Wild Horse Roaming Fields 野马操田 (yě mǎ cāo tián)

This is another one of the Big Four. It is also one of the most complex of all time! Unlike The Gathering of the Seven Stars, Red has a horse which adds interesting variations. Do not be fooled, there are many brilliant kills and counterkills!

There were three different variations to the original endgame composition. The original diagram appeared in 1879AD in Jiao Chuang Yi Pin (《蕉窗逸品》jiāo chuāng yì pǐn.) The Webmaster always had trouble translating the title of the ancient manual, but a rough translation would be Leisurely Pursuits by the Window overseeing the Banana Fields.

There were another two variations to the endgame composition. The immediate diagram below was the variation from the Recluse of the Fragrant Bamboo (《竹香斋》zhú xiāng zhāi). A Red pawn was added to Red's first file in the array.

Finally in the third version, yet another pawn, this time a Black pawn, was added to Black's 1st file at its position in the array. This version was found in Fathomless Ocean (《渊深海阔》yuānshēn hǎi kuò).

Unlike the other Big Four Endgame Compositions, Wild Horse Roaming Fields was flawed in that modern-day examinations of the puzzle would suggest that Black would win instead of a draw. Nevertheless, it's depth can only be matched by the other three.

As with the other Big Four Endgame Compositions, a few more viewers have been added to EACH of the variations as it would be IMPOSSIBLE not to get lost.