Go: The live broadcast queen launched a gorgeous rebellion against the dog

"I'm sorry, Chairman Shang!
“Recently, the preliminaries for the Sanshuang Cup have been held in full swing at the Chess Academy, and Vice Chairman Lu has led the team to Japan to participate in the Fan Air Battle!
"I'm so sorry to bother you at this time!"

"Boss Xu, what are you talking about! If Chunzhilan Group is willing to come to our place to provide guidance, we would be more than happy to have them!

"Come in, please come in!"

March 3, Dajing City, Chinese Go Association.

Shang Chaotian, who had an appointment with a distinguished guest today, enthusiastically led Xu Yingqun, the senior vice president of Chunzhilan Group, to the association's VIP reception room after receiving him.

You can tell from the name that Chunzhilan Group is the exclusive sponsor of the Spring Zhilan Cup, the Go World Championship which will be held again in April this year.

Although the Spring Orchid Cup is the smallest in overall scale and influence among the current world championships - not only is it held every other year, the number of participants of 24 and the champion prize of 15 US dollars are both the lowest in the world championships.

But the Chinese Chess Association has always been grateful to its sponsor, especially the sponsor who is willing to host the World Championships!

Shang Chaotian naturally gave the reception the highest standards and took the initiative to go out to greet them.

The host and the guest exchanged polite words all the way to the VIP room and sat down without saying much.

After a brief greeting, Xu Yingqun began to explain the purpose of his visit:
“…Ah, Chairman Shang.

"I came here mainly to discuss this with you:
"In just over a month, our Spring Orchid Cup will be opening! It is estimated that the list of players will be officially confirmed through the exchange of international tournament points after the three-game match of the celebrity tournament.

“But…we have recently discussed something within our group and there is something we would like to communicate with you in advance.

"For this Spring Orchid Cup, we want to allocate a wildcard spot from the quota given to China to increase the flexibility of the selection process.

"Of course, we guarantee that this spot will be given to a Chinese chess player.

"Do you think... is it okay?"

"...wild card?"

After hearing these two words, Shang Chaotian blurted out subconsciously:
"Rui Zhao?!"

It’s not surprising that Shang Chaotian had such a direct reaction.

Compared with other world competitions, the Spring Orchid Cup, which has the least number of participants and the smallest scale, has a distinctive feature to ensure the excitement of the competition, that is, it tries to ensure that only the highest level of players participate in the competition, striving to be "small but fine".

Under the guidance of this idea, the list of players for the Spring Orchid Cup adopts a completely direct invitation system - that is, there will be no qualifying rounds, and the Go organizations in each region will directly nominate the players they think are the strongest to participate in the competition.

This will allow us to attract as many well-known and outstanding players as possible to participate, avoiding upsets in the qualifiers that would affect the quality and attention of the tournament.

The specific quota allocation in previous sessions is basically: two winners and runners-up of the previous session, nine from mainland China, five from Japan and South Korea, and one from Taiwan, Europe, and America. No wild cards are given.

On the Chinese Chess Association's side, because of the existence of [International Competition Points] and out of considerations of overall fairness, the list is not determined directly by the association. Instead, all nine places are earmarked for international competition points exchange places - those who have points and are willing to go can go, and those who don't have points or it's not their turn have nothing to say. It's very fair.

However, under such a rule, chess players under the Chinese Chess Association naturally have no chance of being selected unless they have points in international competitions.

As a result... this time Xu Yingqun suddenly came and said that he wanted to set aside one of China's quota as a wild card spot, which naturally aroused Shang Chaotian's vigilance.

as predicted.

Xu Yingqun was obviously a little surprised by Shang Chaotian's direct reaction, but he quickly recovered his expression and nodded in acknowledgment:

"Ah... Chairman Shang is indeed a smart man!
"Yes - if nothing unexpected happens, we do want to include Rui Zhao 7th Dan in this tournament through a wild card. What do you think?"

Hearing this, Shang Chaotian frowned immediately:

"Mr. Xu, is your group doing this... for publicity purposes?"

Xu Yingqun smiled and said:
"Of course! The most popular player in the chess circle right now is Rui Zhao, 7th Dan!

"We sponsor the world championships, although the main purpose is to make due contributions to Chinese Go. But if there is an opportunity to promote our own brand through the competition, we still hope to have the best of both worlds. I hope Chairman Shang can understand."

"Uh……"

Shang Chaotian fell silent for a moment.

He could actually understand the Chunzhilan Group's thinking.

At present, Rui Zhao has announced her withdrawal from all women's individual competitions, and only players with the highest rating can participate in the Samsung Cup qualifiers, so the next international competition that Rui Zhao could participate in should be the Tongge Cup qualifiers in July.

The Chunzhilan Group is obviously unwilling to waste this precious popularity and intends to take advantage of this opportunity to intercept and direct traffic to the Chunzhilan Cup. This is normal.

However, the chairman of the Chinese Chess Association was somewhat conflicted about this request:

Rui Zhao has been at the center of public opinion recently, and the debate even reached a small peak due to the arrival of Women's Day!

In this case, if the Spring Orchid Cup deliberately breaks the convention and gives Rui Zhao a wild card, I'm afraid that a lot of eyes will be on Queen Zhaotian and make all kinds of comments!

Even though Shang Chaotian knew that Rui Zhao was devoted to chess and didn't pay much attention to comments outside the game, he was still very worried that the little girl would suddenly be unable to bear it!
After pondering for a while, Shang Chaotian tactfully expressed his concerns:
"Ah, Mr. Xu, I can understand your thoughts and feelings.

"But right now Rui Zhao is very controversial. I'm afraid that if I drag her into this, it might backfire!"

Xu Yingqun smiled and said:
"Hey, Chairman Shang, why do you say that?
“You know, for events and brands, ‘controversy’ is much better than ‘no one is talking about’!

“To be honest, our Spring Orchid Cup has been lukewarm over the years, and some people in the group have always questioned the publicity effect of our sponsorship of the Go World Championship.

"Now that we have such a good opportunity to attract attention, we certainly can't let it go!

"What's more, inviting China's only Nongshim Cup finisher in the past five years to participate - I don't think this wild card is outrageous."

...Hey! I understand the truth! Shang Chaotian thought to himself.

But... Spring Orchid Cup is a competition that pursues "small but exquisite"! This competition is full of strong players from various countries!
If Rui Zhao were to enter the tournament with a wild card and then be eliminated with a complete defeat, this...

"...Mr. Xu, I think this may still be a little inappropriate."

Shang Chaotian decided to speak frankly:
“Your group may not care about the controversy caused by this wild card, but Rui Zhao is just a girl who just turned 20 after all!

"She has been surrounded by controversy recently, and if she doesn't perform well in such a high-profile event...

"It's hard for me to imagine the pressure from public opinion that she will have to endure!"

"Ah...you are worried about that!"

Xu Yingqun did not seem to be surprised at Shang Chaotian's reply, and said:
“First of all, I think Chairman Shang should have more confidence in Rui Zhao 7th Dan.

"In a Weiqi relegation battle, isn't the pressure she faces great?

"But people said that she was probably not as nervous as she was during the qualifying tournament! And in the end, she delivered a very satisfactory result!

"Come again...

“As for whether to get a wild card or not, it’s still up to the individual’s opinion, right?
"Or this! You can ask Rui Zhao Qidan for his opinion.

"If she doesn't want to participate in this Spring Orchid Cup, then we can immediately withdraw the request. Is that okay with you?"

"..."

Looking at the other party's slightly cunning smile, Shang Chaotian suddenly realized that he had been checked.

If you put a World Championship wild card in front of the current Zhaojun, can this girl control herself?
I can't even walk on the road!
"...Okay, I understand..."

Shang Chaotian said helplessly:

"But regarding the allocation of quotas and wild-card selections...

"If possible, please announce it later!"

...

...

"Well, the list of candidates for the preliminary round is...

“Xiong Siyi, Lin Ruixin, Lang Haishen, Li Zhaokai, Zhuang Zheng, Tang Guansheng, Peng Wendong.

"In addition to the last year's top four players Lei Qi and Zhu Yuanjun, and the players who exchanged seeds, Sun Yi and Ji Qiujuan... um...

"Except for the two old fellows, Chess Master Lin and Langzi, the rest are all young people!"

At 3pm on March 12th, in Dajing City, Huaxia Chess Academy.

Hua Xia Mingren Tian Yuan, who finally started to participate in the competition again, finished the last round of qualifiers for the San Shuang Cup. After looking at the final qualifying results, he couldn't help but sigh.

"…That's normal. It's almost time."

Dai Ran on the side said briefly:
"It's the same with the women. There were two little ones in the semi-finals of the Fan Air Tournament yesterday.

"Even if Rui Zhao doesn't participate in the competition, the new generation is stepping up their efforts to seize power..."

Ni Jue smiled upon hearing this:

“…I had surgery, so it’s normal that I can’t function anymore.

"But Lao Dai...you should still have some oil, right?"

Dai Ran, who was being bullied by his old friend, couldn't help but roll his eyes:
"You're such a loser, you couldn't even make it in the qualifiers before!
"Besides, the schedule is too tiring. How can I bear it?"

Ni Jue raised his eyebrows and softened his teasing tone:
"...But without you, how can we deal with Liu Shixian?
"Thanks to Rui Zhao, we managed to get some points back in the Nongshim Cup. But...

"The World Champion is still here!"

“Each generation has its own things to do.”

Dai Ran answered very briefly:
"Last year's Miao family Bai Ling... I am only at the end of my days, how can I handle Liu Shixian!
"The next step is to look at Xiao Lei...

"…and Rui Zhao's!"

Hearing this slightly abrupt and unexpected name, Ni Jue was slightly stunned, then smiled and said:

"You... agree?"

"You've already risked everything, so just treat it as me accompanying you to go crazy again!"

Dai Ran sighed, then smiled, which was rare:

“Spring is such a great season.

"Even an old man would feel that he is still quite energetic." (End of this chapter)