📚 Taolue Yuanji — a Ming-dynasty endgame manual
Red to move and checkmate in 4. The two sides are almost level — both have two Rooks, two Cannons and a Knight — but Red is missing an Elephant, leaving a noticeably thinner defensive line. Yet Red wins quickly: the key lies in a relentless squeeze that never gives Black a single breath. The position comes from the classical manual Thao Lược Nguyên Cơ (No. 139) and is named after Điền Đơn's famous fire-oxen stratagem: with the state of Qi reduced to just two cities, one night of flaming oxen turned the whole war around. The story behind the name is told in this page's Anecdotes section. In your view, which of the four mating moves is the one that 'lights the fuse' for the herd?
✓ Engine-verified — The Fairy-Stockfish engine (NNUE) confirms Red checkmates in 4 moves — the main line was checked move by move, every move legal. Date checked: 2026-11-03.
A kingdom reduced to one city — and a thousand fire oxen
When a whole kingdom is down to a single city, what saves it is not an army, but a thousand oxen in red silk, knives bound to their horns, tails soaked in oil — on one night of fire. In 279 BC, Yan's army under Yue Yi had taken more than 70 cities of Qi; only Ju and Jimo remained. The new King of…
Stories around this position — storytelling, not part of the engine-verified content.
2bak4/C3a2NR/4b4/9/9/1C2c4/9/2n1B4/1r2A1c2/3RKAr2 wOpen this position in the app: try it against the computer or watch the engines play it out.
▶ Play this studyLoad this position into the Setup editor: rearrange it, edit it and try your own variations.
🧩 Open in Setup