📚 Shiqing Yaqu — the famous Ming-dynasty collection of entertaining endgame compositions
Red to move. Just four pieces remain: Red has a lone Rook; Black has a Cannon and two Pawns. Red's Rook waits in ambush while Black's Cannon and Pawns must come to it — and the classical manual Thích Tình Nhã Thú (No. 527) concludes: draw. This position has not been verified by engine; the result follows the old book. The name is Hàn Phi Tử's fable of the farmer who, after a hare killed itself against his tree stump, abandoned his plough to wait for a second one — and became the laughing stock of the state of Song. The story is told in this page's Anecdotes section. But on this board, 'waiting by the stump' is exactly the right way to play Red's Rook. In your view, what separates active waiting from passive waiting in this endgame?
A rabbit dashed itself dead on a stump — and a farmer abandoned his field to wait for a second
A rabbit, running in panic, smashed into a tree stump in the middle of the field, broke its neck and died. The farmer picked up a meal that cost not a drop of sweat — and from that day he put down his plough and sat watching by the stump, waiting for a second rabbit. The field went to weeds. No…
Stories around this position — storytelling, not part of the engine-verified content.
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