Chinese Chess
The Board
Chinese Chess is played on a board that consists of intersecting lines, forming a grid of nine vertical lines and ten horizontal lines. Pieces are placed on the intersections of the lines, not within the squares as in Western chess.
Explanation of Different Features of the Board:
- River: Elephants cannot cross the river. Soldiers can move horizontally only after crossing the river.
- Palace: The general and advisors cannot leave the palace. Advisors move along the diagonal lines inside the palace.
- Alignment Marks: Indicate the initial locations of soldiers and cannons. Once the game has started, there are no special rules with these alignment marks.
The Pieces
One player controls the sixteen red pieces and the other controls the sixteen black pieces. Each player has one general, two advisors, two elephants, two horses, two chariots, two cannons, and five soldiers. At the beginning of the game, the pieces are arranged on the board as follows:
Explanation of Pieces:
- Generals (Red: 帥; Black: 將) are the most important pieces; the objective is to checkmate the enemy general. Generals move one step horizontally or vertically, but not diagonally. They may not leave their palaces. The red general and black general must not see each other, i.e., all moves which result in them being on the same column without any pieces in between them is forbidden.
- Advisors (Red: 仕; Black: 士) may move one step along one of the four diagonal lines inside the palace each round. They may not leave the palace.
- Elephants (Red: 相; Black: 象) may move two spaces diagonally (i.e., two spaces left or right then two spaces up or down). They may not jump over pieces, so if there is a piece in the next diagonal space of the elephant, the elephant may not move two spaces diagonally in that direction. They cannot cross the river.
- Horses (Red: 傌; Black: 馬) may move one space horizontally or vertically AND another space diagonally to either forward direction. However, if there is any piece right next to the horse, the horse may not move toward that direction.
- Chariots (Red: 俥; Black: 車) may move horizontally or vertically as many empty spaces without jumping over pieces.
- Cannons (Red: 炮; Black: 砲) may either slide without capturing or jump with capturing. To slide the cannon without capturing, move the cannon horizontally or vertically any number of empty spaces without jumping over other pieces or sliding into cells already occupied by other pieces. To capture a piece using a cannon, jump the cannon over another piece (which may belong to either side) that is on the same rank or file as the cannon, and capture the first opponent's piece beyond the jumped piece in that direction. A capture is legal as long as all points between the capturing piece and the jumped piece are unoccupied and all points between the jumped piece and the piece to be captured are unoccupied. A cannon cannot jump without capturing and cannot capture without jumping.
- Soldiers (Red: 兵; Black: 卒) may only move one step forward if they have not crossed the river, but may move one step horizontally or forward after crossing the river. They cannot move backwards. Though they are somewhat analogous to pawns in Western chess, they do not promote once they have reached the opponent's back rank.
All pieces besides the cannon capture the same way they move. To perform a capture, a player moves one of their pieces, following the movement rules of the piece described above, to a point occupied by an opponent's piece.
Rules
Players can neither capture their own pieces nor move their own pieces off the board.
To win the game, checkmate or stalemate the opponent's general. A checkmate is a position in which the player-to-move's general is under attack but no move can be made to help the general escape. A stalemate is a position in which the player-to-move's general is not under attack, but all available moves will place the player-to-move's general under attack. Unlike Chess, a stalemate position is a lose for the current player who runs out of moves.
Players cannot make moves that place their own general under attack.
GamesCrafters
Robert Shi (Solving, Backend, GamesmanUni GUI)
Haonan Huang (UWAPI)
Yifan Zhou (UWAPI)
Jiachun Li (GamesmanUni GUI)