Basic concepts and game objective
The game board (which in China can often simply be a fold-out paper game board) is divided into special areas. Between the 5th and 6th rows is the "Yellow River" without longitudinal lines, which divides the board into two realms - North (red) and South (black). This river affects the movement of two types of pieces.
The commander/general (king) himself and his companions, the bodyguards (mandarins) are also restricted in their movement. They cannot leave the palace or the fortress (an area of 3 by 3 squares (intersections) in the middle of the basic row, marked by diagonal lines). It is not uncommon for one of the mandarins, or even both, to become a "traitor" to their commander, as they restrict him so much in movement that he has no escape hex left.
The game pieces are not pieces, but thick round discs distinguished by printed, painted or embossed Chinese characters. Although the pieces of both sides do not differ in their moves, two different but either meaning-similar or pronunciation-same (homophonic) characters (one for red, one for black) are usually used for each type of piece. This is justified by the fact that the black pieces (sometimes green) represent the southern Chinese, while the red ones represent the northern Chinese; a possible - though unproven - explanation is that because of the different dialects of the two parts of the country, and because the north did not have war elephants, for example, the designations are sometimes dissimilar. In old game sets, which often use only carved characters without black and red colouring, all pairs of figures are labelled slightly differently to distinguish the pieces even without colour marking.
One player carries the red pieces, the other the black. Red opens the game with the first move.
In Chinese chess, capture always takes place at the target point of a move. If a piece can reach a point occupied by an opponent's piece, it can be captured and is removed from the board. There is no obligation to capture.
Starting grid
Stand on the base row from left to right:
- Chariot / 車 jū (Black and Red)
- Rider (Red) - Horse / 馬 mǎ (Black and also Red)
- Minister / 相 xiàng (Red) - Elephant / 象 xiàng (Black)
- Bodyguard/Officer / 仕 shì (Red) - Mandarin / 士 shì (Black)
- Commander / 帥 shuài (Red) - General / 將 jiàng (Black)
- Bodyguard/Officer / 仕 shì (Red) - Mandarin / 士 shì (Black)
- Minister / 相 xiàng (Red) - Elephant / 象 xiàng (Black)
- Rider (Red) - Horse / 馬 mǎ (Black and also Red)
- Chariot / 車 jū (Black and also Red)
Two rows in the direction of the river, in front of the horsemen and horses respectively, stand two cannons / 炮 pào (red) and catapults / 砲 pào (black) on each side. On the next row, there are five soldiers / 兵 bīng (red) and foot soldiers / 卒 zú (black) on each side; these stand on every other square to the other edge, starting with one edge square. The starting squares of the cannons and soldiers are highlighted on most game plans and boards by markers at the crossing points (hidden in the picture).
In the picture, as in (traditional) Chinese maps, south (black) is at the top.
Train rule
The commander
The commander (red) and the general (black) - both also called king by western players - always moves only one step horizontally or vertically (not diagonally) to an immediately adjacent square. He may never leave the palace (the fortress), so he has a total of only nine squares that he can enter at all. There is no castling.
The two opposing generals may never face each other freely on a line without an intervening piece. The "death look" of the generals forbids this, thus introducing an interesting (but double-edged) long-distance effect of the general unwilling to travel, which can be used especially in the endgame to force a stalemate (which in xiangqi is not a draw but a win).
According to legend, this figure was once also called "king" in China, but this is said to have been forbidden by an emperor because he felt insulted by being pushed around on a playing field by his subjects.
Bodyguard
The mandarins/officials (red) and bodyguards (black) correspond in origin to the queen of European chess, but are much weaker than it: They always move only one step diagonally (not horizontally or vertically) to an immediately adjacent square and are also not allowed to leave the palace. Thus both together have only five squares available, namely the centre of the palace and its four corners, on which they can stay at all.
Ministers and elephants
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The ministers (Red) and the elephants (Black) (which give the game its name; xiàng = 'elephant') correspond to the elephants of Shatranj; they are related to the modern bishop, but are also much weaker in their moving power. Western players usually refer to the pieces on both sides as elephants. The elephants always move exactly two steps diagonally, but only if the intervening (skipped) square is free. If there is a friendly or foreign piece on this square, this move is denied. Furthermore, the elephants may never cross the river, i.e. the border of the two kingdoms between the fifth and sixth row. They thus have a combined seven squares, all in their own half of the board, on which they are allowed to reside at all. With the exception of the strong central position on the front of the palace, they have a maximum of two moves to choose from on all their other squares, unless one or both of them are also blocked by adjacent pieces. The elephants are purely defensive pieces, but as such they are much more important than one might think because of their ability to "get around" quickly in their own half - due to the lack of European-style bishops and queens.
Horses
The horses are essentially the same as the knights of European chess, but cannot jump. A horse moves first one square horizontally or vertically in any direction and then one square diagonally (at further distance from the starting square), but is blocked if another piece is on the square to be entered first. The strength of the horses increases towards the endgame, because there are then fewer pieces to block them.
Car
The movement of the chariots corresponds to that of the rooks in European chess - they move any number of squares horizontally or vertically. The chariots are by far the strongest pieces. While in the opening they cannot fully develop their strength due to the unfavourable position in the corners and the still relatively full playing field, their strength increases towards the endgame.
Cannons
The cannons are a purely Chinese invention and do not correspond to any piece of European chess, nor to any other form. When they do not strike, they move like the chariots. To strike, there must be exactly one other piece somewhere between the piece to be struck and the cannon (entrenchment piece), which is jumped over when striking. A striking movement is possible over any distance and in horizontal or vertical direction. Both your own and your opponent's stones can serve as entrenchment stones.
This initially somewhat strange-seeming move of the cannon (more precisely, the mortar and catapult) allows for many different interesting constellations. In particular, the double cannon (one player's cannon using the other cannon as a redoubt) is a powerful weapon in the game when aimed at the enemy general. Overall, however, the strength of the cannons tends to decrease towards the endgame because there are fewer and fewer possible entrenchment stones.
Soldiers
The weapon (red) and soldiers (black) (or pawns) know one direction of movement: one square forward - at least until they have crossed the river. Once they have reached the opponent's side of the river, they are promoted and can no longer only move forward, but also one square to the left or right to the side, but not diagonally or backwards.
Unlike in Western chess, the soldiers do not capture diagonally, but exactly as they move otherwise, i.e. forwards and beyond the river also sideways. Double-stepping on the first move (and thus capturing en passant) is not possible; but this is compensated for by the more forward starting position.
There is no conversion on the opponent's basic row; a soldier who arrives there can only move sideways.
Even if the pawns no longer play a particularly important role as defensive pieces due to their loosened up and advanced position, in contrast to European chess, they are still quite important offensive pieces, especially since they cannot be stopped simply by placing another piece in front of them, as is the case in European chess. They are also powerful weapons as entrenchment pieces for the cannons.
End of the game
The general is in check if an opponent's piece threatens him (could move to his position and thus capture him). Moving into check is forbidden, and an opponent's check bid must be averted in the immediately following move, or the game is lost. The two generals also threaten each other when there is nothing between them in a straight line; moves which create this situation are therefore forbidden, like other moves into check.
Accordingly, there are basically three ways to get out of chess:
- the general moves from the check position
- the threatening opponent's piece is captured
- one of your own pieces covers the general
- The preceding three ways of deflecting a check correspond to those in Western chess. A special feature in Xiangqi arises when the general is attacked by a cannon and the entrenchment piece between them belongs to the player in check: Then the check can also be cancelled by moving this stone away between the cannon and the general. To repel a check in this way, by practically "exposing" the general, may take some getting used to and be difficult to see for players of Western Chess.
Unlike European chess, there is no stalemate in Chinese chess: if a player cannot move, he has lost the game.
Bidding perpetual check or repetition of positions to threaten uncovered pieces is forbidden. In this case the attacker must change his behaviour.
A draw by agreement is possible.
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