📚 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.
일곱 현인이 관문을 통과하다: 옛 책이 끝내 설명하지 않은 아름다운 이름
《백국(百局)》 잔국집은 이 작품을 시적인 이름으로 기록한다. 일곱 현인이 관문을 통과한다 — 칠현과관(七賢過關). 그러나 고전 장기 서적 어디에도 왜 이런 이름이 붙었는지, 일곱 현인이 누구인지, 어느 관문을 넘어야 했는지 설명하는 구절은 없다. 비밀은 어디에 숨어 있을까? 중국 문화에서 '일곱 현인'은 거의 언제나 죽림칠현(竹林七賢)을 떠올리게 한다. 위·진 시대의 이름난 학자 일곱 명, 혜강·완적·산도·향수·유령·왕융·완함이다. 그들은 산양의 대나무 숲에 물러나 술을 마시고 음악을 연주하며 현학(玄學)을 논했지, 부패하다고…
Stories around this position — storytelling, not part of the engine-verified content.
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