Chapter 12: The fear of being dominated by the devil
As more and more players finished the game, reporters began to interview other players, especially some who were already well-known.
During the interview, the reporter did not take it too seriously to watch the excitement, and talked about Qin Hao's "bold words" that he would win the runner-up and take the TV home.
Now Qin Hao is completely "famous".
In this era where winning a championship also owes the honor to the collective, this can no longer be described as "crazy", it is simply arrogant.
Qian Yuping, Shanghai's top talent seed player who is only 12 years old, said that if he meets Qin Hao in the next round, his opponent will be stopped in the top 48 of this competition.
Players, coaches, and teachers all heard about such a crazy player.
Sometimes Qin Hao would encounter someone calling him "the second-place kid" in the guest house, with a somewhat mocking tone. Qin Hao didn't pay attention to this. While other children were working hard to improve their chess skills in the guest house all day, Qin Hao
Hao used his rest time to explore the capital and bought a Rubik's Cube for Lin Dongzhe. However, the twenty yuan that Song Ying gave him before leaving was almost spent.
In the next top 24, both Wu Yue and Wang Yang were eliminated. The opponents who could make it to the top 24 were tough opponents. This was in line with Liu Hong's expectations. However, Wu Yue and Wang Yang still burst into tears. For teenagers
For children, such a competition is indeed a bit cruel.
Qin Hao still defeated his opponent strongly in the middle game and successfully advanced to the top 12. Moreover, his opponent in this round was a well-known local genius boy in Beijing. This also made those who wanted to see Qin Hao's joke realize.
Qin Hao may really have the strength to win second place.
At the end of the game, Chen Zude whispered to Nie Weiping: "Do you think this kid really entered the finals and lost on purpose just for a TV set?"
"It's very possible. Look at his expression, does he seem to care about other people's opinions?" Nie Weiping's eyes drifted towards Qin Hao's direction.
Chen Zude looked over and saw that Liu Hong was comforting Wu Yue and Wang Yang who were crying in tears, while Qin Hao was standing under the shade of a tree beside him, leaning against a peach tree in boredom and taking a nap with squinted eyes.
"This kid really has a personality." Chen Zude shook his head and smiled bitterly.
Nie Weiping fully agreed with this point: "It's just like his chess game."
Speaking of chess, Chen Zude said seriously: "This guy's chess skills are indeed very strong. The first 150 moves were at least at the level of a national player. I just don't know what his abilities are at the official stage."
"Among the younger generation, perhaps only Qian Yuping, Rui Naiwei and Ma Xiaochun can compete with him."
Nie Weiping put away the folding fan in his hand and said seriously: "The next step is the group stage where 12 will advance to 10. The four of them will definitely be divided into a group. It will be clear at a glance whether they are real gold or fake."
After the top 12, lots will be drawn. Six people will be in a group, and they will compete one by one within the group. The one with the worst record will be eliminated, and the remaining top 10 will be qualified to enter the youth class of the China Chess Academy.
The reason why there is no one-on-one elimination competition system is mainly to test the comprehensive ability of chess players. After all, everyone's chess style is different, and it is inevitable that they will encounter opponents. The points system relies entirely on hard power, which can be seen.
, the Chinese Chess Academy has put a lot of effort into this selection.
Qin Hao and Ma Xiaochun were once again assigned to a group, which made Hu Haiyang very depressed. Although only one person was eliminated from each group, the top players could choose opponents from another group in the next round and be divided with Qin Hao.
In a group, Ma Xiaochun lost one point before the group stage even started.
But Ma Xiaochun didn't care. On the contrary, he thought it would be good to play another game of chess with Qin Hao.
The next day, the group stage begins.
Qin Hao's opponent in the first round was a kid from Sichuan. He spoke with a Sichuan accent and threatened to defeat Qin Hao as soon as he sat down.
As a result, after he reached move 136, the hand holding Heizi was hanging in the air without making a move for two and a half minutes, and then he started crying without any warning.
The referee kept looking at Qin Hao. In his impression, this was already the third opponent Qin Hao made him cry, and there was also a little girl among them.
Chen Zude shook his head when he saw this: "Why does this child cry so easily now? His psychological quality is too bad."
However, when the referee decided that Qin Hao had won, and Nie Weiping took a look at the game between the two sides, Chen Zude knew that he had wrongly blamed the Sichuan boy.
"This offensive is getting stronger and stronger every time. It's no wonder that the kid can't resist it."
What is the most desperate thing in the Go game? It is that there are obviously many positions on the board that can be played, but you find that no matter where you play, you have no chance of winning.
Moreover, you clearly made no mistakes and even played to your highest level, but you still have no chance of winning.
In the next three rounds, Qin Hao still performed well, winning in the middle games and winning all four games. Ma Xiaochun also won all of them, and the two tied for first place.
The results of the other group were similar. Qian Yuping won all four games, while Rui Naiwei lost to Qian Yuping and had three wins and one loss, ranking second in Group B.
In the last match between Groups A and B, there was no doubt that the battle between Qin Hao and Ma Xiaochun was the most interesting. Many coaches, teachers, as well as national players and leaders from the Chinese Chess Academy came to watch.
Of course, you definitely can't watch from close range, but find a nearby high place to watch.
Chen Zude and Nie Weiping are no exception.
Wang Runan on the side saw the two of them just whispering, and joked: "When did you become so interested in the younger generations of chess players?"
Chen Zude and Wang Runan were once decentralized together and had a good relationship, so they laughed and scolded: "It sounds like we are selfish and only care about ourselves. You are going to hold a denouncement meeting for us."
"This is a strong showdown. It may be a preview of the finals. It's worth watching."
Nie Weiping is more than ten years younger than the two of them, so he is considered a junior. He usually has a good relationship with Chen Zude. He laughs and scolds in private, but remains respectful in public.
"Here we go, watch chess, watch chess."
In the arena, Qin Hao and Ma Xiaochun were sitting opposite each other. The guess result was that Qin Hao took the black lead.
It’s still the standard starting point: point three three.
Ma Xiaochun immediately responded to his first move: star position.
Both sides played very quickly after the start, almost without thinking. Since losing to Qin Hao in two consecutive games last time, Ma Xiaochun has been using his spare time to study Qin Hao's chess. This time he was also prepared.
Ten hands, he had gone through it many times.
Chen Zude, who was watching the battle, smiled at Nie Weiping: "These two people are very murderous."
Nie Weiping nodded with a smile: "Have you noticed that Ma Xiaochun seems to be holding back some energy? Did they have any grudges before?"
Soon the two sides passed fifty moves and entered the middle stage.
The speed of Ma Xiaochun's moves has obviously slowed down, but Qin Hao still makes moves without thinking.
Those watching the game nearby were all chess-savvy people, whether they were coaches, teachers, or national players from the Chinese Chess Academy. They couldn't help but feel incredible that the two of them had such chess prowess at such a young age.
"Are these kids so powerful now?"
"Good guy, these are the first seventy moves. If I hadn't known about them in advance, I would have thought they were in the National Go Championship."
"The next generation is terrible, I am not as good as them."
Nie Weiping smiled at Chen Zude.
"How are you? Do you feel any pressure?"
Chen Zude said meaningfully: "No matter how powerful they are, it will take at least five years for them to grow up. If I don't succeed in five years, I will retire. On the contrary, it is you who are in the prime of your life. Be careful of the wave behind you.
It’s drowned.”
"Why, you're getting old now, it's not like you." Nie Weiping didn't accept the move at all and continued to tease.
Chen Zude laughed and scolded: "Stop pretending, you must be very panicked now."
While the two were teasing each other, the game between Qin Hao and Ma Xiaochun had reached the end of the middle game.
In move 150, Qin Hao's sunspot landed at the position of: 6 out of 10.
Ma Xiaochun's expression suddenly changed.
The reaction of the crowd watching the game was polarized.
"Is this a single-handed defeat?"
"Why did you play here? Are you dizzy? Doesn't this give up the entire lower left corner to white?"
"Nonsense, do you know chess? This is obviously a clever move. Once the white chess's energy is restrained by the lower left corner, the middle part of the game can connect the two dragons on the left and right sides of the black chess. Then the white chess piece will
Only the small area in the lower left corner is left, and the other three roads are firmly trapped."
"Yes, this chess move is wonderful. If you attack the enemy, you must save it. But in the middle of the game, black has a clear advantage. Once white and black continue to struggle, the official will still lose in the official stage."
Chen Zude and Nie Weiping's faces now lost their previous calmness.
"Have you noticed that the kid named Qin Hao has never paused in every move he made so far? How did he do it?"
Chen Zude frowned: "Yeah, no matter how strong his chess calculation ability is, this is already 150 moves. With such a mindless move, isn't he afraid of losing?"
"This game of chess is difficult for Ma Xiaochun." Nie Weiping looked at the chessboard in front of him. He reviewed every move of the game. It was this process that gave him a different feeling. He could feel
Ma Xiaochun considered every next step, but what Qin Hao thought and what he would do next were often beyond his expectations.
Qin Hao ignored many places where he felt that every inch of land should be fought for, and instead laid out some seemingly dispensable places. But after the middle game, Nie Weiping discovered that Qin Hao's seemingly random moves had an effect.
The effect of being one step ahead.
It felt to Nie Weiping as if Qin Hao was using the black chess pieces to weave a big net and just waiting for Ma Xiaochun to get into it.
After Ma Xiaochun fell into thinking for ten minutes, he finally landed on a white piece and chose to fight Qin Hao in the middle.
However, when it came to move 173, Ma Xiaochun fell into a long test again. After another three minutes, he smiled bitterly and surrendered.
"I lost."
The people watching the battle started talking again.
"You're giving up now? There should still be a chance, right?"
"There is no chance. Look at the shape of black's chess. It has cut off the survival of several big dragons of white's chess. If you continue to play, you will only bring humiliation to yourself."
"Yes, Black's layout ability is so strong that people can fall into the trap without even realizing it."
Nie Weiping and Chen Zude looked at each other and smiled bitterly. From their chess skills, it was obvious that the reason why Black won was not through "conspiracy and trickery", but because of naked strength. Ma Xiaochun was like a fish in a net.
No matter how hard he swam, he couldn't get out of Qin Hao's net bag.
"Tell me, if you fight this kid, can you win?" Chen Zude suddenly came up with a bold idea.
Nie Weiping was startled, then shook his head: "It's hard to say, but I believe that day will not be too far away."
"Also, I always feel that Ma Xiaochun hasn't let him do his best."
Qin Hao ranked first in Group A and advanced to the top ten with an absolute advantage of victory. This also slapped those who thought he was arrogant before.
Especially the coaches and teachers of the remaining players, one by one, spent the whole night studying all the chess games played by Qin Hao since the competition.
Some even went to temples such as Jietai Temple to burn incense and pray so that they could meet Qin Hao later.
There is no doubt that after the top ten competition, Qin Hao has become the number one favorite to win the championship and the super devil in the eyes of the players.
But what made the organizer China Chess Academy feel funny and helpless was that Qin Hao publicly stated that he had no idea about winning the championship, but he had a soft spot for the runner-up.
At first, the Chinese Chess Academy didn't think much about it, but just one day before the top ten tournament started, a document was issued from above.
In order to promote Go among young people, relevant departments decided to arrange for CCTV to record and broadcast the finals.
This made the leaders of the Chinese Chess Academy panic. If Qin Hao surrendered in the finals, he would be in big trouble.
"How about we reverse the prizes, and the winner gets a TV and the runner-up gets a refrigerator?"
"No, no, it has been reported in the newspaper before. We have switched the prizes. Why don't people come to us and cause trouble?"
These days, the requirements for news reporting are extremely high. Once there are errors or omissions in the reporting, the relevant responsible persons will be severely punished, and the sponsors are not happy. Can the champion and the runner-up be the same thing?
"Actually, we don't need to be so nervous. There are quite a lot of strong players this year. Maybe he won't make it to the end."
"Yes, I heard that there are two players in Shanghai who are very strong, and they may not be able to advance to the finals."
However, in the next promotion match, Qin Hao defeated his opponent with two clean scores 2:0.
In the semi-finals, he easily defeated Rui Naiwei and even made a girl cry. This is also the fourth player Qin Hao has made to cry this year.
The other semi-final was between Ma Xiaochun and Qian Yuping. After three hard-fought sets, Ma Xiaochun defeated Qian Yuping and advanced to the finals.
Ma Xiaochun's ability to reach the finals surprised Hu Haiyang. Although he faced the "big devil" Qin Hao in the finals, he said he wanted a TV set instead of a refrigerator.
Is he the champion?
The Chinese Chess Academy is not in as good a mood as Hu Haiyang, and things are still developing in the direction they least want.