tương kế tựu kế
Definition
- Idiom:
- To turn an opponent's own stratagem against them: A tactical maneuver where one cleverly adopts and adapts the enemy's scheme or trick, using it as the very means to achieve one's own objective and secure victory.
Usage Examples
- Idiom:
- Biết đối thủ định lừa mình, hắn tương kế tựu kế, giả vờ mắc bẫy rồi phản công bất ngờ. (Knowing his opponent intended to deceive him, he turned the opponent's own stratagem against them, pretending to fall into the trap and then launching a surprise counterattack.)
- Trong ván cờ, cô ấy đã tương kế tựu kế, dùng chính nước cờ hiểm của đối thủ để tạo thế chiếu tướng. (In the chess match, she turned the opponent's own stratagem against them, using the opponent's own dangerous move to create a checkmate position.)
Advanced Usage
- This idiom is deeply rooted in military and competitive strategy. It implies a high level of cunning, adaptability, and psychological insight, where the victor not only anticipates the opponent's move but also lacks the resources to immediately counter it, instead co-opting the attack's energy.
- It is often used in narratives about business competition, political maneuvering, or intellectual debates.
Variants and Related Words
- Kế sách (n): stratagem, scheme.
- Kế sách của họ rất tinh vi. (Their stratagem is very sophisticated.)
- Mưu kế (n): plot, scheme (often with a cunning connotation).
- Hắn đầy những mưu kế. (He is full of cunning plots.)
Synonyms
- To beat someone at their own game: To defeat someone by using their own methods against them.
- To hoist someone with their own petard: To cause someone to be harmed or defeated by their own plan (more literary).
- A counter-stratagem: A plan specifically designed to neutralize and exploit an opponent's plan.
Related Idioms
- Gậy ông đập lưng ông: Literally "to use the master's stick to beat the master's back"; meaning one's own tools or words are used against them.
- Hắn bị gậy ông đập lưng ông khi chính bằng chứng hắn tạo ra lại kết tội hắn. (He was hoist with his own petard when the very evidence he fabricated ended up convicting him.)
- Lấy độc trị độc: Literally "to use poison to cure poison"; meaning to fight fire with fire or use a similar method to counteract a problem.
- Đôi khi trong đàm phán, phải biết lấy độc trị độc. (Sometimes in negotiation, you must know how to fight fire with fire.)