Liuniang had studied the endgame on the rosewood board. It wasn't hard to solve—just "cannon's crisscross chec…
Liuniang had studied the endgame on the rosewood board. It wasn't hard to solve—just "cannon's crisscross checkmate" to trap the king, followed by a series of coordinated strikes breaking through the defenses... "Checkmate!" When Liuniang snapped back to reality, she saw her mother standing dazed by the door. "Mother! The game is won!" Now that the endgame had been resolved, her mother's struggle was nearly over. People say there was once a young chess master surnamed Liu from Jiangnan with no equal ten years ago. But who can say what the next ten years, or even the next three, might bring? Liuniang thought to herself.