Xiangqi board with pieces in their starting positions |
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| Genre(s) | Board game |
|---|---|
| Players | 2 |
| Setup time | Under one minute |
| Playing time | Informal games: may vary from 20 minutes to several hours Blitz games: up to 10 minutes |
| Random chance | None |
| Skill(s) required | Tactics, strategy |
| Xiangqi | |||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 象棋 | ||||||||||||||||
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Xiangqi (Chinese: 象棋; pinyin: Xiàngqí), also known as Chinese chess, is a two-player Chinese board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, shogi, Indian chess and janggi. It is one of the most popular board games in China. Besides China and areas with significant ethnic Chinese communities, xiangqi (cờ tướng) is also a popular pastime in Vietnam.
The game represents a battle between two armies, with the object of capturing the enemy's general (king). Distinctive features of xiangqi include the cannon (pao), which must jump to capture; a rule prohibiting the generals from facing each other directly, and areas on the board called the river and palace, which restrict the movement of some pieces; and placement of the pieces on the intersections of the lines on the board, rather than within the squares.
The name xiangqi means "elephant game", a reference to the bishops:
Contents |
Xiangqi is played on a board that is 9 lines wide by 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 宮 , the palace or fortress.
Dividing the two opposing sides (between the fifth and sixth ranks) is 河 hé, the river. The river is often marked with the phrases 楚河 , meaning "Chu River", and 漢界 (in Traditional Chinese). , 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.
The pieces start in the position shown in the diagram above. 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.[1]
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. One piece has a special capture move, 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 enemy player is said to have "delivered a check" (simplified Chinese: 照将/将军; traditional Chinese: 照將/將軍, abbreviated (simplified Chinese: 将; traditional Chinese: 將; pinyin: jiāng)) and the general is said to be "in check". 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" (simplified Chinese: 将死; traditional Chinese: 將死).
Unlike Chess, in which a stalemate is a draw, in xiangqi, 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):
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.[2]
The above rules to prevent perpetual checking and chasing are popular, but they are by no means the only rules. There are a large number of confusing end game situations.[3]
The pieces are flat circular disks, each with a Chinese character on, sometimes engraved into the surface. The black pieces are marked with somewhat different characters from the corresponding red pieces; this practice may have originated in situations where there was only one material available to make the pieces from and no coloring material available to distinguish the opposing armies.
The generals are labelled with the Chinese character 將 (trad.) / 将 (simp.) (general) on the black side and 帥 (trad.) / 帅 (simp.) (marshal) on the red side.
The general starts the game at the midpoint of the back edge (within the palace). The general may move and capture one point orthogonally. The two generals may not face each other in the same file with no intervening pieces.
If that happens, the "flying general" (飛將) move may be executed, in which one general may "fly" across the board to capture the enemy general. In practice this rule is only used to enforce checkmate. The general may not leave the palace except when executing the "flying general" move.
The Indian name "king" for this piece was changed to "general" because China's rulers objected to their royal title "king" or "emperor" being given to a game-piece.[4]
The advisors (also known as guards or ministers, and less commonly as assistants, mandarins, or warriors) are labelled 士 ("scholar", "gentleman", "officer") for black and 仕 ("scholar", "official") for red. Rarely, sets use the character 士 for both colours.
The advisors start to the sides of the general. They move and capture one point diagonally and may not leave the palace, which confines them to five points on the board. They serve to protect the general.
The advisor is probably derived from the mantri in chaturanga, like the queen in Western chess.
The elephants are labeled 象 xiàng (elephant) for black and 相 xiàng (minister) for red. They are located next to the advisors. These pieces move and capture exactly two points diagonally and may not jump over intervening pieces (the move is described as being like the character 田 Tián [field]). If an elephant is blocked by an intervening piece, it is known as "blocking the elephant's eye" (塞象眼). They may not cross the river; thus, they serve as defensive pieces.
Because an elephant's movement is restricted to just seven board positions, it can be easily trapped or threatened. Typically the two elephants are used to defend each other.
The Chinese characters for "minister" and "elephant" are homophones () and both have alternative meanings as "appearance" or "image". However, both are referred to as elephants in the game.
The horses are labelled 馬 for black and 傌 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 colours. They begin the game next to the elephants. A horse moves and captures one point orthogonally and then one point diagonally away from its former position, a move which is traditionally described as being like the character 日 Rì. The horse does not jump as the knight does in Western chess. Thus, if there were a piece lying on a point one point away horizontally or vertically from the horse, then the horse's path of movement is blocked and it is unable to move in that direction. Note, however, that a piece two points orthogonally or a single point away diagonally would not impede the movement of the horse. Blocking a horse is also known as "hobbling the horse's leg" (蹩馬腿). The diagram on the left illustrates the horse's movement.
Since horses can be blocked, it is sometimes possible to trap the opponent's horse. It is possible for one player's horse to attack the opponent's horse while the opponent's horse is blocked from attacking, as seen in the diagram on the right.
The chariots are labelled 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 . The chariot moves and captures any distance orthogonally, but may not jump over intervening pieces. The chariots 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 like 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 cannons are labelled 砲 for black and 炮 pào for red. They are homophones. Sometimes 炮 is used for both red and black.
砲 pào means a "catapult" for hurling boulders. 炮 pào means "cannon". The 石 shì radical of 砲 means 'stone', and the 火 huǒ radical of 炮 means 'fire'. However, both are normally referred to as cannons in English.
In xiangqi, each player has two cannons. The cannons start on the row behind the soldiers, two points in front of the horses. Cannons move like the chariots, any distance orthogonally without jumping, but can only capture by jumping a single piece (whether it is friendly or enemy) along their path. The cannon may not jump over intervening pieces if not capturing another piece, nor may it capture without jumping. The piece which the cannon jumps over is called the 炮臺 (trad.) / 炮台 (simp.) pào tái ("cannon platform"). Any number of unoccupied spaces may exist between the cannon and the cannon platform, or between the cannon platform and the piece to be captured, including no spaces (the pieces being adjacent) in both cases. Cannons are powerful pieces at the beginning of the game when platforms are plentiful, and are used frequently in combination with chariots to achieve checkmate. Although cannons can be exchanged for a horse immediately from their starting positions, this is usually not favorable, in part due to the superiority of cannons over horses at the beginning of the game. The two cannons, when used together, can form a check that cannot be stopped easily. As they line up in the attack against the opposing general, the back cannon checks the general while the front cannon, serving as the platform, prohibits blocking for the opposing side. The opposing side can only move the general, capture the back cannon, or block between the two cannons.
Each side has five soldiers, labelled 卒 (pawn/private) for black and 兵 (soldier) for red. Soldiers are placed on alternating points, one row back from the edge of the river. They move and capture by advancing one point. Once they have crossed the river, they may also move (and capture) one point horizontally. Soldiers cannot move backward, and therefore cannot retreat; however, they may still move sideways at the enemy's edge when it has advanced to the last rank of the board.
The soldier is sometimes known as the "pawn" by English speaking players, since it is similar to that piece in Western chess.
| Piece | Point(s) |
| Soldier before crossing the river | 1 |
| Soldier after crossing the river | 2–3 |
| Advisor | 2 |
| Elephant | 2 |
| Horse | 4.5 |
| Cannon | 5 |
| Chariot | 9–10 |
These approximate values do not take into account positional advantages. For example, the chariot at the corner in the beginning of the game is not very useful, but it can be moved to points where it affects the game much more, for example near the center of the board or the opponent's palace. Also, the value of a cannon drops as the game goes on due to having fewer platforms for use in capturing, while the value of the horse increases slightly due to fewer obstructions. Although the chariot has the highest value of 9–10 points, players will often in certain game scenarios value a cannon or horse at or more than the level of a chariot due to the cannon's unique attack style. What is left on the board is also important to the value of a piece. For example, in a mid or late game, if red still has two chariots and black has one advisor left, that advisor is very valuable for black because it is very easy for red to checkmate with two chariots if black does not have an advisor.
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 colour identifying which player the piece belongs. In mainland China, most sets still use traditional Chinese characters (as opposed to simplified Chinese characters) for the pieces. Modern pieces are usually made of 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 a 俥 (chariot) piece. It is kept in the Henan Provincial Museum.
There are several types of notation used to record xiangqi games. In each case the moves are numbered and written with the same general pattern.
It is clearer but not required to write each move pair on a separate line.
The book The Chess of China[5] describes a move notation in which the ranks of the board are numbered 1 to 10 from closest to farthest away, followed by a digit 1 to 9 for files from right to left. Both values are relative to the moving player. Moves are then indicated as follows:
[piece name] ([former rank][former file])-[new rank][new file]
Thus, the most common opening in the game would be written as:
A notational system partially described in A Manual of Chinese Chess[6] and used by several computer software implementations describes moves in relative terms as follows:
[single-letter piece abbreviation][former file][operator indicating direction of movement][new file, or in the case of purely vertical movement, number of ranks traversed]
The file numbers are counted from each player's right to each player's left.
In case there are two identical pieces in one file, symbols + (front) and – (rear) are used instead of former file number. Direction of movement is indicated via an operator symbol. A plus sign is used to indicate forward movement. A minus sign is used to indicate backwards movement. A dot or period or equal sign is used to indicate horizontal or lateral movement. If a piece (such as the horse or elephant) diagonally, then the plus or minus sign is used rather than the period.
Thus, the most common opening in the game would be written as:
The single letter piece abbreviations are
| Piece | Initial(s) |
| Advisor | A |
| Cannon | C |
| Chariot | R* |
| Elephant | E |
| General | G |
| Horse | H |
| Soldier | S |
*for Rook, because using C would conflict with the letter for Cannon
Letters are used for files and numbers for ranks. File "a" is on Red's left and rank "1" is nearest to Red. A point's designation does not depend on which player moves; for both sides "a1" is the lowest left point from Red's side.
[single-letter piece abbreviation][former position][capture indication][new position][check indication][analysis]
Pieces are abbreviated as for system 2, except that no letter is used for the soldier.
Former position is only indicated if necessary to distinguish between two identical pieces that could have made the move. If they share the same file, indicate which rank moves; if they share the same rank, indicate which file moves. If they share neither rank or file then the file is indicated.
Capture is indicated by "x". No letter is used to indicate a non-capturing move.
Check is indicated by "+", double check by "++", triple check by "+++", and quadruple check by "++++". Checkmate is indicated by "#".
For analysis purposes, bad moves are indicated by "?" and good moves by "!". These can be combined if the analysis is uncertain ("!?" might be either but is probably good; "?!" is probably bad) or repeated for emphasis ("??" is a disaster).
Thus, the most common opening in the game would be written as:
An example of a brief game ("the early checkmate") is:
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Black is mated and therefore loses the game. Notice how Red's doubled cannons can't be blocked, and that the general can't move off the file either. |
Because of the size of the board and the low number of long-range pieces, there is a tendency for the battle to focus on a particular area of the board.
There are several tactics common to games in the chess family, including xiangqi. Some common ones are briefly discussed here; see Chess tactics for more details.
| Fork | Pin | Skewer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The horse forks the soldier and the chariot. |
The cannon is pinned by the chariot. |
The chariot is skewering the general and chariot. When the general moves, the chariot can be taken. |
| Triple check | Quadruple check | Triple check, alternate position | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Red's horse has moved from e5 to d7, giving check and exposing a double check from chariot and cannon. |
Red's chariot has moved from f9 to e9, giving check and exposing a triple check from cannon and both horses. |
Red's chariot discovers two checks from the horses and gives check itself. |
Usually, the soldiers do not support each other unless the player has no better move. This is because from the initial position, it takes a minimum of 5 moves of a soldier to allow twin soldiers to protect each other.
The two chariots are not normally lined up together as they are the most powerful pieces and in doing so, a player risks losing one chariot to an inferior piece of the enemy. Depending on the situation, it may be advantageous to position a chariot at one of the corners of the enemy's side of the board, where it is very difficult to dislodge, and threatens the enemy general.
It is common to use the cannons independently to control particular ranks and files. Using a cannon to control the middle file is often considered vital strategy, because it helps to lock certain pieces such as the advisors and elephants in certain positions to prevent a check. The two files adjacent to the middle file are also considered important and horses and chariots can be used to push for checkmate here.
The two cannons on the same file is also a powerful formation. For example, the rear cannon threatens the general. Moving a piece in front of the cannons to block the attack does not work, because then the front cannon will attack the general.
A common defensive configuration is to leave the general at its starting position, deploy one advisor and one elephant on the two points directly in front of the general, and to leave the other advisor and the other elephant in their starting positions, to the side of the general. In this setup, the paired-up advisors and elephants support each other, and the general is immune from attacks by cannons. However, with the loss of a single advisor or elephant, the general becomes vulnerable to cannons, and this setup may need to be abandoned. The defender may move advisors or elephants away from the general, or even sacrifice them intentionally, to ward off attack by a cannon.
The most common opening pair of moves |
Since the left and right flank of the starting setup are symmetrical and therefore equivalent, it is customary to always make the first move from the right flank. Starting on the left flank is considered to be needlessly confusing.
The most common opening is to move the cannon to the central column, an opening known as 當頭炮 (trad.) / 当头炮 (simp.) dāng tóu pào = "appropriate start cannon". The most common reply is to advance the horse on the same flank. Together, this move-and-response is known by the rhyme 當頭炮，馬來跳 (trad.) / 当头炮，马来跳 (simp.) . The notation for this is "1. 炮 (32)–35, 馬 (18)–37" or "1. C2.5 H8+7". See also the diagrams to the right.
This is usually followed by the most common second move, 出車 (trad.) / 出车 (simp.) chū jū—"chariot sortie"—in which the first player moves a chariot forward one space (usually the right one – moving the left one loses the horse, and even if the defender manages to trap the cannon with his/her chariots, the cannon can simply take the nearest advisor resulting in a net gain of an advisor in material for the other side and the maneuver to trap the cannon loses time allowing the opponent to bring out other pieces).
The most common reply is to move the right advisor diagonally. 上士 shàng shì. This is to prevent a series of events that leads to the first player quickly checkmating the second.
Less common first moves include:
General advice for the opening includes rapid development of at least one chariot, because it is the most powerful piece and the only long-range piece besides the cannon. There is a saying that only a poor player does not move a chariot in the first three moves. It may not be a bad move to develop one horse to the edge of the board, for example, to avoid being blocked by one of one's own soldiers that cannot advance. Usually, at least one horse should be moved to the middle.
Xiangqi has a long history. Its ancestor is believed to be the Indian chess game of chaturanga,[7] though its precise origins have not yet been definitely confirmed; there are some indications that the game may have been played as early as the third century BC, during the Warring States Period. (See chess in early literature and timeline of chess.) Judging by its rules, xiangqi was apparently closely related to military strategy in ancient China. The ancient Chinese game of Liubo may have had an influence as well.
The distinctive features of xiangqi may have come from an earlier Chinese board game (perhaps a war-type game) with the same name. Because in an astronomical context 象 xiang may mean "constellation" or "asterism" (a figure of stars), early Chinese speculation (followed by Harold James Ruthven Murray) postulated that the older xiangqi simulated the movements of stars and other celestial objects in the sky.
References to a game called xiangqi date back to the Warring States Period; according to the first century BC text, Shuo yuan (說宛), it was one of Lord Mengchang of Qi's interests.[8] Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou once wrote a book Xiang Jing in AD 569. It is believed to have described the rules of an astronomically themed game called xiangqi or Xiangxi (象戲). The word Xiàngqí 象棋 is usually translated as "elephant game" or "figure game", because the Chinese character 象 means "elephant" and "figure"; it originated as a stylized drawing of an elephant, and was used also to write a word meaning "figure", likely because the two words were pronounced the same. But the name can also be treated as meaning "constellation game", and sometimes the xiàngqí board's "river" is called the "heavenly river", which may mean the Milky Way. For these reasons, Harold James Ruthven Murray, author of A History of Chess, theorized that "in China it [Chess] took over the board and name of a game called 象棋 in the sense of "Constellation Game" (rendered by Murray as "Astronomical Game"), which represented the apparent movements of naked-eye-visible astronomical objects in the night sky, and that the earliest Chinese references to 象棋 meant the Astronomical Game and not Chinese chess". previous games called xiàngqí may have been based on the movements of sky objects. However, the connection between 象 and astronomy is marginal, and arose from constellations being called merely "figures" in astronomical contexts where other meanings of "figure" were less likely; this usage may have led some ancient Chinese authors to theorize that the game 象棋 started as a simulation of astronomy.
To support his argument, Murray quoted an old Chinese source that says that in that older xiangqi (which modern xiangqi may have taken some of its rules from) the game-pieces could be shuffled, which does not happen in chess-type xiangqi as known now.[9] Murray also wrote that in ancient China there was more than one game called xiangqi.[10]
An alternative hypothesis to Murray's is that xiangqi was patterned after the array of troops in the Warring States era. David H. Li, for example, argues that the game was developed by Han Xin in the winter of 204 BC-203 BC to prepare for an upcoming battle.[11] His theories have been questioned by other chess researchers, however.[12]
The earliest description of the game's rules appears in the story "Cen Shun" (岑順) in the collection Xuanguai lu (玄怪錄), written in the middle part of the Tang dynasty.
With the economic and cultural development during the Qing Dynasty, xiangqi entered a new stage. Many different schools of circles and players came into prominence. With the popularization of xiangqi, many books and manuals on the techniques of playing the game were published. They played an important role in popularizing xiangqi and improving the techniques of play in modern times.
A Western-style Encyclopedia of Chinese Chess Openings was not written until 2004.
Although xiangqi has its origin in Asia, there are xiangqi leagues and clubs all over the world. Each European nation generally has its own governing league; for example, in Britain, xiangqi is regulated by the United Kingdom Chinese Chess Association. Asian countries also have nationwide leagues, such as the Malaysia Chinese Chess Association in Malaysia.
In addition, there are also several international federations and tournaments. For example, the Chinese Xiangqi Association hosts several tournaments every year, including the Yin Li and Ram Cup Tournaments.[13] Other organizations include the Asian Xiangqi Federation[14] and a World Xiangqi Federation,[15] which hosts tournaments and competitions bi-annually, though most are limited to players from member nations.
The Asian Xiangqi Federation and its corresponding member associations also rank players in a number format similar to the rankings of chess. The best player in China, according to the 2006 Chinese National Ratings, was Xu Yinchuan with a rating of 2628.[16] Other strong players include Lu Qin and Hu Ronghua.
The Asian Xiangqi Federation also bestows the title of grandmaster to select individuals around the world who have excelled at xiangqi or have made special contributions to the game. Though there are no specific criteria for becoming a grandmaster, the list of grandmasters is limited to fewer than a hundred people.[17]
The game-tree complexity of xiangqi is approximately 10150, so in 2004 it was projected that a human top player will be defeated before 2010.[18]
In the Computer–Human Xiangqi Dual Meet in 2006, the final score was Computer 5.5 – Human 4.5
Xiangqi is one of the more popular competitions at the annual Computer Olympiad.
Computer programs for playing xiangqi show the same development trend as has occurred for international chess: they are usually console applications (called engines) which communicate their moves in text form through some standard protocol. For displaying the board graphically, they then rely on a separate Graphical User Interface. Through such standardization, many different engines can be used through the same GUI, and the GUI can also be used for automated play of different engines against each other. Popular protocols are UCI (Universal Chess Interface), UCCI (Universal Chinese Chess Interface), Qianhong (QH) protocol, and WinBoard/XBoard (WB) protocol (the latter two named after the GUIs that implemented them). There now exist many dozens of xiangqi engines supporting one or more of these protocols, including some commercial engines.
Computer xiangqi programs
Xiangqi graphical user interfaces
Computer xiangqi websites
Computer xiangqi servers
There are many versions of three-player xiangqi, or san xiangqui, all played on special boards:
'Sanrenqi:"Three Men Chess" is a riverless commercial variant played on a cross-shaped board with some special rules, including a fourth, neutral country called Han. Han has three Chariots, one Cannon, and one General named "Emperor Xian of Han," but these pieces do not move and do not belong to any of the three players until a certain point in the game when two player team up against the third player, who also gets to control Han (similar to player playing their own hand, plus that of a dummy in Bridge.[35]