An ocean liner scheduled to sail from New York to Buenos Aires at midnight was experiencing the usual busy scene before it sets sail.People who came and saw passengers from the shore crowded to see off their friends on the long voyage; the couriers of the telegraph office wore their caps askew, and shouted the names of passengers in various lounges; some people hurried past with luggage and flowers; children curiously Hustle up and down the ladder, and the ship's band playing on deck keeps playing non-stop.My friend and I avoided the loud crowd and talked on the promenade deck.Suddenly, near us, the spotlight flashed two or three times: there must be some famous person among the passengers, and the reporter came to interview and take pictures of him at the last moment before sailing.My friend glanced that way, smiled and said:

"You have a rare monster on this ship - Czentovic." After hearing his words, I obviously had a rather puzzled look on my face, and he went on to explain a few words: "Mirko Czentovic, world chess champion. He has just conquered the whole of America from east to west in a series of games, and is now sailing to Argentina to claim new victories." As soon as he said it, I really thought of the young world champion, and his sample paper was first published in 1941.Some details of rising to the sky and becoming famous in one fell swoop.My friend, who reads newspapers more carefully than I do, recounted a number of anecdotes about this man as supplements.

About a year before, Czentovic had managed to join the ranks of the famous chess players Alyosin, Capablanca, Tartakower, Lasker, and Bogolyubov.Not since the debut of the seven-year-old prodigy Reshevsky at the New York Tournament in 1922 had an unknown novice broken into the glorious ranks of chess stars and had never caused such a stir.Because Czentovic's intellect did not at all bode well for such a brilliant future.Soon, a secret was revealed: no matter which language the world champion uses to write, even if he writes only one sentence, he cannot fail to make mistakes.And, as one of his exasperated opponents sourly put it, "he is astonishingly ignorant in any field".

①Aleshin, a representative of the famous Russian chess player Ziegelin, the world champion from 1927 to 1935 and 1937 to 1946.Capablanca, a famous Cuban elephant player, the world champion from 1921 to 1927.Lost to Alyoshin in 1927.Lasker, a famous German chess player, has been the world champion since 1894 and lost to Capablanca in 1921. He has written theoretical works on chess, mathematics and philosophy.Tarta Kowell, a first-class chess player, has written many works on chess theory.Pigryubov, a famous Russian chess player. ②Reshevsky, a famous American chess player, a first-level chess player, won the individual championship of the United States more than once, and won the third and fourth place in the world championship.

His father was an extremely poor Yugoslav boatman on the Danube River. His boat was hit and sunk by a grain cargo ship one night.After his father died, the priest in their remote village adopted the twelve-year-old orphan out of compassion.The good priest tried his best to make up lessons at home for the broad-foreheaded, quiet, and somewhat dull child, trying to teach him what he had failed to learn in the country school. But all the efforts of the priest were in vain.Mirko stared blankly at the letters, which, though they had been explained to him a hundred times, still seemed strange to him; even the simplest things explained in class could not be remembered by his dull mind.At the age of fourteen, he was still counting on his fingers.He is already a half-grown boy, and reading and reading newspapers are still very strenuous.However, it cannot be said that Mirko has a bad temper or a stubborn head.He would obediently do what he was told to do: fetch water, chop firewood, work in the fields, and clean up the kitchen.He is reliable in his work, and he will finish what is entrusted to him, although it is exasperatingly slow.But what annoyed the kind priest the most was the indifference of the stubborn boy to everything in the world.If no one specifically asked him to do something, he would do nothing all day long.He never asked questions, never played with other children, never found work for himself unless he was told exactly what to do.After finishing the housework, Mirko sat in the room in a daze, his eyes were blank, like a sheep grazing on the grass, completely indifferent to everything that happened around him.Every night, the priest was smoking a country long pipe and would play three games of chess with the inspector of the police station. This fair-haired young man always squatted beside him silently, with his heavy eyelids drooping, seemingly asleep , looking casually at the chessboard with grids.

One winter evening, two friends were lost in their daily game of chess when sleigh bells rang from the street.A sleigh was approaching rapidly along the village street, faster and faster.A farmer hurried into the house in a snow-covered hat, and begged the priest to come and give his dying mother the unction of his death as soon as possible.The priest followed him immediately without hesitation.At this moment, the inspector hadn't finished his beer.He lit another pipe, ready to go home.While he was putting on his high fur boots, he suddenly noticed that Mirko was staring intently at the unfinished endgame on the chessboard.

"Why, do you want to finish this game of chess?" the inspector asked jokingly.He was completely convinced that this sleepy and ignorant child didn't even know how to move the chess pieces.The child looked up at him timidly, then nodded and sat down on the priest's seat.After fourteen moves, the inspector was defeated, and it had to be admitted that his defeat was by no means the result of an accidental mistake.The same goes for the second set. "Balam's donkey has spoken!" the priest exclaimed in surprise when he returned home.He explained to the inspector, who was not very familiar with the Bible, that a similar miracle had happened two thousand years ago, when a silent animal suddenly spoke, and the words were full of wisdom.Regardless of the time being late, the priest couldn't resist the temptation in his heart and insisted on fighting with his semi-literate student.Mirko beat him just as easily.Mirko played slowly, tenaciously, and steadily, his broad-foreheaded head never lifting from the board.But he played chess very steadily, without flaws.In the next few days, neither the priest nor the inspector could win a game against him.The priest, who knew better than anyone else the inadequacy of his pupil in other respects, wondered now whether this one-sided eccentric genius would stand a more severe test.He had Mirko's shaggy light-blond hair trimmed by the country barber, groomed him a bit, and took him on a sled to the neighboring town.The priest knew that the cafes on the main square of the city were often crowded with local chess fans, and he was sure from his own experience that these people were much better than he.The priest surprised the regulars by pushing the fair-haired, red-cheeked boy of fifteen into the café.The boy was wearing a sheepskin coat with the fur turned inside out, and a pair of heavy high leather boots.After entering the cafe, he stood in a corner with timidly lowered eyes and staring at the ground until he was called to a chess table.Mirko was defeated in the first game, because when he played chess with the good priest, he had never learned the so-called Sicilian open chess.In the next game he was tied with the best chess player in town.Mirko beat all the players one by one from the third game to the fourth game.

①Chapter 22 of "Old Quanshu·Numbers" is published.The wise Balaam was riding on a donkey, when he met the angel of the LORD waiting on the road with a sword.The donkey left the road three times to avoid the messenger with the sword.In anger Balaam beat the donkey with his rod.The LORD made the donkey open its mouth and said to Balaam, "What have I done to you that you have struck me these three times?" Then the LORD showed Balaam the angel with the sword, and Balaam bowed his head and fell to the ground. In the small provincial cities of Yugoslavia, exciting events are rare.The first appearance of the country champion, therefore, was at once a sensational event to the respectable citizens assembled in the café.It was now unanimously decided that the prodigy must remain in the city until tomorrow, in order to gather the rest of the chess club and, in particular, to go to the nearby castle to inform old Count Simcitz, who was a fanatic.The priest now looked at his adopted son with a new sense of satisfaction.He was delighted to have discovered a genius, but his sense of responsibility reminded him that he had to go back to the village to attend Sunday mass.Finally he agreed to keep Mirko in the city for further trials.The chess players paid for young Czentovic to be put in a hotel, and that night he saw a flush toilet for the first time in his life.The next day was Sunday, and the chess room was packed after lunch.For four hours, Mirko sat motionless by the chessboard, without saying a word, without looking up, and defeated all his opponents one by one.Finally, someone suggested a wheel battle with him.It took a lot of work to make this slow boy understand that the so-called wheel battle means that he will run against several opponents at the same time.But as soon as he learned the conventions of this dismounting, he did as he was told, and slowly dragged his heavy creaking boots from table to table.As a result, he won seven out of eight sets.

①The Lord’s Day is the Catholic Sunday.Sunday Mass is a service celebrated by Catholics on Sunday morning. After this, the chess club immediately held a meeting to discuss seriously.Although strictly speaking.The new champion is not from the city, but the national pride of the local people has been aroused.Maybe this small town that can't even be found on the map will win the honor of being called the hometown of celebrities for the first time.A manager named Koller usually introduced songstresses and female singers who sang ditties to the dance halls of the military camp. At this time, he said that as long as someone provided a year's allowance, he was going to arrange for the young man to go to Vienna to get acquainted with him. A famous chess player in China went to receive special training in chess skills.The old Count Simcitz, who had played chess every day for sixty years and had never encountered such a peculiar opponent, immediately issued the payment.From this day on, the amazing prosperity of this boatman's son began.