📚 Shiqing Yaqu — the famous Ming-dynasty collection of entertaining endgame compositions
Red to move and checkmate in 15 — one of the longest solutions you will find in this dictionary. Red has two Rooks, two Cannons, a Knight and both Elephants; Black is down to one Rook, two Knights and a full palace guard. Red is clearly stronger, yet the road to mate stretches out like a long campaign: every move demands patience, and haste is fatal. The position comes from the classical manual Thích Tình Nhã Thú (No. 48) and is named after King Câu Tiễn, who for twenty years tasted a bitter gall bladder at every meal so he would never forget the humiliation of Cối Kê. How the old tale mirrors this 15-move solution is hinted at in this page's Anecdotes section. In your view, what is hardest about solving a 15-move position: calculating far, or staying patient all the way to the final move?
✓ Engine-verified — The Fairy-Stockfish engine (NNUE) confirms Red checkmates in 15 moves — the main line was checked move by move, every move legal. Date checked: 2026-11-03.
A king hung a bitter gallbladder over his dining table and tasted it daily for twenty years
A king hung a bitter gallbladder right above his seat, and at every meal tasted a piece of it, asking aloud: "Have you forgotten the shame of Kuaiji?" Not for his health. So that he would never be allowed to forget. That was Goujian, King of Yue. In 494 BC he lost to King Fuchai of Wu at Kuaiji and…
Stories around this position — storytelling, not part of the engine-verified content.
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