- and a guide to literature for beginners
A new English language instructional book has been published jointly by the Chinese Xiangqi Association and the World Xiangqi Federation. But before I describe this, a word to newcomers - the rec.games.chinese-chess newsgroup has never been so heavily used. Interest from new players seems to be at an all-time high.
Since writing for the MSO, I've learned that westerners coming to this game all chart their own courses. In essence, this is because they are operating outside the game's traditional orbits. So figure out what works for you, ask if you need help, and don't be too concerned about "right" and "wrong" approaches.
It's really important to take your time, and survey all the available information, both on and off the Web. The MSO's Links page is a good starting point. It would be great to see people sharing information about what they find useful, either on the newsgroup, or on the MSO boards. Don't hesitate to use these boards to ask me a question. I can relay it to strong players.
What to read
Having said all this ... from a purely technical standpoint, the English language instructional books with the highest authority are those that are now being distributed by the Asian bodies (the CXA, WXF and Asian Xiangqi Federation).
Beginners will find these books dense and confusing, and will be puzzled by their typos and awkward English. Nevertheless, they are good. They correspond to what strong Chinese players use to learn the game.
Xiangqi involves less emphasis on applying principles than chess, and more emphasis on informed response to situations. It's a matter of degree. Ancient games and traditional studies are the proven means of learning basic situations.
Many strong players, such as my own teacher, can remember when the only books they owned were the two most famous classics: the Ming Dynasty Secret of the Orange (available as an appendix to H. T. Lau's Chinese Chess), and the Qing Dynasty Plum Blossom Metre.
How to read
The latest book is called Checkmate Methods In Xiangqi Mid-Games, and is a large collection of middle game attacks. The study of such attacks will help you to look for what strong players call killing moves. The book was written in 1985 by Jun QIAN, and was translated by QuanSheng ZHANG.
A logical order of study would be to read all of Victories all the Way, and then switch back and forth between The End Game Technique and Checkmate Methods. Ban LO force-fed me a similar mixture of endgame and middle game studies during the summer of 1995, as I prepared for the World Cup.
After I reviewed the first two books, MSO Xiangqi editor Jouni Tolonen and I obtained shipments from China. We've been quietly distributing them for free, courtesy of the publishing bodies, the WXF and the MSO. Readers wanting copies should send us e-mail, or post on the MSO boards. If we're deluged with requests, be patient – we'll find a way.
By way of illustration, here two studies (Jun1, Jun2) from the book – all very pretty. (You can download the files by right-clicking on the links and choosing 'Save to disk') The files work with Peter Sung's Cchview 3.5 available at (http://txa.ipoline.com/software/software.htm).
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