Xiangqi Endgame Compositions: Classic and Street Puzzles

Older than most openings

The oldest known composition appears in Shilin Guangji (事林广记), an encyclopedia of everyday knowledge compiled by Chen Yuanjing late in the Southern Song dynasty. Alongside two complete game records, the earliest that survive, it includes a composed position titled 二龙出海势, the two dragons leaving the sea.

By the Ming dynasty compositions filled whole books. Mengru Shenji (梦入神机) is described as the earliest endgame manual, though it is now lost. According to Chinese references, its endgame material lives on in Shiqing Yaqu (适情雅趣), published in 1570, whose 550 positions made it the first widely read manual of its kind.

Composers gave their positions literary titles drawn from history, legend and poetry, and a title often hints at the idea. In Shiqing Yaqu, a study in which three Soldiers hold off an enemy Chariot is called 鼎足三立, standing firm like the three legs of a bronze cauldron. Let one Soldier fall and the whole position topples with it.

From brilliant wins to stubborn draws

Early compositions tend to end with Red delivering a spectacular mate. That changed in the Qing dynasty. Taolüe Yuanji (韬略元机), surviving in editions dated 1707, gathered positions then circulating among street players and replaced many of the Ming-style Red wins with draws after accurate defence. From then on, the hardest compositions were often the ones in which the defender holds.

Four Qing collections are usually named as the great composition manuals. Xinwu Canpian (心武残篇), compiled by Xue Bing around 1800, gathered positions that hustlers of his day used to earn money, and most of them end in draws; it is also said to be the first book to discuss the rules of play. Baiju Xiangqi Pu (百局象棋谱), published in 1801 under the pen name Sanle Jushi, holds just over a hundred positions and is thought to have been the book street players leaned on most for generations. Zhuxiangzhai Xiangxi Pu (竹香斋象戏谱), the work of Zhang Qiaodong and his son, is the largest. Yuanshen Haikuo (渊深海阔) was unknown to modern players until a copy came to light in 1933, and some writers swap Taolüe Yuanji into the list in its place.

Our history guide Classic Xiangqi Books: The Great Manuals of Ming and Qing covers these books in more detail, including how to read their original notation.

The four great street compositions

Out of this tradition came four positions so famous that Chinese players simply call them the four great jianghu compositions. Baiju Xiangqi Pu contains all four, and other manuals include them under different names.

Seven Stars Gathering, 七星聚会 (qī xīng jù huì), takes its name from the seven pieces each side has on the board, and it is often called the king of endgames. It is a study in Chariots working with Soldiers, and with correct play from both sides it ends in a draw. Manuals set it up slightly differently, for example with one of Red's Soldiers a point further forward, and the names change too: 七星同庆 in one collection, 七星拱斗 in another.

Wild Horse Ploughs the Field, 野马操田 (yě mǎ cāo tián), looks at first as if Red's two Chariots and Horse can force mate with a few checks. They cannot, because the defence has a quiet resource ready. After a dozen or so preliminary moves the fight comes down to Chariot and Horse against Chariot and Soldier, and small details of the setup decide how it ends. The old books give it as a draw, although some later analysis argues that Black can do even better. Its present form was settled in a manual printed in 1879.

Earthworm Subdues the Dragon, 蚯蚓降龙 (qiū yǐn xiáng lóng), pits a pair of Chariots against a pair of Soldiers. The title says it all: the mighty dragon ends up tied down by the humble earthworm. Riding Alone a Thousand Li, 千里独行 (qiān lǐ dú xíng), grew out of a position from real play and appears in older books as 单枪赵云 and 策杖独行.

Why the street versions are so tricky

A jianghu position is designed to look like an easy win. The stall keeper sets it up, names the stake and invites passers-by to take a side. The obvious attack, usually a quick series of checks, runs into a hidden defensive move, and the challenger who played it is suddenly lost. Chinese players call the opening phase of these positions 脱帽, taking off the hat: a forced sequence in which both sides must defuse the immediate threats before the real game begins.

Even a challenger who finds the right path is not home. After the hat comes off, the position usually turns into a long, balanced endgame in which deep knowledge matters more than sharp calculation, and with the best moves from both sides many of these compositions are simply drawn. Reported stall rules vary, and some score a draw in favour of one side, which quietly turns a drawn position into a trap for whoever needs the win. Accounts also describe helpers who pretend to beat the keeper to lure others in.

That is the real lesson of jianghu compositions. A position with a famous name and a tempting first move has been studied by people whose income depended on it. If the win looks easy, assume the composer saw it first.

Composed problems versus game puzzles

Most puzzles in apps and books today are a different animal. A game puzzle comes from a real or realistic game: the pieces stand where play put them, and the solver looks for the tactic or mate the position offers. A composition is built from nothing to express an idea. Its pieces may stand where no game would put them, it carries a stated task and one intended solution, and its beauty lies in surprise and economy as much as in the result.

Composed problems also treat a draw as a worthy goal, which game puzzles almost never do. Many classic mating compositions are solved with an unbroken chain of checks, while the long jianghu positions are closer to studies in endgame defence. Old compositions sometimes rely on repetitions that modern rules forbid, and engines have found flaws in some of the original analysis, so treat a printed solution as a starting point rather than the last word.

XiangqiPlay's puzzle library belongs to the game-puzzle family. Its 5,000 mate puzzles were checked by an engine that tried every defence to confirm the stated mate, so you can trust the answer while you train your eye for patterns.

How to approach a composition

Start by reading the task, because Red to move and win and Red to move and draw call for very different thinking. Count the material, then list every check and capture for the side to move, and for each one ask what the defender's least obvious reply would be. In a jianghu position, distrust the move that looks most natural. It is usually the bait.

Set the position up on a real board rather than solving from a diagram, and play through the main line slowly. When you get past the forcing opening, stop and judge the endgame that results, because that is where many of these positions are really decided. Only then check your analysis with an engine.

For quicker wins between longer studies, the puzzle library on XiangqiPlay has thousands of short, engine-verified mates that drill the patterns compositions are built on. When you want to try those patterns in real games, a free account lets you play the computer at eight levels, from Easy to God.