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Xiangqi: Chinese Chess. Links and rules for Chinese Chess (Xiangqi). (9x10, Cells: 90) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Smitty wrote on Fri, Aug 23, 2002 06:16 AM UTC:Poor ★Good try but not informative enough. A person that know NUTS about chinese won't know what you are implying. Horse/ Knight in chinese is 'ma' NOT 'mao'. Cheers!
Sam wrote on Fri, Aug 30, 2002 12:54 AM UTC:Poor ★Notice you say the word points to describe where you put the pieces to play. Under Geometry A line has an infity number of points. Maybe you should use the word intersections to make it much easyer to understand where you place the pieces.
Robin wrote on Fri, Aug 30, 2002 11:58 AM UTC:Holy nitpick, Batman!
Sam wrote on Wed, Sep 4, 2002 12:11 AM UTC:I helped to make this page better but my name has not gone down on a thank you list. For example I pointed out that the elephant could only hit 7 spaces on the board. Your site said 8. You did change it and I did get a thank you but my name is no where on the page. If no body was thanked and recongazed then there would be no point to point out the mistakes on your page. I just want to give an idea.
Anonymous wrote on Wed, Sep 4, 2002 11:25 AM UTC:Sam, it's hard to recognize someone who won't even reveal his or her complete name.
<p>A list of recognized contributors to the Chess Variants Pages can be found at http://www.chessvariants.com/index/personq.php
Sam Zimmermann wrote on Thu, Sep 5, 2002 12:40 AM UTC:My full name is Sam Zimmermann. Now can you please add it to your list. Thank you very much.
Anonymous wrote on Wed, Nov 13, 2002 01:25 PM UTC:How to play Chinese chess
Ghost wrote on Sun, Nov 24, 2002 02:51 AM UTC:i wanna play xiangqi online wif other pple. but seems like it is hard to find. wat 2 do??? sien ah... so can u all pls tell mi where can i play. thanx.
Ghost wrote on Sun, Nov 24, 2002 02:52 AM UTC:be back next week.
a good place to play xiangqi by email is on richard's play-by-email server, all you need is an email account and it's free, and you should always be able to find opponents. <P>
http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv/
tran wrote on Sun, Nov 24, 2002 01:03 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★yahoolian2 wrote on Thu, Dec 5, 2002 05:38 AM UTC:Play xiangqi at <a href=http://www.clubxiangqi.com/>http://www.clubxiangqi.com/</a><br>Free and easy to use. Click Register on the website.
Javier wrote on Fri, Dec 6, 2002 09:40 PM UTC:Good ★★★★Good sites about XiangQi in English are hard to find. Here's a collection of essential web-sites and programs for XiangQi. ------------------ RULES/INTRODUCTION http://www.chessvariants.com/xiangqi.html Overall summary http://www.chessvariants.com/chinfaq.html rec.games.chinese-chess FAQ http://www.crockford.com/chess/xiangqi.html Introduction for chess players http://www.ishipress.com/cc-rules.htm Sam Sloan's introduction http://www.yutopian.com/go/ccLes/ccLes.html Yutopian's introduction http://www.xmission.com/~gastown/afi/ch_index.htm Chinese & Korean chess http://www.chesshub.com/cchess/tutorial/ Chesshub.com tutorial http://www.chesshub.com/cchess/rules/ Chesshub.com Asian rules http://www.acs.sch.edu.sg/acs_indep/eca/clubs/chinese_chess/guide.html Playing Guide ftp://weber.ucsd.edu/pub/dmckiern/XiangQi.pdf Essentials of Chinese & Korean Chess http://www.yutopian.com/chinesechess/chrules.pdf Basics of Chinese Chess http://www.cchess.com/rules/rules.htm Chinese Chess Net http://home1.gte.net/res1bup4/chess_intro.htm Introduction by Peter Donnelly --------------------- TUTORIAL AND STRATEGY http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/orient/xianglearn.html MSO World - 6 pages http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/universal.htm with Java - highly recommended! http://www.geocities.com/yccheok/tutorial/menu.html with Java - online only -------------------- SOFTWARE COLLECTIONS http://www.nchess.com/ http://www.geocities.com/yccheok/software.html http://tysung.cjb.net/xq/software/software.htm PLAYING SOFTWARE http://www.zillionsofgames.com/games/chinesechess-fd.html http://www.zillionsofgames.com/games/chinesechesswesternstyle.html Zillions of Games http://www.geocities.com/xqlearner/ http://xqlearner.ibid.com.cn (mirror site) Chinese Chess Learner Shareware playing/database - value: excellent http://www.nchess.com/cccmain.htm Coffee Chinese Chess Ver 0.4 java applet simple - value: good) http://www.cc-xiexie.com http://www.geocities.com/yccheok/software/xiexie.zip XieXie Strong playing program - value: excellent http://www.geocities.com/yccheok/software/miloches.zip Milo's Chinese Chess 2D and 3D - value: good http://cosoft.org.cn/project/showfiles.php?group_id=100 Mantis Chess Ver. 1.04 Tiny GNU program - value: average ------------------------ EDITOR/DATABASE SOFTWARE http://tysung.hypermart.net/cchview/m1.htm CChView Ver 3.5.0 Get disk 1 from xiangqi.rm-f.net/disk1.zip - value: good http://tysung.cjb.net/xq/software/cchview/help/main.htm CChView 4.3.5 - value: excellent http://www.nchess.com/xb.html XB Database Browser ver 1.1 Browsing only - value: good http://www.nchess.com/eon.htm Endgame database viewer Of xiaNqi For evaluating end-games - value: average http://www.nchess.com/ccwsetup.zip Chinese Chess World Ver 0.1 Trainer program with computer play - value: average ----- GAMES http://www.nchess.com/download.html Masters games http://tysung.cjb.net/xq/index.html Xiangqi Master Database - huge collection http://tysung.cjb.net/xq/software/cchview/help/main.htm Xiangqi Master Database - for CChView 4.3.5 http://xiangqi.rm-f.net/index.html Xiangqi Opening Studies -------------------------------- SERVERS REQUIRING GENERIC CLIENT (ICCS = Internet Chinese Chess Servers) http://xiangqi.com/ World Xiangqi League - site being revised telnet chess.homeylife.net 5555 (active!) Note: register by logging on with your chosen user handle, and when logged on type: 'register youremailaddress' ------------------- GENERIC ICCS client http://icompile.hypermart.net/xiangqi/ccctwin.htm CCCT Ver. 1.85 for ICCS - recommended! http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Cave/7230/coolclient01.zip http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Cave/7230/coolclient02.zip Cool Client Ver 1.1 for ICCS disk 1 & 2 --------------------------------- SERVERS REQUIRING SPECIFIC CLIENT http://www.chesssky.net/eindex.htm Movesky XiangQi http://www.chesssky.net/edownload.htm MoveSky XiangQi client Note: www.movesky.net is their old URL http://www.cchess.com/english-index.html CChess.com Chinese Chess Net http://www.cchess.com/download/englishdownload.html CChess.com client Ver. 4.5.8 Note: some parts of inteface are in Chinese, seems deserted ------------ JAVA SERVERS http://www.clubxiangqi.com/ Club XiangQi - most active/recommended http://www.chesshub.com Chess Hub - active - apparently $12 a year http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/universal.htm seems deserted? --------------------- PLAY BY EMAIL SERVERS http://www.itsyourturn.com slow play over several days http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv/ Play By Email Server ----------------------------------------- JAVA APPLETS FOR PLAYING AGAINST COMPUTER http://24.101.164.160/xq/computer/computer.htm Xiangqi Database http://private.addcom.de/dxb/ European Xiangqi Federation http://www.nchess.com/cccmain.htm Coffee Chinese Chess ------------------- LINKS AND RESOURCES http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dmckiern/xiang_qi.htm http://tysung.cjb.net/xq/index.html (Xiangqi Database - Peter Sung) http://www.geocities.com/yccheok/index.html http://www.nchess.com http://www.yutopian.com/chinesechess/ ------------------- XIANGQI FEDERATIONS http://wxf.hypermart.net/eg/index.html World XiangQi Federation http://private.addcom.de/dxb/ European XiangQi Federation http://www.asianxiangqi.org/ Asian XiangQi Federation http://tysung.cjb.net/xq/club/txa/txa.htm Toronto XiangQi Federation ----------- DISCUSSIONS rec.games.chinese-chess newsgroup http://www.nchess.com/forum Computer XiangQi Forum http://private.addcom.de/dxb/dxbforum.html European XiangQi forum http://24.102.146.141/xq/mlist.htm mailing list from WXF - World Xiangqi Federation - seems inactive ----------------- ARTICLES AND NEWS http://www.chez.com/cazaux/champions-xiangqi.htm Xiangqi Champions http://www.chesshub.com/faq/cchess/?L=players World's best players http://private.addcom.de/dxb/dxbhof.html Europe's best players http://www.chesshub.com/faq/cchess/?L=complex Space/State in Chess vs Chinese Chess http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/orient/xiang_lu_world.html World Champ vs World game 1 http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/orient/2xiang_lu_world.html World Champ vs World game 2 http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/orient/3Lu_world.html World Champ vs World game 3 http://www.yutopian.com/chinesechess/history.html history of XiangQi http://www.asianxiangqi.org/English/10axmit/EngAlbum1.htm Photographs http://www.sport.gov.mo/2001/en/xiangqi/index.phtml 2001 World XiangQi Championships http://www.cchess.com/others/others.html Chinese Chess and Culture
tuyen wrote on Thu, Dec 26, 2002 12:22 PM UTC:Good ★★★★matt wrote on Sun, Dec 29, 2002 12:51 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★exactly what i needed!!! i'm in china at the moment and i want to start to play chinese chess, this is the first step, i hope its easier than learning the language!!
dsvgsd wrote on Mon, Mar 3, 2003 09:50 AM UTC:Good ★★★★Charles Gilman wrote on Sun, Mar 9, 2003 11:06 AM UTC:Good ★★★★This is an interesting variant, but it is weakened by the fact that similar pieces on a side start on similar 'colours'. A way of solving this while keeping close to the original would be to increase to ten files to match the ranks, with 4-file-wide palaces. The general could replaced by a standard King and a capturable Wazir, both still confined to the fortress. Both middle files would have Chinese pawns. A further improvement would be allowing the elephants to capture en route.
Travis wrote on Sat, Mar 29, 2003 03:14 AM UTC:Poor ★Could you please tell the point value of each piece. Such as in Western Chess were the queen is worth 9 points and so on.
Anonymous wrote on Sat, Mar 29, 2003 05:42 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★Travis: what happens if no one knows them? anyway, Xiangqi is a pretty nice classic game.
Travis wrote on Mon, Mar 31, 2003 02:46 AM UTC:Poor ★I believe sombody has to know the point values, because Chinese Chess is the oldest form of chess.
Anonymous wrote on Mon, Mar 31, 2003 06:16 AM UTC:Actually, Chanturanga is the oldest form of chess.
Travis wrote on Tue, Apr 1, 2003 02:44 AM UTC:Can you prove that Chanturanga is the oldest form of chess. What sources can prove that it is the oldest form
I have checked the books in my library for values.
Terence Donelly, 'Hsiang Ch'i, The Chinese Game of Chess', and Dennis
Leventhal, 'The Chess of China', do not bring up the topic at all.
Sam Sloan, 'Chinese Chess for Beginners', discusses how a table of
values such as is used in FIDE chess is invalid.
H. T. Lau, 'Chinese Chess', gives:
9 Rook
4.5 Cannon
4 Knight
2 Counsellor
2 Minister
2 Pawn (after crossing river)
1 Pawn (before crossing river)
David Li, 'First Syllabus on Xiangqi', has an eight-page chapter with
six charts, which may be summarized:
Opening Midgame Endgame
10 10 10 Chariot
4.5 4.5 4 Cannon
1 1 1 Cannon, premium when paired
4 4.5 5 Horse
1 1 1 Horse, premium when paired
2.5 2.5 2.5 Advisor
2.5 2.5 2.5 Elephant
- 2 2 River-crossed Pawn
- - 1.5 Old Pawn (on last rank)
2 2 2 Center Pawn
.75 .75 .75 Other Pawns
There it is, for what it's worth.Anonymous wrote on Mon, May 26, 2003 04:23 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★Charles Gilman wrote on Sat, Jun 14, 2003 07:25 AM UTC:An anonymous contributor makes some implausible claims about the symbols in Xiang Qi in the 'Which came first' debate on the comments on the Chaturanga page (and I see a similar debate is going on here). He describes more pieces as having different symbols on each side than are so shown on this page. Is there any historic truth to what he says about the symbols?
Good question. Certainly the modern sets that I own only distinguish between the Kings, Elephants, and Pawns. However, book illustrations vary. Most only show the diffences noted, but some also differentiate the Cannons and Advisors. 'The Chess of China', Dennis A. Leventhal, 1978, shows all the pieces with differences between the sides. This book was published in China, and reprinted in Taiwan. What the actual historical usage is, I do not know. I also referred to 'Schachspiele in Ostasien', Peter Banaschak, 2001. I found no reference to it, but my German is weak, and I could well have missed it.
gnohmon wrote on Sun, Jun 15, 2003 03:52 AM UTC:I have a set in which only Rooks, Knights, and Cannons are the same for the two sides; however, I believe that I bought this xiang qi set in the late 1960s, and that the date of purchase predates the great simplification in which Mao's government reduced the number of ideograms in everyday use from 50,000 to 5000. Perhaps the great simplification changed the look of Xiang Qi?
Zdeno wrote on Sat, Aug 23, 2003 08:34 AM UTC:Good ★★★★Hue liako gojuik ask mail [email protected] . Kopta liu ertunduji eh djd Zdeno. Chess ji playing long time. [email protected]
hi wrote on Tue, Aug 26, 2003 05:26 AM UTC:Good ★★★★Anonymous wrote on Sun, Sep 7, 2003 05:04 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★I do not play for a very long time. That is why I rated myself poor.
The Cannons are the most interesting and difficult to use pieces in Xiangqi, and add much to the tactical potential of the game. The earliest versions of Xiangqi did not have the Cannons (gunpower was not invented back then), which made them much less tactically interesting than modern Xiangqi. Without the Cannons, one's attacking potential is a lot smaller. Cannons improved Xiangqi in a similar way to how the increased powers of the Queen improved Chess. Cannons were added to Chinese Chess during the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD) when gunpower based weapons were first used. The Cannon is a great Chinese invention (both on and off the Xiangqi board!). The Cannon as a chess piece is unique to Chinese Chess and variants derived from its lineage. (Such as Korean chess) If the primary European contribution to chess games is the invention of the powerful Queen, and the Japanese contribution is the invention of rules which allow one to use captured pieces as his/her own, then the Cannon, I believe, is the major Chinese contribution to the chess family of games. This piece combines the long-range mobility of line pieces and the penetrating power of leapers. It can strike at the opponent's positions from a distance like a Rook and penetrate through defensive lines to attack pieces behind them like a Knight. Rooks have long-range attack ability but can be obstructed easily with well defended pieces in their line of sight. Knights can 'see through' the opponent's defenses but can only attack from close range, where itself is often vulnerable. The Cannon combines the advantages of both line pieces and leapers in its attack. Tactically speaking, the interesting thing about the Cannon is that it is the only chess piece that can pin TWO pieces at the same time. This also means discovered attacks involving the Cannons can be more unpredictable. Two pieces in front of the Cannon have the potential to move off for the Cannon to strike at the opponent (With other chess pieces, only one piece would have this potential). When the Cannons double up to form a battery, their advantage over the Rooks is that they can directly strike two positions at once, with the Cannon at the rear using its companion in front as its screen, where the doubled Rooks can only attack one point.
Very interesting comments. I have to admit that I have not easily adapted to cannons, but your observations will make me take a fresh look at them. Thanks, Chen.
random wrote on Thu, Nov 27, 2003 04:52 AM UTC:Good ★★★★It's pretty good. Do you have the rules of Chinese Chess that Korean people play with? If you do, that'll be great!
random: please submit any descriptions of game variations to the editors using the 'contact form' at the top of the page. http://www.chessvariants.com/xiangqi.html Thanks!
Tony, I think you misunderstood what random was asking about. He's not offering a new variant; he is asking if we have the rules for Korean Chess. We do have them here: http://www.chessvariants.com/oriental.dir/koreanchess.html
I have a conjecture about the origin of Chinese Chess. It is known that there was an earlier version, played on a board ten squares by ten, uncheckered; Murray reproduces a reconstructed arrangement by Karl Himly, with the 'king' and 'queen' arranged fore-and-aft in the nine-castle. This is a crucial (in many ways!) error. The current Chinese Chess board, eight squares by nine with a nine-castle at each end and a river across the middle, is known to be older than Chinese Chess, and to have been used for two previous games. There is therefore no basis for drawing the nine-castle on the ten-by-ten-square board for the earlier version. There is also no basis for believing that the earlier board contained a central river. Take them away, and we have the plain ten-by-ten-square board of so many variants, including Shatranj al-Kamil I. It also has the same pieces as Shatranj al-Kamil I: A king, his attendant minister, two elephants moving as alfils, two knights or horses, two rooks, and two orthogonal leapers, with a front rank of pawns. I think therefore that when Chaturanga was introduced into China in the time of the Wei-ti Emperor, and he had the two players beheaded and forbade the use of any game with a piece representing an emperor or called such, Chaturanga was indeed driven out of China. A couple of centuries later Shatranj al-Kamil Type One was introduced along another trade route from Persia. Perhaps the players were informed of the previous edict, or perhaps it was just their native prudence that persuaded them to demote one king to governor and the other to general, each with his appropriate officer. They then moved the game to a native board, abandoning the race game for which that board must have been quite inconvenient. Since the commander-in-chief and his adjutant were now inside a fortress, they were forced to stay within its walls. The elephant, huge, heavy, and one imagines heavily laden, was ruled unable to cross the river. The orthogonal leaper was changed from a camel to a catapult, or cannon, capable of destroying its victim even past a screen, but moving along the ground. The rook, or chariot, was left unchanged, and the pawn and horse were slightly modified for reasons that I don't see.
<p>The odd thing is that Murray almost worked this out himself; he remarked on the great similarity between the earlier Chinese game of chess and the Persian variants. I think it was only the spurious nine-castle on Himly's diagram that prevented him from seeing the obvious.
Bjorn wrote on Wed, Dec 10, 2003 06:06 AM UTC:Poor ★How to Download the game Xiangqi
John Ayer's 'orthogonal leapers' are presumably the piece now called a Dabbaba as that was the extra piece in Shatranj Kamil, to 'complete' a family with the diagonal Elephant and oblique Knight. However the Elephant and Knight of present-day Xiang Qi are steppers - they need to pass through a square adjacent to both start and destination. Would the Dabbaba of the intermediate game have been a stepper rather than a leaper? is ther any evidence of Xiang Qi ever having leaping pieces?
Yes, I was speaking of the dabbaba(h). As for whether Chinese Chess ever had a leaper, I doubt anyone knows. Murray quotes a later Chinese work on chess, I suspect from the Ming dynasty, remarking on how little they knew of how chess was played in the Tang and Sung periods, except that it was obviously different.
You discribe the stuff very good.
Help! Can anyone help me? I used to enjoy playing Chinese Chess in a site named 'tysung.cjb.net/xq/index.html It is now gone, where is it now?
Error wrote on Sun, Jan 11, 2004 08:43 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★can i copy the texts here to my homepage? i will claim the texts are copied from 'www.chessvariants.com' in my HP ng goi ar.....
Anonymous wrote on Mon, Jan 12, 2004 05:22 PM UTC:Good ★★★★http://wxf.hypermart.net/eg/index.html 'Deceptive Play in Xiangqi Openings And Countermeasures' I downloaded the free English e-book but do not know how to read its notation system Any helps?
Check out http://www.aikidoaus.com.au/dojo/docs/chinese_chess/notation.htm
Seongmo Yoon wrote on Tue, Feb 3, 2004 06:19 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★Thanks, John! This is from another source I can use this and your reference to know of Chinese chess notation. >>From what I remember Lau just used a straightforward translation of >>the Chinese move notation which has been used for a long time. If you >>have in Chinese language books you can verify this. > > > I don't have Chinese books (as I unfortunately don't read Chinese); but > Lau used a pure algebraic notation. The standard notation uses a > system with the symbols +, -, = to denote moves forward, back, or side- > ward. Lau's notation is actually easier to follow but no one else uses it, > so the student has to discard it and learn the standard notation later. He simply uses english characters to represent the same thing. From what I could tell his notation is easily translatable into [WA]XF by replacing f,b,t with +,-,=. I may have the characters wrong, but in general he uses the Chinese notation with english characters just as [WA]XF uses chinese notation with mathematical symbols. You should learn the characters needed to read chinese notation. Its really only a few symbols more than the pieces. You have front, back, side, and the numbers 1-9.
Seongmo Yoon wrote on Wed, Feb 4, 2004 04:59 AM UTC:www.aikidoaus.com.au by the way, this link leads me to an Aikido site. Aikido is a Japanese martial art. Interesting :) I practiced Aikikai aikido for a few months before. Aikikai aikido is the most smooth and soft type of Aikido. Do Aussy people practice Aikido?
It is a good start for beginners in understanding one of the greatest game, in my opinion, ever created. As to the question of Seongmo Yoon, the website with those free e-books on Chinese Chess requires a program called Adobe Acrobat to view. You can find the software free to download almost anywhere on the internet, just search for the program through google or you can probably find it on Download.com. It was a great site for would be chinese chess players...highly recommended: http://wxf.hypermart.net/eg/index.html Thanx Seongmo Yoon. hopes this comment helps.
Larson wrote on Thu, Feb 26, 2004 06:51 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★IS there a way for you to include link to the online multiplayer 3D Chinese chess game I created? http://chess.hanamifx.com/
dfs
Hi, all xiangqi friends, i would like to introduce the following free
online chess, come and join, all xiangqi players over the world.
http://www.clubxiangqi.com
cychong
[email protected]
MalaysianJeremy Craner wrote on Sat, Apr 17, 2004 07:33 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★<p>This is a great site for beginners, and wannabes too, like me. =)
<p>[shameless plug] If you are new to Xiangqi, you might like my free Windows game. It has a range of computer AI levels (not all mine) and a nice interface. Check it out at <a href='http://www.jcraner.com/qianhong/'>http://www.jcraner.com/qianhong/</a>. Happy gaming!
w L wrote on Sat, May 29, 2004 08:13 AM UTC:Good ★★★★good
XiangQi is a very good game, the more you play it, the more you find it clever and elegant. Not able to read the chinese language, I found 4 very good books on XiangQi, written by David H.Li. The titles are : 'First Syllabus on XiangQi - Chinese Chess 1', 'Syllabus on Cannon - Chinese Chess 2', 'Syllabus on Elephant - Chinese Chess 3' 'Syllabus on Pawn - Chinese Chess 4' These books use the notation given by the WXF and greatly improved my knowledge and game level.
W.H. King wrote on Sat, Jun 12, 2004 07:54 PM UTC:Good ★★★★There is another place to find a key to the piece movement notation in the WXF's English Xiangqi Books. Actually, at the same site from where the books are downloaded, the WXF homepage...
http://wxf.hypermart.net/eg/index.html
The key is not on the books page. Instead, go to drop down menu 'SELECT A CATEGORY' | 'WXF ORGANIZATION' ... ... Official Piece Names and Notation'.
My, they hid that key alright!
My roommate just came back from China, and she brought me a Chinese Chess board, but it had no instructions. This website is GREAT! The visual setup of the pieces is just what I needed.
A. DaRocha
<a href='http://www.darocha.org'>www.darocha.org</a>
<a href='http://www.xtremeburn.com'>www.xtremeburn.com</a>
Brandon Wallace wrote on Sat, Jul 17, 2004 11:16 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★I recently visited China on a student tour. I was absolutely fascinated with the many groups of raggedy men gathered around a game board. So I, of course found the name of the game and ensured that I'd learn it when I got in the states. And after searching many-a-many sites to learn I was only dissapointed. This site- your site- however, has fully satisfied my curiosity. I am gratefull to have found such a nice mentor site.
Anonymous wrote on Sat, Jul 24, 2004 10:12 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★thanks!
Do you know <i>why</i> the symbols on most Red pieces are different <BR>
from the symbols on the corresponding Black pieces?
The reason the characters are different from what I hear is that in ancient times xiangqi is played with pieces that are not differentiated by color. So the characters and the shape of the base were ways in which the two sides are differentiated.
Anonymous wrote on Fri, Jul 30, 2004 04:14 PM UTC:Also, what do the symbols on each of the pieces mean?
Anonymous wrote on Thu, Aug 12, 2004 06:20 AM UTC:Good ★★★★I Think you should also post the traditional characters for the pieces instead of just the simplified ones.
Charles Gilman wrote on Tue, Sep 21, 2004 08:24 AM UTC:The idea that the differing symbols for similar opposing pieces were necessary long ago ties in with the Cannon, a latecomer to the game, being one of the pieces for which both armies use the same symbol.
Anonymous wrote on Sat, Oct 9, 2004 04:40 PM UTC:Good ★★★★Xin Ying wrote on Thu, Dec 30, 2004 03:45 PM UTC:Poor ★There wasn't any conclusions i could find for the game... but as a chinese, i admit that i like this game a lot even though i do not play it often...
What a site! For a lover of fairy chess etc. like me. Years ago I saw this beatiful chess set and wanted it, but could not afford to pay D. kr. 1.500 (appr. 300 dollars). This Christmas my girlfriend gave it to me! I never told her my wish, so it is simply the best Christmas present I have recived, ever. It is very beautiful, a smaller copy of the terracotta figures from the grave of Qin Shi Huang Di, first emperor of China - much more visual than Chinese characters. The ministers and guards are very alike, though (anyone else out there who has a set and knows which one has a split hair-do and which one does not?) She worried that it was not standard chess. I thought great that it is not, though rules did not follow (and I thought Chinese and Japanese chess were the same...), so we picked up some simple, and flawed rules on the Internet. I have played several games with my self or the kids. We have made three major mistakes: 1. The ministers (elephants) could leap (minor mistake actually). 2. I thought the way the horse moved was in a simple L-shape: One step orthogonally and two steps to the side - or two steps, then one step. This gives some other points where one cannot leap, including different opening options. 3. Great mistake: I thought the cannons could only capture a token directly behind another token (in stead of the great leap for cannon-kind of the real rules), which makes it a rather weak token in it self. Glad you set me straight on all points, though I will recommend my 'wrong variant', which gives a very complicated and defensive game (with some tendency to produce tied games). The 'wrong horse moves' I will recommend in general, for variation. Looking forward to testing out your variants and the Chorean chess on the board...
mhau wrote on Mon, Jan 17, 2005 10:20 PM UTC:Good ★★★★I managed to find a Xiang Qi set at a 'Value World' a few days ago that didn't include any directions whatsoever. This page was/is a great help!
one rule in Xiangqi is : Perpetual check is forbidden. You cannot check your opponent more than three times in a row with the same piece and same board positions. But the software do not understand it. The device check me no-limitted in a row wiht the same piece and same board positions. i have to give up.
I have found a 'Chinese chess board' with 'material pieces': http://www.mastersgames.com/cat/board/chinese-chess.htm But it's expensive.
This comment is now obsolite. I already submitted 'Para-Xiang-qi'.
There is now a Piececlopedia entry for the General itself, to which you may wish to add a link.
sound as £5
From: chinese-chess-xiang-qi.dev.java.net : '...Because of the huge number of players in China and the rest of Asia, Chinese Chess is 'the' most popular game in the world...' There is not support for this statement, and, in my personal opinion, it is not true, even if you are only talking about board games, and even if you are only talking about Chess and variants.
Roberto, I'd like to point out that as of right now, when one Googles 'chessvariants,' the first related page that comes up under the main listing is this Xiang-Qi page. If that isn't a good indicator of this game's popularity variant-wise, if not game-wise in general, I don't know what is. (Incidentally, a search for 'xiangqi' gives this page second in the list, and a search for 'xiang-qi' or 'chinese chess' gives it first.)
Your readers might be interested in my free Chinese Chess program for Windows called Qianhong (Light Red)--it provides a good way to get into the game without previous Chinese Chess experience. Would you mind adding it to the list of links? Thanks! www.jcraner.com/qianhong/
I just played Xiangqi today and it charmed me and everybody who played it today. Excellent game. Much better then the classic chess.
try out shogi (japanese chess) and you will find another game better than 'classical' chess he he
Rules are well explained. Just wonder if there's forum dedicated to xiangqi discussion?
PLAY BY EMAIL SERVERS : brainking.com recently included xiangqi!
i really like the cannons in xiangqi... and the fact that the game itself
develops more quickly than 'fide' ... also that once the pieces become a
bit unbalanced, the 'losing' side still seems to be able to mount an
attack... in other words, material superiority is not as important as in
'fide'... one thing i really miss in chinese chess... there are no
powerful bishops... but interestingly, the elephant can 'ambush' you
because you forgot about it!... i don't know how many pieces i've lost
to the otherwise 'weak' elephants... all because i forget, and the
elephant does not forget!... i actually prefer xiangqi to 'fide'... i'm
probably 'lower intermediate' level in both games... but they sure are
fun!... anyway... getting back to the cannon... it is a very interesting
piece... probably the single most interesting piece in either fide or
xiangqi... when you cross over from fide to xiangqi... the cannon takes
the most getting used to... at least that was my experience... finally,
another site where you can play xiangqi is 'www.itsyourturn.com'... they
have turn-based like brainking... i have seen some clubxiangqi players at
iyt too...
Compared with the Western chess, I find this game is a lot more exciting. Only 5 pawns with a distance between them make roads for pieces come to the enemy's territory and organize an attack. There are much less draws than in Western chess, and you cannot play passively hoping for a draw if you don't want to fight, the enemy's forces will overwhelm you soon. The battle here is more fiery than in its counterpart and draw is only achieved through a fight with a lot of exchanges. This game has less regard on material, you could be several pawns or one piece down but you have chances to attack the enemy's King, it is ok since the king is limited in His Royal Palace. Sacrifices of pieces are seen in almost every 3 games, and two rooks (the strongest offensive piece) sacrifice is seen in around, say, 5000 games.
for learn more skill
I am primarily giving this 'excellent' to offset the 'ekon' comment of 'Poor' followed by the ekon statement of 'for learn more skill.' What kind of comment is that, aside from being terrible grammatically? The Xianqi page clearly explains the rules of Chinese Chess. The page is not 'poor,' nor is the game. If one already knows how to play and wants to get better then he or she can (a) play more games of Xianqi and (b) read one or more of the books listed in the 'Shop' section of the Xianqi page.
I love xiangqi, and I'd like to see 'mao' on this page finally changed to 'ma'. Referring to the horse in xiangqi as a 'mao' caused me no small amount of embarassment when playing with a young Chinese woman at our weiqi club! Let's make this page an accurate source of information, rather than continuing to cite an author who was mistaken.
Thanks for the page!
One small suggestion would be a mention of Gabriel's totally different offering as Chinese Chess. As someone might pick it up in a thrift store, and find they'd made a mistake based on your excellent description, a warning seems considerate.
Mind you, Gabriel's version fascinates me as no one 'owns' pieces.
a lot of good info good for my chess report
Very interesting
very good for me to know. Now i can play chinese chess. :)
hey here is another 'good' rating for an 'excellent' game :)
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