George Duke wrote on Wed, Jan 11, 2017 09:07 PM UTC:
Xiangqi has only one piece of interest, the Cannon, a great idea and probably the best Hopper we can think of -- along with its diagonal equivalent Vao by T.R. Dawson. The challenge of Xiangqi then comes from the sections of the board, the Palace and the division into two, not creative pieces like the Japanese were able to do for so long in large Shogis. There is less potential applicability by Chinese Chess to Western Chess, that is real Chess, than say Grande Acedrex or Carrera's or even carefully-chosen Shogi short-range pieces. I will re-make the boards demonstrating unaesthetic positions from BN and RN not engendered by more logical Queen (and company). An argument against Carrera's two is that they do not get paired as individual types. One cannot exist without the other, and there is no way to tell which of the three pairs is best RB and RN, or RB and BN, or RN and BN. Just plugging in all three is too powerful piece-mix up to 81 squares. Here is one CV that does single out Centaur: Janus, dispensing with Champion. Janus may be more effective than Carrera's or Seirawan's or especially low-density Grand Chess, but Janus is not much better than those.
Xiangqi has only one piece of interest, the Cannon, a great idea and probably the best Hopper we can think of -- along with its diagonal equivalent Vao by T.R. Dawson. The challenge of Xiangqi then comes from the sections of the board, the Palace and the division into two, not creative pieces like the Japanese were able to do for so long in large Shogis. There is less potential applicability by Chinese Chess to Western Chess, that is real Chess, than say Grande Acedrex or Carrera's or even carefully-chosen Shogi short-range pieces. I will re-make the boards demonstrating unaesthetic positions from BN and RN not engendered by more logical Queen (and company). An argument against Carrera's two is that they do not get paired as individual types. One cannot exist without the other, and there is no way to tell which of the three pairs is best RB and RN, or RB and BN, or RN and BN. Just plugging in all three is too powerful piece-mix up to 81 squares. Here is one CV that does single out Centaur: Janus, dispensing with Champion. Janus may be more effective than Carrera's or Seirawan's or especially low-density Grand Chess, but Janus is not much better than those.