Chapter 44 The gap between China and Japan in Go was even greater than the gap between warships

Jin Yong likes Go, and it is said that he has an amateur level of three or four.I have doubts about his chess ability, but his enthusiasm for Go is true.This may have something to do with his hometown Haining, Zhejiang. People generally only know that Haining produced poets, such as Zhu Shuzhen, Zha Shenxing, Xu Zhimo, etc., but they don't know that Haining is also a national Go player.The two most powerful national players in the Qing Dynasty, one Fan Xiping and the other Shi Xiangxia, were both from Haining.Chen Xiaoxian, known as the "Ball of Go" in the late Qing Dynasty, was also from Haining.

The Go story I want to tell is not from that era, but from 1909. At that time, fifteen years had passed since the Sino-Japanese War, and nearly ten years had passed since the Boxer Rebellion. The "Heavenly Kingdom" has fully recognized Little Japan, and completely admitted that it is inferior to people in war, politics, and economics.So even though the hungry people in Hubei were already hungry enough to grab rice shops, the Qing government sent people to bring 100,000 yuan to help Japan's floods. But at that time, the Chinese people still had a little bit of self-esteem left: We still have some people who are better than Little Japan!For example, walking birds, drinking tea, playing chess, can Little Japan beat us?But the truth is: Even if we play chess, we can't play Little Japan.I dare say that the gap between us and Japan in Go was even bigger than the gap in warships.

At that time, there was a chief rudder in the Chinese Go world-Duan Qirui. Jin Yong told us that the Duan family is not only good at martial arts, but also has a glorious tradition of playing Go.A generation of high-ranking Mr. Yu can even play Go after taking aphrodisiacs, which can be said to be astonishing in the past. The Duan clan was passed down to Duan Qirui, and martial arts declined. All the one-yang finger and the six-meridian sword were lost, but the family tradition of playing Go remained undiminished. Whether he was a warlord or a prime minister, Duan Qirui was always there The family ran a big Go club, and guests came to play chess and gave bonuses, which made the house a steady stream of chess players from all walks of life.

It is said that Duanfu spends thousands of yuan on Go every month.You know, at that time, the food expenses of an ordinary family of four in Beijing was around ten yuan a month.Otherwise, you think that Duan Qirui's nickname of "Guardian of Go North" was given for nothing. The problem is, if Duan Qirui only plays chess with the Chinese all his life, then forget it, since everyone coaxes him to play.However, Mr. Duan felt that playing chess with the Chinese was not enjoyable, so he insisted on playing chess with the Japanese.This time, something went wrong. For a while, Lao Duan served as the general director of the Baoding Military Academy.There are many Japanese expatriates in Baoding area, and Mr. Duan always wins chess games with them, leaving an impression that the Japanese play chess stinks.It's a pity that after walking too much at night, it is inevitable to encounter ghosts - there is a Japanese named Nakajima Hidoji passing by Baoding, and it is said that he can play Go.

Duan Qirui was overjoyed, and had another chance to slaughter the Japanese!He invited Nakajima to play chess, and the result was a big defeat.The old duan refused to accept and fought again, and the result was a losing streak.The old Duan was quite surprised: "You are so good, you must be the top Japanese master?" "Top master?" Nakajima almost choked to death, "I'm just an amateur chess player, there are even more powerful professional chess players in our place!" The old duan didn't believe it.A lie, it must be a lie, most likely Little Japan found a super master pretending to be a rookie to humiliate us!Didn't our ancestors play this trick before?It is said that during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Katsuo Kobayashi, the number one Japanese go player, came to challenge me. Gu Shiyan, the number one player in the Tang Dynasty, pretended to be a rookie and challenged him. Katsuo Kobayashi.

It's like Zhao Min bragging to Persian Mingjiao: "The golden lion king ranks 3509th in Middle-earth Mingjiao." Our ancestors are playing the rest of the routine, who are they scaring? Duan Qirui rolled up his sleeves and told Nakajima: Wait for the sample!I have plenty of masters in Greater China to cut you! Five thousand years of wind and rain, how many dreams are hidden, eight thousand miles of mountains, rivers and mountains are like a song... can it still make Little Japan rampant? Duan Qirui ran back to Beijing angrily, gathered a group of masters, such as "Dragon Overlord" and "Shock All Directions", they were all fierce players from his family's Go club, formed Duan's army, and came to attack Zhongdao aggressively.

"Hey! You Nakajima Yukie...ah no, Nakajima Hidaki, die quickly!" The battle begins.As soon as the Chinese master made a vicious move, Nakajima was stunned.Don't get me wrong, it's not because the Chinese masters are good at chess, but because their way of playing is too old and too OUT.Nakajima exclaimed again and again: "What? You are still in the 'seat'?!" To explain, the so-called "seats" are a rule of ancient Go. Before playing chess, you must first place two pieces of black and white in the four corner star positions. The Chinese master was upset: "What's all the fuss about? Don't you island countries play chess without 'seats'?"

Nakajima murmured: "'Zuozi' restricted the change of Go. As early as the Oda Nobunaga era in the Warring States Period, we abolished the 'Zuozi' system by the big players!" His subtext is: Darling, it’s already the 20th century, and you guys are still playing the ancient fossil Go game that was invented two thousand years ago! Duan Jiajun and Nakajima fought fiercely for many days, and they were able to win at first.But after a month, Nakajima gradually figured out the Chinese side's chess strategy, and the Duan family's army lost consecutive battles, and it seemed that they couldn't stand it anymore.They hurriedly found Duan Qirui: Boss, we are trapped, the enemy army is too rampant!

Duan Qirui was shocked: Hurry up!Quickly invite Zhang Leshan and Wang Yunfeng to come! Zhang Leshan, a famous Go master of a generation, has lived in Beijing for a long time.It is said that Shanghai Go masters played group arena games at that time, and each game was only five silver dollars. Once Zhang Leshan arrived in Shanghai, he asked for ten silver dollars per game, which shows that his domineering side leaked. Wang Yunfeng, a famous chess player, has a fierce chess style and is best at chaotic battles. The two masters floated in front of Nakajima, smashed them hard with a bang, Nakajima was defeated, he vomited several liters of blood, and Dalong died angrily.

The two masters were about to celebrate their victory, but they saw Nakajima lying on the chessboard, gasping and saying, "I have a friend named Takabe Michihei, who is traveling in North Korea, and he is a professional chess player who is stronger than me. Do you dare to meet him?" The two masters Zhang and Wang smiled proudly.If you want to fight, then fight!Let the world know that we are all Chinese! Duan Qirui is very supportive of this.He believes that no matter how strong the Japanese "professional chess players" are, they will not be much better than Nakajima, and they will never be able to please Zhang and Wang in front of the two masters!

This kind of self-confidence is very similar to Mr. Jizhou Mu Hanfu in the movie.Mr. Han left us a famous quote full of self-confidence through the ages: "I have general Pan Feng, who can kill Hua Xiong!" When Duan Qirui and his two masters saw Gao Budao Ping, they almost didn't turn over.This 28-year-old young man in front of him, a ronin with a new beard, actually claims to be a "professional chess player" better than Nakajima? Wang Yunfeng went first.He made full use of his strengths, made moves like flying, made bold moves, and attacked fiercely!The result is - defeat! Zhang Leshan went on again.He has learned his lesson, and it is as stable as a mountain, dense and thick, attracting enemies!The result is still - a big defeat. It is no good to divide the game first and equal, and change it to a handicap.Gao Bu Daoping let Zhang Leshan's two sons play nearly 80 rounds, and Zhang Leshan only won 13 rounds.The news shocked the chess world. The Chinese are dissatisfied: there are no masters in the north, so is there no master in the south?Just like in Li, in addition to the "Four Northern Stranges", there are also "Four Southern Stranges" in the master's hands! As a result of Yuxi Xingchuan, masters from Zhejiang, Anhui, Song, Shanghai, and Yangzhou southern provinces gathered to invite Gaobu Daoping.The location of the fight is set at a place where dragons and tigers occupy - Nanjing. Leading the game is the "Southern Four Wonders" of the Chinese chess world, they are Chen Zijun, Ding Xuebo, Wang Yanqing, and Fan Chuqing.These four masters, some are good at fighting, some are good at defending, some are good at slaying dragons, and some are good at officials, all of them are heroes of the moment.Gao Bu Daoping happily attended the meeting, and the Jinling Chess Battle kicked off. Wang Yanqing and Chen Zijun went first, but they were defeated by Gao Bu Daoping.The masters from other southern provinces were also defeated one after another. The only ones left are Ding Xuebo and Fan Chuqing.Fan Chuqing went out to challenge, but was still beaten until the second son. "With the pair, both lose greatly, and accept the second son, still lose." What is the concept of letting two pieces in Go?To put it bluntly, it is almost the difference between professional level and amateur play.For example, in the first "Evening News Cup" amateur Go tournament in my country in 1988, professional masters PK amateur masters, the rule was to let the second son. The old general Ding Xuebo was annoyed in the battle.Although he was old, he fought resolutely, but was beaten to the point where his second son was beaten again.So far, in the battle of Nanjing, the Jiangnan masters have exhausted their ink. Wang Junlou's boat went down to Yizhou, and Jinling's royal spirit was sadly taken away! Of course, the above-mentioned battles were completed one after another, not in the same place, but the general situation is as above.I often think, in Gu Long's novel, is the Dongying swordsman defeating the Chinese heroes alone copied from this passage? The defeat of Jinling completely dumbfounded the people of the country.Little Japan can't even play chess, we don't accept it! A birthplace of Go, a great country with Gu Shiyan, Huang Longshi, Xu Xingyou, Fan Xiping, Shi Xiangxia, Wu Yazi, Duan Yanqing, Jiumozhi and other Go masters, has now declined to this level? The Chinese asked Daoping Gaobu tentatively: "Hey, I heard that all the professional chess players in your island country have ranks, just like our beggars have cloth bags. You must be a nine-dan master?" Daoping Gaobe was taken aback: "Nine-dan? You want to scare me to death, don't you? Don't let me go back and be laughed at by my master and brothers! I'm only a fourth-dan, okay!" The people of the country were puzzled and rubbed their heads: "What grade is the fourth grade?" Daoping Gaobe shook his head again and again: "Let's put it this way, in our lump, only the fifth grade and above can be considered a high grade!" He also said something that made the people of the country feel like thunder: "In our island country, there are so many masters in Go, and there are many geniuses. One of the most powerful schools is 'Honinbo', and the other is 'Fangyuan Society', which is equivalent to Mingjiao and Shaolin School; at best, I am at the general level of 'Fangyuan Society'. It is similar to Yin Zhiping, Zhao Zhijing and the like in your Quanzhen sect. "To put it bluntly, if your master comes to our place, he might be a deer!" Silence, deathly silence.After a long time, someone asked: "Is there any way to meet your real masters?" Takabe Dohei scratched his head and said, "Why don't you raise some money, and I'll try to see if my elder brother, Hirose Heijiro, can be six Duan please come?" "Collect the money! Get the money now!" Duan Qirui grabbed the two richest local tycoon friends - Wang Kemin, the president of the Bank of China, and Li Luge, the richest man, "We must invite Guang...Guang, the six-duan!" Hirose Heijirou 6th paragraph, are you looking for Master?Grandpa is here! He brought a more cruel truth - in the face of Gao Bu Daoping, Zhang Leshan and others could barely accept only the third son.But in the face of Heijiro Hirose, all the Chinese masters were handed over to the third son, and they still lost a lot. As for Duan Qirui himself, he will be given up to five players against Dohei Takabe, and it is estimated that he will be given away seven or eight players against Heijiro Hirose. One can imagine the mood of the Chinese Go players at that time.It's like you built a car behind closed doors, practiced hard for many years, thought you were invincible, and excitedly ran to Zhongnan Mountain to challenge Wang Chongyang, but was KO'd by the fourth generation disciple, and you didn't even see Qiu Chuji and Yin Zhiping.It's you instead, how do you feel? At that time, almost everyone in the Go circle had the same thought: we can no longer play chess like this!It has been hundreds of years since the reform and innovation of Go in the island country, and we still regard the "seat" two thousand years ago as a treasure.He can't lose at this kind of chess! At that time, a man named Li Ziqian, witnessing the disastrous defeat of Chinese Go, wrote ten poems "Singing Chess" in anger and emotion, one of which was as follows: "The ancient method is rigid in calculation and book, and the situation of the army is not the same in an instant. The Zhao family has a hundred thousand long bones, and the general reads the father's book by mistake!" Many reforms in our country were caused by quarrels, but on the issue of Go reform at that time, everyone was surprisingly unanimous.Because Go can win or lose.If you want to carry out literary reform, someone will definitely argue with you: Why is the new literature good and the old literature bad?Why don't you learn from your ancestors and learn from others?But Go does not have this problem: dissatisfaction, right?If you don't agree with me, come out and take two steps? Since then, there has been a big upsurge in learning Go from Japan. In 1917, Duan Qirui sent Gu Shuiru, a young man, to Japan to learn chess; in 1918, Duan Qirui and others facilitated the visit of Hirose Heijiro, a chess player of "Fangyuansha", to China; At the end of the same year, he invited Japan's number one master, Hideya Honinbo, to visit China, and it was a shock—the Chinese who were defeated by Lu Qingdu finally saw Wang Chongyang for real. In the late autumn of 1928, the epic scene appeared. Wu Quan, a 14-year-old young man from Fuzhou, went east to Japan to learn chess. After going through hardships, he finally became a master of his generation—Wu Qingyuan. Of course, Wu Qingyuan's success is a matter of the Japanese Go circle, and does not represent the rise of Chinese Go.It is still a matter of time before we surpass Japan. Today, nearly a hundred years later, the Japanese are no match for us in Go.Now we send a group of "90s" to go, and they can all kill their nine-dan. Let our eyes travel through a century of time and space, and return to the chessboard back then.In the faint light, it seemed to see Duan Qirui, the "stinky chess basket", who was being defeated by Gao Bu Daoping, losing all his underwear. I often wonder why an old warlord like Duan Qirui didn't turn the table over and roar angrily, "I'm not going to leave, let's go, I won't play with you little Japan!"