"I'm sorry, Chairman Shang!
"Recently, the preliminaries for the Sanshuang Cup were held in full swing at the Chess Academy, and Vice Chairman Lu led the team to Japan for a fan-to-air battle!
"I'm really sorry to disturb you at such a time!"
"Mr. Xu, what are you talking about! Chunzhilan Group is willing to come to us to guide our work, we are It’s a dream come true!
“Please come in, please come in! ”
March 9, Dajing City, Chinese Go Association.
Shang Chaotian, who had a distinguished guest today, received Xu Yingqun, the senior vice president of Spring Orchid Group, and enthusiastically led him to the VIP reception room of the association.
You can tell just by looking at the name - Spring Orchid Group is the exclusive sponsor of the [Spring Orchid Cup], the Go World Championship that will be held again in April this year.
Although the Spring Orchid Cup is the smallest overall scale and influence of the existing world championships - not to mention it is held every other year, the number of 24 players and the championship prize of 150,000 US dollars are the lowest in the world championships. .
But for the sponsor dad, the Chinese Chess Association has always been grateful, not to mention the sponsor dad who is willing to host the World Championships!
Naturally, Shang Chaotian still had a full reception and took the initiative to go out to greet him.
The host and guest came to the VIP room and sat down politely without saying anything more.
After a brief exchange of greetings, Xu Yingqun began to explain the reason for coming:
"...Ah, Chairman Shang.
"This is the main reason why I came back. I would like to discuss this with you:
"In just over a month, our Spring Orchid Cup will be opening! It is estimated that the list of chess players will also be officially determined through the redemption of international competition points after the replacement celebrity battle.
"But... We have been discussing within the group recently and there is something we would like to communicate with you in advance.
“In this Spring Orchid Cup, we want to allocate a wild card flexible quota from the quota for China to increase some flexibility in selection.
“Of course, this We guarantee that the quota will still be given to Chinese chess players.
"Can you see...?"
"...wild card?"
After hearing these two words, Shang Chaotian subconsciously blurted out:
"Rui Zhao?!"
Shang Chaotian Hui It’s actually not surprising to have such an immediate reaction.
Compared with other world championships, this competition has the smallest number of participants and the smallest scale. In order to ensure the excitement of the competition, it has a significant feature, that is, to ensure that a group of players with the highest level participate in the competition. , striving to be "small but refined".
Under the guidance of this idea, the roster of the Spring Orchid Cup adopts a completely direct invitation system-that is, there is no selection competition, and the regional Go organizations directly recommend the players they think are the strongest to participate.
In this way, we can recruit as many well-known and outstanding players as possible to avoid upsets in the qualifiers, which will affect the quality and attention of this competition.
The specific allocation of places in previous years is basically: two champions and runners-up in the previous year, nine from mainland China, five from Japan and South Korea, and one each from Taiwan, China, Europe, and America. No wild cards.
On the Chinese Chess Association side, because of the existence of [International Competition Points] and for the sake of overall fairness, the association does not directly determine the list, but all nine places are classified as international competition points. Redemption quota - those who have points and are willing to take part will be admitted. Those who do not have points or cannot get a turn will have nothing to say. It is very fair.
However, under such a rule, as long as the chess players under the Chinese Chess Association do not have international competition points, there is naturally no possibility of being selected.
As a result... this time Xu Yingqun suddenly came and said that he would allocate a quota from China as a wild card quota, which naturally aroused Shang Chaotian's vigilance.
As expected.
Xu Yingqun was obviously a little surprised by Shang Chaotian's direct reaction, but he quickly recovered his expression, nodded and admitted:
"Ah... Chairman Shang is indeed a smart man!
"Yes - if there are no accidents, we do want to include Rui Zhao's seventh-dan into this competition through a wild card. What do you think? ”
Hearing this, Shang Chaotian immediately frowned:
"Mr. Xu, your group is... doing this for publicity reasons?"
Xu Yingqun said with a smile:
< br>"This is natural! The most popular player in the chess circle right now is Rui Zhao 7th Dan!
"We sponsor the World Series, although the main purpose is to make due contributions to Chinese Go. But if there is an opportunity to promote our own brand through events, we still hope to get the best of both worlds, and please understand Chairman Shang. ”
"Uh..."
Shang Chaotian suddenly began to ponder.
He actually understands the thoughts of the Spring Orchid Group.
Currently, Rui Zhao has announced her withdrawal from all women's individual competitions, and the Samsung Cup qualifiers only allow players with the highest ratings to participate, so the next international competition that Rui Zhao can participate in should be in July. Tong Ge Cup pre-selection.
The Spring Orchid Group is obviously not willing to waste this precious popularity, and plans to take this opportunity to cut off the traffic and introduce traffic to the Spring Orchid Cup. This is normal.
But regarding this appeal, the chairman of the Chinese Chess Association is inevitably a little entangled:
Recently, Rui Zhao is at the forefront of public opinion, and the relevant debate has even reached a small peak because of the arrival of Women's Day!
In this case, if the Spring Orchid Cup deliberately breaks the convention and gives Rui Zhao a wild card, I'm afraid there will be a lot of eyes staring at Zhao Tianhou and making comments!
Although Shang Chaotian knew that Rui Zhao was devoted to chess and didn't pay much attention to comments outside the game, he was still very worried that the little girl would suddenly be unstoppable!
After thinking for a while, Shang Chaotian still expressed his worries tactfully:
"Ah, Mr. Xu, I can understand your thoughts and feelings.
"However, Rui Zhao is very controversial at the moment, and I'm afraid that if I bring her in, it will have the opposite effect! "
Xu Yingqun smiled and said:
"Oh, Chairman Shang, why did you say that!
“You have to know that for events and brands, ‘controversial’ is much better than ‘no one talks about it’!
"To be honest, our Spring Orchid Cup has always been tepid over the years. There are always people in the group questioning the publicity effect of our sponsorship of the Go World Championship.
"And now there is obviously such a good opportunity to attract attention. Of course we can’t just let it go!
"What's more, inviting China's only Nongshim Cup terminator in the past five years to participate - I think this wild card is not outrageous."
...Hey ! I understand the truth! Shang Chaotian thought to himself.
It's just... the Spring Orchid Cup is an event that pursues "small but exquisite"! This competition is filled with strong players from all over the world!
If Rui Zhao is allowed to enter this competition with a wild card and then be eliminated directly after a complete defeat, this...
"...Mr. Xu, I think this may still be a little inappropriate."
Shang Chaotian decided to directly open the skylight and speak out:
“Your group may be completely indifferent to the controversy caused by this wild card, but after all, Rui Zhao is just a twenty-year-old girl. The little girl!
"She has been very controversial recently. If she doesn't perform well in such a high-profile event...
"It's hard for me to imagine the pressure of public opinion she will bear! "
"Ah... you are worried about this! "
For Shang Chaotian's reply, Xu Yingqun seemed not surprised at all, and said eloquently:
"First of all, I think Chairman Shang should have more confidence in Rui Zhaoqi Duan.
"Like a relegation battle, isn't she facing a lot of pressure?
"But people said that it might not be as stressful as her stage competition! And in the end, we delivered an extremely satisfactory answer!
“Let’s do it again…
“In the final analysis, I still have to ask for my opinion on whether to get a wild card, right?
“Either this! Please seek Rui Zhao Qiduan’s opinion.
"If she doesn't want to participate in this Spring Orchid Cup, then we can withdraw the relevant request immediately, do you think that's okay?"
"..."
Looking at the other party with a slightly sly smile , Shang Chaotian understood at once: he was already checkmate.
If a World Championship wild card is placed in front of the current Zhaojun, can this little girl hold it?
You can’t even walk on the road, okay!
"...Okay, I understand..."
Shang Chaotian said helplessly:
"But about the quota allocation and wild card candidates...
" If possible, please announce it as late as possible! ”
…
…
“Well, the list of pre-qualifiers this time is…
“Xiong Siyi, Lin Ruixin, Lang Haishen, Li Zhaokai, Zhuang Zheng, Tang Guansheng, Peng Wendong.
"In addition to the last four semi-finals Lei Qi and Zhu Yuanjun, Sun Yi and Ji Qiufuan who exchanged seeds...well...
"Except for the two great chess master Lin and the prodigal son, An old guy, the others are all young! ”
At five o'clock in the afternoon on March 12th, Dajing City, Huaxia Chess Academy.
Chinese celebrity Tian Yuan, who finally started to participate in the competition again, couldn’t help but sigh after looking at the final qualifying results of the Sanshuang Cup final round of qualifiers.
"...It's normal, it's almost time."
Dai Ran on the side said briefly:
"The same goes for women, yesterday's fan-kong battle with the top four There are two little ones.
"Even if Rui Zhao doesn't participate in the competition, the new generation is stepping up their efforts to seize the class and seize power..."
Ni Jue smiled when he heard this:
"...I've had an operation, and it's normal for me to die. .
“But Lao Dai...you should still have some oil? ”
Dai Ran, who was being squeezed by his old friends, couldn’t help but rolled his eyes:
"You bastard, you couldn't do it in the qualifiers before!
"Besides, the schedule is too tiring, how can I endure it! "
Ni Jue raised his eyebrows and softened his teasing tone:
"...But without you, how will we deal with Liu Shixian?
“Although thanks to Rui Zhao, we managed to find some ground in the Nongshim Cup. But...
"The world crown shortage is still here!"
"Every generation has its own things to do."
Dai Ran answered very briefly:
"Last year The Miao family Bai Ling...I have already returned to my former glory, how can I deal with Liu Shixian!
"The next step is to see Xiao Lei...
"...and Rui Zhao's!"
Hearing this slightly unexpected name, Ni Jue was slightly startled, and then smiled:
"You are... ...Agreed?”
“You’ve already risked your life, just think that I’ll go crazy with you again!”
After Dai Ran sighed, he showed a rare smile and said:
"Spring is such a good season.
"Even an old person will feel that he is still quite energetic. "(End of this chapter)