[Soul of Chess] What if

"Do you know the promotion system for professional chess players?"

Suddenly being named, Ah Guang was stunned for a moment, he thought for a while and then replied: "I've heard that, it seems that only by accumulating a certain number of victories can you advance to the next tier."

"That's right."

Ogata nodded affirmatively, and then asked another question: "So, do you know the loopholes in this system?"

"Loophole?" Ah Guang repeated in doubt.

"Yes. There is a big loophole in this system, that is - there is no time limit." Seeing that Aguang didn't quite understand, he added, "It only requires players to achieve enough victories, but there is no time limit." How long will it take for the specific regulations to be reached?"

"In this way, even a person with no talent, as long as he slowly accumulates the number of wins, he still has a chance to be promoted to the ninth rank. In addition, the current rank system does not mention downgrading, as long as he is promoted, he can rest easy. You don't have to worry about being downgraded because your rank and strength don't match your name."

Aang widened his eyes in surprise.

He hadn't even thought about such an opportunistic promotion method before.And Mr. Ogata's voice continued: "Because of this, the composition of professional chess players in the Chess Academy forms a strange inverted pyramid shape-that is, there are more high-level chess players and fewer low-level chess players. Currently registered in the Chess Academy Among the 321 professional chess players, there are only 15 players in the first stage, but there are as many as 73 players in the ninth stage, and a considerable number of them have reached the ninth stage through years of hard work."

"For this part of the people, what is the purpose of working so hard to become a high-level chess player, especially the nine-dan chess player?" At this point, he turned his attention to A Guang.

"...Is it for... money?" Ah Guang replied with a little hesitation.

Mr. Ogata smiled approvingly: "Yes, it's money."

"..."

Ah Guang didn't know what expression to make.Although Mr. Ogata had an answer in his heart when he asked, he just didn't want to believe it.Now that this conjecture has been confirmed, Ah Guang can't tell what kind of feeling he is feeling in his heart now.

Ogata took out a cigarette from the box and was about to put it to his mouth, but he put the cigarette back after he caught a glimpse of Shinto on the opposite side.

Seeing the opponent's appearance of being beaten, Ogata sighed softly, and then patiently explained to him: "It's not that they use their ranks to make illegal profits, but that professional chess players can use their titles, ranks, and years of experience every month. Waiting for conditions to receive subsidies from the Chess Institute. Of course, the higher the rank, the greater the amount of money received, and the maximum can even receive 10,000+ yen. And this is one of the reasons why they want to work hard to get to the ninth rank."

"The other is the game fee."

"Match fee?" Shinto looked puzzled.

"In a Go game, after a game of chess, no matter what the result is, both players can get a subsidy, and that fee is the game fee."

After Ogata briefly explained, he continued with the previous topic: "Chess games usually have one, two, three or even four qualifying rounds before the official game starts. In the qualifying rounds, there are often less than five rounds Chess players go to the knockout round first, and then they have the opportunity to compete with players above the fifth rank. This rule saves those high-ranked chess players who are not strong from the embarrassment of being defeated by low-ranked players as soon as they come up."

"Although it is only a qualifier, there is also a match fee, and it is set according to the rank. The higher the rank, the greater the amount. The match fee of a ninth-rank chess player is sometimes even 4 times higher than that of a fourth-rank chess player. In addition, the later the qualifiers, the higher the match fee."

"No wonder they want to become grandmasters..." Shinto murmured in disbelief.

"In addition to the qualifiers, the prize money for this tournament is also quite generous. Especially the three title battles of Chess Holy War, Celebrity War and Honinbo War. Get a game fee equivalent to the annual salary of a staff member who has been employed for about two years, so that you can ensure that your life reaches the level above the middle class."

"Many ordinary but high-level chess players use this to earn higher incomes, so this round-robin tournament of the Big Triple Crown is also called the 'Golden Chairs' league."

When he mentioned the words "golden chair", Mr. Ogata was smiling, but Aguang always felt that the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Maybe they have some unavoidable reason for doing this? During the training of college students, I have seen many people who worked extremely hard but their grades were not very satisfactory." Thinking of what he had seen and heard during the training of college students, Ah Guang put his guess Speak up.

Regarding his own idea, Mr. Ogata did not deny it: "Indeed, due to the fact that everyone's chess talent is different, coupled with irresistible factors such as age and energy, it is true that the chess player's chess ability cannot be achieved. higher level."

"It's not incomprehensible to make such a bad move just to make a living." Then, he changed the subject, "However, such cases are only rare."

"Most people relax completely after successfully advancing to the ranks, not to mention spending hours every day studying chess carefully. I think they may be busy waiting for the results of the games nervously and excitedly in various casinos every day, Or enjoy life without stress at various parties."

"Although the purpose of the establishment of the Chess Academy is to protect chess players who are 'lack of food', to create a good environment for them to play chess, so that players can play their own Go freely. However, for the current Chess Academy, those people It has become quite a burden."

"Burden?" Ah Guang couldn't help frowning.Although those people's behavior of being content with the status quo and not thinking about making progress is indeed a bit too much, but it is said that it is a burden... I always feel that such a statement is a bit too much.

Hearing his own voice, Mr. Ogata just glanced at himself lightly.After he unscrewed the bottle cap and drank the remaining water in the bottle in an elegant manner, he slowly explained to A Guang why he called those people "burdens".

It turns out that the Chess Institute has been a company structure rather than a government agency since its establishment. Although it can now enjoy the corresponding preferential tax policies because it has successfully become a public welfare legal person, it still has a considerable financial burden. The first place is professional chess players. allowance.

Although each chess player receives a maximum of 10,000+ yen per month, the chess academy with more than 300 professional chess players has to spend a large amount of cash every year, and with the annual With the increase in the number of chess players and the number of ranks, the amount of expenditure will continue to rise.

The second is the salary of the staff.The Chess Academy currently has 100 staff members, and their salaries are all borne by the Chess Academy.Chess Academy has to pay a lot of wages for these people every year, not to mention, after they retire, they will also be given a certain amount of subsidies.

In addition, the Otega system implemented by the Chess Academy requires at least 1 million yen in expenses every year, and some unnecessary entertainment also requires a lot of expenses. In addition to the headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, the Chess Academy is in Nagoya There are also central and Kansai headquarters in Osaka and Osaka. This kind of non-intensive management has increased the cost burden of the chess academy.

Every year, the expenditure of the Chess Institute is in a state of continuous growth, on the contrary, the income is showing a trend of decreasing year by year.The reasons are as follows:

One is the aging of Go enthusiasts and the decline of the total Go population (the Go population in Japan has dropped from 940 million to 390 million, of which 75% are elderly people), resulting in a sharp drop in amateur rank certificates and publishing income; The second is that the results of Japanese Go in the world competitions in recent years have been very unsatisfactory. Some competitions were suspended due to various reasons, and the commission that the Chess Academy could collect from the competitions was also reduced.

"The income is decreasing year by year, but the expenses are constantly increasing. After a long period of time, the Chess Institute finally can't support it." Although Mr. Ogata's expression is calm, A Guang can still hear a sense of heaviness from his tone.

"Since 1994, the Chess Institute's finances have been in deficit, and it has been in a long-term sluggish state. In order to change the situation of making ends meet, the Chess Academy can only choose to increase the certificate fee, and doing so has led to a decline in the number of chess fans. After such a cycle, the Chess Academy's finances It's finally on the brink of collapse."

"For the current Chess Academy, the sale of ranks has almost become the only source of income. Because of this, after Mr. Xiuxing announced that he would issue a certificate of rank certification in his own name, in order to avoid a devastating blow to the Chess Academy, the board of directors had no choice but to make a decision. The decision to expel him." As Ogata said, he couldn't help sighing.

"...So that's how it is..."

Ah Guang felt a little dumbfounded.After a moment of silence, he looked at Ogata with some puzzlement: "Since the economy was already in crisis six years ago, why didn't the Chess Academy formulate measures to prevent the problem from getting worse?"

"Do you really think that the Ki-in has not taken any measures?" Mr. Ogata asked back.

"Uh..." Ah Guang's expression froze.

Mr. Ogata did not continue to entangle this issue, but answered Aguang's question: "The Chess Academy has formulated many reform measures, but as soon as the new system is implemented, it will immediately be attacked by a large number of senior and high-ranking officials. Chess players object."

"Against? Why?" It's clearly a decision that is beneficial to the development of the Chess Academy. Why do the chess players object?Ah Guang felt very incomprehensible.

"Why?" Mr. Ogata showed a strange smile at the corner of his mouth, "Because even a small adjustment will involve the interests of many chess players, especially the old chess players. It will cause an uproar. Under the leadership of those chess players, the new system cannot be implemented at all. And among those opponents, many of them are not worthy of the name nine-dan."

"So, you said, is there still a need for such a chess academy to exist?" He propped his chin and looked at the shocked A Guang with interest.

The author has something to say:

This chapter is too big... Finally, I roughly explained the reason why Mr. Ogata did this, huh...