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Xiangqi, or Chinese Chess, is an extremely popular game in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is currently played by millions and perhaps even tens of millions, in China's mainland, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong and other Asian countries. Xiangqi has remained in its present form for centuries.
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The name Xiangqi has an interesting origin. Of China's four traditional arts -- qin (music), hua (brush painting), shu (calligraphy) and qi (strategy games) -- the latter term, qi, provides the final syllable of Xiangqi.
History
Chinese chess has a long history. Its origin has yet to be confirmed, but judging by its rules, we can assume that the origin of Chinese chess was closely related to military strategists in ancient China.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, wars were fought for a number of years at a time. A new chess game was patterned after the array of troops. This was the earliest form of Chinese chess.
During the Wei, Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, a kind of chess game was popular among the people. It laid the foundation for the finalized pattern of Chinese chess.
In ancient times, Chinese chess was always enjoyed by both highbrows and lowbrows.
During the reign of Suzong of the Tang Dynasty, Prime Minister Niu Sengru wrote a fake story about chess. That occurred during the Baoying period, so it was named Baoying chess. Baoying chess had six pieces. He wrote about the rules of chess. Baoying chess produced a significant influence on chess in subsequent years.
Three forms of chess took shape after the Song Dynasty. One of them consisted of 32 pieces. They were played on a chessboard with 9 vertical lines and 9 horizontal lines. Popular in those days was a chessboard without a river borderline. The Chu River and Han Borderline were added later. This form has lasted to this day.
With the economic and cultural development during the Qing Dynasty, Chinese chess entered a new stage. Many different schools of chess circles and chess players came into prominence. With the popularization of Chinese chess, many books and manuals on the techniques of playing chess were published. They played an important role in popularizing Chinese chess and improving the techniques of playing in modern times.
Board
Xiangqi is played on a board that is 9 lines wide and 10 lines long. In a manner similar to the game Go (Wéiqí 圍棋), the pieces are played on the intersections, which are known as points. The vertical lines are known as files, while the horizontal lines are known as ranks.
Centered at the first through third ranks of the board, is a square zone also mirrored in the opponent's territory. The three point by three point zone is demarcated by two diagonal lines connecting opposite corners and intersecting at the center point. This area is known as Gōng, the palace or fortress.
Dividing the two opposing sides (between the fifth and sixth ranks) is Hé, the river. The river is often marked with the phrases Chǔ Hé, meaning "Chu River", and 漢界 (in Traditional Chinese) or 汉界 (in Simplified Chinese) Hàn Jiè, meaning "Han border", a reference to the Chu-Han War. Although the river provides a visual division between the two sides, only a few pieces are affected by its presence: "soldier" pieces have an enhanced move after crossing the river, while "elephant" pieces cannot cross.
The starting points of the soldiers and cannons are typically marked with small crosses, but not all boards have these marks.
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Pieces
One player's pieces are usually painted red (or, less commonly, white), and the other player's pieces are usually painted black (or, less commonly, blue or green).
Xiangqi pieces are represented by disks marked with a Chinese character identifying the piece and painted in a color identifying which player the piece belongs to. Modern pieces are usually made with plastic, though some sets use pieces made of wood, and more expensive sets may use pieces made of jade. In more ancient times, many sets were simple unpainted woodcarvings; thus, to distinguish between the pieces of the two sides, most corresponding pieces use characters that are similar but vary slightly between the two sides.
The oldest Xiangqi piece found to date is in the Henan Provincial Museum.
In Mainland China, most sets still use traditional characters for the pieces.
Each player has the following pieces:
1 General
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The generals are labeled with the Chinese character 將 (trad.) / 将 (simp.) Jiàng (general) on the black side and 帥 (trad.) / 帅 (simp.) Shuài (marshal) on the red side. Legend has it that originally the pieces were known as emperors, but when an emperor of China heard about the game, he
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executed two players for "killing" or "capturing" the emperor piece. Future players called them generals instead. The general starts the game at the midpoint of the back edge (within the palace).
2 Advisors
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The advisors are labelled 士 Shì ("scholar", "gentleman", "officer") for black and 仕 Shì ("scholar", "official") for red. Rarely, sets use the character 士 for both colors. The advisors start to the sides of the general.
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2 Elephants
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The elephants are labeled 象 Xiàng (elephant) for black and 相 Xiàng (minister) for red. They are located next to the advisors.
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2 Horses
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The horses are labeled 馬 Mǎ for black and 傌 Mà for red in sets marked with Traditional Chinese characters and马 Mǎ for both black and red in sets marked with Simplified Chinese characters. Some traditional sets use 馬 for both colors. They begin the game next to the elephants.
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2 Chariots
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The chariots are labeled 車 for black and 俥 for red in sets marked with Traditional Chinese characters and 车 for both black and red in sets marked with Simplified Chinese characters. Some traditional sets use 車 for both colors. All of these characters are pronounced as Jū. The chariots
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begin the game on the points at the corners of the board. The chariot is considered to be the strongest piece in the game. The chariot is sometimes known as the "rook" by English speaking players, since it is similar to the rook in Western chess. Chinese players (and others) often call this piece a "car", since that is one modern meaning of the character 車. (The character 車 represents a top view of the box and wheels of a horse-drawn chariot; the vertical line is the axle, and the top and bottom horizontal lines are the two wheels.)
2 Cannons
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The cannons are labeled 砲 Pào for black and 炮 Pào for red. They are homophones. 砲 Pào means a "catapult" for hurling boulders. 炮 pào means "cannon". The 石 Shí radical of 砲 means "stone", and the 火 Huǒ part of 炮 means "fire". However, both are referred to as cannons in the game. The cannons start on the row behind the soldiers, two points in front of the horses.
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5 Soldiers
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The soldiers are labeled 卒 Zú (pawn / private) for black and 兵 Bīng (soldier) for red. Soldiers are placed on alternating points, one row back from the edge of the river. The soldier is sometimes known as the "pawn" by English speaking players, since it is similar to that piece in Western chess.
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Moves
| Chinese Pieces |
Movement |
Westernized Pieces |
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Chariot
The Chariot moves as would a regular Rook. |
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Horse
The Horse moves one point orthogonally, followed by one point outward-diagonally. It may not leap over occupied points. |
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Elephant
The Elephant moves exactly two points diagonally. It may not leap over occupied points. Also, Elephants are confined to their home side of the river. Due to these limitations, the Elephant can see only seven points of the board. |
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Advisor
The Advisor moves one point diagonally. It may never leave the palace. |
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General
The General moves as would a regular King, but cannot move diagonally. It may never leave the palace. The two Generals cannot face each other on an open file. If either General sits exposed on an open file, the other General may not move to occupy that file. |
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Cannon
The Cannon moves differently when it moves to capture than when it moves passively. The Cannon moves passively like a Rook. The Cannon moves to capture like a Rook which is required to hop over a single screen. In other words, the Cannon captures by hopping over a second piece in order to capture a third piece. A Cannon only captures when hopping and only hops when capturing. It may never hop over more than one piece in a given move. |
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Soldiers
Unlike regular Pawns, the Soldier's passive move and capture move are always the same. A starting Soldier moves one point straight-forward. A Soldier crossing the river proceeds, keeping its old move and gaining a new move -- a one-point step to either horizontal point. Soldiers do not advance on the last rank, where they can move only left or right. |
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Play
The pieces start in the position shown in the diagram above. Deciding which player moves first has varied throughout history, and also varies from one part of China to another. Some Xiangqi books state that the black side moves first; others state that the red side moves first. Also, some books may refer to the two sides as north and south; which direction corresponds to which color also varies from source to source. Generally, red goes first in most modern formal tournaments.
Each player in turn moves one piece from the point it occupies to another point. Generally pieces are not permitted to move through a point occupied by another piece. A piece can be moved onto a point occupied by an enemy piece, in which case the enemy piece is "captured" and removed from the board. A player cannot capture one of his own pieces. Pieces are never "promoted" (converted into other pieces), although the pawn / soldier is able to move sideways after it crosses the river.
Generally all pieces capture using their normal moves. Some pieces have special moves or capture moves, as described below.
The game ends when one player captures the other's general. When the general is in danger of being captured by the enemy player on his next move, the general is "in check" [將 (trad.) / 将 (simp.) Jiāng]. A check should be announced. If the general's player can make no move to prevent the general's capture, the situation is called "checkmate" [將軍 (trad.) / 将军 (simp.)].
Under some sets of rules, if the general is not actually taken for some reason, the other player does not lose and can continue playing. Under other rules, it is sufficient to reach checkmate.
A player with no legal moves left loses. In Xiangqi, a player (often with material or positional disadvantage) may attempt to check or chase pieces in a way that the moves fall in a cycle, forcing the opponent to draw the game. The following special rules are used to make it harder to draw the game by endless checking and chasing (regardless of whether the positions of the pieces are repeated or not):
- The side that perpetually checks with one piece or several pieces will be ruled to lose under any circumstances unless he or she stops the perpetual checking.
- The side that perpetually chases any one unprotected piece with one or more pieces will be ruled to lose under any circumstances unless he or she stops the perpetual chasing. Chases by generals and soldiers are allowed however.
- If one side perpetually checks and the other side perpetually chases, the perpetually checking side has to stop or be ruled to lose.
- When neither side violates the rules and both persist in not making an alternate move, the game can be ruled as a draw.
- When both sides violate the same rule at the same time and both persist in not making an alternate move, the game can be ruled as a draw.
Different sets of rules set different limits on what is considered "perpetual". For example, Club Xiangqi rules allow a player to check/chase six consecutive times using one piece, twelve times using two pieces, and eighteen times using three pieces before considering the check/chase a perpetual check/chase.
The above rules to prevent perpetual checking and chasing are popular, but they are by no means the only rules. There is a large number of confusing end game situations
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