The horse is not needed for this checkmate. Almost all pieces capture using their normal moves, while the cannon has a special capture move described below.Īn instance of checkmate that assumes the cannon is safe and Black cannot block the check. Pieces are never promoted (converted into other pieces), although the soldier is able to move sideways after it crosses the river. A player cannot capture one of his own pieces. A piece can be moved onto a point occupied by an enemy piece, in which case the enemy piece is captured and removed from the board. Pieces are generally not permitted to move through a point occupied by another piece. Generally, Red moves first in most modern tournaments.Įach player in turn moves one piece from the point it occupies to another point. Some books refer to the two sides as north and south which direction corresponds to which color also varies from source to source. Different xiangqi books advise either that the black or red side moves first. Which player moves first has varied throughout history and from one part of China to another. The pieces start in the position shown in the diagram above. Xiangqi is a common pastime in Chinese cities. The starting points of the soldiers and cannons are usually, but not always, marked with small crosses. Although the river provides a visual division between the two sides, only two pieces are affected by its presence: soldier pieces have an enhanced move after crossing the river, and elephant pieces cannot cross it. The river is often marked with the phrases 楚河, meaning "Chu River", and 漢界 (in Traditional Chinese),, meaning "Han border", a reference to the Chu-Han War. Each of these areas is known as 宮, a "palace" or "fortress".ĭividing the two opposing sides, between the fifth and sixth ranks, is 河 hé, the "river". The vertical lines are known as files, and the horizontal lines are known as ranks.Ĭentered at the first to third and eighth to tenth ranks of the board are two zones, each three points by three points, demarcated by two diagonal lines connecting opposite corners and intersecting at the center point. As in the game Go ( Wéiqí 圍棋), the pieces are placed on the intersections, which are known as points. Xiangqi is played on a board nine lines wide and ten lines long. Distinctive features of xiangqi include the cannon ( pao), which must jump to capture a rule prohibiting the generals from facing each other directly areas on the board called the river and palace, which restrict the movement of some pieces (but enhance that of others) and placement of the pieces on the intersections of the board lines, rather than within the squares. The game represents a battle between two armies, with the object of capturing the enemy's general (king). Besides China and areas with significant ethnic Chinese communities, xiangqi ( cờ tướng) is also a popular pastime in Vietnam. It is one of the most popular board games in China, and is in the same family as Western (or international) chess, chaturanga, shogi, Indian chess and janggi. Xiangqi (Chinese: 象棋, p Xiàngqí), also called Chinese chess, is a strategy board game for two players.
Lessons offered in the free version is fully functional.Informal games: may vary from 20 minutes to several hours The course includes a free part, in which you can test the program.
In the series are included courses in tactics, strategy, openings, middle game, and endgame, split by levels from beginners to experienced players, and even professional players. This course is in the series Chess King Learn (), which is an unprecedented chess teaching method. Elementary and simple tasks (1-, 2- and 3-way) are used as teaching material. More than 1300 training exercises are intended for beginners, both children and adults. This course is based on a bestseller by the experienced coach Sergey Ivashchenko which became a sort of chess publishing sensation and sold over 200,000 copies.