📖 As recorded in the classical booksBook result: Draw百局象棋谱
📚 Baiju Xiangqi Pu — one hundred selected positions, Qing dynasty
Red to move. One Rook and two Pawns travel alone: Red's single Rook, the strongest piece on the board, with one Pawn already deep inside Black's territory — against a Knight, four Pawns and an Advisor–Elephant guard. Three classical manuals record the position, and all three conclude: draw. The mighty rook cannot round up a herd of pawns sheltered behind a solid defence and a knight's watch.
Thiên Lý Độc Hành — 'travelling alone for a thousand miles', in Trúc Hương Trai named Trượng Sách Độc Hành, 'leaning on a staff, walking alone' — is the most knight-errant of the Four Great Jianghu Compositions, found in Bách Cục Tượng Kỳ Phổ and Tâm Võ Tàn Biên. It has not been verified by engine; the result follows the old books. The story is in this page's Anecdotes section. If the rook is the strongest piece, why does its thousand-mile journey end with nothing?