157 lines
6.0 KiB
Plaintext
157 lines
6.0 KiB
Plaintext
Chinese Chess
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"Xiang Qi"
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Background:
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Xiang Qi or Chinese chess is "one of the three major versions of
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chess." The other two are Western chess and Shogi. The movement and
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number of attacking pieces is more limited than Western chess making
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it perhaps harder or easier.
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Setup:
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The pieces in Chinese chess are placed and played on the lines instead
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of the squares as in Western chess.
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J T--H--E--A--G--A--E--H--T
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I -------------------------
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H ---C-----------------C---
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G S-----S-----S-----S-----S
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F -------------------------
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| River |
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E -------------------------
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D s-----s-----s-----s-----s
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C ---c-----------------c---
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B -------------------------
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A t--h--e--a--g--a--e--h--t
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
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The square defined by A4, C4, C6, and A6 is as the "General's square"
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Similarly, J4 H4, H6, and J6 also define another General's square.
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Assume that the uppercase is "Team two" and the lowercase is "Team one"
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Pieces:
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The pieces are represented on the above board are as follows:
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S = Soldier (P) C = Cannon
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T = Tank (R) H = Horse (N)
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E = Elephant (B) A = Adviser
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G = General or King (K)
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These initials come from the literal translation of the Chinese
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character into English (Except for tank). The letters in parentheses
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represent the Western equivalent of the piece; thus, pieces and their
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movement may be more easily remembered.
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Movement:
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Tank : Moves and attacks just like a rook. This piece can cross the
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river. The actual translation is car or the ancient
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equivalent of one.
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Elephant : Moves and attacks like a bishop except that it can only and
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must move across two squares at a time. It cannot cross the
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river. Therefore, the elephants on team one will only be
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able to occupy A3, E3, A7, C1, C5, C9, and E7.
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Soldier : This piece can only move forward when it is on the side of
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its own color. After it crosses the river, though, it can
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also move left and right. The soldier can never move
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backwards.
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Horse : This piece moves like a knight in Western chess except it
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can be blocked. For example:
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1-----------2 ------8------
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---C--H------ ---7---------
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| | | | | | River |
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3-----------4 ---------H---
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---5-----6--- -------------
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A horse must move one space down a line and then diagonally
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across a square. Therefore, the above horse can reach the
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numbers 2, 4, 5, and 6. The numbers 1 and 3 are blocked by
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the cannon. The horse cannot move over a piece and
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consequently, cannot reach 1 and 3. This piece can cross the
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river which also counts as one space and is shown above.
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If the horse was to cross the river, it would land at 7 or
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8.
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Cannon : This piece moves like a rook but attacks differently.
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instead of "running into a piece" as the rook does, the
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cannon jumps over one piece and captures the one
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behind it. For example:
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---t-----h-----C---
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-------------------
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The cannon can jump over the horse and take the opponent's
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tank. The cannon, though, cannot take the horse unless there
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is something between it and the horse. The cannon can cross
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the river.
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Advisor : This piece is limited to moving one space only on the
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diagonals in the General's square. Therefore,
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o-----o
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---o--- <-- General's square
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o-----o
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the o's mark the possible positions of the advisor. This
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piece cannot leave the square.
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General : Like the Advisor, the general can only stay within the
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General's square. Instead of moving on the diagonals,
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the general moves only orthagonally. In other words, it can
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move like the Western king minus diagonals.
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Rules:
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Exactly like Western chess. Players take turns moving their pieces
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with the intent of capturing the opponent's general.
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If a "loop" occurs in the game, the attacking piece must end the loop
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after the loop has occurred three times in a row. If both sides do not
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have any attacking pieces ( tank, horse, cannon, soldier) or it is
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utterly impossible to break the loop, then a stalemate occurs.
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A stalemate is very uncommon.
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"Check" is said whenever the general is in check.
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Finally, the two generals cannot face each other. In other words, there
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cannot be a clear line between the two generals. A move that makes
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them face each other is illegal.
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If anyone has any questions or would like to play a game, send some E-mail
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to Kevin Wang [73047,1651].
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