📚 Taolue Yuanji — a Ming-dynasty endgame manual
Red to move. Red has two Rooks and no fewer than five Pawns; Black has a single Rook, four Pawns and both Elephants guarding the palace. A whole Rook ahead is normally close to a guaranteed win — yet the classical manual Thao Lược Nguyên Cơ (No. 74) concludes: draw. This position has not been verified by engine; the result follows the old book. The name recalls the general Liêm Pha, who stripped to the waist, carried a bundle of thorns on his back and knelt at Lận Tương Như's door begging to be beaten — the closing chapter of the 'Returning the Jade Intact' story. Why a position a Rook up ends only in a draw, and what the old tale suggests about commanding an army, is explored in this page's Anecdotes section. In your view, what does Black rely on to hold this draw?
A great general, bare-chested, a bundle of thorns on his back, kneeling at a civil official's door
He was a great general who had spent his life storming cities and beheading enemy commanders. Yet one day he stripped to the waist, carried a bundle of thorn branches on his back, and knelt at the door of a civil official, asking to be beaten. This is the finale of "Returning the Jade Intact to…
Stories around this position — storytelling, not part of the engine-verified content.
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