In 2019, the Japanese chess community set off an uproar, the famous chess player Noriki Iida and the Japanese chess academy had a serious dispute, Ita was disqualified from playing in the semi-finals of the Japan Masters, and the opponent Hideki Komatsu directly advanced. Subsequently, Noriki Ida was also banned for half a year from February 2020, and in March the two sides reached a settlement and the penalty was suspended. This incident is very wide-ranging and confusing, and has been reported in detail by the media, and will not be repeated here. And Kiki Ida, who once became famous in the chess world as a "tiger", has once again become a focus figure in this way, which is inevitable to make people sigh.
As far back as 1984, at the age of 18, Ida Kiki broke into the celebrity battle loop with the qualification of five dan, setting a record for the lowest age to enter the circle at that time. In 1984, there were many "heavyweight" events in the Japanese chess world, Cho Ji-hoon lost three consecutive defeats in the celebrity battle final, four consecutive victories reversed the hero Otake to achieve five consecutive championships, Kobayashi Koichi reversed Masao Kato tearfully ascended to the throne of ten dan, Otake hero Koki Sheng won the five consecutive championships, and the Sino-Japanese ring match began... In this legendary year, people did not ignore the feats of Noriki Ieda, and listed his record as the fourth of the top ten news in the Japanese chess industry that year, which fully showed the expectations of the Japanese chess community for him, and in fact, the expectations of all rookies.
For Chinese chess fans, Yoshiki Ida was able to enter the field of vision early, thanks to his repeated appearances in Sino-Japanese exchange matches. When he first visited China with the Xiuxing Army in 1984, the eighteen-year-old Yi tian won four consecutive battles, including the famous female general Yang Hui, China's first-class Liu Xiaoguang, Cao Dayuan, and Ma Xiaochun. Since then, Chinese chess players have had a great headache for this fierce tiger. The most terrifying thing about Yi Tian is not how skilled he is, but the momentum of "the only person in the world" when he plays the game, which can always make the opponent shudder. The first winning score of the Sino-Japanese ring match, which has become a huge highlight in the history of Go, was played by Yi Tian, and the young and handsome Chinese pioneer Wang Jianhong actually had a nosebleed in the middle of the game, which can not only see the tension and cruelty of the game, but also show the pressure caused by Yi Tian to the opponent.
When the Japanese side lost consecutive defeats in the first three Sino-Japanese ring matches and decided the fourth appearance list, many Japanese celebrities were worried in their hearts and did not dare to take the order to appear - the "myth" has been in the hands of the other side, and they really have not broken its grasp, and once they lose again, they will inevitably lose their reputation. Only Ida Kiki did not hesitate to ask for his life, and his favorite thing was to challenge the seemingly insurmountable graben. Behind Itada was a group of "old decays": Taisho Haone, Yu Shiraishi, and Shuzo Odaira, and many Chinese chess players and chess fans at the time laughed at the lineup. But Yi Tian seized the opportunity of history, and he broke into six Xiongguan passes in a row on the Chinese side, directly forcing the coach Nie Wei to settle the account. Vanguard will be the manager! Suddenly, the eyes of chess fans around the world were drawn together, and the Japanese chess academy carried out a worldwide live broadcast of this game that surpassed the World of Go for the first time, and Ida became the most concerned chess player.
At that time, Nie Wei did not find a clear chance to win before Nie Wei was in the middle of the day, but this defeat was the most appropriate result. Nie Weiping could not break through the seven levels of the Japanese side even if he was brave, so the final victory still belonged to Japan, and Yi Tian left himself room to continue to rise, and his conceit would not swell to the point of explosion.
Chinese chess players have memorized The name of Itachi, and the Japanese chess community has also discovered Ita's "wonderful use" - specifically to deal with the top masters of other countries, winning a lot of glory, losing face. In 1991, South Korea's "prodigy" Lee Chang-ho won three consecutive domestic laurels, and the Korean chess community praised him to the point of no return. The Japanese chess community, which looked at each other coldly across the sea, did not believe that the soil outside the Toei Islands could also give birth to Go geniuses, and they wrote a battle book to the Korean chess community: Yoshiki Ieda and Lee Chang-ho fought a five-game chess match. After repeated weighing, the Korean Chess Academy and Lee Chang-ho came to war, which is their strength: they do not care about false names, and dare to compete with any opponent. If Japan and South Korea were to get along, the Japanese chess academy would probably not agree to this kind of "non-equal level confrontation" of "no crown vs. three crowns", right? In the end, Yi Tian won 3-1, and he looked like a fierce god in Lee Chang-ho's eyes at the age of nine. "Snap!" , "Snap! The sound of the beating made Li Teenager's entire game a torment, and from then on, the shadow of this strong man was imprinted in his heart. It was also from that time that Yi tian won the reputation of "Korean nemesis", whether it was a top, a stalwart or a rising Korean chess player, Yi Tian stepped on their bodies mercilessly. After South Korea has completely become the world's Go ally, this kind of scene is still not uncommon.
"To the east is Iida, to the west is Imamura." Toshi Imamura of the Kansai Chess Academy once joined Noriki Iida as a young man in the Japanese chess world. In fact, all "titles" are only known in hindsight, Imamura and Iida were born in the same year, entered the same year, and the two met several times in the final of the new chess battle, known as a rare good opponent. But above the height of the "new chess player", the two distinguish between light and dark. As early as 1989, Imabari Toshi also energetically broke through Zhao Zhixun's pass and became a challenger to the Holy War. At that time, climbing the dueling arena of the seven chess battles was the dream of countless young chess players, and Imamura was the first to stand out and suddenly became a "Venus". 1 to 3 defeat to the god-like Kobayashi Koichi expected by all, but what is disappointing is that this feat did not become the prelude to the arrival of the "Imamura Era", after which Imamura was difficult to become the protagonist of the competition, only in 2007 won another throne challenge, facing the "junior" Yamashita Keigo is still powerless, 1-3 defeat, most of the time hidden among many ordinary chess players, his face has been ordinary can not find features.
Iida is more known for his "early wisdom" than Imamura, and his record of five times capturing the "New King" has not been broken. Yi tian's fast chess talent has also been demonstrated long ago, from the domestic NHK Cup, NEC Cup to the international Asian television fast chess tournament, Yi Tian is a brilliant record. However, in the traditional Seven Great Japanese Chess Battles, Itada has not seen any movement, making people wonder whether he can become a talent. Looking back, although the newcomer Wang Zhan is known as the "cradle of first-class chess players", the real big names of the chess players who have won this victory are Koichi Kobayashi, Wang Licheng, and later Keigo Yamashita, Zhang Xu, Takao Gentro, Iyama Yuta, etc., and the rest such as Akira Ishida, Goro Miyazawa, Shunya Imamura, Tomoho Mimura, and Mizogami Zhiqin give people the feeling of "but ear". At that time, Yi Tian probably fell into the strange circle of "winning many championships in small competitions, but achieving no achievements in major competitions", right?
The breakthrough came in 1995, the year Iida won the first ten-dan challenge to knock Otake out of the ring 3-0. The following year, he not only repelled Wang Licheng's challenge, but also snatched The Sage from Xiao Lin Jue. However, at that time, the attention of chess fans had shifted to the international arena, and the double male clubs of Ma Xiaochun and Lee Chang-ho were entering a climax. Japan's "Seven Great Chess Battles", which was once worshipped, is no longer beautiful, and Noriki Ida cannot be deservedly elevated to the throne with these two titles.
So Eda Noriki portrayed himself as a hero of international chess after Japan lost its hegemony. He witnessed Nie Weiping twice and a half in the 8th China-Japan Tournament and the 2nd Zhenlu Cup Three Kingdoms Tournament, bringing great pain to Chinese Go. In 1996, Yi Tian won the first Samsung Cup and won the second place in the Ying Cup. At the same time, in the japanese domestic chess battle, Yi Tian continued to exert his strength, and in 2000, he picked out Zhao Zhixun 4-0, won the title of celebrity who longed to urinate, and achieved four consecutive championships, and twice reached the three consecutive championships of The Sage. In 2006, Yi Tian defeated the "iron gate" Lee Chang-ho in the Nongshim Cup main general showdown, winning the only Three Kingdoms tournament championship for the Japanese team so far.
"Tiger" is indeed worthy of the name, and Noriki Ida has won 36 championship titles so far, ranking among the best in the Japanese chess world. He reached a career 1,000 wins in 2011 and 1,100 wins in 2017, both of which are impressive results. However, objectively speaking, Yi Tian did not create his own era, and under the back and forth attack of the Six Supers and the Four Heavenly Kings, he was more like a successor to the latter.
Noriki Ida lived in an era of the golden age of Go, with all kinds of talents on the stage. Older than him, his age, younger than him, all had very outstanding figures. The reason why Yi Tian can always stay in people's vision in the stars is not only because he has superhuman strength, perhaps more importantly, the reason is that such an era needs a character like him, with his "delusion", his persistence to sharpen and identify those who want to become a world. It is highly controversial whether Oriji is never the strongest of his time, and even whether he should be included in the list of super-first-class is highly controversial, but whether it is Japan's six super leagues, the four kings of Korea, or China's Niema Changgu, they have all been under the claws of Yida's tiger. Kudo Norio is known as the "ruler" of first-class chess players, and Noriki Ida's ruler as a super-first-class chess player is actually very appropriate.
Now that Yitian Tiger is approaching the age of 55, he is no longer able to make big waves on the chess board, but when we look back at the history of Go in which he participated, we will find that this simple-minded tiger has left some traces more profound than that of super-first-class chess players.