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This page is written by the game's inventor, Travis Z.

Xiangqi vs Orthodox Chess

Xiangqi vs Orthodox Chess is a game designed to merge the two most played versions of chess together in an effort to allow both to come together. There is no way to copy moves made by another players as the pieces are all different and the armies have different abilities.

Setup

See the picture below:

Pieces

There are two armies and hence two different sets of pieces.

Each side the Xiangqi side and the Orthodox Chess side use their standard pieces and all of the pieces function the exact same way as their standard counter part unless noted otherwise in this document.

Rules

Rule #1: Xiangqi wins by either performing a stalemate or a checkmate. (This is inline with standard Xiangqi rules) Orthodox Chess wins by checkmate only.

Rule #2: The Orthodox Chess King cannot be seen by the Xiangqi Emperor. Hence a piece must always exist between the Orthodox Chess King and the Xiangqi King. (This is the same rule as in standard Xiangqi about two Kings not being allowed to see one another.

Rule #3: The Palace still exists for the Xiangqi player

Rule #4: If the Orthodox Chess player makes his pawn to the back row of the Xiangqi player then the Orthodox Chess player may promote the pawn to any Orthodox Chess piece or Xiangqi Chess piece.

Rule #5: Crossing the River in the center (Represented by the two dotted lines) is dealt with as follows. Bishops must stay on their respected color. So if a bishop is on a blue space, it must move to another blue space. It cannot switch colors. Pieces moving straight may move into either square. From the Orthodox Chess side this means that a piece in the center black square can move straight ahead into the black or blue space directly across from it. From the Xiangqi Chess side, only the piece in the exact center black square can move into either space directly in front of it across the river.

Rule #6: Any other rules not listed here should be assumed to be that of one of the standard rules existing in either Xiangqi or Orthodox Chess.

Notes

This variant was always a thought I had growing up. The biggest problem has been merging the two exact boards together. Initially it would seem that Xiangqi is at a disadvantage, but with the Cannons, the Xiangqi player should be able to make quick first strikes and should be able to tie the Orthodox player up espically since the Xiangqi player can develop its pieces faster as the pieces are somewhat already in position.

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By Travis Z.
Web page created: 2011-02-27. Web page last updated: 2011-02-27