Check out Atomic Chess, our featured variant for November, 2024.

This page is written by the game's inventor, Daphne Snowmoon.

中象棋(Middle Xiangqi)

The movement of the pieces can be seen here.

https://www.chessvariants.com/index/listcomments.php?id=40713

 

Setup


E I R H O A G A O H R I E
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - C - - - - - C - - -
P - P - P - P - P - P - P
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
P - P - P - P - P - P - P
- - - C - - - - - C - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
E I R H O A G A O H R I E

象 犀 車 馬 牛 士 將 士 牛 馬 車 犀 象
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
口 口 口 砲 口 口 口 口 口 砲 口 口 口
卒 口 卒 口 卒 口 卒 口 卒 口 卒 口 卒
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
兵 口 兵 口 兵 口 兵 口 兵 口 兵 口 兵
口 口 口 砲 口 口 口 口 口 砲 口 口 口
口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口 口
象 犀 車 馬 牛 士 帥 士 牛 馬 車 犀 象

 

The 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th ranks are called Friendly camp, and the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th ranks are called Enemy camp. Between the 5th and 6th ranks is called the River.

The 3x3 sqaure at the end of the board surrounded by thick lines is called Palace.

 

Pieces

 Pawn(P. 卒) : Moves one step orthogonally forward. A Pawn that has reached the enemy camp can also move one step orthogonally sideways.

 Rook (R. 車) : Moves any number of steps orthogonally.

 Cannon (C. 砲) : Slides orthogonally when not capturing, but must hop over a single piece to capture. (The Cannon can hop over a piece only when it captures piece.)

 Horse (H. 馬) : Moves one step orthogonally and then one step further diagonally.

 Ox (O. 牛) : Moves two steps diagonally. It cannot go into the enemy camp.

 Rhino (I. 犀) : Moves two steps orthogonally and then one step further diagonally.

 Elephant (E. 象) : Moves one step orthogonally and then two steps further diagonally.

 Advisor (A. 士) : Moves one step diagonally. it cannot leave the palace.

 General (G. 帥/將) : Moves one step orthogonally. it cannot leave the palace.

 - Red(first player) has , and Black(second player) has .

 - The state in which your General is attacked by enemy piece is called check. if your General has no way to get out of the enemy's check on that turn, call it checkmate and you are defeated.

 

 Horse, Elephant, Rhino and Ox cannot move in that direction when there is a piece on the path.

 

Rules

 1. The two Generals cannot face each other. That is, if two Generals are in the same file and there is no piece between them, it is a foul and is defeated.

 2. You must move the piece on your turn.

 3. If a player can no longer move or drop a piece, the game becomes a draw.

 

 1. You can drop a piece you captured on empty square of friendly camp(1~5th rank).

 - Only one piece may be dropped on the board per turn, and this must be done instead of moving a piece on the board.

 2. Dropped piece cannot make a check or checkmate.

 - However, it is possible to make a Cannon check or a cannon Checkmate by dropping a piece in front of the Cannon.

 3. Advisors can only be dropped in your palace.

 4. Of course, a dropped Pawn, like any other Pawn, must reach the river before it can move one step sideways.

 - Pawns may be droped on a file that already contains a Pawn

 

 If a player can no longer move or drop pieces, it becomes a draw as a stalemate.

 

 Red moves first, and Black moves next. They moves alternately.

 

 If the same state occurs 3 times, it is a draw. that is, if the position of the pieces, the type and number of pieces captured in each other, and the turn are exactly the same three times, the Threefold repetition is established and the game becomes a draw. Even if it does not appear in a row, if the same state occurs 3 times in a game, threefold repetition is established and the game becomes a draw.

- But, a threefold repetition with perpetual checks is illegal, and results not in a draw but in a loss by the checking player.

 



This 'user submitted' page is a collaboration between the posting user and the Chess Variant Pages. Registered contributors to the Chess Variant Pages have the ability to post their own works, subject to review and editing by the Chess Variant Pages Editorial Staff.


By Daphne Snowmoon.

Last revised by Daphne Snowmoon.


Web page created: 2020-04-14. Web page last updated: 2020-04-14

Revisions of MSmiddle-xiangqi