After all of us are reborn, who plays Go?

Chapter 148 147. New Sports Cup
"1982 is another new beginning for Chinese Go. Last year, Chinese Go made great progress and won many honors. All this is inseparable from the hard work of our players and the care and concern of all leaders.

And today, we will usher in the first official professional competition of the year, the 4th New Sports Cup.

The New Sports Cup is our country's first news chess tournament. Since the first one was held in 1979, three competitions have been successfully held so far this year, which has greatly promoted the level of professional chess players in our country and promoted the development of Chinese Go.

At the same time, this tournament has been constantly innovating its competition system, giving players, especially young players, more opportunities. We at the Chinese Go Academy also have an idea, hoping that more competitions will be held in the future, providing more opportunities for young players to shine.

Finally, the competition will start tomorrow. I hope that all chess players can achieve good results and bring a wonderful match to chess fans.

Now, please invite Fang Yuan, the winner of the first three New Sports Cups, to come to the stage and give a speech.”

After Chen Long finished speaking, Fang Yuan stood up and walked onto the stage amid the attention and applause of the crowd.

The New Sports Cup is sponsored by New Sports Magazine. This is the first Go competition in the history of Chinese Go to be sponsored by the society.

This event can basically be said to be Fang Yuan's personal exhibition match. So far, all three championships have been won by Fang Yuan, who defeated his opponents 2-1, 3-0, and 3-1 in the finals respectively, establishing his current undisputed number one position in the country.

After Chen Long came down, he sat next to Zhan Lang. He took the water handed to him by the staff next to him, took a sip and asked, "What did you just say to me?"

Before the opening ceremony of the competition, several people sitting in the first row were chatting. Zhan Lang was about to say something, but when the opening ceremony began and Chen Long, as the top expert in chess and card games, was about to go on stage to speak first, he was interrupted.

After Chen Long came down, he naturally continued the previous topic. Anyway, there was nothing good to hear from others.

"I said I want to have another title fight, what do you think?"

"What did you say?"

Chen Long was stunned for a moment when he heard this, then felt as if he had not heard it clearly, and asked in disbelief.

What game were you talking about?
Zhan Lang could only helplessly repeat: "Title battle, but I haven't decided which title is better. Should we adopt one of the seven in Japan, or should we come up with one of our own?"

After hearing this, Chen Long fell silent.

You should know that there are only two truly national professional competitions in China. One is the New Sports Cup which is currently opening, and the other is the Lan Ke Cup hosted by Zhanlang. The National Go Competition is more like a sports event.

In a sense, the New Sports Cup is actually very similar to the title battle method. It adopts a challenge system, and the previous champion can directly wait for others to challenge him.

This method is very helpful for players to win the championship again. Fang Yuan was able to win three consecutive championships due to his own strength, but also with the help of the competition system.

After all, no matter how strong a player is, there is always a risk of being eliminated in a game where the winner is decided by a few rounds of one-game winning streak. Even if the other players are relatively weaker than oneself, there is no way to guarantee that one will be 100% able to enter the finals.

Under the challenge system, the defender only needs to wait for the challenger before the finish line.

It can be said that the risk for the defending champion has been reduced to a minimum.

Although the competition system is the same and it is also a news chess battle, the New Sports Cup does not have any title similar to the title battle.

For example, Japan's seven major news chess tournaments represent seven titles respectively.

The seven major titles of Japanese Go are: Gosei, Meijin, Honinbo, Judan, Tengen, Oza, and Gosei.

These titles represent the highest honor in the Japanese Go community, and each title has its own unique historical and cultural background.

For example, after Shusai retired from chess, he donated the title of Honinbo to the Japan Chess Institute, which marked the beginning of modern news chess battles.

It is worth noting that the "Kisei Tournament", "Meijin Tournament" and "Honinbo Tournament" are collectively known as the "three major titles" and are the most important title competitions in the Japanese chess world, while the other four titles are generally considered to be minor titles.

But no matter whether it is a big title or a small title, they all represent the highest level of Japanese Go, and are firmly held by several top-notch Japanese players in turn, making it difficult for others to get their hands on them.

When Zhan Lang suddenly said that he wanted to hold China's title match at this time, Chen Long naturally felt a little surprised.

It’s not that he doubts Zhan Lang’s ability, but Chen Long is a little worried. Is China’s current level suitable for hosting a title fight?
Can China's title holders be compared with Japan's?
If the two sides are not comparable in level, what is the point of holding such a title fight? Wouldn't it feel a bit like asking for trouble?
Zhan Lang glanced at Chen Long who was a little hesitant. The old man worked day and night for Chinese Go, or for the entire Chinese chess and card industry, but sometimes he always wanted to proceed steadily, or to do everything to perfection.

There will also be the unique inferiority complex of this era, where people always feel that they have to do better than others, and that they have to get at least 12 points out of 10 points from others before they are qualified to get the same honor as others.

As of now, even the weaker Korean Go team has had title battles for a long time, but they are completely dominated by Cho Myung-hoon who studied in Japan, and no one else has ever won the championship.

China, which is currently at a medium level among the three countries, has no title fight, and even this issue has not been raised. The reason is that Chen Long always wants to hold the tournament after China has a recognized top-notch chess player, because only top-notch chess players, or chess players who defeat this top-notch player in the competition, are worthy of the title.

Otherwise, it seems that Chinese chess players are not worthy of the honor of the title.

"I still feel that we should consider the title match when we are stronger. It seems a bit too early for Chinese Go. There is no need to rush."

Although holding a competition is a good thing, Chen Long still hesitated when it came to the title match.

The main thing is that although Zhan Lang is quite strong now, in addition to winning the World Talent Championship, Zhan Lang won the Rookie of the Year championship in China last year, and also reached the quarterfinals in the Lan Ke Cup. Its comprehensive strength is already clearly at the top of the list in China.

If Fang Yuan becomes stronger in a few years, and Zhan Lang becomes fully established, the two of them can reach top-notch or nearly top-notch strength. Chen Long feels that he can hold a title battle and start a multi-party war to see who can become the first title holder.

We can even discuss with Japan and hold a China-Japan title competition.

It might even be possible to defeat Japan's top-notch title holders in the confrontation match, to gain pride of place, and even slowly change the situation of China versus Japan where the strong is the weak.

This was Chen Long’s original plan. He thought that it would take at least another five years before considering this issue, but it has now been brought up by Zhan Lang.

But it seems a bit too early now, doesn't it?

Zhan Lang glanced at Chen Long who was still hesitating and struggling, and said firmly: "I told you, I am a very domineering person.

The title fight must be held, and the champion will receive a prize of 10,000 yuan. This is a notice, not a negotiation."

As a sponsor, you must have the toughness of a sponsor.

Several chess players sitting in the second row couldn't help but come over and ask, "How can you be so domineering? It's just being a father!"

If there were no waves of war, Chinese Go would be in eternal darkness!

"No, how much money did you win from Fujii Hideaki, Fukui, and Kojima last time you played mahjong?"

When Chen Long heard this, he couldn't help but ask a question. Zhan Lang, who felt confident now, felt a little lacking in confidence.

After all, it’s impossible for Zhan Lang’s personal assets to be richer than those of the Chinese Chess Institute, right?

The news of Zhan Lang's bloody battle against three Japanese 9th dan in mahjong actually spread back to China not long after. After all, it involved three 9th dans, and the news had already spread widely in the Japanese Go community. It was even said that a 9th dan who was dominated by his wife did not dare to go home for seven days. Since there are close exchanges between Chinese and Japanese Go players, it was natural that the news would not fail to spread back.

But how much money was won, what was the scene like, and what happened? In any case, the three Japanese players involved were all very secretive and none of them was willing to describe what happened. Even the veteran mahjong player, Kojima, was said to have quit gambling after this game and never touched mahjong again.

Zhan Lang from China was also unwilling to say anything more and shook his head mysteriously.

Everyone only knows that Zhan Lang killed three families, but no one knows how the result was.

This China-Japan mahjong game has even become a major unsolved case in the Chinese and Japanese Go circles.

Anyway, it is said that other witnesses said that Zhan Lang had five consecutive wins, and even two of them were Guo Shi Wushuang, one was Jiulian Baodeng, and one was Da San Yuan Zi Yi Se. However, experienced card players said that it was impossible. Even if the God of Gamblers was alive, he couldn't do that. The only way to do that would be if Zhan Lang used his own life to play cards, died suddenly after the game, and owed the King of Hell three thousand years of life. Therefore, it was directly treated as a rumor by everyone.

There was no pressure in the conversation between Zhan Lang and Chen Long. Although there was a loudspeaker transmitting Fang Yuan's voice on the stage, it was still heard by the chess players sitting in the back.

Just based on this explosive news, no one else would have the mood to listen to Fang Yuan's chatter on the stage.

The title represents the highest honor in Go.

A prize of 10,000 yuan represents the ultimate dream of becoming rich overnight in China.

Any one of them is worth the crazy efforts of professional Go players.

Put these two things together.

Totally crazy!

Fang Yuan on the stage was still giving a passionate speech. The manuscript he wrote as his homework last night will surely inspire more professional chess players to challenge themselves!
(End of this chapter)