In the Nongshim Cup Legendary Tournament, Kobayashi played with Noriki Ida to represent Japan, what kind of wonderful life does Kobayashi Koichi, a chess player who can be called the "elder", have? In fact, there are more topic points worth exploring in his body, from entering the beginning of his career at the age of 14, to the later sister-brother love with his master's daughter, etc., Kobayashi Koichi also has a wonderful life outside the chessboard, and we can also get a glimpse of one or two from his autobiography.
Excerpt from Koichi Kobayashi's "My Curriculum Vitae"
I became a professional chess player at the age of 14, which is already a great achievement, of course, thanks to predecessors such as Masao Kato and Yoshio Ishida, as well as Cho Ji-hoon, who was younger than me but entered the Kitani dojo earlier than me, etc. With the help of some of the strong players under the Kidani Gate, I became a professional chess player.
However, after becoming a professional chess player, he did not become a top chess player for a long time. Although his attitude of learning chess is very serious, his overly optimistic personality has caused a lot of trouble. Although I won the title of Tianyuan at the age of 24, which was my first title, I was always "a breath of relief" in other competitions, and after the gap between him and Zhao Zhixun gradually widened, he also entered a long period of dormancy.
In 1984, after I got the title from Masao Kato, I got on track. Looking back now, it is precisely because of that difficult period that I accumulated strength step by step and finally reaped the results I deserved. Of course, this is also thanks to my wife who was the top female chess player at the time, but still put my career first- Reiko.
In the next 10 years, I became a regular in title battles, and before I knew it, the number of championships became the 3rd most in history, and I also got the honorary titles of "honorary" titles that required 5 consecutive periods or accumulated 10 consecutive periods to get.
Most of the players such as Zhao Zhixun's honorary celebrities and Iyama Yutagi Sheng began to emerge around the age of 20, but in my words, it was after the age of 30 that they achieved results. However, I have not taken the title of Ben Infang and the throne, and it is impossible to say that I have no regrets, but for a late chess player like me, such an achievement is still acceptable.
Looking forward to the day of living with the master
My father was a very gregarious person, and occasionally called friends or people who lived nearby to my house on his days off to play Go. When I was in the 1st and 2nd grades of elementary school, I watched them play chess and became curious. Although the rules of Go are very simple, it takes a long time to appreciate the fun of Go, of course, I watched them play chess, naturally memorized the rules of Go, and then gradually realized the fun of Go.
During the holidays, there are many relatives back at home, and among the relatives there are amateur 4-dan and amateur 1-dan people, and then they play a lot of chess. Among them, the uncle with a stronger level is called Ryo Muraoka, and I remember that one weekend, I also took a bus and arrived at our house from a relatively far away place.
I also learned about the existence of the Go club from that time, and in the fall of the third grade of elementary school, because I really wanted to play chess, I dragged my grandmother to the Go club with me. In a small Go club in Asahikawa City with only more than 10 chess boards, I was judged to be level 5 at that time. Before I knew it, I was on the same level as my father.
Then I studied Go at this clubhouse for half a year, and then Mr. Muraoka took me to the Asahikawa Go Club, to a bigger Go clubhouse. Over there I was judged to be amateur for the first time. Although his level has improved, it is definitely not too early for a person who becomes a professional chess player until he reaches the beginning of his amateur life at the age of 9.
Soon, I began to be attracted to so many amateur 5 and 6 strong Go clubs. If I didn't have to go to school, I might be playing chess over there every day, and I was in this mood anxiously waiting for the arrival of every Sunday.
I would get there at noon when the Go clubhouse had just opened, and then go down to 7 p.m. Play at least 10 games of chess a day. Of course, at that time, I was definitely the youngest one, and the others were all uncles. There are doctors, there are people in the securities industry, there are teachers and people who do business to take a nap, and it is because there are all kinds of people coming, so it is very happy to hear all kinds of words. Of course, for a primary school student, it is inevitable that some precociousness is a little, but it is indeed a good platform for understanding society.
One of them is Kazuaki Yamaoka. Graduated from Hokkaido University and worked as a teacher at an industrial high school, the level of Go was in the top five in the amateur Go world in Asahikawa City that year. I played with him many times, and then he taught people to play chess at a very high level. It is said that after a few days, Mr. Yamaoka said: "Kobayashi Koichi is different from ordinary children" commented. Incidentally, when The top chess player, Keigo Yamashita, was still in Asahikawa City, Sensei Yamaoka was his teacher.
Katsumi Hatsumi Godan is a local chess player who is in charge of the Go industry in Asahikawa City, and he is also the operator of the Asahikawa Go Tournament. Although the number of matches with him is not much, the "Anthology of Yanjin Junyi Dozen Chess" given to me by Teacher Hayashe, I cherish it and reproduce the score on this book many times to learn from it.
Because there were not so many Go publications at that time, information was also very scarce. At most, check out the Japanese Chess Academy's monthly magazine "Go Club" regularly. Then the Go section published in the Hokkaido News, I really wanted to eat it as seriously as I did. Looking at the photos of the chess players who were active in the front line at that time, I also thought about what kind of characters they were.
When I was in elementary school, I served as class president every year. Although he did not listen to his parents at home, he was a "good child" at school. I was very friendly to outsiders and then the grades were good.
One of my favorites is arithmetic. The elementary school I attended was also known as the "Pulp Elementary School", and many of the children in that school were working in the national pulp industry. There are some families who come from Tokyo to work, and their learning ability is outstanding, so this school is still a good school in the countryside, but compared with them, my arithmetic score is still good.
Go is also a game of calculation, so it's not surprising that I like arithmetic, but I realized at the time that the content in school alone is not enough. Perhaps for me, who has more than enough to learn, Go is a good place to release energy.
The proposal to the Master's daughter was opposed
My teacher, The father of Mr. Kitani, is also famous for having many children. In addition to the death of the second daughter, the other 3 men and 4 women have grown up smoothly. And everyone is very good and active in various fields. All three sons graduated from the University of Tokyo, and although the fourth daughter graduated from Keio University, she said, "I went to a private university with high tuition fees alone, and I felt very faceless."
The third daughter, Reiko, is the fourth of seven children. Of the 7 children, she alone embarked on the path of Go like her father, so she was a special presence in the Kidani family. Of course, Reiko was also a disciple of Kitani, but born in 1939, she is slightly older than the dojo's big brother Otake Hero Teacher, so to me, Reiko can be said to be a person of "another world".
I became a disciple in 1965, and Reiko was already a top female chess player at that time, winning the three consecutive championships of the female streamer Power Battle (now the female stream Ben infō) from 1966. He is also a semi-resident guest of NHK's popular program "Lenovo Games" and is very busy. Sometimes, although we would come to the dojo and attend a study meeting of Mr. Takeo Kajihara, usually the two of us would have almost no chance to learn chess together.
How did two people, who barely intersected, begin to care about each other? This story was revealed to me a little bit before Reiko died.
One day, just late in school, there were only the two of us left in the living room of the dojo, and then we started talking about the profession of chess player. "Isn't the essence of Go just reconciliation?" Then we make the world more peaceful through Go, isn't that the mission of our chess players? ”。 We talked about very speculative things, and I still remember them vividly. Since that day, whenever I sit in front of the chess board in the dojo to learn chess, Reiko will pour me tea. But to avoid exposing this relationship, she also poured tea for everyone else...
This went on for almost 1 year, and then I made a decision, that is, I decided to propose marriage to Reiko. An 18-year-old man who knew nothing, bent on finding someone to walk the path of Go with me, decided to take the first step himself. And I'm convinced that such an idea is not my wishful thinking.
Because of her filial piety to her parents and not wanting to hide her secret, she quickly told her mother, Lady Miharu. Of course, I wasn't there that day, but it happened that their youngest child, Masamichi Kidani, was there and told me the ins and outs of the matter.
When Reiko first said, "I've found someone I want to get married," Mrs. Miharu was very happy. Because Mrs. Miharu has been worried about the lifelong events of Reiko, who is already in her 30s, and has successively refused to go on a blind date.
When her mother asked her "who is the other person?", Reiko still refused to speak. Lady Miharu asked, "Is it one of the disciples?" Reiko immediately nodded, but Lady Miharu said various names in succession, and Reiko just shook her head vigorously until she finally said her name. Mrs. Miharu said, "Is it Xiao Guang?" After that, he was unable to speak.
Perhaps the 13-year-old age difference is also a reason. When Mrs. Miharu learned that the person Reiko wanted to marry was me, Mrs. Miharu said a lot of harsh words. "That explosive anger, this feeling of resentment can be felt, she wants me to die to you." 」 This is what Reiko wrote to me shortly after being criticized.
Including the disciples who do not live in the dojo, Mrs. Miharu has witnessed more than 50 disciples growing up, and she also writes in her book: "I give more priority to the disciples from other families who live in my house than my own children." Reiko's marriage did not want to affect my normal learning of chess, which is also the real idea of Mrs. Miharu.
After a few days, Mrs. Miharu quietly called me over. Sure enough, he was firmly opposed to our marriage. Reiko, who was talked to together, could only cry vigorously. Mrs. Miharu's sentence "You are still in the stage of learning chess" stabbed my heart fiercely. But I said it on the spot:
"Mother, we will get married."
Faced with the possibility that I would be expelled from the division, Mrs. Miharu left me with a sentence: "You should at least wait until I am 20 years old." But no matter what Mrs. Miharu said about me, I only replied, "I want to make Reiko happy." Of course, for Mrs. Miharu, not only was it impossible to discuss this matter with Mr. Kitani because she was hospitalized, but on the other hand, she also wanted to give me a little time to calm down, hoping that I would change my mind during this time.
However, neither of us had changed our minds at all. Annoyed, Mrs. Miharu summoned my father from Asahikawa to Tokyo in May 1973. The four of us preached repeatedly in order to abandon the marriage. From the perspective of parents, their sons and daughters have grown up willfully, so even if they get married, it is difficult to go smoothly, so I have told us many times. Although in the end their efforts were ineffective, in the embattled situation, our "sister-brother love" is actually very difficult to achieve.
After saying our intention to get married, and eventually we got married, we left a lot of letters during this time. Because his father did not listen to his own teachings, and because he was not embarrassed to live in the dojo, he moved to Tokyo Asagaya, and many of the letters he received at that time were not stamped. In fact, many of them are reiko who drops letters into my mailbox after she arrives at my apartment.
Although there have been times between us that "please return all the letters I wrote before". But when forced to this extent, Reiko, who was already very slender, looked even more haggard. On the other hand, Reiko once said, "I feel that my other half, even if I go to the other side of the world, can't find it", if I break this marriage, then Reiko will have to be single for the rest of her life.
To tell the truth, in fact, it is the person who says the willingness to get married that is the least calm. I also considered, "Is it really okay for me, an accomplishless person, to marry a teacher's daughter?" Or things like " If things don't go well , a word of apology won't be solved " I finally understood that this is really a big deal.
However, the decision of the two of us to get married has never wavered.
In July 1973, Mr. Kitani had his third cerebral hemorrhage attack. Then he lived a convalescent life in a hospital in Hiratsuka City. At that time, when Reiko and Kitani-sensei were already thinking about getting married, it was said that Kitani-sensei whispered, "I recommend you to go to the T-Kaikan for the wedding."
Specifically, he said the venue for the wedding and asked us to hurry up and do the wedding. Previously, because I was often ill, I didn't know if the teacher had thought about the marriage between the two of us, but such a move made our horizons broaden. Inadvertently, the eldest son, Kenichi Kidani, and others also sided with the marriage, and finally Mrs. Miharu agreed to our marriage.
And then it all went very smoothly. Finally, on March 22, 1974, the wedding ceremony was held at the Okura Hotel. In the end, the wedding was not decided at the T Kaikan but at the Okura Hotel, mainly because of this deep historical relationship with the Japanese chess academy. The introducers are Mr. and Mrs. Takeo Kajihara, who often help us in the dojo. At that time, Reiko's dan position also came to the sixth dan, and at that time, he said half-jokingly: "Maybe Reiko is better than you on chess."
The host is the Rakugoku artist Miyutei Ryōraku (5th generation). A wedding banquet of 230 guests was held, and even the big names in the Go world, including Mr. Kitani's lifelong rival, Mr. Wu Qingyuan, were all present, and the financial community also invited the president of the Mitsubishi Bank, Shishi Tian. The communication between the hotel and the seating of the banquet were negotiated by Reiko, and I didn't actually do anything.
To my delight, Mr. Kitani, who was living in the hospital, also came to the wedding scene. To be precise, Mr. Kitani did not attend the wedding ceremony, but I was impressed by the scene of greeting the guests in a wheelchair and shaking hands with the guests one by one.
Now that I think about it, although I was very young at that time, even I felt that the decision at that time was really bold.
(Chess and card in-depth reporting group jumping)