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Xiangqi

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Xiangqi board with pieces in their starting positions

Xiangqi is a board game from China. In English, it is also known as Chinese chess.

Though derived from the original Indian Chaturanga, Chinese chess is quite different from modern international chess. The board is different, there are different pieces, and they have different moves. The general and his mandarin may not leave the nine-pointed fortress; they have only limited movement. Clearly, this is more similar to the old Indo-Arabic game than to modern chess.

Xiangqi is a chess game for 2 people to play. Each player's palaces are located at the back row with an X shaped. Each player has 16 pieces to move on the board. One player's set is red, and the other is black. The way to win is to checkmate or stalemate the other player's King. Each kind of piece has different ways to move. Xiangqi is one of the most popular chess games in China.[1][2]p78

Pieces

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Movement

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  • General: Moves 1 point orthogonally (it means forwards, backwards, left or right) and it only stays inside the palace.
  • Advisor: Moves 1 point diagonally and it only stays inside the palace.
  • Elephant: Moves 2 points diagonally and it cannot jump over a piece or cross the river.
  • Horse: Moves like the knight in chess and unlike the chess knight, the horse cannot jump over a piece. It is known as blocking the horse leg.
  • Chariot: Moves like the rook in chess and it cannot jump over a piece.
  • Cannon: Moves the same as the Chariot but to capture, the cannon needs to jump over exactly 1 piece.
  • Soldier: Moves 1 point forward and after it crosses the river, the soldier can also move sideways.

Points

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  • General: ∞ points
  • Chariot: 9 points
  • Cannon: 4.5 points in opening and 4 points in endgame, because the cannon in the endgame has less pieces to jump for capturing.
  • Horse: 4 points in opening and 4.5 points in endgame, because the horse in the opening can be blocked (mostly in crowded positions) in the opening than the endgame.
  • Elephant: 2 points in opening and 2.5 points in endgame, because the elephant in the opening can be blocked in the opening than the endgame.
  • Advisor: 2 points
  • Soldier: 1 point before it crosses the river and 2 points after it crosses the river.

Special rules

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  • Flying General: Generals cannot stand on the same column unless there is 1 piece between them.
  • Stalemate: A stalemate in Xiangqi is not a draw, but a lost for the player that gets stalemated.
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References

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  1. ↑ Pritchard, David Brine 1994. The Encyclopedia of chess variants. ISBN 0-9524142-0-1
  2. ↑ Hooper, David & Whyld, Kenneth 1992. The Oxford Companion to Chess 2nd ed, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866164-9


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