chess problems.

花费了不少时间
These are setups of pieces on the chess board that have

棋盘上有些棋子的放置
particular solutions.

有着专门的破解之术
And they're very complex,

它们非常地复杂
and they have a kind of aesthetic form to them.

还有着一种结构美学
And he would aim for certain kinds of elegance in them.

他正是想从中习得这种悠然
He never wanted to have an alternate solution.

他从未想过获得替代方法
He always wanted to have a single kind of solution.

他从来都只想要一个独一无二的方法
There are certain themes in chess that refer to different kinds of strategic movements

象棋的布局涉及到种种战术
that he would bring out through these little arrangements,

他会对其做些小的安排以展现他的战术
and he would spend inordinate amounts of time organizing them.

而且他会无节制地花时间去组织它们
Let me read to you how he describes the action of setting one of these things up:

让我给你们读一下他是怎么描述布局步骤的