Beijing, February 13 (Reporter Yue Chuan) Just after the Spring Festival holiday, the 23rd LG Cup World Chess Championship Sanban Chess Final was launched between Shi Yue and Yang Dingxin, which is also the first world champion born in the Lunar Year of the Pig. No matter who laughs at the end of the two, the result of the Chinese chess player winning four crowns in the five world championships unveiled last year is already decided.
Data chart: Yu Bin, head coach of the Chinese Go team Image source: Visual China
So for Chinese Go, it's a season full of rewards. Yu Bin, head coach of the Chinese Go team, said in an exclusive interview with China News Network that the situation in the chess world today is still based on the competition between China and South Korea, and Chinese players are gradually expanding their lead, but this pattern may be broken in the future due to the artificial intelligence of Go.
Since the end of last year to the beginning of the year, the winners of the tianfu cup, the three-star cup and the lark cup have been decided one after another. Among them, Chen Yaoye won his third world championship in the Tianfu Cup, while Ke Jie first defeated Han General An Guo-hyun in the Samsung Cup final, and then won the title of Korean genius chess player Shin Jin-hyun in the Lark Cup, thus crowning the youngest seven-time champion in history. Represented by him, Chinese chess players have achieved great results in the past year and have shown great competitiveness.
Of the five World Series that kicked off last year, only one of the Chunlan Cup titles was not won by Chinese players, and Park Tinghuan and Park Yongxun, who reached the final, saved the last face of Korean Go. In Yu Bin's view, the pattern of world Go still maintains the hegemony between China and South Korea, and China has gradually expanded its leading edge.
Data chart: Chen Yaoye won his 3rd crown last year Image source: Visual China
As he said, in the ten finals of the five World Series, Chinese and Korean chess players each account for half of the country. The last time a Japanese player reached the final of the World Series was in the Samsung Cup early last year, when Yuta Iyama was defeated by Shelhow.
It is worth mentioning that in the five finals, there were three groups of South Korean duels, and all Chinese chess players won. Shin Jin-hyun, who had high hopes from the Korean Go community, lost to Chen Yaoye and Ko Jie in a month, and Ahn Guo-hyun was also reversed. However, Yu Bin believes that this must not be taken lightly, "Although the result is that Chinese chess players win, the process of each game of chess is thrilling and exciting." ”
Chinese players have been able to continue to suppress the South Korean team over the past year, and ke Jie, the first person today, is indispensable. Up to now, he has encountered Korean chess players in 8 chess battles, and has not lost a single one so far.
Data chart: Ke Jie has encountered Korean chess players 8 times in the Fanqi War, and has not lost a single one so far
In just two months, Ke Jie has added two world championship trophies to her honor room, and the youngest seven-time champion has completely come out of the haze of the previous period. In the past three years, Ke Jie has soared and fallen into a downturn, and these experiences have helped him grow into the strongest person who has set new records today.
"Ke Jie once lost the first place in the ranking last year, but in the second half of the season, his form recovered and he won the world championship consecutively, which reflects his strength as a top chess player." For this disciple, Yu Bin used the term "regaining the status of the king" to describe his recent strong performance. He believes that Ke Jie still has room to rise, but there will be more challenges in the future.
This challenge comes not only from Asian players, but perhaps even from any corner of the world. In Yu Bin's view, with the popularization of go artificial intelligence, the existing pattern of the chess world may change.
Data chart: It has been nearly 3 years since Go player Lee Sedol and Alpha Dog engaged in a man-machine war
Since Li Shishi and Ke Jie have been defeated by alphago, artificial intelligence and Go have not only been inextricably linked, but also changed the development trajectory of the latter to some extent. With the passage of time, although the heat of the "man-machine war" has gradually faded, the butterfly effect caused by it is still spreading.
"The level of artificial intelligence is higher than that of people, which is not controversial, especially in its grasp of the situation and its judgment of the situation." Yu Bin believes that the impact of artificial intelligence on Go is good and bad, if you leave this aside, at least after the use of artificial intelligence to assist training, the overall level of professional chess players has improved compared with before.
Not only the Chinese Go team, but also many Chinese and foreign players themselves will also configure high-performance computers to facilitate the use of artificial intelligence for training. In Yu Bin's view, anyone anywhere in the world can learn Go through artificial intelligence, which means that in some places where Go is not popular, it is also possible to produce top players.
Data chart: Yu Bin in the chess picture source: Visual China
Yu Bin revealed that in fact, the sport of Go in European and American countries has been advancing, and technology is also progressing, but it is limited by the shorter overall development time, and it has not yet produced first-class masters, and the overall level is not as good as that of China and South Korea. However, he believes that although european and American players are mostly foils in the world championships, if the time comes, the world Go pattern with China and South Korea as the core may change, including the level of Japanese Go.
"One of the reasons why the professional Go level of China and South Korea has remained a leader for a long time is that it has the most top training resources. With the intervention of Go artificial intelligence, the advantages in this regard will gradually fade. Yu Bin said that when chess players from all countries enjoy considerable training resources, the gap between them will narrow, and the development of Go may turn a new page. (End)