players to appear in the second division, especially in some provinces where the foundation of Go is relatively weak. For example, another well-known Zhang Da reporter, Zhang Xiaoyong of the "Go World" magazine amateur 6th dan, once represented their province in the second division league, and the results are quite good.

"Xiaoqiang, we came here this time mainly to ask what you mean, we were a little embarrassed to let you, the world champion, deign to participate in the Group B competition. However, you may not know that the development momentum of Go in our province is very good, and many companies in the province have said that if you can represent the provincial team, then naming and sponsorship are not a problem......"

"Hehe, Elder Xiong, you don't need to say anything, don't say anything condescending or uncondescending. I can make it clear that I can represent my hometown chess team, and I am personally very willing. Let's not talk about whether I will participate or not, let's look at how to play well. ”

"Good! Just waiting for your words. Xiong Guotao's face flushed with excitement: "If Xiaoqiang is willing to participate, maybe we really hope to impact Group A ......"

Next, the three of them began to discuss the specific issues of the competition. However, after analyzing and analyzing, everyone was depressed to find that even if Li Xiaoqiang participated, with the current lineup of Ganyuan Province, there was no problem in maintaining the middle or even the middle and upper reaches of the Group B competition, but it was difficult to impact Group A. Because the flaws of this lineup are just too obvious.

To qualify for the first division, it is necessary to finish in the top two places of the second division. Even if Li Xiaoqiang has an absolute advantage, it is difficult to guarantee the comprehensive winning rate of the other 3 to reach 50%. If you follow this calculation, unless you are super lucky, it will be difficult to hit the top two.

"Alas, in the final analysis, we still don't have enough background, I really want our province to have a first-class team. If there is a first-class team, I believe that the game of Go in our province will be able to develop better......"

After a comprehensive analysis, Xiong Guotao calmed down with emotion. In this regard, Li Xiaoqiang expressed his understanding that similar to a project like Go, the market is linked to performance. If you have good grades, everyone's enthusiasm will be high, and if your grades are not good, the project will naturally suffer from neglect. This is true for a large country, and it is naturally true for small provinces and cities.

"What can be done so that Ganyuan Province can also play in the first-class team......

Thinking about it there. Li Xiaoqiang's eyes suddenly lit up:

"Don't worry, Xiong Lao, I suddenly remembered a person just now, if we can do all aspects of work and let this person participate in the competition on behalf of our Ganyuan Province, I think we should have more than 70% certainty of playing in the first grade."

"Oh......"

The person Li Xiaoqiang remembered was Qian Yuping.

Since his illness, Qian Yuping has been out of the professional front line for nearly 2 years. In the last six months, I have only started to slowly try to make a comeback. Maybe it's because the chess skills are really rusty, and the "blunt knife" that returned to the chess world did not have a very good result, and there was no outstanding performance in various competitions, and several competitions were "one-round tours".

But what makes Li Xiaoqiang happy is that. Although Qian Yuping's grades are average now, his current mental condition is very good, not only is he much more open-minded, but the migraine that plagued him is said to have been basically cured. Qian Yuping and Li Xiaoqiang have a master-apprentice friendship, and the relationship between the two has always been good. Li Xiaoqiang usually pays attention to Qian Yuping's situation.

Li Xiaoqiang can see that although Qian Yuping's results after his comeback are very poor, it is only because his chess skills are unfamiliar, and as time goes by, his chess is becoming more and more proficient. There is nothing wrong with reverting to a strong nine level. As for his illness, although no one can guarantee that he will not recur, as long as he does not play a particularly major game, he will be stimulated very strongly. Authoritative experts believe that his recurrence is extremely unlikely.

So it's like a team competition. For Qian Yuping, it is very suitable, the key to Qian Yuping's problem is that he has a withdrawn personality, if he is allowed to play in the team competition, let him always be in a collective. Maybe it will help him. After having this idea, Li Xiaoqiang hit his idea.

Li Xiaoqiang also knew that due to "preparation" and other reasons. The domestic chess player transfer market has always been very immature. In real history, even after 10 years, the movement of chess players has been greatly restricted. But Li Xiaoqiang knows that these problems are placed on other chess players, and it is extremely difficult. What if it's Qian Yuping? The odds of success are very high.

Qian Yuping is a Shencheng chess player. What kind of place is Shencheng? It is the city with the strongest Go foundation in China. In the early years, they formed two teams to compete in the Group A team competition, and both teams were likely to be favourites to win the championship. Coupled with the rapid growth of Shao Weigang, Chang Rensheng and others in recent years. Therefore, the situation in Shencheng is completely opposite to that of Ganyuan, they are not worried about the lack of manpower, but they are worried about excluding those chess players.

According to Qian Yuping's current situation, it is almost certain that he will be excluded from the Shencheng team, so if the Ganyuan team is willing to accept Qian Yuping, they will most likely be very willing.

"Shencheng should be willing to be a person, and I will do Qian Yuping's personal work. Old Xiong, as long as our Ganyuan team is willing to accept it, you can ask Chen Lao Wang Lao and them to help talk about it, I think this matter can be done most of the time. Don't worry, I know Qian Da very well, if he joins our team, I think we have a lot of hope for this year. When the time comes, I will participate in the Weijia League, hehe......"

Li Xiaoqiang is still thinking further, and he is even thinking about whether to rely on his foresight to take in the calves of the little tiger generation and the little leopard generation in the future generations.

"Well, if you really do this, it is not a problem to win 5 consecutive championships, 10 consecutive championships are very likely, and even 20 consecutive championships can be considered. No, if I do, will the future armor make me boring......"

Li Xiaoqiang is immersed in infinite YY.

Since there were no obstacles in all aspects, Xiong Guotao and Jiang Chenghua were also very neat. Just a few days later, the news that world champion Li Xiaoqiang will play in the group B team competition and Qian Yuping's transfer to Ganyuan appeared in the newspapers.

These two pieces of news not only make the Ganyuan Go team eye-catching, but even the entire B-level team competition has also become a beneficiary. Originally, there were not many people who cared about domestic second-level events like this. However, with the release of these two news, this year's second division has attracted great attention.

Of course, the team competition will not take place until October. Li Xiaoqiang's most important task now is the upcoming semi-finals of the "Fujitsu Cup".

At the end of June, Li Xiaoqiang appeared in the arena again, which was a domestic TV rapid chess match. After this game, Li Xiaoqiang will go to Osaka, Japan.

Strange to say, although Li Xiaoqiang is known as "invincible in 30 seconds", he has really arrived in the rapid chess arena, but his results in the past few years have not been good. For example, the "Asian Cup" has been held many times, and Li Xiaoqiang did not get a chance to participate. It really made him a little depressed.

To qualify for the "Asian Cup", you must get the top 2 in the domestic TV rapid chess tournament. The domestic TV rapid chess tournament, also known as the "CCTV Cup", Li Xiaoqiang failed to appear in the "Asian Cup", which shows that he has not even entered the final of the "CCTV Cup". Li Xiaoqiang participated in the "CCTV" Cup a total of 5 times, and 4 times entered the top 4, but unfortunately fell in the semifinals every time. It's a hard thing to figure out.

Today's game is Li Xiaoqiang's sixth time participating in the "CCTV Cup", and it is another semi-final.

"There won't be any accidents in today's game, right?"

When he walked to the arena, Li Xiaoqiang thought so. (To be continued......)