📚 Shiqing Yaqu — the famous Ming-dynasty collection of entertaining endgame compositions
Red to move. Red has only a Cannon and two Pawns left; Black has exactly one piece — a Rook, the strongest on the board. A Rook hunting a Cannon and two Pawns in the endgame is usually a one-sided chase, yet the classical manual Thích Tình Nhã Thú (No. 524) concludes: draw. This position has not been verified by engine; the result follows the old book. The name is the idiom 'one cry startles everyone' — three years of silence, then a single call that shakes the world — tied to King Trang of Chu and the metaphor of the strange bird that sat on a mound for three years without flying or singing. The story is told in this page's Anecdotes section. In your view, how must Red's two little Pawns combine with the Cannon so that their 'one cry' is enough to hold off an entire Rook?
三年、飛びも鳴きもしなかった――楚の丘に止まった奇妙な鳥
「楚に丘に止まる鳥がいます。三年、飛びも鳴きもしていません――何の鳥でしょうか？」この問いを投げた大臣は自らの命を賭けていた。問われた王は、敢えて諫める者は処刑すると布告していたのだ。 楚の荘王は即位して三年の間、宴と狩りに明け暮れ、国政を顧みなかった。大臣の伍挙は直接諫めることができず、奇妙な鳥の比喩で王に謎をかけた。王は彼を見て答えた。「三年飛ばなければ――飛べば、まっすぐ天に届く。三年鳴かなければ――鳴けば、全世界を驚かせる」 その直後、王は雷のように「目覚めた」。数百の悪人を処刑し、数百の賢者を登用し、楚は諸侯の覇者へと躍り出た。「一鳴驚人」――一鳴きで人々を驚かせる――という成句はこ…
Stories around this position — storytelling, not part of the engine-verified content.
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