In the history of Chinese Go, Ma Xiaochun is an important figure who cannot be bypassed, and he has made outstanding contributions to the development of Chinese Go. Specifically, his great achievements are mainly reflected in three aspects: First, as the leader of Chinese Go after Nie Weiping, he won the first world championship title for China and became the first double champion of Chinese Go in the World Series. Second, it has been effective in teaching students, guiding backward students, and opening dojos. Third, during his tenure as the head of the coaching team of the Chinese national Go team, Chinese chess players won consecutive good results in the World Championships, and Ma Xiaochun contributed to this. These are things that the Go world will never forget.
Today, I would like to review some of the past events of Ma Xiaochun running across the world chess world. Speaking of which, I would like to ask chess fans, do you know that before Ma Xiaochun opened his eyes to the world, there were three big mountains in front of him?
This first big mountain comes from China, that is, our ring hero Nie Weiping Qisheng. Throughout the 1980s and the first few years of the 1990s, Nie Ma Zhengxiong was a beautiful landscape in the Chinese Go world. Both belong to the dragon genus, and although they are 12 years apart, the competition is extremely fierce.
In 1980, at the age of 16, Ma Xiaochun represented Zhejiang Province in the National Go Team Tournament held in Tunxi, Huangshan, and in the 7th round of the competition, he narrowly defeated Nie Weiping, who represented Heilongjiang Province, with a 3/4 advantage, which was his first victory over Nie Weiping, the first person in China, and since then the two have engaged in a pin-point-like battle in various competitions.
Nie Weiping and Cao Xuanxuan
In the autumn of 1982, Shanghai Weiqi Monthly Magazine held the "Go Championship". From September 23 to November 2, Nie Weiping and Ma Xiaochun fought in Beijing and Shanghai respectively, which was the first "Nie Ma War". In this big battle, the first four sets of the two sides were tied 2-2. In the decider, Ma Xiaochun lost to Nie Weiping 3/4 and missed the championship with a total score of 2-3. Since then, the Chinese chess world is generally considered to have entered the "Nie Ma era".
After 12 years, "Xinmin Go" decided to hold a new "Niema War", and in May 1994, the "Niema Seven Chess War" was unveiled in Beijing. In the first three sets, Nie Weiping unexpectedly won three consecutive games, seeing that victory was in sight, but unexpectedly was pulled by Ma Xiaochun for three consecutive sets, and the two sides fought 3-3. On February 8, 1995, the seventh game of the decisive game was fought at the Blue Sky Hotel in Shanghai Jiangwan, and Ma Xiaochun made a mistake in the reading of the seconds in the case of the situation leading, and finally buried the good game, and lost with 1/4 of the son.
In view of this, although Ma Xiaochun won more and less championship titles against Nie Weiping in domestic competitions such as celebrity battles and Tianyuan battles, it is obvious that many people have difficulty agreeing to say that Ma Xiaochun has surpassed Nie Weiping in an all-round way.
Especially in a series of foreign wars, the gap between Ma Xiaochun and Nie Weiping was obvious. Nie Weiping is a well-known hero in the ring, the first four Sino-Japanese ring matches won 11 consecutive victories, during which he defeated Koichi Kobayashi, Masao Kato, Masaki Takemiya, Otake Heroes and other four super-first-class players, winning three consecutive championships for the Chinese team. In addition, at the World Series, Nie Weiping won the runner-up of the first Ying Cup and the third Fujitsu Cup, while Ma Xiaochun won nothing at that time.
Nie Ma Shuangxiong finally scored high and low in the wufan chess final of the 6th Toyo Securities Cup in 1996, Ma Xiaochun shook his spirit and accumulated thick hair, and defeated Nie Weiping 3:1, becoming the first world champion of Chinese Go. Since then, Ma Xiaofeng has been infinitely bright, and Nie Weiping has gradually declined.
Ma Xiaochun and Gu Li
Ma Xiaochun's second big mountain is Japan's super-first-class master Koichi Kobayashi. From the defeat of Ma Xiaochun to Koichi Kobayashi in the first Sino-Japanese Ring race in 1985, to the fourth Sino-Japanese celebrity battle in 1991, Ma Xiaochun lost seven consecutive defeats against Kobayashi Hikari. In 1992, in the fifth Sino-Japanese celebrity war, Ma Xiaochun finally overturned the mountain of Kobayashi Koichi 2:1. In the sixth Sino-Japanese celebrity war in 1993, Kobayashi made a comeback, and Ma Xiaochun lost to his opponent again 1:2. In the 7th China-Japan Celebrity War in 1994, Ma Xiaochun won 2:1 twice. In 1995, the two met on the stage of the 8th Fujitsu Cup final, which was a heavyweight decider, and Ma Xiaochun laughed to the end and was crowned a double champion in the World Series. At this point, the feud between the two ended with Ma Xiaochun first bittersweet and then sweet, and won an all-round victory.
South Korea's Go emperor Cho Hwang-hyun was the third mountain to stop Ma Xiaochun's advance. Cao Xuanxuan is Nie Weiping's bitter hand, the first Ying's Cup final is a watershed between the two sides, the defeated Nie Weiping left a huge regret of not winning the world championship title for life, And Cho Xuan-hyun is full of spirit, gradually standing out in the eight super leagues of the same era between China, Japan and South Korea, and finally won a total of nine world championships in the world championship, ranking third in the world championship list.
If Ma Xiaochun wants to stand alone in the world chess world, he must cross this hurdle. The first encounter between the two was in the third round of the fourth Toyo Securities Cup in 1992, which resulted in the victory of Cho, who was 11 years older. In 1994, Cho Won-hyun dominated the Fujitsu Cup and the Toyo Securities Cup that year, becoming the only triple champion in the world chess world, and for a time there was no difference. In March 1995, the semi-finals of the sixth Toyo Securities Cup, sitting opposite Ma Xiaochun was the majestic Cao Xuanxuan, who had never reached the final of the World Series before, and was quite well prepared before the game, facing a strong opponent without fear, and finally beat Cao Yanzi 2:1, reaching the final of the World Series for the first time in his career.
In 1995, Ma Xiaochun's year of attention to the world, he defeated Nie Weiping and Kobayashi Koichi to win two world championship titles, the Toyo Securities Cup and the Fujitsu Cup. Just when everyone thought that Ma Xiaochun would continue to march forward and gain more fame, he met the biggest enemy of his life, Lee Chang-ho.
Lee Chang-ho and his wife Lee Du Lun
Ma Xiaochun's turning point occurred in 1996, when Lee Chang-ho gave him a back-and-forth blow. In February and March of that year, Ma Xiaochun took advantage of the double crown of last year to once again thwart Cao Xuanxuan to reach the final of the 7th Toyo Securities Cup, this time against Cao Xuanxuan's senior disciple. Facing Lee Chang-ho, who is 11 years younger and also a world series double champion, Ma Xiaochun was almost helpless, losing 1:3. However, the bad luck did not stop, and in the final of the 9th Fujitsu Cup in August of the same year, Ma Xiaochun was defeated by Lee Chang-ho.
Ma Xiaochun, who lost his front hoof, was not completely knocked down, although the Stone Buddha gave Ma Xiaochun an unprecedented 10 consecutive defeats. Later, in the finals of the Samsung Cup and LG Cup in 1998-1999, he stood in front of Lee Chang-ho twice, but the ending was unusually sad, and Ma Xiaochun swallowed four consecutive defeats in the World Series final.
Having given birth to Yu He Shengliang, the weak and the strong in the Go world let us fully appreciate the cruelty of the game. Despite this, Ma Xiaochun did not collapse, on the contrary, he later broke into the finals of the 12th Fujitsu Cup in August 1999 and the second Chunlan Cup in June 2000, but he did not seem to have fully recovered after being hit by the stone Buddha, and finally lost to Liu Changhe and Wang Licheng respectively, and neither of them could stand on the highest podium.
In hindsight, during Ma Xiaochun's period of sweeping the world, the three leading figures of China, Japan and South Korea, Nie Weiping, Kobayashi Koichi, and Cao Xuanxuan, failed to stop Ma Xiaochun's progress, but Lee Chang-ho, the world's first man, did it, which was Ma Xiaochun's personal sadness and the tragedy of Chinese Go in that period.