Seven Stars Ending
This page introduces the classic xiangqi study 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.
Problems with the viewer? Click here.
Kliene calls the next game “The Grand Tournament,” and it is from this that the rest of the
variations in his book are derived.
Some other variations can be seen at www.xqinenglish.com. In the initial position, the soldier on red's 1 file is posted farther ahead than Kliene has it, but this doesn't seem to make a lot of difference. Note that the viewer on the site allows you to follow a variation by clicking on the variant response in the right-hand window.
Introduction to Chinese Chess