The Seven Stars Ending

On this page I hope to set out at least the primary variations on the classic ending so painstakingly analyzed by Charles Kliene in his Seven Stars: A Chinese Chess Ending with Three Hundred Variations. The Preface of this astonishing book is available here.

The starting position is shown in the following two diagrams. Black has mate in one; all the variations depend on red having the first move.

The first ending shows one of the variations in what Kliene calls "Preliminary Movements". There are nine of these variations, five beginning with R3+9 and four with C2-1, all leading to mate for one side or the other within six moves.

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Kliene calls the next game "The Grand Tournament," and it is from this that the rest of the variations in his book are derived.


Introduction to Chinese Chess
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