Chinese Chess (westernized)

Board | Pieces | Description | History | Strategy | Back to Index

Board

Pieces

General/King (jiang/cheung = general, shuai/sui = general)

The General is confined to the fortress and can only move a step at a time horizontally or vertically. It also has the special power to threaten an enemy General across the board along an open column. For this reason, it is not permitted to make a move that leaves the two Generals facing each other with nothing in between.


Mandarin (shi/see = counsellor)

The Mandarin must stay confined to the fortress, and can only move a single step along the diagonal lines shown. This gives it only 5 possible positions.

This piece is often translated into other names such as Assistant, Guard, Counsellor, and Officer.


Chariot/Rook (ju/kui = chariot)

Chariots move like the Rook in Western Chess, that is, any number of squares along a row or column.


Cannon (pao = cannon)

Cannons move like Chariots/Rooks, by sliding any number of squares along a row or column, but they can capture an enemy only if there is another piece (of either side) in between. Thus to capture they leap over the intervening piece and land on the enemy piece, like a cannonball.

One account of Xiangqi dates the introduction of the cannon at 839 A.D.


Horse/Knight (ma = horse)

Horses move like a Knight in Chess, except that they can't jump over other pieces. They step outward on a row or column, then diagonally outward one step. If something is adjacent to a Horse on a row or column, it can't move in that direction.


Elephant (xiang/tseung = elephant; xiang/sheung = minister/premier)

Elephants move diagonally two steps. However, Elephants cannot jump over other pieces, so an Elephant is blocked in any direction where another piece is diagonally next to it. Elephants are defensive pieces: they must stay on their side of the board and cannot cross the 'river.'

The Elephant is similar (but without the ability to leap) to the Alfil in Shatranj, the precursor to the modern Bishop.


Soldier/Pawn (zu/tsut, bing/ping = foot soldier)

Soldiers can move forward until they cross the center section of the board (called 'crossing the river') where they gain the ability to move left and right.


Description

Checkmate the opponent's General by attacking it so that it has no safe positions to move to. It's also a win to stalemate your opponent so that he can't move -- this usually only happens when a player is reduced to a lone king. A player may not force a repetition of moves.

The horizontal space across the center of the board is the river separating the territories of the two sides. Elephants are not allowed to cross the river, whereas Soldiers promote once they cross it. The 3x3 boxes marked with a border at the top and bottom of the board are the Generals' imperial palaces or fortresses. Each General and his Mandarins may not leave their fortress.

This version of Chinese Chess has been modified to make it easier to learn for players more familiar with Western (or European) Chess. The pieces are styled after figurines instead of using Chinese Characters, the pieces are placed on squares instead of on the intersections of lines, and the board is checkered to make visualization of diagonal moves easier.

History

Chinese Chess, or Xiangqi (Elephant Chess), derives from the same source as Western Chess, though there is much debate over whether the earliest form of chess began in India or China. The first definite reference to the game is from the 8th century; the present form dates from about the beginning of the 12th century. Xiangqi is still firmly embedded in culture in China and viewed as a folk game. Among the Chinese, the rules are said to be universally known, and it is claimed that Xiangqi is the world's most popular game, with perhaps 200 million players.

Strategy

Unlike Western Chess, having an extra piece is not as important as having a strong attack. Attack on the General can come at any stage of the game.

Chariots are the most valuable pieces, being worth about twice as much as a Cannon. The Horse is slightly less valuable than the Cannon in the opening, but becomes stronger as the game progresses, as it becomes more mobile and the Cannon less so (due to the lack of 'screens'). Mandarins and Elephants are purely defensive pieces. Soldiers are very weak until they cross the river and promote, where their increased mobility makes them useful in attack.

The most common opening moves are: moving either Cannon behind the central Soldier, moving a Horse to defend the central Soldier (this also frees the Chariot to occupy the adjacent file), pushing a c-file or g-file Soldier to give a Horse a path to advance to the river's edge, or bringing either Elephant to the front of the fortress to protect its partner.

Endgames have been studied even more deeply than in Western chess, and much is known about mating possibilities with various combinations of pieces. A lone General can be mated (remember that checkmate and stalemate both win, and Generals cannot face each other a file with no intervening pieces) by General and Soldier, General and Horse, or General and Chariot. A Chariot can even win against two Elephants or two Mandarins; two Soldiers can defeat a single Elephant or two Mandarins. Many detailed endgame examples are given in H. T. Lau's book 'Chinese Chess'.

Literature on the game is plentiful in Chinese (and game transcripts can be understood with a little study, by learning the characters for the pieces, Chinese numbers, and a few miscellaneous characters). English-language sources are less abundant; some good books and magazines can be found at http://www.zillions-of-games.com/xiangqi.html. More information on Chinese Chess can be found at http://www.chessvariants.com/xiangqi.html.

Text copyrighted by Zillions Development