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 Xiangqi for everybody
16 November 1999 |
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By Jouni Tolonen THE BOARD Let's start by having a look at an empty Chinese chess board. 
Unlike western or Japanese chess, pieces are placed on the intersections and move along the lines. Thus the board is clearly bigger than in western chess. There are 90 points - compared to 64 squares in western chess - on the board to occupy.The Xiangqi board is usually made of paper. The algebraic coordinate system used in this presentation is a newer western invention, the boards are usually not marked with coordinates. For recording the moves, the Chinese use another kind of notation which will be introduced in later articles. Both the algebraic and the Chinese notation systems have their benefits and are definitely worth learning. By using the algebraic system familiar to many western game enthusiasts we hope to make the popularization of the game in the western world easier. The ranks (horizontal lines) are numbered from 1 to 10 starting from the bottom of the board. The files (vertical lines) are marked with letters from a to i. Each of the 90 points on the board is identified by a letter-number combination. The bottom left corner is a1. The top right corner is i10. Very important is the middlemost, e-line. In the beginning, chess players who are used to algebraic system often tend to mix the rightmost files forgetting that the last file is i-file in Xiangqi. XiangQi is a game for two players who are traditionally called Red and Black. Some other variations of the colours are used, too. Red begins the game. The board is divided by the river between the 5th and the 6th rank. On some boards there is a Chinese proverb written on it. Only some of the pieces are able to cross over the river. The most important piece - the king - is not able to leave his own palace during the game. The palace is the area marked with a cross on both sides of the board. Opening positions for the pawns are marked on the 4th and 7th rank and for the cannons on the 3rd and 8th rank.
The pieces on the bottom rank from a1 to e1 are: chaRiot (R), Horse (H), Elephant (E), Advisor (A), King (K). On the third rank are the two Cannons (C). The fourth rank has five pawns (P) in the starting position. The board is symmetrical in relation to the central e-file and also to the river. So in Xiangqi, any opening can be played as a mirror image. How to use a western chess set to play Xiangqi As the number of Xiangqi pieces is 32, western chess pieces can be used to play Chinese chess! You can use two pawns for the cannons, a pawn and a queen for the advisors and bishops for the elephants. If you have another distinct chess set, it may help to use pieces from two sets. The board is easy to draw on a piece of paper. It is also possible to add new pieces to an existing western chess set. They are hard to find but you might find someone who is willing to make them for you. I have used these pieces to teach the game, and also used them in a Chinese chess tournament for western chess players. It is easy to get a chess player to try out Xiangqi with such a familiar-looking set. There is one manufacturer in Finland (R&K Tanni) who makes 3-D chess sets (with an abstractly-shaped elephant) which can be used for both games. A free Chinese chess set Daniel Kian McKiernan's PDF handouts are a ready-to-print nice Chinese chess set - board, pieces and rules, also for Korean chess. Korean chess (Jangki) is a close relative of Xiangqi and can be played also with a Xiangqi set. We will take a closer look at the pieces and their moves next time.
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