On the second day after the Chinese delegation arrived in South Korea, the qualifying matches for this year's "Samsung Cup" officially began.

After all, it is only the qualifying stage, so the organizer did not hold an opening ceremony or anything. Players did not even have to draw lots themselves. All group arrangements were handled by the organizer. Except for the two women's groups, more than 200 men signed up to participate.

All chess players are randomly mixed by computer. There is no seed player, nor is it emphasized that players of the same nationality should try not to meet in advance.

On the afternoon of the second day after everyone arrived in South Korea, when all the group match arrangements were completed, the deputy head of the Chinese delegation, head coach Wu of the national junior team, came to Li Xiangping specifically:

"Xiangping, the matchup arrangements are out. You see, this is the situation of your group."

As Coach Wu said this, he handed a match schedule to Li Xiangping.

"Coach Wu, thank you."

Li Xiangping politely thanked Coach Wu, and then took the match list and looked at it in detail. Coach Wu did not take the entire match list, but singled out the F group that Li Xiangping was in. This group

There are a total of 32 chess players, which means they must win 5 consecutive games to get first place in the group and officially enter the "main tournament" of this year's Samsung Cup.

Jin Yuan professional 6th dan VS Li Xiangping amateur 5th dan.

Of course, the first thing Li Xiangping paid attention to was his opponent in the first round. Judging from the name, he knew that he was a Korean chess player, but Li Xiangping had no impression of this name.

After seeing this, Li Xiangping then paid attention to other situations in his group. He focused on two things. One was to see if there were any other Chinese chess players in the same group as him, and the second was to see if there were any other Chinese chess players in the group.

Which are the more well-known foreign chess players?

After reading them all, Li Xiangping found that the group he was in was more interesting. In addition to seeing Chinese chess player Luo Xihe in this group, he also saw an unexpected name:

"Eh! Mr. Kobayashi? Mr. Kobayashi will actually come to participate in such a qualifying competition."

That's right, this chess player that Li Xiangping didn't expect was the 9th-dan Kobayashi Koichi, the former overlord of the Japanese chess world. When the Professional Go World Series was just established, that was when Koichi Kobayashi dominated the Japanese chess world.

It was during that time that Kobayashi achieved 8 consecutive victories in the Japanese "Chess Holy War", 7 consecutive victories in the "Celebrity War", and 6 consecutive victories in the "Little Chess Holy War". Since the domestic competition schedule often conflicts with international events,

Therefore, in the early years, Kobayashi Koichi was known to be reluctant to participate in the World Series. However, now, I did not expect that he would participate in such a qualifier with a pitifully low game fee.

"Haha, Mr. Xiaolin has now lost all his domestic titles. It is said that without a title, he is light. That's why he has time to play in the international arena."

Coach Wu didn't talk much about Mr. Xiao Lin with Li Xiangping. He may have felt that although Mr. Xiao Lin was no longer at his peak, he was still a skinny camel bigger than a horse. Li Xiangping was not on the same level as him, and in this group

Luo Xihe is also there, so it's not Li Xiangping's turn to stop Xiao Lin.

Based on this consideration, Coach Wu mainly analyzed the first opponent with Li Xiangping:

"Xiangping, do you know this Jinyuan Sixth Dan?"

Li Xiangping shook his head.

"Haha, this Jin Yuan 6th Dan is an old chess player. In terms of seniority, he should be the same generation as South Korea's Lao Cao, but his age is about 10 years older than Lao Cao..."

Li Xiangping could tell that Coach Wu didn't know much about this golden sixth-dan situation, so after a few words, he patted Li Xiangping's shoulder affectionately, encouraged him to "play well" tomorrow, and finally told him something

detail:

"The game officially starts at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. Remember not to be late. If you are late for the game, the game time will be deducted. If you are late for more than half an hour, you will be deducted double time. If you are late for half an hour, you will lose immediately."

After explaining the details clearly, Coach Wu said goodbye to Li Xiangping and went to work on other things.

Fortunately, Coach Wu told Li Xiangping about this, because when the game officially started on the second day, Li Xiangping arrived at the stadium early. At 5 minutes to 10 o'clock, he had already sat down in his seat.

But he waited and waited, but there was no sign of his opponent.

Sitting like this until 10:30, Li Xiangping remembered what Coach Wu said. He felt that he couldn't wait like this, so he quickly got up and found Coach Wu. After asking about the situation, Coach Wu also quickly found the organizer of the event.

Negotiate.

After the negotiation was completed, Coach Wu didn't talk too much when he came back. He just smiled and said to Li Xiangping:

"Xiangping, congratulations on entering the second round of this competition."

What's the situation? It's my first time participating in a professional competition, and I won the first game by relying on this method of winning without fighting?

When Li Xiangping was still a little confused, Coach Wu told him that this situation was normal. Almost every year in the qualifiers, players would abstain. Coach Wu smiled and said to Li Xiangping:

"If you really want to talk about it, it's probably because of your status as an amateur chess player that your opponent gave up."

"Um?"

Seeing that Li Xiangping was still a little confused, Coach Wu patiently explained to him that in such a large-scale qualifier, it is normal for some players to abstain, especially Korean players.

Since the competition is held in South Korea, Korean chess players do not need to consider the cost of participating in this competition. Therefore, many Korean chess players will sign up, but whether they will definitely come to participate after signing up is another matter.

"If I were Kanehara 6th Dan, when I saw that the first opponent was a Chinese 5 player, I would probably abstain."

Coach Wu continued to say with a smile: "First of all, I know my own level well. I know that with my own level, it is definitely impossible to win 5 consecutive sets in this kind of competition and enter this competition. So when I meet someone like you

When I reach career 5, I will definitely think about it, because I know that any chess player who dares to participate in this competition, especially a foreign chess player who dares to participate in this competition, regardless of whether he is a professional or amateur, is basically

There is no good thing, so if I come to compete with you, I won't be proud of it because you are an amateur, but if I lose, it may be a bit troublesome, because I still have to make a living by teaching chess. If people

Knowing that I lost to an amateur 5-dan..."

Coach Wu stopped talking at this point, but there was no need for him to continue. Li Xiangping fully understood what he meant.

Seeing Li Xiangping's expression of understanding, Coach Wu smiled and patted him on the shoulder:

"Okay, Xiangping, don't think too much. If there is no game today, just stroll around the stadium and keep your spirits up to prepare for tomorrow's game."

"Okay Coach Wu, then I'm going to watch other chess players play chess."

"Go ahead, go ahead."

So just like that, Li Xiangping's first professional match ended in this way.

Li Xiangping started to wander around the stadium, but after a while he felt it was boring. Mainly because it was still too early. As a child, no matter where Li Xiangping went, he would always receive strange looks.

.

It was this strange look that made Li Xiangping feel unbearable, so after a hasty stroll, he simply ran back to the hotel to rest.

At around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Chen Yaoyue, who lived in the same room as Li Xiangping, also came. Just looking at the excited expression on his face, Li Xiangping knew that he would definitely win:

"Little Leopard, have you defeated your opponent?"

"Yes, I have completed my mission to Korea this time."

Seeing the serious and humble 11-year-old Chen Yaoyue, Li Xiangping couldn't help laughing again.

At around 5 o'clock in the afternoon, when all the games were over, Coach Wu once again called everyone together to tally the results of the first day, and more importantly, to confirm their opponents in tomorrow's second round.

In the first day of competition, the Chinese chess players were generally pretty good, losing only 4 out of 28 games. However, this is nothing to be proud of. Except for the top few seed players, these 20 chess players

It can be regarded as the essence of the entire Chinese Go game, so it lost 4 people in the first round. This result can only be regarded as quite satisfactory.

Everyone paid more attention to their opponents in the second round. When it was Li Xiangping's turn, Coach Wu smiled and said to him:

"Xiangping, it seems that your good luck ran out in the first round, and you will encounter a tough challenge tomorrow."

Hearing Coach Wu say this, Gu Dali shouted:

"Who is it? Who will our master of "unique arts" meet tomorrow?"

"One of the "Four Little Heavenly Kings" of Korea, or the leader of the "Four Little Heavenly Kings","

Coach Wu said word for word:
Chapter completed!