Feinting East, Striking West 声东击西

✓ Engine-verifiedBook result: Red winsMate in 8爛柯神機

📚 Lanke Shenji — a Ming-dynasty endgame manual

楚河漢界cotuong.synerworlds.com士炮砲俥炮俥象將車卒馬傌兵車相仕帥仕cotuong.synerworlds.com

Red to move and checkmate in 8. The sides are almost even: Red has two Rooks, a Knight, a Cannon and a Pawn; Black two Rooks, a Knight, two Cannons and a Pawn — Black even has the extra Cannon, Red the extra Advisor. This position is not decided by numbers but by direction: make a loud show in one place, strike in another. The position, from the classical manual Lạn Kha Thần Cơ, bears the name of the sixth of the Thirty-Six Stratagems — 'make a noise in the east, strike in the west' — whose classical example is Chu Tuấn's siege of Uyển Thành in 184. The story is told in this page's Anecdotes section. In your view, on which wing will Red 'make the noise' to cover the decisive blow landing on the other?

✓ Engine-verified — The Fairy-Stockfish engine (NNUE) confirms Red checkmates in 8 moves — the main line was checked move by move, every move legal. Date checked: 2026-11-03.

📖 Anecdotes

서남쪽에서 북소리가 요란했다 — 그 사이 5천 명이 동북쪽에서 성 안으로 기어올랐다

서남쪽에서 북이 천둥처럼 울리고 적은 서남쪽에 몰려들었다. 그 사이 정예병 5천 명이 동북쪽에서 조용히 성 안으로 기어올랐다. 이것이 삼십육계 제6계 ‘성동격서(聲東擊西)’이며, 삼십육계 책 자체가 두 가지 옛 사례를 든다. 184년, 주준은 완성에서 황건적을 포위했다. 흙 둔덕을 쌓아 성을 내려다보며 서남쪽에서 요란한 공격 북을 치자 수비병이 그쪽에 몰렸다. 주준은 직접 정예병 5천 명을 이끌고 동북쪽에서 기습해 기어올라 성 안으로 쏟아져 들어갔다. 이 계책의 반대 사례도 함께 준비돼 있다. 기원전 154년 오초칠국의 난 때,…

— Đội ngũ SynerWorlds

Stories around this position — storytelling, not part of the engine-verified content.

Source
爛柯神機(无局号)
Book result
Red wins
Verification
✓ Engine-verified
Side to move
Red to move
Difficulty
Hard
Red forces
King, Advisor ×2, Elephant, Horse, Chariot ×2, Cannon, Pawn
Black forces
King, Advisor, Elephant, Horse, Chariot ×2, Cannon ×2, Pawn
FEN
3ac4/C2Rc1R2/4bk3/9/5rpn1/6N2/6P2/r3B4/4A4/4KA3 w
Transcribed from
GitHub weiyinfu/xqp: 残局/烂柯神机/声东击西 红胜(1).xqfGitHub · liudada1980/canju12

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Solution