Ma Xiaochun played against Xiao Ming.
Not long ago, China's first world champion and famous chess player Ma Xiaochun Jiudan defeated his old opponent in a row in the World Go Legend Masters, winning the championship with three consecutive victories, allowing chess fans to see the style of the "demon knife" of the past again. But what many people don't know is that there is actually a "hero" behind Ma Xiaochun's victory.
The scene of the Masters of Legends.
At the end of November, the first "Longhua Cup" World Go Legend Masters Tournament was held in Shenzhen, with Nie Weiping, Ma Xiaochun, Masaki Takemiya, and Kobayashi Hikatsu.
1. Cao Xunxuan, Liu Changhyuk, Wang Licheng, Wang Mingwan, eight legendary chess players who resounded all over the world from the 70s to the 90s of the 20th century.
This tournament can be said to be the most appealing and influential Go master duel in recent years, and just seeing these names can bring us back to the passionate era when Go was regarded as the art of winning and losing.
The Go veterans of Japan and South Korea (Wang Licheng and Wang Mingwan, two masters who represent Taiwan, China, usually play in Japanese chess academies) are not on the front line, but they are still able to participate in many daily competitions. China only occasionally holds invitational tournaments, and although there is no such thing as "retirement", it is fair to say that the two Chinese players are definitely in a more rusty state than the other six players.
In a domestic Go Masters tournament held in Shanghai in early November, Ma Xiaochun lost to his contemporaries Cao Dayuan Jiudan in the middle game, and missaw a simple life and death in the official stage, and lost a good game. Therefore, Ma Xiaochun was not favored before the game.
However, the actual process of the game was that Ma Xiaochun was like a bamboo, in the quarterfinals and the semifinals, he defeated his old opponents Wang Licheng and Nie Weiping successively, and the quality of the chess was very high, there were not too many mistakes, and he won four draws and eight stables.
In the final, Ma Xiaochun played against Liu Changhe.
In the final, Ma Xiaochun played against Liu Changhe. Liu Changhe is the youngest and most active of the eight chess players, and Ma Xiaochun has lost in the last few encounters. In this matchup, Ma Xiaochun had an advantage at the beginning, but was overtaken by Liu Changhe in the middle game. As the two sides entered the countdown stage, the situation was full of ups and downs, mistakes in and mistakes, but this time, Ma Xiaochun made the final decision at the critical moment and had the last laugh.
Not long ago, at a small gathering, the author was fortunate to meet Mr. Ma Xiaochun and learned some stories behind this competition. It turned out that before the start of the game, Ma Xiaochun went through a period of special training, and a special sparring partner played dozens of games with him, which made Ma Xiaochun's middle and late game skills recover a lot, especially the sharpness at critical moments was greatly enhanced. This sparring partner is the Go robot "Xiao Ming".
Ma Xiaochun finally won the championship.
I have two Xiao Ming robots at home, and I play chess with them at the same time every day, playing dozens of games, and the state of the game is back. In the past, when I played chess with them (Liu Changhyuk and others), there were often inexplicable spoons, and the second half of the game was reversed. This time, although there were mistakes and repetitions, I felt much better and played the chess more clearly. Ma Xiaochun believes that the hero behind his championship is the sparring partner of "Xiao Ming" during this time.
Some Go AIs like to organize "man-machine battles" to highlight their presence by defeating the top human Go players. In the Alphago era, this kind of human-machine confrontation still had some scientific experimental significance, but now this practice has long become a "vulgar hand".
Xiao Ming's Go Wisdom Classroom.
From the very beginning, Xiao Ming's Go robot has been the main function of sparring and assistant, and has also landed a lot of Go smart classrooms to help children better learn Xi Go and experience the game. Not long ago, at the first ASEAN Go Invitational Tournament held in Pu'er, Xiao Ming Robot was also invited to make an appearance and "get in close contact" with Go enthusiasts from all over the world. In the future, sparring may be another basic game for the development of the Go industry, following the training.
It's better to listen to the teachers about what to think of AI.
In the post-AI era of Go, how to correctly view Go AI and how to use Go AI is a proposition that requires wisdom. The AI we love in Go shouldn't be a cold win machine, but a sparring partner and friend who can talk to each other.
*: Sina Chess.