📚 Shiqing Yaqu — the famous Ming-dynasty collection of entertaining endgame compositions
Red to move and checkmate in 19 — one of the longest solutions in the entire dictionary. Both armies are thin: Red has a Rook, a Knight and a Cannon; Black a Rook, three Pawns and both Advisors. Few pieces and an open board, yet Red needs all 19 moves to finish — each move like another prod into the grass with a stick. The position comes from the classical manual Thích Tình Nhã Thú (No. 275) and is named after the tale of 'beating the grass and startling the snake': a county magistrate reading a corruption complaint against his own clerk broke into a sweat and, in eight characters of marginalia, confessed himself. The story is told in this page's Anecdotes section. In your view, why can't Red win quickly with forces this thin, and instead must 'shake the grass' for 19 moves?
✓ Engine-verified — The Fairy-Stockfish engine (NNUE) confirms Red checkmates in 19 moves — the main line was checked move by move, every move legal. Date checked: 2026-11-04.
書記の汚職の訴状を読み、県令は汗をかいた――そして八字で自白した
人々は書記を収賄で訴えた。県令は訴状を読んで汗をかき、手が震えた。列挙された罪状はすべて、彼自身が犯してきたことと正確に一致していたのだ。判決の代わりに、彼は書類に八字を思わず書き付けた――自らの分を自白する形となった。 その官吏は南唐の当塗県令・王魯。史書は彼を「富を得ることだけを気にかけた男」と乾いた筆で評する。彼が書いた八字はこうだ。「汝は草を打っただけだが、草の中の蛇である私は驚いた」。その書き付けは漏れ広がり、一帯の笑いものとなり、『南唐近事』が言う「好事家たちの噂の種」となった。 後に「打草驚蛇」の四字は三十六計の第13計となった。蛇を探るために草を打つのはよい――だが不器用にやれ…
Stories around this position — storytelling, not part of the engine-verified content.
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