📚 Yuanshen Haikua — a Qing-dynasty endgame manual
At first glance, this is a rare position where Red has more pieces: two chariots, one cannon and a pair of elephants against a bare Black king with no advisors and no elephants, only two chariots and one pawn. But those two Black chariots have burrowed deep into Red's own camp — victory is not yet in hand, because one careless moment lets Black harass without end. The position is no. 43 of Uyên Thâm Hải Khoát; the old book concludes that Red wins, and it has not yet been verified by machine. The name does not commemorate the famous assassination itself, but the moment before it: Jing Ke crossing the Yi River in 227 BC — the crossing from which there was no way back, retold in the anecdote below. Can you finish this position as cleanly as the old book promises?
The position stops at the river crossing — because from the Yi River bank, there was no way back
This position is not named after the assassination. It is named only after the moment of crossing the river — because from that bank onward, the most famous assassin story in Chinese history had no way back. In 227 BC, Prince Dan of Yan plotted the assassination of King Zheng of Qin. The price of…
Stories around this position — storytelling, not part of the engine-verified content.
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