After a period of pursuit and interception, Li Jie and his party finally returned to the dojo.
"Phew, these reporters are really crazy."
Entering the gate of the dojo, Zhu Dayong sighed while wiping the faint sweat on his forehead.
"Not so good."
Teacher Yin on the side also sighed with emotion. Although the dojo had expected today's scene, they still underestimated the enthusiasm of the reporters.
On the other hand, Li Jie was very calm. For him, this was just a small scene. Compared with those reporters of later generations, today's senior reporters are undoubtedly much more restrained.
In addition, long before returning to China, he had thought about the scene after returning to China.
A teenage boy made it to the semi-finals of the Samsung Cup, defeating top chess players from Bangzi Country, R Country, and even Taya Yukihiro along the way.
Such an achievement is unprecedented, and Li Jie participated as an amateur chess player.
What's more, the mainstream of the chess world is 'Go'.
All kinds of factors come together, and it is difficult not to attract the attention of others. Now the word "Duke" is like a real flow.
As long as you are a media practitioner, there is no one who does not want to obtain interview qualifications.
Knowing that the baby bump was back, Mr. He immediately put down the work at hand and hurried downstairs.
"Dayong, are you back?"
"Teacher, I'm back."
Zhu Dayong smiled and greeted him, but to his embarrassment, the teacher passed him directly and walked towards Li Jie.
"Good job, boy!"
Mr. He walked up to Li Jie, patted him heavily on the shoulder, then grabbed Li Jie's hand and tried to leave.
"Come on, follow me back to the office and give me a good talk."
…
…
…
Yanjing, Chess Academy.
"Everyone, I have called everyone here today. I believe everyone knows why. Please speak freely."
After saying this, Dean Chen looked around and found that no one had any intention of speaking first, as if everyone had become mute.
After pondering for a moment, he felt that the current situation was normal. After all, today's topic was somewhat sensitive.
In fact, Dean Chen called everyone together today mainly to discuss the issue of 'Duke'.
Watching 'Duke' pass all the way and reach the semi-finals of the Samsung Cup, if he can beat his opponents in the next round, he will advance to the finals.
By the way, his opponent in the next round is Chinese chess player Zhao Bingfeng 9th Dan. In everyone’s eyes, ‘Duke’ has a high chance of winning.
If it successfully advances to the next round, this time the Samsung Cup ‘Duke’ will also be guaranteed to be the runner-up.
Eleven years old, no, to be precise, if 'Duke' can enter the finals, he will have to wait until next year, when he should be twelve years old.
But even if you are twelve years old, being the world champion or the runner-up at the age of twelve is an amazing achievement.
This 'remarkable achievement' is not only for individuals, but also for the country.
However, just as where there is sunshine, there must be shadows, everything has its pros and cons.
Now there is a difficult problem before the chess academy, and that is how to treat 'Duke'.
If 'Duke' is now a professional chess player, things will be easy to handle, with nothing more than awards and promotions.
However, the key issue now is that 'Duke' is still an amateur chess player. To be more precise, his current identity is a junior high school player.
This is very embarrassing.
What reward will be given if 'Duke' wins the championship?
Directly exempt from the fixed-dan exam and become the new first-dan?
At first glance, it seems very good, but you want a world champion to bear the title of "first stage"?
Not to mention how other countries view it, even domestic chess players may find it difficult to accept it. Doing so is tantamount to putting a lion into the sheepfold.
And it doesn’t look good.
Therefore, many people are not optimistic about this proposal.
After waiting for a long time, there was still no one at the scene who spoke first, so Dean Chen had to name everyone.
"Old Nie, tell me."
As soon as he said this, everyone in the room turned around and looked at Lao Nie.
"Okay, then I'll tell you."
Lao Nie had long expected that the dean would order him. After all, it was well known that he had a strong background and was not afraid of offending others.
"If you ask me, if Duke reaches the finals, no matter whether he is first or second, we will give him a direct promotion to the ninth dan."
Director Ma squinted his eyes, secretly looked at Old Nie, and thought to himself.
'This old Nie really dares to speak.'
Nine Dan?
What is that concept?
Jiuduan is the highest rank in Go. Obtaining the title of Jiuduan means that the person has the top level in the field of Go.
The last time someone was awarded the ninth-dan title directly across different ranks was back in the year when the rank system was first introduced in China.
At that time, there were only three chess players awarded the ninth rank, namely Lao Nie, Dean Chen and Wu Songsheng.
It can be said that they won the title of ninth dan, which is expected by everyone, because the three of them are great national players who have dominated the Chinese chess world for 20 years, and no one is dissatisfied.
In addition, in 1988, Liu Xiaoguang's eighth-dan was also awarded the ninth-dan title by the Chess Academy in recognition of his outstanding performance in four consecutive victories in the Sino-Japanese Go Tournament.
After that, the Chess Academy no longer directly awarded others the title of 9th Dan. All chess players needed to obtain the 9th Dan rank through the promotion competition.
"Ahem, Lao Nie, this is not good."
A man in his fifties coughed twice and expressed his different opinions tactfully.
"What's wrong?"
When Lao Nie heard this, he raised his eyebrows and responded unceremoniously. I'm afraid no one knows better than him how strong 'Xiao Du' is.
In his eyes, as long as 'Xiao Du' lets go and wins the Samsung Cup, that will be fine.
Isn’t it worthwhile for a twelve-year-old (next year) world champion to break the rules and be directly promoted to ninth dan?
The man coughed twice to cover up his embarrassment.
"Ahem, I think Xiao Du's strength is fine, but there is no precedent in our country for him to be promoted to ninth dan."
precedent?
Old Nie curled his lips, what he hated most were these rules and regulations.
"Old Liu, if you want to talk about a precedent, is there any precedent in the world where a teenager won the world championship?"
The man pursed his lips and was about to 'refute' something, but Lao Nie didn't give him a chance and asked and answered himself.
"No?"
"Don't say it's now, even if you push it forward a thousand years, there will be no such example."
"So, I feel that no amount of reward for 'Xiao Du' is enough. Of course, the premise of all this is that he can reach the finals."
"Okay, I'm done."
Everyone looked at me and I looked at you, all with silent expressions on their faces.
Seeing this scene, Director Ma couldn't help but shook his head secretly, and silently completed Lao Nie's words in his heart.
'After what I have said, who is in favor? Who is against?'