The Secret March to Chencang 暗渡陈仓

📖 As recorded in the classical booksBook result: Draw淵深海闊

📚 Yuanshen Haikua — a Qing-dynasty endgame manual

楚河漢界cotuong.synerworlds.com將士象車士兵車炮馬炮俥傌俥相砲砲卒相卒卒帥cotuong.synerworlds.com

Both sides stand nearly complete: Red has two chariots, two cannons, a knight and both elephants; Black fields the same heavy pieces, a pair of palace advisors, and two extra pawns. Red to move, and the manual Uyên Thâm Hải Khoát (game 255) concludes: draw. Between armies this even, any edge can only lie along a route the eye cannot see — the very spirit of this position's name. 'The Secret March to Chencang' is the eighth of the Thirty-Six Stratagems: one army repairs a mountain road noisily in broad daylight for all to watch, while the real army slips through a pass in another direction, by night. That opening gambit of Liu Bang's bid for empire in 206 BC is told below. Back to the board: in a position that seems to hide nothing, which Red force is the 'noisy road crew' — and which marches through the dark?

📖 Anecdotes

대낮에 길을 고치고 밤에 몰래 관문을 넘다: 진창을 몰래 건너다

한 장수가 대낮에 북과 깃발을 세워 놓고 요란하게 산길을 고치게 했다. 그런데 정작 본대는 어둠을 틈타 다른 길로 빠져나가고 있었다. 한 왕조의 천하 쟁패는 바로 그 첫수에서 시작됐다. 기원전 206년, 유방은 외딴 파촉 땅의 한왕으로 밀려나 있었다. 장량이 떠나며 절벽에 매달린 잔도를 불태웠다. 한왕은 다시는 동쪽으로 나가지 않겠다는 선언처럼 보였다. 항우는 방심했다. 그러나 한신은 정반대의 계책을 냈다. 잔도를 공개적으로 다시 짓고, 날마다 산을 두드리게 한 것이다. 삼진의 관문을 지키던 옹왕 장한은 그 요란한 목재와…

— Đội ngũ SynerWorlds

Stories around this position — storytelling, not part of the engine-verified content.

Source
淵深海闊 第255局
Book result
Draw
Verification
📖 As recorded in the classical books
Side to move
Red to move
Difficulty
Hard
Red forces
King, Elephant ×2, Horse, Chariot ×2, Cannon ×2, Pawn
Black forces
King, Advisor ×2, Elephant, Horse, Chariot ×2, Cannon ×2, Pawn ×3
FEN
4kab1r/4a2P1/5rcnc/2R2N3/2R6/2B6/7CC/3pB4/2p1p4/3K5 w
Transcribed from
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