 | Xiangqi: Encyclopedia II - Xiangqi - Gameplay and strategy
Xiangqi - Gameplay and strategy
Xiangqi plays faster than Western chess for several reasons. First, the barrier of pawns is reduced dramatically. Second, the cannons jump to capture, making them a long-range threat early in the game. In addition, since the general is confined to only moving within the palace, it can be checkmated more easily unless it is protected by other pieces.
While in Western chess, the battle between opposing sides is concentrated in the middle few rows for the bulk of the game, this is not the case in xiangqi. The board is bigger than the Western chessboard while the number of pieces is the same (resulting in less crowding), and there are not as many powerful pieces with long-range moves. Because of this, it can take time to move one's army of pieces from place to place on the board, and there is a tendency for the battle to focus on a particular area of the board. There is no real concept of a struggle for control of the center, as in Western chess.
Usually, the soldiers do not support each other, so the concept of pawn structure does not play such a heavy role as in Western chess.
Defensively, a common configuration is to leave the general at his starting position, deploy one advisor and one elephant on the two points directly in front of the general, and to leave the other advisor and the other elephant in their starting positions, to the side of the general. In this setup, the paired-up advisors and elephants support each other, and the general is immune from attacks by cannons. However, with the loss of a single advisor or elephant, the general becomes vulnerable to cannons, and this setup may need to be abandoned. The defender may move advisors or elephants away from the general, or even sacrifice them intentionally, to ward off attack by a cannon.
The two chariots are not normally lined up together in Chinese chess, as they are the most powerful piece and in doing so, a player risks the chances of losing at least one chariot to an inferior piece of the enemy. Depending on the situation, it may be advantageous to position a chariot at one of the corners of the enemy's side of the board, where it is very difficult to dislodge, and threatens the enemy general.
It is common to use the cannons independently to control particular ranks and files.
It is also common to pull an early checkmate on beginning players, using the double cannon technique. This checkmate plan is similar to the western chess's four-move checkmate, and can be executed also in four moves. However, this checkmate is easily countered by the horse reply.
Xiangqi - Openings
Since (unlike in Western chess) the left and right flank of the starting setup are symmetrical and therefore equivalent, it is customary to always make the first move from the right flank. Starting on the left flank is considered to be needlessly confusing.
The most common opening is to move the cannon to the central column, an opening known as 當頭炮 (trad.) / 当头炮 (simp.) dāng tóu pào:
1. C2.5
The most common reply is to advance the horse on the same flank:
1. ... H8+7
This move-and-response is known by the rhyme 當頭炮，馬來跳 (trad.) / 当头炮，马来跳 (simp.) dāng tóu pào, mǎ lái tiào ( listen).
This is usually followed by the most common second move, 出车 (trad.) chū jū In which the first player moves a chariot forward one space (usually the right one).
The most common reply is to move the right advisor diagonally. 上士 (trad.) shàng shì This is to prevent a series of events that leads to the first player quickly checkmating the second.
Less common first moves include:
- moving an elephant to the central column
- advancing the soldier on the third or seventh file
- moving a chariot forward by one space
- moving either cannon behind the 2nd pawn from the left or right
General advice for the opening includes rapid development of at least one chariot, because it is the most powerful piece and the only long-range piece besides the cannon. The opening is not as much a struggle for control of the center as openings are in Western chess. It may not be a bad move to develop one horse to the edge of the board, for example, to avoid being blocked by one of one's own pawns that cannot advance. Usually, at least one horse should be moved to the middle.
Other related archives1952, 1978, 1989, 2004, 2005, 2010, 203 BC, 204 BC, 6th century, As of 2005, Asia, Board games, Britain, Chaturanga game family, Chess variants, China, Chinatowns, Chinese, Chinese character, Chinese characters, Chinese games, Chinese terms, Chu, Chu-Han War, David H. Li, Egypt, Europe, Go (board game), Han, Han Xin, Hanyu Pinyin, India, Indian, Janggi, Japanese, Jin, Korean, Liubo, Malaysia, Milky Way, Nefertari, Northern and Southern Dynasties, Qing Dynasty, Shogi, Silk Road, Simplified Chinese, Simplified Chinese characters, Sloan, Sam, Song Dynasty, Spring and Autumn Period, Suzong, Tang Dynasty, Traditional Chinese, Traditional Chinese characters, United States, Wade-Giles, Warring States Period, Wei, West, Western, Western culture, black, blitz games, blue, board games, boulder, cannon, catapult, chaturanga, check, checkmated, checkmates, chess, chess in early literature, chess variants, coincidence, constellation, dot or period, emperors, en passant, equal sign, firearms, game-tree complexity, go, green, gun, homonyms, hyphen, jade, janggi, minus sign, north, onomatopoeia, origins of chess, plus sign, red, shogi, silk, south, stalemate, timeline of chess, white, wood
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Gameplay and strategy", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
