Chapter 33 self-confidence and arrogance

Self-confidence is an absolute must for a chess player. The competition of Go is purely one-on-one individual combat.From the beginning of the game, the chess player can only rely on his own strength to fight, and it is impossible for anyone to help him.In other sports competitions, at least there is a timeout, and the coach can make suggestions, find ways to stabilize the emotions of the athletes, and inspire the fighting spirit of the athletes, but the Go game does not even have this opportunity.It is probably only "self-confidence" that can support chess players in their hard work.This situation is very similar to sailing alone across the ocean in a boat. In the turbulent waves, only those who are confident in overcoming the wind and waves can bravely and unyieldingly fight against the wind and waves, and finally reach the destination victoriously.Those who lack self-confidence will become flustered when encountering storms, and the result will inevitably be disaster.So in a game of Go where it's either you lose or I win, lack of self-confidence means failure.

I am a very confident person myself, and I am afraid that I have reached an extreme level in Go, especially in the 1970s and 1980s.However, there is a law of "extreme things must be reversed" in everything. If the truth goes one step further, it will become a fallacy, and "confidence" will become "arrogance" if it goes one step further.If there is a line between "confidence" and "arrogance", then I am standing right on the edge of this line, and I often "cross the line and foul". From about 1982, the saying "Nie Weiping is too confident" began to increase, and many people thought I was "too crazy".This is not surprising, because before 1974, I was still a nobody, and no one paid any attention to whether I was "overconfident". After winning the national championship in 1975, it was my heyday until 1979. It was difficult for others to beat me, so no matter how confident I was, no one would call me "arrogant".But after 1980, young chess players caught up quickly, and the situation was different.Especially in 1982, I was defeated by Ma Xiaochun in "three cities in a row".Under such circumstances, I am still as confident as before. When reviewing and researching, if I dare to "speak irresponsibly", it will inevitably leave an impression of arrogance.

I'm not trying to defend myself here, I do mix confidence and arrogance sometimes.For example, once in a training match, I was playing white against Wang Qun in Shanghai, and the game was closed until noon. On the way to dinner, someone asked me how the game was going.I actually blurted out: I want to win with white chess, and I also want to win with black chess.This attitude will of course make the other party intolerable.Similar things have happened several times. Another time, probably one morning in 1979, I declared half-jokingly and half-seriously that I could "play ten games" (play ten games at the same time) with the male players of the National Go Team, and I was sure of winning.This immediately aroused "public outrage".You know, which chess player who is eligible to enter the national team does not have a unique skill?As a result, ten players really accepted the challenge that morning, and almost all the members of the national team came to watch the match.Later, because it was time for lunch, the "Ten Dian Da" was not finished.

Now that I think about it, I really went too far in this matter, even if I was joking, but I actually went to "strike from ten sides" seriously, so "regarding all heroes like nothing", how could it not cause "public indignation"? !Maybe my "arrogant" reputation has spread like wildfire since then! What's more, if everyone agrees that my chess situation is not good during the review after the game, I will not admit it easily.Sometimes knowing that someone is right, you have to bite the bullet and put it down with the other party. At this time, my self-confidence was mixed with "good face", so I offended many people.

In the national competition in 1981, I played against Luo Jianwen.At that time, Luo Jianwen's level was not as good as mine, but he played very well in that game, and he was always ahead in the game, and finally lost because of a missed move.Logically speaking, to Luo Jianwen, who missed out and lost a good game, saying "Oh! It's a fluke to win" is not a loss of status, and it is also human nature, but I refuse to admit that he is under the advantage, because lost by mistake.I heard that this incident greatly hurt Luo Jianwen's feelings. All of the above are stupid things I did when I crossed the line from "self-confidence" to "arrogance". Although I pay attention in every possible way now, sometimes I will be aggressive and open my mouth. I have to ask friends in the chess world to forgive me.

However, I want to emphasize one point, although I have said some exaggerated big words in private and on the occasion of mutual "fighting", but when it comes to the occasion of really discussing chess skills or publishing articles about chess skills in newspapers and periodicals, my heart The attitude is serious.Especially when tutoring young chess players, I dare not be careless and mislead my children.In my opinion, Go is a unity of art and science, and its scientific nature is reflected in the chess skills. It must not be adulterated. Good is good, and bad is bad. No famous master can insist on bad things. Success is good.If you admit this and criticize that against your will when studying chess, you will end up harming yourself and others.When studying chess skills, personal emotions should not be mixed. Only in this way can correct conclusions be drawn.

However, Go is infinitely varied. It is like a starry universe, and even a super-class player cannot exhaust its mysteries.Therefore, in complex actual combat games, the opinions of chess players are bound to be different, and sometimes the discrepancies are quite large. This requires chess players to boldly express their opinions and create a research atmosphere of "a hundred schools of thought contend". This is conducive to the improvement of chess skills. In terms of chess, I never hide my views, and no matter what others say, I will express my views outspokenly, which has also caused misunderstandings by others.

In the "National Hands Tournament" held in Lanzhou in 1983, I lost to Shao Zhenzhong's 7th dan in black chess and lost the chance to win the championship.Later, Shao Zhenzhong published an article in Shanghai's "Go" monthly magazine, and I in Beijing's "Go Spring and Autumn" magazine, commenting on this game of chess.As a result, the opinions of the two sides differed greatly.Shao Zhenzhong felt that he was a little behind in the layout.And I think the layout is black's overwhelming advantage. Shao Zhenzhong said that after Black's one hundred and seventy-three moves, White has a slight advantage.But I think that at this time black was still about ten eyes ahead, and later lost because of consecutive bad moves.Many readers are puzzled by the fact that the two sides have such different views on the same game, and my colleagues in the chess world are also quite disapproving of my views.In this regard, the editor of "Go Spring and Autumn" specially asked me: Why is there such a big gap in the opinions of senior chess players?I answered this way: Because everyone has different chess styles, different bases for judging the situation, and different levels of chess skills, it is normal to have differences in opinions, and there may even be completely opposite judgments.

In fact, there are many such things in the Japanese chess world.Like the second "Chess Holy War", the second round of the final match between Hideyuki Fujisawa and the challenger Masao Kato's 9-dan, there was a change in the middle game. Honorary Honinbo Takakawa Jiudan judged that the black chess was not bad, while Hideyuki Fujisawa judged White is good.Even famous chess players like them would make completely opposite judgments on the situation, so why is it strange that we have differences? In the "National Hands Tournament" held in Beijing in 1982, I played a game of white against Ma Xiaochun, and there was a similar situation.Regarding the black forty-five move, all the high-ranking players present agreed that White's situation is not good, but I think that not only is it not bad, but White is in favor.In order to express this position, I published my commentary on this game in the monthly "Weiqi" magazine.So some people said: If you lose in chess, why should you fight for face?In fact, I have no intention of using comments to save face, I just want to discuss chess together and express my true thoughts.