Bodhidharma Crosses the River 达摩渡江

📖 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將車車士士俥卒卒象象砲兵馬馬卒卒卒俥炮帥炮cotuong.synerworlds.com

Count the pieces and few would believe this position can be drawn: Red has exactly four fighting pieces left — two chariots, one cannon, one pawn — while Black keeps almost the entire board: both advisors, both elephants, two knights, two chariots, two cannons and five pawns. Yet Uyên Thâm Hải Khoát records the verdict: draw. The name borrows the image of Bodhidharma crossing the Yangtze on a single reed — a Zen legend told in the anecdote below, where the patriarch answers Emperor Wu of Liang's proud question about merit with one famous, freezing sentence. Few against many, weak yet unbeaten: that is exactly the problem Red must solve here. Holding Red, how would you secure this draw?

📖 Anecdotes

一本の葦で大河を渡る――達磨と「功徳なし」という答え

梁の武帝――寺を建て、像を鋳し、供養を行った規模で当代に並ぶ者のない支配者――は、外国の僧を誇らしげな問いでもてなした。「私はこれほど多くの仏の事業をしてきた。どれほど功徳を積んだか?」返ってきた答えは長江の水面のように冷たかった。「功徳なし」――「聖なる真理の最高の意味とは?」「廓然無聖(広々とした空虚。聖なるものなどない)」――「朕の前に立つ者は誰か?」「知りません」僧は向きを変え、一本の葦で長江を渡った。彼は誰だったのか? まず標識をはっきりさせる。この有名な一連の話全体――梁の武帝との対話、葦渡り、少林寺で九年間壁に向かって座ったこと――は後世の禅の伝説であり、『祖堂集』(952年)…

— Đội ngũ SynerWorlds

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

Source
淵深海闊 第12局
Book result
Draw
Verification
📖 As recorded in the classical books
Side to move
Red to move
Difficulty
Hard
Red forces
King, Chariot ×2, Cannon, Pawn
Black forces
King, Advisor ×2, Elephant ×2, Horse ×2, Chariot ×2, Cannon ×2, Pawn ×5
FEN
4k4/rr2a4/5aR2/4p1p2/2b3b2/7C1/4P1n2/6n2/3pp1p1R/c4Kc2 w
Transcribed from
xqipu.comdpxq.com

Open this position in the app: try it against the computer or watch the engines play it out.

▶ Play this study

Load this position into the Setup editor: rearrange it, edit it and try your own variations.

🧩 Open in Setup