📚 Baiju Xiangqi Pu — one hundred selected positions, Qing dynasty
Red to move — checkmate in 5, and the machine has confirmed it. What is strange is that the board is still crowded almost to full strength: Red fields both advisors and elephants, two chariots, two cannons, a knight and two pawns; Black is barely poorer, missing only the knight. Amid that packed battlefield, Black's king is so tightly boxed in that five moves suffice to finish — if you find the right road. The position is preserved in Bách Cục Tượng Kỳ Phổ and bears a beautifully odd name: 'Thất Hiền Quá Quan' — the Seven Sages passing the barrier. Yet no classical manual explains who those seven sages are, or where their barrier stands; the anecdote below follows what few clues survive. Before reading on, take the challenge: can you find the first move of the 5-move mate?
✓ Engine-verified — The Fairy-Stockfish engine (NNUE) confirms Red checkmates in 5 moves — the main line was checked move by move, every move legal. Date checked: 2026-11-03.
七賢、関を過ぐ――古書が決して説明しない美しい名
『百局』系の古譜はこの一局を詩的な名で記録する。「七賢過関」――七人の賢者が関を過ぐ。しかし古典の棋書のどこにも、その名の由来、七賢とは誰か、越えねばならなかった関とは何かを説明する一行はない。秘密はどこにあるのか？ 中国文化において「七賢」といえば、ほぼ常に「竹林の七賢」を指す。魏・晋時代の著名な文人、嵇康・阮籍・山濤・向秀・劉伶・王戎・阮咸の七人である。彼らは山陽の竹林に退き、酒を飲み、楽を奏で、腐敗したと見なした朝廷に仕えるよりも玄学を論じ合った――権力に頭を下げなかった七人の自由な魂の、永遠の象徴となった。 だが率直に言えば、竹林の七賢とこの詰めを結びつける典拠は存在せず、「関を過…
Stories around this position — storytelling, not part of the engine-verified content.
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