TJM's Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) Practical Endgames Introduction
The late Tu Jingming (1922-2008AD) was one of the greatest Xiangqi promoters in the last century. A very skilled player in his own right, Tu Jingming was a Chinese Medicine Doctor who loved Xiangqi and adopted a scholarly approach towards the game. Some of the most important books in Xiangqi were written by him. He was the author of the first ever Xiangqi Dictionary (《象棋词典 》xiàngqí cídiǎn) which was republished several times.
Pertaining to Xiangqi endgames, Tu was the among the first to have studied and published endgames as Practical Endgames (《实用残局》 shíyòng cánjú), and even later, an Endgames Dictionary (《象棋残局例典》xiàngqí cánjú lì diǎn). The former was divided in two volumes. These two books were amongs the most important books on the endgame in the last century. Practical Endgames former book is available, in Chinese, at the the WXF's website. The comments given there were in Chinese.
Tu was very methodical and systematic in his analysis of the endgames. His contributions to endgame theory cannot be denied.
In the old website, the Webmaster had also translated Volume 1 of Practical Endgames and presented it for reference. The new website has a new search feature that would allow referencing to become an easier task.
The Webmaster has also published two volumes on basic Endgame Tabia which are available on Amazon.com. The book covers shown below are affiliate links that would lead you to the Amazon page.
DISCLAIMER: This webpage contains products with affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, xqinenglish.com will receive a small commission. You will not incur any extra cost when buying from an affiliate link.
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The Webmaster will add the relevant boards over time. Unless specified, there will be ten boards per page.
Contents
- Pawn(s) Endgames (28 Boards): 01 02 03
- Horse Endgames (9 Boards): 04
- Horse-Pawn Endgames (31 Boards): 05 06 07
- Two-Horse Endgames (11 Boards): 08
- Cannon Endgames (8 Boards): 09
- Cannon-Pawn Endgames (32 Boards): 10 11 12
- Two-Cannon Endgames (10 Boards): 13
- Horse-Cannon Endgames (14 Boards): 14
- Horse-Cannon-Pawn Endgames (5 Boards): 15
- Chariot Endgames (50 Boards): 16 17 18 19 20
- Chariot-Pawn Endgames (48 Boards): 21 22 23 24 25
- Chariot-Horse Endgames (14 Boards): 26
- Chariot-Horse-Pawn Endgames (8 Boards): 27
- Chariot-Cannon Endgames (18 Boards): 28 29
- Two-Chariot Endgames (14 Boards): 30
The endgame notation system used on this site
The pieces will be named in the following order: R > H > C > P > A > E > K. (车马炮兵士象帅）
Please keep this code in mind as tags will be added according to this order. The tags will enable the interested reader to locate any relevant endgame board on this site.
Abbreviations have also be used in this book to faciliate coding of the endgame situations. These abbreviations will be used throughout the site.
A short key to the abbreviations used:
- bw = book win.
- pw = positional win.
- d = draw.
- hw = hard to win, outcome still not decided, but a draw would be most likely.
- vs. = versus, outcome cannot be foretold accurately because there are too many variables to analyze.
- hp = high pawn, any pawn on the cross-riverbank rank (enemy's riverbank) or enemy pawn rank.
- lp = low pawn, any pawn located on the enemy cannon rank or throat rank.
- bp = bottom ranked pawn. Any pawn located on the enemy's bottom rank.
Note: To search for various endgame situations involving the pawn, please key the number of pawns only. For example, for a '2p(1hp1tp)' will be represented by '2p' only. If not, the site would be overloaded and runtime would slow down considerably. Keying in 'hp', 'lp' or 'tp' will not yield any search results.
For example, a single horse vs. a single advisor endgame situation would be coded as: "1h bw 1a.'' It would be a book win situation as long as you know to win. Pitting one chariot against an enemy full guard would be given as "1r vs. 2a2e". Positional wins are possible but draws are most likely. 'Hw' might used sometimes.