Xiangqi – Chinese Chess

Pic Source: http://www.clubxiangqi.com
My Quest of another mind game now arrived to a Chinese chess game called Xiangqi. Xiangqi which is one of the ancient chess game of China. Its origin is not definitely confirmed, but a poetic book called Chuci written around 4th century BC depicts the trace of this game played in china. Another confusion in this game is its name, the word Xiangqi is written with two characters of whom the first, xìang, nowadays denotes elephant; portrait; phenomenon; ivory; stellar configuration; omen; acting; playing; official interpreter, the second, qí, means chessman; chess or similar games (ex: weiqi); foundation!.

As being the family of Western Chess (WC), Xiangqi(Chinese Chess(CC)) a game of skill, tactic and strategy. It’s a game of 2 players battle on a board with 32 chessmen each. Like WC, CC has similar pieces like King/General, Rook, Bishop, pawns and a Special piece Cannon!. Unlike WC, CC uses characters as the pieces. In WC pieces have unique shape to identify eg:.Among all other pieces King piece is the tallest one next comes the Queen,next shortest with a doom is the Bishop, Horse headed is Knight, Fort symbol is the Rook and the smallest of all are the pawns. But in CC, all pieces are just like carom coins with chinese symbols en-carved on them. Western players adopted the same type but replaced shapes/similar pictures of WC for ease. Here in my site in which you can see similar examples.

Xiangqi board consists of 9×10 points. Players play their moves on the intersection of the lines called points, instead of playing on the squares. The board is different from WC. Each side has a Palace and a a River separates the armies at 5th and 6th rank. Pieces are differentiated by 2 colors, commonly Red (or less commonly white) and black (or less commonly blue or green). Red always moves first.

River plays a quiet big impact on the nature of the game. River is also called Heavenly river might be called the Milky Way:also.Some legends describe that Xiangqi may have been linked with consolations objects. In a board the River is written in a Chinese word called chu he meaning Chu River, the game is a reference to the Chu-Han War.

Pieces:

Pieces are divided into 7 types. All the symbols are different with that of the opponent pieces. Lets see each chessman in detail.

General/Governor/King:
Initial: (G or K (K for King)):
Total pieces in a side: Only One.
Character: (Shuai) for Red and a General (Jiang) for Black
Relative Value: no value (equal to King in WC)
Move & Capture: Horizontal or vertical one-step. No diagonal moves. Maximum moves 9 points inside the Palace.
Criteria: Can’t come out of the Palace. No stalemates.
Special Feature: both the general cannot exist in same file without a blocking piece. In a open file, when a red general exists simultaneously the blue general cannot land on the same,just like a rook controlling the whole file in WC. Checkmate closes the game (same like WC).

Counselors/Advisors:
Initial: A
Total pieces in a side: 2
Character: have the same name but their ideogram is different for Red.
Relative Value: 2
Move & Capture: one point diagonal.
Criteria: Should not come out of the Palace. They always serve thier General in the Palace.

Elephants/Ministers:
Initial: E
Total pieces in a side: 2
Character: (Xiang) – that gives its name to the game – is only for Red. Black has also a Xiang but it is written differently as it is an homonym which stands for Minister.
Relative Value: 2
Moves & Capture: These pieces move exactly two points diagonally and may not jump over intervening pieces. They may not cross the river; thus, serve as defensive pieces and have seven possible points on the board to which they can move.

Horses/Knight:
Initial: H
Total pieces in a side: 2
Character: (Ma) Sometimes, the same extra sign is added
Relative Value: 4-5
Move & Capture: It moves one point vertically or horizontally and then one point diagonally away from its former position (Same like Knight in WC). It is important to note that the horse does not jump.

Chariots/Car/Rook:
Total pieces in a side: 2
Initial: R (for Rook C some time confuses with Cannon)
Relative Value: 9 (powerful piece on the board.)
Character: Chariot (Che or Ju) sometimes, the same extra sign is added.
Move & Capture: Same characteristics of WC Rook.

Cannons:
Initial: C
Total pieces in a side: 2
Character: Pao Sometimes, the same extra sign is added.
Relative Value: 4-5
Move & Capture: capture by jumping exactly one piece (whether it is friendly or enemy); it cannot capture by jumping more than one piece, or without jumping a piece. When capturing, the cannon is moved to the point of the captured piece. The piece over which the cannon jumps is called the ‘bao tai’ means “cannon platform”.

Pawns/Soldiers
Initial: S or P (P for Pawn)
Total pieces in a side: 5
Character: Two different synonyms are used to distinguish them. Red has Bing and Black has Zu.
Relative Value: 1 (when it is inside its war field) 2 (when it crosses the river)
Move & Capture: They move and capture by advancing one point. Once they have crossed the river, they may also move (and capture) one point horizontally. Soldiers may not move two points on their first move, as in Western Chess. When soldiers reach the enemy’s edge of the board they are not promoted. Like pawns, soldiers cannot retreat at any time; however, they may still move sideways at the enemy’s edge.

Pieces Arrangement while begin

R H E A G A E H R

C C
P P P P P
….

Following game is from a collection published in Shanghai in 1958.
A example of the fast-moving, tactical nature of Chinese chess.

Useful Links:

http://www.clubxiangqi.com – Online CC
http://www.xqland.com – Online Xiangqi
http://www.simplyxiangqi.com – Correspondence CC
http://www.jcraner.com/qianhong/
The 9th Xiangqi World Championships

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Xiangqi

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