Chapter 6 debut

In the fierce competition among professional chess players, there is absolutely nothing to eat. No matter how good you are in the past, as long as you stagnate, you will be knocked down and eliminated immediately. In 1962, Mr. Zhang Futian let me have seventeen sons. By 1965, I was able to compete with the old.During this period, I participated in several official competitions and achieved good results. The best one was winning the "National Ten Unit Go Invitational Tournament" in Chengdu in 1965. The champion of the children's group, this can be said to be my debut.Because of this record, I had the honor to participate in the Beijing Chess Club's training camp for the selection of chess players for national competitions.

Here I want to talk about my brother Jibo.At that time, besides Jibo and me, there was also Gao Xuguang who was a good player in Beijing chess. He was three years younger than me and very talented in chess.He had a cervical spine disease since he was a child, and he always tilted his neck, pretending to be thinking.He was not as good as me and Jibo at the time, but his father was the head of the Beijing Chess Club.When selecting young players to participate in the Chengdu competition, according to the actual level, Jibo and I should be selected.But Gao Xuguang's father dismissed Jibo on the grounds that it was inappropriate for both brothers to go, and let Gao Xuguang go.This incident greatly stimulated Jibo, and he vowed never to play chess again.Sure enough, since then he has never touched Go again.

Perhaps because I was defeated by Jibo for a long time, some people in the Weiqi world thought that if Jibo continued to play, he would definitely become another first-class chess player in China, and possibly surpass me.I disagree with this statement.Although Jibo is quick in thinking and quick in response, he is indeed more talented than me in playing chess, but he can only win but not lose, and when he loses, he loses interest in chess and walks away, unable to withstand setbacks. This kind of weakness in character It was decided that it was difficult for him to become a good chess player.On the other hand, the more I lose, the more I lose, trying desperately to "make money".It was these two attitudes towards failure that decided that we finally took different paths. The "Chengdu incident" was just a "fuse". Even without this incident, he would have given up Go sooner or later.

There is a problem involved here. In the eyes of ordinary amateurs, the life of a professional chess player is relaxed and comfortable. Shaking a fan is simply the life of a god.This is really a misunderstanding. In fact, compared with other professions, playing chess may be much more difficult. A chess player who wants to improve usually has hard training, not only racking his brains to study scores, but also trying to solve various life and death problems, often sitting at the chess table for a whole day. It can be said that the monotony and boring of this kind of training is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.However, even if we do this consistently, it is still unknown what kind of results can be achieved. Due to the different "understandability" of each person, the results will show at different speeds, and some people may even experience no results in their entire lives.Because of this, deep down in the hearts of professional chess players, they are always worried about whether they can make progress and whether they will be left behind by their peers.This kind of invisible pressure is what professional chess players must bear, although it makes many chess players unable to eat well or sleep well.If a player suddenly loses this pressure, it may mean that his Go life is over.

But for chess players, all this is nothing compared to the pain of losing the game.In the winning and losing world of Go, the natural law of "natural selection, survival of the fittest" is extremely strong.In the fierce competition among professional chess players, there is absolutely nothing to eat. No matter how good you are in the past, as long as you stagnate, you will be knocked down and eliminated immediately. In a sense, chess players take winning chess as their "vocation". Only by winning chess can they show the value of their existence and be recognized by people.Therefore, the outcome of a game of chess is completely different for amateurs and professional chess players. The former can laugh at the loss and play again, while the latter is likely to regret for the rest of his life because of losing a crucial game.Especially for professional chess players in Japan, every game is directly related to their reputation, food, clothing, housing and transportation, so the competition among them is more intense.Especially in several competitions such as "Chess Holy War", "Celebrity Battle", "Honinbo Battle", the huge bonuses make the competition of professional chess players a veritable "life and death struggle".

In short, the feeling of losing chess is not good, but it is something a chess player must face.In the Go world where victory and defeat are the core, failure is unavoidable even for famous players. Therefore, if you want to become an excellent player, you must be prepared to roll in the pain of countless failures and disappointments. Having said that, the training camp started in the early spring of 1966, and almost all the masters in Beijing participated. For me, being able to participate in this training camp is really a matter of "showing my face", which means that I have since entered the ranks of Beijing masters.

During the training period, the chess club organized a double-round selection competition, and the venue was arranged in the research room of the chess club.When I entered the arena with the masters as a contestant, I couldn't help feeling very proud. Once upon a time, even when I went to this research room to watch chess, I would be kicked out by Mr. Cui Yunzhi.This matter has to start with the rules of the chess club. Beijing Chess Club is located in Xidan Lianzi Hutong. It is said that it was the residence of Zhang Zhidong, Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. The environment is very elegant and it is a good place to play chess.There are two places to play chess under the chess club. One is the popularization room, that is, the mass activity room. Anyone can come here. The level of chess players here is naturally not high, and the environment is also noisy.The other is the research room, which is relatively quiet. It is a place where masters play chess and discuss chess skills. The idlers are not allowed to enter.

Of course, I don't admit that I am "an idler", relying on my familiarity, I often sneak in to watch chess.Others turn a blind eye to this because of the old face, but Cui Lao is not willing to accommodate, as long as he sees me, he must drive me out: "What kind of stinky chess is here? Get out, Get out, this is not where you came from!" At that time, I hated and was afraid of Mr. Cui, and every time I was kicked out of the research room by him, I always gritted my teeth secretly: Humph!What's the big deal?Sooner or later, let you taste my strength!I made up my mind that the first one to win is Cui Lao.In fact, Mr. Cui didn't have any bad feelings towards me, nor did he treat me alone. People like Wu Yulin, Tan Yanwu, and Cheng Xiaoliu were all driven away by him.He is very particular about "playing chess" and has a very stubborn temper. Anyone who he thinks is not enough "holding" is not allowed to enter the research room, including me, a nameless junior, of course.

I played very smoothly in that trial, and even won my teacher, Mr. Guo Tisheng, and finally won the third place.The reason is that, first of all, I am a "newborn calf is not afraid of tigers", and I dare to do anything. Secondly, the masters have a headache when they meet me, a fourteen-year-old kid. There is no glory in winning, but it is really embarrassing to lose. But Cui Lao, who I wanted to win the most, defeated me and became the only regret in that trial. Later, I played many games of chess with Mr. Cui. His chess skills are good, he has fighting power and calculation power, and he has a great influence on me.In my contact with Mr. Cui, I found that he is a very respectable old gentleman, and he is open-minded.There is an unwritten rule in the Go world, if the old man doesn't ask, the younger generation can't take the initiative to propose to play with the old man first, even if your level exceeds him, you can't do it, otherwise it will be considered rude.Old gentlemen are generally out of affection and are afraid that losing will look bad, so they don't play with young people like us.My teachers don't follow me, and I don't mention it.It was Mr. Cui who took the initiative to find me, so I could play with him.At the beginning I held the black and let it go first. I had agreed on the ups and downs in advance. Later, he gave me the white piece, and I got the first place. In the end, I let him go first.Among the famous chess players of the older generation, the first one who voluntarily gave up the white chess to me was Mr. Cui. You must know, how difficult it is for a famous old chess player to be able to do this!So my last bit of "resentment" towards Mr. Cui disappeared.

Later, it was heard that the salary he had just paid was stolen, and he died immediately.At that time, his salary was ninety-nine yuan, which was specially approved by Boss Chen, and it was the living expenses of his whole family.He was poor all his life, and after his death, he was too old to collect donations from various families to take care of his funeral.Our family also pooled some money. There is also a well-known figure in the Beijing Chess Club—the old lady Gong Anhui. She used to be the wife of the Puppet Prime Minister of Manchukuo. She was already in her 60s and 70s at the time.The old lady Gong is very concerned about me, she often asks me to come to her hut, cooks some small stoves for me, and eats some delicious food.

At that time, there were many children learning chess in the chess club, including Gao Xuguang, Wu Yulin, Tan Yanwu, Cheng Xiaoliu, Jin Tongshi... and my younger brother Jibo, but she only asked me to go alone. Why she was so kind to me, I didn't know at the time, but after listening to Wu Yulin, she thought that among these children, I was the only one who could be born, and I would be very famous in the future.She also showed me photos of her when she was young, all in swimsuits, very beautiful.I didn't know much about men and women at that time, but I could still feel the beauty of women. I couldn't even imagine that this old lady would be so beautiful back then. It can be said that she was beautiful.Probably I was also stupid at the time, and I had never seen any beautiful women, but after more than 30 years, I still think she was really beautiful in retrospect. Maybe because she works in the chess club, she can also play a few moves of Go, but her level is very low, and she just learned how to capture pieces and make eyes.She has a fatal weakness in chess, she cannot tolerate your pawns within her sphere of influence, as soon as you put a pawn, she immediately organizes four pawns to eat you, saying "stuck" while eating ,"Stuck".I let her hand over a lot, up to fifty, and the board was full of sunspots.How can I beat her?It’s all a joke to say, I put a piece on the chessboard, she will come to eat it immediately, and I will take the opportunity to place the stars on the chessboard, and she will be too busy, this "stuck" one, then " "Stuck" one, and before she "stuck" a few, I cleaned up all the other places. Even so, she was very proud when she "stuck" me, appearing very innocent and simple.Some great calligraphers and painters have contacts with her. During the "Cultural Revolution", she was miserable and suffered a lot, and then went abroad. After the "Gang of Four" was smashed, she came back, and it is said that she died of poisoning from eating crabs. Shortly after the trials, I represented Beijing in the National Go Tournament held in Zhengzhou.Originally at my age, I could participate in the youth group competition, and nine times out of ten I would win the championship, but in order to train me, the leaders of the chess club decided to let me participate in the adult group competition.For me who had just tasted the fun of competing with adults, this decision was exactly what I wanted, so when the leaders of the chess club asked for opinions, I immediately agreed. However, my level at that time was not enough to compete with those experienced adult chess players. First-class chess players such as Chen Zude and Wu Songsheng wanted me to be the second son, so the results of the competition were mediocre. The overall ranking is the 41st in the country.Although my results were not satisfactory, my calculation ability and tenacious style in the game still attracted the attention of the Go world. Many seniors believed that I had a bright future, and I was determined to make a comeback in the next national competition.However, I never thought that it would be eight years before the next national competition. In June 1966, an unprecedented movement—the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution swept across the country with lightning speed...