Xiangqi Endgame Assessment

PHAN DOAN HINH THE TRONG TAN CUC: XIANGQI ENDGAME ASSESSMENT

The endgame half of Huang Shaolong's classic on position judgement: 54 positions, 300 annotations, a Learn mode and a neural network engine, entirely offline.

Two Pawns against two Advisors and two Elephants. Every handbook says that is a draw, and nine times in ten it is right. In position twenty two of this book Red wins in fifteen half moves, and the reason has nothing to do with technique. It has to do with having noticed that one Black Advisor is propped on a square it cannot leave. Teaching you to see that is what this book does.

Endgame books are catalogues of methods: this force beats that force, here is the drill. This is the half nobody teaches. Before choosing a method you must know what the position is worth. The Chinese call it 形势判断, position judgement: deciding, with the pieces still on the board, whether you play for the win, hold for the draw, or hunt for a swindle.

THE BOOK

The original is 象棋形势判断 by the national master and theorist Huang Shaolong, Chengdu Times Press, December 1997. Its fifth part, 残局形势判断, is the endgame, and it is here complete. In Vietnam it was translated by Dang Binh and issued by the Sports Publishing House as Phan Doan Hinh The Trong Tan Cuc. That is the text here, with a full English translation beside it.

Huang Shaolong went to Nankai University in 1956 to read physics and never left, becoming professor and director of its Xiangqi Research Centre and making the game a university subject. National Master in 1982, some forty books, and a pioneer of computer xiangqi, which makes an engine beside his book oddly fitting.

In the endgame the arithmetic changes. 小卒过河当大车: a Pawn across the river is worth a Chariot. 单车难破士象全: a lone Chariot can hardly break full Advisors and Elephants, a verdict about a drawn game this book shows you how to win anyway.

THE FIVE CHAPTERS

• The role of the weak pieces (弱子的作用), 12 positions. Pawns, Advisors and Elephants decide games.

• Holding the central file (控制中线), 9 positions. Who owns the middle line owns the game.

• Weak shapes (局面弱形), 12 positions. Tied down, blockaded, hollow King.

• Counting the moves (步数计算), 11 positions. One move faster wins. Either you counted or you lost.

• Practical endgames (实战残局剖析), 10 games, nine from the 1996 Chinese championship at Ningbo. Four of the players had been champion of China: Zhao Guorong, Lu Qin, Liu Dahua and Xu Tianhong.

WHAT IS INSIDE

• 54 positions in 5 chapters: 44 composed studies and 10 tournament endgames.

• 1,278 half moves of main line play, plus 2 side variations.

• 300 annotated points, five and a half per position on average.

HOW YOU STUDY IT

• Browse and replay. Four dropdowns put you on the board, and notes surface at the moves that carry them.

• Learn. A board where nothing moves by itself. You take both sides by hand and must find the book move yourself, with optional arrows.

• Go off book. Play the move the author did not consider, explore, then return to the point of departure with one button.

• Ask the engine. A full strength NNUE neural network engine runs on your device, so any 1997 verdict is checked in seconds.

LANGUAGES AND BOARD

• Language. English, Vietnamese or Chinese for titles and all 300 notes, falling back to the original rather than a blank.

• 13 board sizes, from 1.0x (500x350) to 2.2x (1100x770).

• 35 board themes, bright to deeply dark, plus 6 study board themes, 5 highlight colours you set by hand, 5 board fonts and a light or dark interface.

PRIVACY

Genuinely offline. No account, no ads, no tracking, no analytics, no permissions.

A middlegame is an argument. An endgame is a proof. Set up the board and judge.

Recent changes:

First release.

- The complete endgame section of Huang Shaolong's Judging the Position: 54 positions, all 5 chapters, 1,278 half moves.
- 44 composed studies and 10 tournament endgames, nine from the 1996 Chinese national championship.
- 300 annotated points in Vietnamese and English.
- Replay, Learn and off-book modes.
- Built-in NNUE engine, runs on your device.
- 35 board themes, 13 board sizes, light or dark interface.
- Fully offline: no account, no ads, no tracking, no permissions.