In those dark decades (1996-2005), the Chinese Go world was almost a thousand horses, with very few highlights. Today we introduce you to the 8th Three Star Cup, the tragic journey of Sheikh and Hu Yaoyu to make wedding dresses for others.
The 8th Samsung Cup kicked off in August 2003, when the background of the world Go world was that South Korea was thriving, far ahead of China and Japan, and the four kings such as Lee Chang-ho, Yoo Chang-hyuk, Cho Kao-hyun and Lee Sedol had been formed, including almost all the world champions. Before the start of the quarter-finals of this Samsung Cup, Lee Sedol, the youngest of the four kings, had already won the Triple Crown and had the potential to succeed Lee Chang-ho as the new world hegemon.
What is even more taboo for Chinese and Japanese masters is that the champions of the 14 World Go Tournaments before the Samsung Cup final were all won by the four kings of South Korea. Struggling to support Japan (the last time a Japanese player won the world championship was Zhang Xu's LG Cup in 2005), Chinese Go is a true third (in hindsight, China is the darkness before dawn).
Hu Yaoyu against Lee Chang-ho
In this tragic situation, Two chinese rising stars Sheikh (born in 1984, at the age of 19), Hu Yaoyu (born in 1982, at the age of 21), together with Japan's Cho Ji-hoon (born in 1956, 47 years old at the time) and South Korea's Park Yongxun (born in 1985, only 18 years old at the time), reached the final four together. This brings a little life to Chinese Go, because Cho Ji-hoon and Park Yong-hoon, the old and the young, are always easier to deal with than the four kings of Korea.
Let's first look at the trip of Sheikh and Hu Yaoyu to the final four. In the first round of the round of 32, Xie Hu and the two eliminated south Korean stalwarts Lee Jae-hung and Cho Han-seong respectively, the second round of the round of 16 successively repelled the crazy attacks of Choi Chul-han and Liu Chang-hyuk to break into the quarterfinals, and in the crucial third round of the quarter-finals, the two encountered Lee Chang-ho and Lee Sedol, two superstars of the world chess world, which was the biggest test for them. Practice has proved that the two Chinese rookies are trustworthy, in the battle on October 15, 2003, Sheikh Zhihe defeated the world's first man Lee Chang-ho with the slightest advantage of half a purpose, and in another quarter-final battle, Hu Yaoyu defeated Lee Sedol in the middle of the game, so that they both broke into the final four. So can they bring a timely rain to the long-drought Chinese Go?
Looking at the journey of Cho Ji-hoon and Park Yong-hoon to reach the final four, Cho Ji-hoon's first three rounds of consecutive defeats of Kim Joo-ho, Won Seung-hyun (at that time, it was a fledgling, slightly immature), Cao Xuan-hyun, Park Yong-hoon successively defeated Lee Zhe, Ding Wei, Yamada Junsansheng, in addition to Cao Xuan-hyun has retired from the old chess, there is no super master, this is the so-called good luck do not get up early.
The 8th Samsung Cup Final Four
Judging from the strong opponents who have been slaughtering all the way, Sheikh and Hu Yaoyu undoubtedly have the advantage of the four. Next, let's take stock of the four chess players who brought three new players in the semi-finals, Zhao Zhixun was the only member of the World Series first-crown group, and his championship was won for free, that is, in the 1991 fourth Fujitsu Cup final, China's Qian Yuping abstained due to illness. It is said that this victory without a fight made Zhao Zhixun "grumpy" at the time: he had to win at least one gold cup in the world competition. None of the other three players had ever appeared on the stage of the World Series finals, and I was afraid that they were all holding their breath for it.
The semi-final trifecta pitted Sheikh against Park Yongxun, who was a year younger than him, and Hu Yaoyu challenged veteran super-first-class Cho Ji-hoon. Contrary to the previous smooth sailing, the wind direction of the semi-finals suddenly changed, perhaps carrying a huge burden, perhaps the strength was not caught, or perhaps the chess style was counteracted, the two Chinese chess players shrank their hands and feet, the performance was abnormal, and finally they both lost to their opponents with a score of 0:2, losing the opportunity to make a name for themselves.
After 11 years, Zhao Zhixun once again ascended to the throne of the world crown and became the double champion. Park soon won his first world title in the Fujitsu Cup final the following year, winning his first world title and later becoming a double champion. Although Sheikh and Hu Yaoyu both had a World Series final experience since then, they both failed to win the world championship. Among them, Sheikh did not reach the final of the 8th Chunlan Cup until 2011, and was severely beaten by Lee Sedol. The special cup is Hu Yaoyu, who was defeated by the unknown Taiwanese chess player Zhou Junxun in the final of the 11th LG Cup in 2007 and missed the World Championship Gold Cup.
Zhao Zhixun won the Samsung Cup
In hindsight, park Yong-hoon appeared on the final stage eight times at the World Series, two rounds; although Cho Ji-hoon's Go career only had three times to reach the final and two summits, he had the misfortune of losing eight semi-finals. From this point of view, the gap between Xie Hu and Zhao Zhixun and Park Yongxun, who have only experienced the final once, is still very significant, and their failure does not seem to be particularly regrettable.
Perhaps Xie Hu and his wife had a super level of play on their journey before the semi-finals of this Samsung Cup, and only then did they successfully snipe South Korea's big and small Lee, which invisibly cleared the way for Cho Ji-hoon's final victory.
In any case, after the wind and rain to see the rainbow, with the rise of Gu Li, Kong Jie, Hu Yaoyu, Qiu Jun, Sheikh and other post-80s generations, the spring of Chinese Go is not far away.