Yóu Zhào 游肇 (451–520), zì Bóshǐ 伯始, of Rènxiàn 任縣 in Guǎngpíng 廣平 (modern Héběi). Northern-Wèi senior official, scholar, and inventor of the Rúqí 儒棋 (Confucian board game). Son of the prominent Yīn shū and Lǐjì scholar Yóu Mínggēn 游明根; together with his father and his nephew Yóu Yǎ 游雅 he is counted as one of the BěiWèi SānYóu 北魏三游 (“Three Yóu of the Northern Wèi”), the most prestigious YīnYáng yǔ Lǐ scholarly lineage of the TuòbáWèi state. CBDB does not return an entry for him; the standard biographical source is Wèi shū 55 (Yóu Mínggēn biography, with Yóu Zhào appended) and Běi shǐ 34.
Career: entered service as Zhōngshū xuéshēng 中書學生 under Wèi Xiàowéndì 孝文帝 (r. 471–499); thereafter advanced through Nèi mìshū shìyù zhōngsǎn 內秘書侍御中散, Diǎnmíng dàfū 典名大夫, Huángmén shìláng 黃門侍郎 cum Shìzhōng 侍中 — a powerful combination at the Northern-Wèi court, for which contemporaries styled him Xiǎo zǎixiàng 小宰相 (“Junior Chancellor”). Under Wèi Xuānwǔdì 宣武帝 (r. 499–515) served as Tíngwèi qīng 廷尉卿 and Yùshǐ zhōngwèi 御史中尉; under Wèi Xiàomíngdì 孝明帝 (r. 515–528) as Zhōngshū lìng 中書令 and Xiāngzhōu cìshǐ 相州刺史, finally rising to Shàngshū yòu púshè 尚書右僕射, the second-ranking position in the central administration.
A polymath particularly devoted to the Zhōu yì 周易 and the Sān lǐ 三禮. Wèi shū records his works in seventy-five piān including the Zhōuyì jíjiě 周易集解, the Hūnyí 婚儀, the Báiguī lùn 白珪論, the Rúqí 儒棋 (i.e. the present KR3h0098 Rúqí gé), and a substantial body of fù, shī, biǎo, qǐ. The Rúqí gé — explicitly framed in his preface as the “Confucian counterpart” of liùbó 六博 and yì 弈 (Go), in which the cardinal Confucian virtues replace the dice-faces and pieces and the principle of qiāntuì wéi shàng 謙退為尚 (“yielding-and-retreat is the highest”) replaces aggressive play — is his only extant work.