Chapter 38 The second arena

The meeting before the start of the second group arena was much more airy than the first.The meeting place is in the conference room on the second floor of the office building of the Sports Newspaper Office. In addition to our team leaders, coaches, and players, old comrades such as Jin Ming, Tang Ke, and Liao Jingdan, consultants of the Chinese Go Association, also came. The atmosphere was as excited and cheerful as it was at the start of the first session. After the victory in the first group arena, everyone's confidence in defeating the Japanese players has improved a lot, and they are all holding back their energy to show their skills in the second group arena!

The second group arena was slightly different from the first one, there were more young chess players, and the vanguard was replaced by a female player. Kong Xiangming, Yang Hui and Rui Naiwei competed for the role of female pioneer.The first round of the round-robin game was evenly divided, and the second round was evenly divided. It was rare for domestic competitions to be so fierce. In the end, they had to play fast chess to determine the winner.Rui Naiwei was selected with a higher skill. Rui Naiwei's chess skills have improved greatly in the past two years, and her record against Japan has always been good, so some people think that she may become a character like Jiang Zhujiu.

However, I'm not so optimistic about the situation of the second group arena. Rui Naiwei's strength is certainly stronger than the Japanese female pioneer Kusuko Koko's seventh dan, and the young Japanese chess player Morita Michihiro's third dan is not her opponent, but Imamura's One level is not so easy for her. From a general point of view, this year's group arena is better than the previous one, but not easy.It is said that it is easy to play because everyone has enough confidence, and the fear of Japanese players is gone; it is not easy to play because the Japanese will be more cautious this year.The overall strength of the Japanese is still stronger than ours!

In addition, due to the victory in the last tournament, the press and chess fans overestimated us, and the public opinion was too hot.Just like the public opinion that Rui Naiwei will become a character like Jiang Zhujiu, it is likely to put pressure on Rui Naiwei.Shanghai strongly requested that if Rui Naiwei beat Nan Guangzi and Morita, the third match against Imamura would be held in Shanghai.I think that if it is played in Shanghai, Rui Naiwei may not be able to play well, because the pressure and interference will be quite large. So at that meeting, when everyone spoke with confidence, I poured cold water on it and sang a low key.However, at this time it is not the high and the few, but the low and the few.However, what Comrade Liao Jingdan said gave me support.He said that we still have to admit that Japan is stronger than us, so we must be prepared to lose in the second session.Even if the opponents are of equal strength, you can't be the one who wins!

Public opinion in Japan has a higher tone.They believe that this time the Japanese side played with the mood of winning or losing from the very beginning, so they are determined to win.Otherwise, it is not easy to explain. The one with the highest tone is the Japanese team leader Hideo Otake.At the opening ceremony, he was as amazing as Sakata was in his first speech.He said that the second general is actually Yamashiro Hiroshi, Takemiya Masaki is the staff officer, and he himself is just a whip! The battle curtain opened. As I expected, Rui Naiwei lost to Toshiya Imamura in Shanghai after defeating Mitsuko Nan and Morita in the seventh dan.In terms of chess strength, the two of them have a fight.But on the spot Imamura was much more cautious, while Rui Naiwei seemed eager to win, and his pace of chess was quite fast.

It was expected that Rui Naiwei was no match for Imamurahara.It is normal for Imamura to lose to Qian Yuping.However, no one would have thought that Xiao Linjue "mopped up" the five of us at once, from Qian Yuping, Shao Zhenzhong, Cao Dayuan, Jiang Zhujiu, Liu Xiaoguang, all the way to Ma Xiaochun. His chess strength is stronger than the five of us?not necessarily.He lost to Jiang Zhujiu in the first round, and had lost in the past.But the competition format of the group arena is quite special, it seems easy to cause consecutive victories.Because winning one set is enough, the confidence in the second set will increase a lot, and you will have a certain psychological advantage.The more you win, the more you relax, the more you dare to let go and fight with you.

After defeating Shao Zhenzhong and Cao Dayuan, Xiao Linjue once said that he was only afraid of me and Ma Xiaochun.Now Ma Xiaochun was a little nervous facing him. On the surface, Ma Xiaochun didn't seem to care much about winning or losing.But no matter who it is, they always want to win when they sit in front of the chessboard, especially in a competition like the group arena, who is willing to get off the stage as soon as they step on the stage? !In the first match between Liu Xiaoguang and Kobayashi, Ma Xiaochun watched the game from beginning to end in the viewing room.This year is the same as the last one, Liu Xiaoguang will play if he loses.But he almost didn't come to the viewing room. He came around at the end of the morning and left in the afternoon.

He came mainly to check on the situation, and when he saw that Liu Xiaoguang's situation was not good, he made preparations for playing. On August 29, 1986, when Ma Xiaochun sat across from Xiao Linjue, his conscientiousness was unprecedented for many people who knew him well.Ma Xiaochun got off to a good start and maintained his advantage in the morning.But he was overly cautious, and took two slow moves in the afternoon, almost losing.The few of us in the spectator room were so anxious that our hearts sank. In the end, Ma Xiaochun tried his best to stabilize the situation bit by bit.After fighting hard for seven hours, he won by only three-quarters of the sons.Under normal circumstances, Ma Xiaochun might easily defeat Xiao Linjue, but with the situation in the group arena like this, it will definitely not be easy.

Originally, I thought that Ma Xiaochun might be able to win a few games in a row by holding back the momentum of Xiao Linjue, because Kataoka Satoshi and Yamashiro Hiroshi were not stronger than him. Sakai Takeshi visited China in 1985 with six victories and one loss. One loss means losing to Ma Xiaochun.I really hope he can become China's Kobayashi Koichi! Who knew that Ma Xiaochun was swept off the ring with a careless move against Kataoka Satoshi, which is really regrettable. I became a polished commander again, and there are still five others, so the situation is even worse than the first one.

Before attacking Satoshi Kataoka, I took Xiao Kong and my son back to Shen County, my hometown in Hebei.When passing through Shijiazhuang, a reporter from the Hebei branch of Xinhua News Agency came to interview me and asked me what I thought of the group arena.To be honest, my real thought at the time was that I must have lost, but I didn't want to say it out of my mouth, let alone say that I was very confident.How to answer this question took me a lot of thought. I think that although there are still five people on the Japanese side, which one of you dare to say that you will definitely win against me?Since I dare not say it, it means that the winning rate is half and half.So I told the reporter that I was 50 percent sure of winning each of them.In fact, counting five people, my winning rate is only one in thirty-two, which is just over three percent.This is easy to calculate.As a result, that man published an article on the People's Daily the next day, saying that he met me in Shijiazhuang, saying that I was very optimistic and full of confidence in this group arena, and believed that I had a 50% chance of winning .Isn't this bullshit?Not at all.

At that time, many colleagues, friends, and old-timers were very surprised when they saw the news, and they called me one after another to ask questions.I had no choice but to explain one by one, that was not the case at all, the reporter misunderstood my original words. Bigger troubles were yet to come. As soon as I returned to Beijing, Hu Yaobang and Wan Li called me to give me a lecture.Hu Yaobang said to me: "Young people should not be too full of words. I know you are very confident, but you can't do it if you are too full." He meant to criticize me for being proud and speaking out loud.I was wronged, and I couldn't explain it, and I couldn't explain it clearly, so I just listened.In the end, I just said one thing. The reporter misunderstood what I said.Wan Li went even further: "Xiao Nie, what do you think you are? You are not ninety-two to ninety-two now!" At that time, the Asian Games were being held, and the gold medal score between us and South Korea was ninety-two to ninety Two, I am fighting for the last gold medal in track and field, and I dare not say that I have 50% certainty. I am one to five with Japan, and it has not yet been settled. How dare I say that I have 50% certainty of winning?The severity of Wanli's criticism made my ears warm.In addition, the influence of this news is very bad. It is no longer a question of whether you win or not. Even if you win, people will think you are crazy.What's more, there are Otake Hero and Takemiya Masaki among the next five people. It was the heyday of Takemiya at that time. It is very difficult for me to win any of them. I really think I can't win.At first I thought to forget it, but I couldn’t bear it anymore and had to clarify, so I found Wang Daming, the deputy director of the Central Propaganda Department through Deng Pufang, explained the situation, and later made a correction in the newspaper. It is well known that I like to drink, and I was advised to quit drinking before the game.In order to express my determination to win and inspire my fighting spirit, I announced in front of the news media that I would quit drinking before the game.But not long after, Deng Xiaoping and Hu Yaobang asked me to play bridge, and because there were two people missing, I invited Li Furong and Hua Yigang.Have dinner together after playing cards.Deng Xiaoping had a habit of drinking some wine with every meal. He heard that I also liked drinking, so he asked me to drink with him.Hu Yaobang also asked me to toast the old man.This time I was stupid, don't drink it, this is what Mr. Deng told me to drink, I have to drink it.Let’s drink, I’ve already made a vow to quit drinking, and I can’t break it just because you old man Deng told me to drink. Now, I can ask Hua Yigang to toast you on my behalf.The old man accepted without showing any sign of displeasure.So Hua Yigang toasted the old man on my behalf, and wished the old man good health.Later, I heard people around the old man say that no old man has ever told him not to drink.For the competition, I didn't have any regrets at the time, but after the old man passed away, I always felt that I was sorry for the old man.On the night before the old man's memorial service, I raised a glass to see him off.I drank so much that day that I ended up getting drunk. Kataoka Satoshi is known as the "New Generation Computer" in Japan, and has won the "Tianyuan" championship twice. The "Tianyuan" game is the fourth major game in Japan, and it is also a game where top-notch chess players strive for the championship.He was able to hold the hegemony for two consecutive terms, so he was definitely not someone to be taken lightly.And I never beat Kataoka Satoshi in the past.But that was years ago.In the past few years, whether it is our visit to Japan or the visit of the Japanese delegation, he has not been on the list to play against me.It should be said that I have confidence in winning him.But I was very nervous before the game, because if I lost, Hiroshi Yamashiro would be wiped out of the Chinese team before he played. Kataoka Satoshi logically said that he should not be nervous, there are four people behind him!But as soon as he arrived in Beijing, he asked for a pair of chess pieces and said he wanted to play chess.The next day, he went to the arena to have a look in person.These are rare performances by other chess players, which shows that he is also nervous. I played this game well at the beginning, and I have always been in an advantageous position.However, he took a slow step in the middle game and was caught by Satoshi Kataoka, and the game immediately became complicated.It is said that in the spectator room, Fujisawa Hideyuki, who hardly watched chess, also sat in front of the chessboard at this time.But Kong Xiangming, who had been sitting in front of the chessboard, sat aside uncomfortably. Fortunately, I usually don't panic at such times, and I can hold my breath, and finally save the day. In the viewing room, Fujisawa Hideyuki left the chessboard again, and took Liu Xiaoguang to play the chess.Kong Xiangming returned to the chessboard. Of the five games I played in the second group arena, only this game and the last game ran out of free time and entered the countdown, which shows how cautious I am in this game. This game of chess was played until 6:50 in the evening, when Kataoka Satoshi grabbed a few pieces and put them on the board, acknowledging defeat.At this moment, Kataoka Satoshi's expression was very heavy.And I felt like a big stone in my heart fell to the ground. Kataoka Satoshi is worthy of being an excellent chess player, he quickly returned to normal, and discussed the review very seriously. When I walked out of the Beijing gymnasium, although I was very excited, my legs were heavy. After New Year's Day, I set off for Japan to continue my challenge. Beijing is often foggy in winter, but as a person who grew up in Beijing, I have rarely seen a fog as big as that on January 6, 1987. Hao Keqiang, who was with me, said that he had never seen such a thick fog, as if he had penetrated into a thick layer of clouds and could not see anything a few meters away.The car has also become an iron turtle, which can only slowly crawl on the highway. Needless to say, the plane was delayed, but after ten o'clock, the fog still lingered.Hao Keqiang was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He kept running in and out, looking at the sky and the time signal for takeoff, but he still couldn't get any information about takeoff. "The heavy fog is a good sign, indicating that the prospect of the group arena is uncertain." Finally, Hao Keqiang said comfortingly. At that time, our situation should be said to have a bleak future, and it is naturally a relief to say that the future is unclear. Until twelve o'clock at noon, the fog has not cleared.According to the people at the airport, the plane will not take off until four o'clock in the afternoon. This morning, because I misread the watch, I mistook 4:50 as 5:50, so I got up quickly, and only after I washed up did I realize that I had misread the watch.Liang Henian, who was staying with me temporarily, was also woken up. Nothing to do, the two of us sat down and played chess.Add to that another morning of staying up, and at this point I just want to lie down and sleep.Fortunately, several Go lovers at the customs led me into their small conference room, and found me a quilt and two overcoats, so that I had a warm and peaceful sleep. At three o'clock in the afternoon, the plane finally took off.After a while, the golden sun shone into the cabin, the clouds and mist were suppressed below, and the surrounding area was clear.I felt refreshed both physically and mentally because I had a good night's sleep. When the plane landed at Narita Airport, it was already half past seven in the evening.As soon as he left the customs, he saw a small hole standing outside the railing.At this time, she is studying Japanese in Japan.She came to the airport to welcome her, as well as the director of the Standing Committee of the Nippon Ki-in Kaoru Sato and Minister Yoshio Mihara.They have been waiting at the airport for eight hours, it's really embarrassing for them. The venue for Hiroshi Yamashiro and I was scheduled to be in Hakone. We didn't spend the night in Tokyo that day, but because the plane arrived too late, we had to go to Hakone the next day. There has just been a heavy snowfall in the area from Tokyo to Hakone, and the air is very humid and not too cold. There are hot springs in Hakone, surrounded by forests, with beautiful scenery and fresh air. It is a famous tourist attraction in Japan.No wonder Japan's annual "Honinbo" decisive battle is held here. We stayed in a Japanese-style hotel, Xianxiang Building, where we could take a hot spring bath.As soon as I entered this hotel, I felt very good, thinking that I would win the next day's chess game. I met Hiroshi Yamashiro at the dinner table, and his appetite was far less than mine.I have been to Japan frequently in the past few years, and I am particularly interested in the Japanese delicacy of sashimi.This time the Japanese friends received us very warmly.Yesterday in Tokyo, we were treated to sashimi, and today it is sashimi again.This is rare, sashimi is very expensive in Japan, and they don't usually eat it often. That night, I almost ate two dishes by myself, and Hiroshi Yamashiro withdrew before I finished. We hardly talked during the meeting. Before the game, we really couldn't think of anything to talk about. The competition venue is not located in the hotel where you stayed, but in the "Keidanren" meeting place in Gotemba. "Keidanren" is the abbreviation of Japan Federation of Foundations.So the conference hall where the leaders only go to meetings is very luxurious.There are also many books in the room. I can't understand what books, and I don't have the time to read them. I heard from Cheng Xiaoliu and the others that there is a complete collection of world famous paintings, and the printing is very beautiful. To the west of the arena is a row of floor-to-ceiling windows. Sitting in front of the competition table, one can see the white snow-capped peak of Mt. Fuji. The ideal realm of the ancient Chinese literati is that, beside the Songxia stream, there is a pavilion and a stone, and they can play chess leisurely. If it wasn't for the fierce competition like the group arena, it would be a joy in the world to spend idle time knocking chess pieces in this conference room.But I don't have that kind of leisure at this time. Hiroshi Yamashiro started the day quite cautiously. Maybe it was Otake Hero who made him the main general during his speech at the opening ceremony, and hoped that he would end the second group arena, which put too much pressure on him.In fact, during this period of time, he has done well in Japan. Before the match with me, he even defeated Hero Otake and Koichi Kobayashi. However, the chess he played today showed a lack of confidence. I used the white layout I used in the "New Sports Cup" game not long ago.At that time, my main energy was already spent on thinking about how to deal with Yamashiro Hiroshi's attack.In my opinion, among the three chess games before meeting Takemiya Masaki, the most difficult one was Yamashiro Hiroshi. Hiroshi Yamashiro is a newly promoted nine-dan in Japan, and his performance has been rising. Such a player has a lot of vigor. The Japanese chess world has always praised how powerful his "infiltration flow" is.In this game, I am playing white again. Without the advantage of going first, it will not be easy to implement the plan I imagined.So I took the "New Sports Cup" game as a training opportunity. The first trial failed and lost to Rui Naiwei.For this reason, newspapers made a big fuss, saying that the "New Sports Cup" had a big upset, and Nie Weiping lost to a female chess player. I was quite happy.Losing, exposed the flaws of this layout, which is conducive to my further improvement.Newspaper reports help to paralyze opponents.I think the dynamics of any of my domestic competitions will be the intelligence they need to collect. Against Shao Zhenzhong, I played white again, and I still tried the white layout I imagined.I won this round. But I was not satisfied with this, and continued to consider my layout.In the 8th "New Sports Cup", I only won the sixth place in this competition, and I won it in the extra game of rapid chess.But I think it was a rewarding game. When I played against Hiroshi Yamashiro, my layout was quite successful.Hao Keqiang, who was watching from the side, commented: "I didn't expect to take the advantage so easily." On the chessboard, it may be easy, but in the process of playing chess, I dare not relax at all!Later, I heard that Hiroshi Yamashiro slapped himself on the head and cheeks hard when he saw that his recovery was hopeless. The sound of "papa" was quite loud in the quiet arena, but I didn't hear it, which shows that I was concentrated. .I never let up, even when the odds were on. At five o'clock in the afternoon, Shancheng Hongtouzi conceded. Hiroshi Yamashiro was extremely serious about the replay after the game.After resuming the game, he also admitted that he had completely lost the game. At this time, the pain caused by his failure has disappeared, and a smile appeared on his face. At night, like any other intense game, I was too excited to sleep.Cheng Xiaoliu and the others had no choice but to play poker with me to help me relax.It was still difficult to fall asleep when lying down until after midnight.I woke up again before seven o'clock the next day.Xiao Kong and the reporter from Asahi Shimbun accompanied me out for a walk. It's a pity that I'm not good at appreciating the natural scenery. Although I'm stepping on the white snow and overlooking the morning light of Mount Fuji, it doesn't arouse my reverie.I just feel that I breathe the incomparably fresh air, and I can't hear a little bit of noise in the world, so I feel very comfortable physically and mentally! The match against Sakai is scheduled to be held in Tokyo.In order to let us see the coastal scenery, the master took us to Yanyuan, and from there we took the train back to Tokyo.Passing through Atami on the way, there was that familiar bay and familiar hill again, which reminded me of the scene where I defeated Kobayashi Koichi here two years ago, and my mood couldn't help but cheer up: good omen, a route to victory! It was three o'clock in the afternoon when I returned to the Grand Palace Hotel where I stayed in Tokyo.The embassy sent me a congratulatory message from the National Sports Commission and the Central Committee of the Democratic League, telling me that I have been elected as a member of the Central Committee of the Democratic League.This is definitely a great encouragement to me. Since Makoto Sakai was elected as the executive director of the Nippon Ki Academy, he has been busy with affairs and rarely plays chess, so it is inevitable that he is not good at it.But don't forget that in the Sino-Japanese Go Tournament in 1985 and 1986, he won nine out of ten games, and he also won two to one against Ma Xiaochun.This time Japan ranked him ahead of Takemiya Masaki, not as a decoration, but as the nemesis of Chinese chess players. The actual combat also shows that this game of chess is still quite strenuous.Especially after three o'clock in the afternoon, Sakai suddenly saw that the situation was unfavorable, so he released the "winner".After I cast Black Ninety-Nine, I went out to inhale oxygen for three minutes.When I came back to check, I found that the calculation was wrong just now, and ninety-nine should be placed in one hundred and one posts.Sakai seized the opportunity immediately, and played from one hundred to one hundred and eight skillful moves, almost losing black's advantage. When I finally won, even though it was winter, I was sweating profusely.I feel that if I continue to go on, I will really be unable to support it.When I finished restoring the disk and went to the lounge next door, I immediately lay down on the tatami mat, unable to move. The next morning, Zhang Shu, the Chinese ambassador to Japan, received our Go delegation at the embassy and gave me two bottles of Moutai as a token of congratulations. The closing ceremony turned into a gala reception again.Because every time I compete, I am facing the end, so both sides have to make two preparations.Hao Keqiang already has experience. Every time he travels to the east, he brings two speeches, one for the speech after he is going to win, and one for the closing ceremony.The Japanese side prepared everything according to the closing ceremony specifications, and only indicated on the invitation: "If Yamashiro Kudan or Sakai Jiudan win, it will be the closing ceremony; if Nie Weiping wins Jiudan in a row, it will be a kiss reception." Before the reception began, Mr. Otake said in answer to the reporter's question that it would take five years for me to play against him.He later stated that it was a joke. It was at this reception that Mr. Hideyuki Fujisawa called the match between Masaki Takemiya and me the "match of the century".He believes that this game of chess will have an impact all over the world.