Xiangqi

Welcome to the Xiangqi wikibook. This wikibook is dedicated to the strategy board game of xiangqi, also known as "Chinese chess". Introduction Xiangqi (written in Chinese as 象棋, xiàngqí) is the distant Chinese relative of the game of chess. It is one of the most popular board games in Asia, with tens of millions of players in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and other areas of Asia with Chinese diasporas. The game is also popular in Vietnam, where it goes by the name cờ tướng. Like chess, xiangqi is a game of war between two opposing armies, where both are attempting to place the enemy's leading piece in "checkmate", a situation in which the leading piece can be captured on the opponent's next move and its owner cannot remove this threat. Xiangqi also has many notable differences from chess. Some of its most distinctive features include: The pieces are placed on the intersections of the board's lines, rather than inside the squares. A piece called the cannon, which must jump when capturing. A rule that prohibits the two generals (the equivalent of the king in Western chess) from facing each other. Special areas of the board that can enhance or restrict the movement of pieces. The game's Chinese name translates to "elephant's game" - the first character (象, xiàng) means "elephant" and is used in-game for one of the pieces, while the second character (棋, qí) means "strategy board game", which was one of the four arts an ancient Chinese scholar was supposed to be proficient in (alongside music, brush painting and calligraphy). A brief history of xiangqi Although the history of Western chess is well understood amongst historians, the history of xiangqi is much less well understood. It is generally agreed that xiangqi and Western chess were both derived from the Indian game of chaturanga, which arose in the sixth century CE. Around 600 CE the game spread to Sassanid Persia, where it was in turn spread to China via trade along the Silk Road. Upon arrival in China, the game underwent a period of major changes and innovations that reflected Chinese culture and philosophy. For example, the pieces began to be placed on the intersections of the lines rather than the squares, a feature perhaps borrowed from the native strategy game Go, and since the Chinese were some of the earliest users of gunpowder a piece representing a cannon was added to the set. The earliest reference to the rules of xiangqi is found in the collection Xuanguai lu (玄怪錄), written by scholar Niu Sengru in the 8th century during the reign of the Tang dynasty, and the game had developed into its modern form by the time of the Southern Song dynasty in the early 12th century. Some Chinese scholars and historians reject the theory of xiangqi being derived from chaturanga - these people instead claim that xiangqi originated first in China and then spread west from there to give rise to the Indian games and Western chess. However the Indian origin theory for chess history is the more widely-preferred theory amongst historians. The board thumb|The xiangqi board with its notable features highlighted. The xiangqi board is an uncheckered board that consists of a grid of ten horizontal lines and nine vertical lines. It is very important to remember that the pieces are placed on the intersections of these lines (called points) rather than inside the squares. The vertical lines are interrupted between the fifth and sixth ranks, creating a horizontal partition between the two camps known as the river. For most pieces the river has no effect on their movement, but the river can block or enhance the movement of two types of piece. On many Xiangqi boards the river is marked with the characters 楚河 (chǔ hé, "River of the Chu") and 漢界 (hàn jiè, "Border of the Han"), referencing a major battle in the Chu-Han War that took place between 206 BCE and 202 BCE. However these characters are solely aesthetic and have no impact on gameplay. The board also features two areas called palaces, located at the back of each player's camp. The palaces are denoted by diagonal lines that connect their corner points. Like the river the palaces normally have no effect on piece movement, but two types of piece start in the palace and are prohibited from leaving it. The vertical columns of points are called files, and are denoted using numbers beginning from each player's right. So the file at the far right of the board is called the 1st file, the file to the left of that is called the 2nd file, then the 3rd file, and so on until the 9th file at the far left of the board. Confusingly the file numbers for both player do not align - one player's 1st file is the other player's 9th file, one player's 2nd file is the other player's 8th file, and so on. Many commercial xiangqi boards will features a set of small markings at the front end of each player's camp. These are there to assist with placing certain pieces when setting up the board at the beginning of the game, but have no impact on gameplay. The pieces Xiangqi is played by two players, named Red and Black. Each player commands an army of sixteen pieces, which are flat circular discs marked with a Chinese character on the top denoting what type of piece it is. It is important to note that some of the pieces have the same character between both armies, whilst other pieces have different characters between the armies. For example, the general (the equivalent of the Western king) uses the character 帥 for Red and 將 for Black, while the chariots (the equivalent of Western rooks) use the character 車 for both armies. Also, the exact characters used may differ from set to set. Most xiangqi sets use traditional Chinese characters for the pieces but some use simplified characters, given in brackets below. There are seven types of piece in the game, as follows: +Xiangqi piecesName of pieceRed characterBlack characterNumber per army at game startOne-letter abbreviationWestern counterpartGeneral帥 (帅)將 (将)OneGKingAdvisor仕 or 士士TwoAQueenElephant相象TwoEBishopHorse傌 or 馬 (马)馬 (马)TwoHKnightChariot俥 or 車 (车)車 (车)TwoRRookCannon炮砲 or 炮TwoC(None)Solider兵卒FiveSPawn thumb|The initial setup of the board at game start. At the start of the game, the pieces are set up as follows: The general is placed on the central point of the back rank, inside the palace. The two advisors are placed on either side of the general. The two elephants are placed on either side of the advisors. This pattern repeats twice more with the horses and chariots. The two cannons are placed two points forward of the horses. The five soldiers are placed on the rank in front of the cannons, on the files of the chariots, elephants and general - many commercial boards have small crosses to aid in the cannon and solider placements. If the board is set up correctly, it should look like the diagram shown at right. Basic gameplay The basic gameplay of xiangqi is similar to that of Western chess. The two players take turns moving one piece at a time, aiming to place the enemy general in either checkmate or stalemate. Checkmate refers to the situation where the general is under threat of capture and its owner cannot remove this threat on their next move. Stalemate refers to the situation where one player has no legal move - unlike Western chess, in xiangqi stalemate is considered a win for the player delivering the stalemate. In casual games either player may make the first move, but in professional games Red always moves first. A player moves a piece by picking the piece up and placing it on a new point, according to its rules of movement. Once this is done the player's turn is over and the other player moves. Pieces may only move to a point if all the points in between the initial and destination points are free of other pieces (the exception being the cannon's capturing move). A piece may also move to a point occupied by an enemy piece - in doing so the enemy piece is captured, removed from the board and is out of play for the rest of the game. How the pieces move What follows is a description of the seven types of piece in xiangqi and how they move and capture. The general The black general is labelled with the character 將 (jiàng, "general"), and the red general is labelled with the character 帥 (shuái, "marshal"). In Simplified Chinese characters, these become 将 for Black and 帅 for Red. The general is the counterpart of the king in Western chess, and as such its safety is paramount - if the general is under threat of being captured and its owner cannot remove the threat, that player has lost the game. The general moves one point forward, backwards or sideways, provided its destination point is not under attack by an enemy piece. The general begins the game inside the palace and must remain inside it at all times. There is an important rule about the generals one must know: it is illegal, under any circumstance, for the two generals to occupy the same file with no intervening pieces in between. There exists a rule called the "flying general rule" (飛將), where one general may fly across the board to capture the other if such a position is created, but in practice the rule means the two generals cannot face each other in the first place. In the diagram below, the generals may move to any point indicated with a dot of their colour. The black general cannot move right out of the palace, and since the red general occupies the 5th file the black general cannot move left. left|frameless The advisor This piece is also known as the guard and less commonly as the assistant, the mandarin, the minister or the warrior. The black advisors are labelled with the character 士 (shì, "scholar"). The red advisors uses the same character but add the radical 亻(rén, "person") to make 仕. Some sets use 士 for both sides. The advisor is the counterpart of the queen in Western chess as the two pieces share a common ancestor. The advisor moves one point diagonally, and like the general it is forbidden from leaving the palace, which leaves it with five possible positions on the board. In the diagram below, the advisors may move to any point indicated with a dot of their colour. left|frameless The elephant This piece is also known as the minister. The black elephants are labelled with the character 象 (xiàng, "elephant") and the red elephants are labelled with the character 相 (xiàng, "minister"). The elephant is the counterpart of the bishop in Western chess. The elephant moves two points diagonally. It cannot jump over another piece in the way, so if a piece is diagonally adjacent to it the elephant cannot move past. This is referred to as "blocking the elephant's eye" (塞象眼). The elephant cannot cross the river and is confined to its side of the board. In the diagram below the red elephant may move to any point indicated with a red dot but it cannot move to the top-right (marked with a red cross) because the black horse is blocking its movement in that direction. The black elephant may move to either point indicated with a black dot. frameless The horse The black horse is labelled with the character 馬 (mǎ, "horse"). Many xiangqi sets use the same character for the red horse, but some add the radical 亻to make 傌. With Simplified characters, both colours use the character 马. The horse is the counterpart of the knight in Western chess. The horse moves in a similar "L" shape to the Western knight - the horse first steps one point forward, backward or sideways followed by one point diagonally outwards. However unlike the Western knight the horse cannot jump over other pieces - if another piece is horizontally or vertically adjacent to the horse, the horse cannot move past. This is called "hobbling the horse's leg" (蹩馬腿). Because the horse always steps orthogonally first, its path from one point to another is not the same as the reverse move. Therefore it is possible to create situations with two horses where one horse has an asymmetric attack advantage over the other. In the diagram below, at the left the red horse may move to any point indicated with a red dot. It cannot move right since the cannon obstructs its movement in that direction. At the right the red horse may capture the black horse, but the black horse cannot capture the red horse because the soldier blocks its movement. frameless The chariot The black chariot is labelled with the character 車 (jū, "chariot"). Like with the horse many xiangqi sets use the same character for the red chariot, but some add the radical 亻to make 俥. With Simplified characters, both colours use the character 车. The chariot is the counterpart of the rook in Western chess. The chariot moves in exactly the same manner as the Western rook - it may move any number of points forward, backward or sideways until it reaches an obstacle. In the diagram below the red chariot may move to any point indicated with a red dot. frameless The cannon The black cannon is labelled with the character 砲 (páo, "wrapped stone") and the red cannon with the character 炮 (páo, "wrapped fire"). However many xiangqi sets use 炮 for both sides. The cannon is the only xiangqi piece which has no Western counterpart. When moving passively, the cannon moves in exactly the same manner as the chariot. However, in order to capture an enemy piece there must be a third piece of either colour, called the screen, in between the cannon and the target piece. When capturing the cannon jumps over the screen and captures the first enemy piece immediately beyond it. The cannon may not jump when moving passively, only when capturing. It also cannot capture without jumping and cannot jump two pieces in one move. In the diagram below the red cannon may move to any point indicated with a red dot. It may also jump over the red chariot to capture the black soldier on the other side. It may not move past the black horse as there is nothing for the cannon to capture on the other side, and it may not capture the black horse as there is no screen for it to jump over. frameless The soldier The black soldier is labelled with the character 卒 (zú, "pawn" or "private") and the red soldier with the character 兵 (bīng, "soldier"). The soldier is the counterpart of the pawn in Western chess. The soldier may move one point forward, and unlike the Western pawn it captures in the same as it moves. Once the soldier crosses the river, it gains the additional ability to move one point sideways. Unlike a Western pawn a soldier is not promoted when it reaches the far end of the board, as it can still move sideways. In the diagram below the red soldiers may move to any point indicated with a red dot. frameless Additional rules Check, checkmate and stalemate If a player makes a move that places the opponent's general under threat of being captured, the opponent is said to be in "check". The opponent must use their next move to remove the threat to their general, which can be done in one of four ways - moving the general out of danger, interposing a piece between the general and the attacking piece, capturing the attacking piece or removing piece between the attacking piece and the general (if the attacking piece is a cannon). If a player is in check and has no legal move that removes the threat to their general, the player is in "checkmate" and they have lost the game. If a player has no legal move but is not in check, they are in "stalemate", which also results in a loss. Perpetual checks and chases It is forbidden to make moves that repeat the same board position with the same player to move over and over. The manner in which this prohibition is enforced varies from source to source, but according to club rules: If a player repeatedly checks the opposing general with the same piece(s) over and over (six times with one piece, twelve times with two pieces, eighteen times with three), the player is required to break off the sequence and make a different move. If they refuse to do so, they lose the game. Perpetually chasing an unprotected enemy piece with one's own pieces (excluding generals or soldiers) is similarly prohibited. If one side perpetually checks and the other perpetually chases, the checking player must break the cycle or risk losing. If both sides are checking or chasing, and neither makes a different move, the game ends in a draw. Insufficient material If there is not enough material left on the board for either player to force a checkmate or stalemate, the game ends in a draw. X Board games 25%