ChineseChess

for Beginners

by
SamSloan

Ishi PressInternational
SanJose,I-ondon,Tokyo
 Publishedby
Ishi PressInternational
76 BonaventuraDrive
Tableof Contents
SanJose.CA95l34-An
USA Acknowledgements lV

1.The World of ChineseChess 1

@ Copyright 1989by Ishi hess International 2. How to Play ChineseChess 8
3. Checkmateand Stalemate 30
rsBN0-923891_11_0
LibraryCongress
CatalogCardNumber:89-84155 4. A SampleGame 48
5. How to Start the Game 52
All rights reserved accordingto intemational law. This 6. Relative Value of Pieces 68
book or any parts thereof may not be reproduced in any 7. GeneralStrategicConsiderations 7l
fc-rr without written permissionfrom the publisher.
8. Managementof the Pieces 75
9. The Endgame 94
In Europe or U.IC, order from: 10.About the Openings
Ishi PressInternational, Ltd,
106
20 BrugesPlace,I-ondon NW1 mE, U.K 11.More Games 1-14
12.Who's Hu in ChineseChess 134
In Japan and otler countries,order from:
TheIshi PressInc, 13.History of ChineseChess t45
CPOBox2126,Tokyo,Japan 14. Where to Play, Computer Software,and Other
Things You Need to Know 166
First printingApril 1989
SecondPrinting Aprn I9n
Printedin Jaoan
- 111-
 tually sitting down at the board with me and spending
Acknowledgments dme showing me things about Chinese chess.ln par-
ticular, GrandmasterXie Si Ming (the only one of the
abovewho can speakEnglish) gaveme basic instruction
I am indebted to many people for making this book
and even analyzedmy adjournedgames,helping me to
possible.At the top of the list are Mr' kung Lee Shingof
gain somemuch neededtournamentvictories'A big per-
Hong Kong and Mr. Liu Guo Bin of Beijing'
centageof the ideaspresentedin this book were given to
V1. rc""g tee Shingfirst encouragedme to write this
ine by Xie Si Ming and the other above named
book back in 1SAS,ancieven offered me the servicesof
grandmasters. I view my own contributionas one of refor-
his secretary.At that time, I could not find a publisher'
mulating the ideas of these Chinesechessgrandrnasters
However, the tremendousexpansionof Chinese chess
an<ipresentingthem in a way that a player of internation-
during the past four yearshas qeated a demandfor this
al chesscan appreciate.
book. I mei with Mr. lrung againrecentlyin Beijing and
I must thank Mr. Robert Looi and the personscon-
Singaporeand he gave me more ideas which I incor-
nected with the SingaporeChinese Chess Association,
poratedinto this book.
whosenameswould fill an entire pageof this book if only
I met Mr. Liu Guo Bin for the first time in Beijing in
I could rememberthem all, for the hospitalityaccordedat
1985.He was the first important personalityin Chinese
the December, 1988 Asian Cup ChineseChessCham-
chessI ever met anclhe gaveme a list of namesand ad-
pionship.Almost everystrongplayer of Chinesechessin
dressesof other personsaroundthe world to contact'in-
the world was either there or at the previoustournament
cluding Mr. Leung. However, the most important thing
in Beijing.
which Mr. Liu Guo Bin did for me was that he arranged
I need to thank Mr. Chen I Ping and Mr. Lin Tse Wei
an invitation to the October, 1988 Seven Stars Cup
for the hospitalityaccordedat a Chinesechessmatch in
ChineseChessTournament in Beijing, through which I
Iiangkok, Thalland. We were especiallygrateful to Mr.
met all of the other important personalitiesin Chinese
Lin Tse Wei for givingus all a guidedtour of Patpong.
chess.That trip to Beijing hasdirectly,or at leastindirect-
Mr. Chen Lo Ping of Manila, the Secretaryof the
ly, resultedin this book.
Asian ChineseChessAssociation,he hasbeen consistent-
I want to thank ChinesechessgrandmastersLiu Da
ly helpful sinceI first met him in 1985.Mr. Frank C. Eng
Hua, Li Lai Chen, Hu l-ong Hua and Xie Si Ming for ac-

-l V -
of San Franciscomet with me in Beijing and San Francis-
co and has been especialiy helpful in translating from
Chineseinto English the words of the top grandmasters
and officials. Mr. Yoshinori Kimura, the curator of the
JapaneseChessMuseumin Kyoto, provided authoritative
information about chesshistory. Mohammad Succar of
Beirut, lrbanon provided information about the history
of chessin the Arab world' Glyndon Towrrhill of Japan
orovided in-formationabout Korean chess.K.I( Chan of
NovagComputersin Hong Kong wasalsohelpful.
Specialthanksgo to Mr' Gong Fan of Beijing, China'
who sent me some last minute correctionsand additions
from his FAX machinein Beijing. He is il close contact
with a1lof the top players,both of Chinesechessand in-
ternational chess,in Beijing, and was able to proofread
someof the pagesof my book and verifi the facts.In ad-
ditioq Mr. Chen l-o Ping of Manila sent me a FAX with
some last minute corrections, as did Toti Abundo'
GeneralSecretaryof the World ChessFederation(FIDE)
in Lucerne, Switzerland.Peter Blommers of Holland
providedthe final proofreadingfor the book.
However, the biggestthanks of a1i must go to Paul
Lam, Wong Ming and Henry Fok, who provided the
money and financial sponsorshipwhich made the above
mentionedChinesechesseventspossible.
-vi-
ChapterOne
The World of ChineseChess
When you think of chess,you probably think of the
game well lnown and widely played in Europe and the
Americas, the game of Bobby Fischer and Garry
Kasparov.We will call this gameintemational chess.Few
Americansand Europeansrealize that this is just one of
manyactivelyplayedvarietiesof the gameof chess.
There is also, for example,Japanesechess,known as
shogiin Japan.There is further Korean chess(chong-ki),
Thai chess (makrook) and Indian chess (shatranj).
However, the most popular among all the members of
this family of games is Chinese chess, also known as
shiang-chi and spelled xiangqi in the Pinyin spelling sys-
tem, which is based upon the Mandarin dialect of
Chinese.
Chinesechessis not merely a regional game. Unlike
shogi,which is played almost exclusivelyin Japarl and
makrook,which is played almostexclusivelyin Thailand,
Chinesechessis a truly internationalgame.The reason
for this is that the Chinesepeople are truly international
people.Whereveryou go in the world, evento a smallvil-
rageln a remote locatio4 you will alwaysbe able to find
at leastone Chineseperson and that one personwill al-
most alwaysknow how to play Chinesechess.
This may seem to be an outlandish statement.
However,there is a way to prove whether this is tnte or
not. Go into any Chinese restaurantaryr,vherein the
world. Showa Chinesechessset to the waiter or manager.
Perhapshe will insist that he doesnot know how to play.
Nevertheless, be persistent.Set up the piecesto the nor-
mal starting position. Ask the individu:rl in question to
make a move. Final1y,perhapsreluctantly,he will reach
over.Almost certainlyhe will pick up one of the cannons
and move it to the center line. Eureka! Your new op-
ponent not only knows how to move the pieceslegally,
but he alsoknowsa little openingtheoryaswell.
ln fact, there is simplyno suchthing as a Chineseman
who doesnot know how to play Chinesechess.The game
is embeddedin the Chinese culture. Chhese children
leam how to play it at the sarneage when children in
other culturesare learning how to play tic-tac-toe.Con-
sider that there are more than one billion people of
Chinese origin in the world today. Excluding small
children (there are lots of Chinesesmall children) this
meansthat more than a half billion people in the world
know how to play Chinese chess.This statistic makes
Chinesechesseasilythe mostpopulargameof anykind in
the entire world.
One amazingthing about this is that most people who
are not Chinesehavenever even heard of Chinesechess.
- 2 -
Thal however, is not going to last much longer.
Throughout most of their history the Chinese people
have been rather impoverished.Now, times are changing.
The Chineseare becomingrich. Three of the so-called
'four economic tigers' of Asia, namely Hong Kong, Sin-
gapore and Taiwan, are Chinese. They have become
major factors in the world economy. As the Chinese
people themselvesare becoming rich, they are naturally
goingto spendmoneyon their game:Chinesechess.
Three Hong Kong nrillionaires, Henry Fok, Paul lam
and Wong Ming, have alreadyput a considerableamount
of money into Chinesechessand have promised to put in
more. Henry Fok has offered a prize of one half million
dollars to the first non-Chinesepe$on ever to win a
major tournament of Chinese chessahead of a Chinese
grandmaster.He has also indicated that he may increase
that prize to one million dollars in the futue, plus make
the conditions for winning the prize less difficult.
Paul Lam and Wong Ming are both master strength
players of Chinese chess.Paul I-am holds the distinction
of being perhapsthe only person in the world to be a
master of all three of the major games:chess,go (wei-chi)
and Chinesechess.He has been rated 2250by the World
ChessFederationand is ranked as a 5-dan player of go.
He and Wong Ming, who is one of the strongestplayers
of Chinesechessin llong Kong, have togetherprovided
the seed capital for the founding of the World Chinese
- 3 -
 ChessFederation.
In Singapore,the GuinnessCompanyhas pledged a
considerableamount of moneyfor the sponsorshipof in-
ternational Chinesechesstournaments.ln Bangkok,the
Surathip Group, the national liquor company,is com-
mitted to the sponsorshipof Chinesechessevents.Taiwan
has obtained commercial sponsorshipfor big Chinese
chesstournaments.China hasbeen sponsoringthe ,Seven
Stars Cup' series of annual international Chinesechess
IOUrnaments.
Where haveyou beenwhile al1this hasbeengoing on?
In reality, this has all happenedso suddenlythat few
people who are not Chineseeven know about this. Any
Chinesechessevent of any consequence will have little
difficuity in attracting500 to 1000spectato$per day.This
is t}te reason that commercialsponsorsare interested.
Even a World ChessOlympiad,with 107 nations repre-
sented,will not get that manyspectators. A Chinesechess
event will get both front page coverageand probably a
full page of specializedcoveragein the local Chinese
newspaper.However, it will probably not get even one
line of mention in the Englishlanguagepress.
Why is that? Actualty, most English language
newspapereditors have never even heard of Chinese
chess.When they hear the name,they think that it must
be go. Isn't it strangethat the most popular game in the
entire world is a gamewhich hardly anybodywho is not
- 4 -
Chinesehasevenheardof?
Actually, it all comes down to a simple question of
money.Go becamea prestigegamebecausethe Japanese
played it and the Japanesehad money. Therefore,
everybodywanted to learn how to play go. When the
Chinesepeople were poor, Chinesechesswas merely a
sidewalkgameplayedby old men and young boyson the
street. Nobody paid any attention to it. Suddenly,the
Chinesehave become rich. Now, just a few people are
startingto take notice.This is why a British companylike
Guinness,with hardly a singleChinesepersonworking for
it, has suddenlystartedspendinglarge amountsof money
sponsoringChinesechesstournaments.
Want to Pick up an Easy Half Million Dollars by play-
ing Gamesin Your SpareTime?
Henry Fok has offered to give a prize of one half mil-
lion dollarsto the first non-Chinesepersonto win a major
tournament in Chinese chess.By the way, he has the
moneyto pay. This soundseasyenough.All you have to
do is beata few Chineseat theirown game.
Basically,all you really haveto do is beat a certainMr.
Hu Long llua (Hu Rong Hua in the Pinyin spellingsys-
tem) at a gameof chess.This shouldnot be any problem.
Mr. Hu is a friendlyfe1low.
Actually,it will probablyneverbe done.Hu Long Hua
is the Bobby Fischerof Chinesechess.He won the cham-
(
pionship of China (which in effect was the world cham-
pionship) in 1960when he was only 15 years old. He is
still consideredto be the bestplayerin the world. Nobody
who is not Chineseis likely to beat him any time soon.
Still, it is possibleto drearl One player who is given a
remote chance is Robert Hi.ibner of West Germany, a
doctor of papyrolory. Dr. Hiibner is rated around 2600 by
the World Chess Federation and is consistently ranked
among the top 50 chessplayers in the world. He often
boycotts eventsorganizedby the World ChessFederation.
This giveshim some extra time to play Chinesechess.The
only problem is that he is not very sfong yet. Aithough he
finished secotrd in a tournament in England in 1988, he
still has a way to go to reach any sort of intemational
Chinese standard. However, being one of the top chess
players in the world suggeststhat Dr. Hi.ibner might have
the raw talent to becomea top player at Chinesechess.
Besides Dr. Htibner, it is just about possible to count
on the fingers of one hand those players who are recog-
nized in the world of international chessand who have
also tried Chinesechess.l-arry Kaufrna4 an international
chessmaster living in Mianri, Florida" with a chessrating
of around 245Q became quite a reasonable player of
Chinesechessin just a few months time in 1985,but then
abruptly gave it up to concentrate on computer chess,
with respectto which he is now one of the world's leading
authorities. A player named Winston Willirms from Sin-
- 6 -
gapore has held a rating of around 2220 by the World
ChessFederation and also plays a fair game of Chinese
chess.There is also this author. Needlessto say,none of
the aboveare any threat whatever to Hu I-ong Hua.
In recognition of this, Henry Fok is talking about
lowering the standard required to win the prize and in-
creasingthe money to one million dollars. ff he is serious
about this, it could becomeinteresting.Hu I-ong Hua may
be vktually unbeatable,but it might be feasible for a non-
Chinesepersonto becomeone of the best 100playersof
Chinesechessin the world, for example.
Since the publication of the first edition of this book,
an important new development has taken place. Xie Jun,
who got her big start as a street player of Chinesechessat
the age of 10, has won the Woman's World ChessCham-
pionship, decisivelydefeating Maya Chiburdanidze of the
Soviet Union. Only the author of this book predicted that
result. It will be noted that on page 138of the first edition
of this book, published in 1988,it was stated that Xie Jun
was 'easily' one of the ten best female players in tle
world. However, nobody believed ttris, as Xie Jun was not
evenin the rating list of the top 500 at the time.
However, this is only the beginning, as three other
Chinesegirls have since reached the candidatesfinals of
the top eight. It can be predicted that the Chinesewomen
will completely take over and monopolize the Woman's
World ChessChampionshipfrom now on.
- 7 -
 TheInitial Set-UP
ChapterTWo Part of the proof that Chinesechessand international
chessarejust variationsof the samebasicgamelies in the
How to PIay ChineseChess lact thzl in spite of a number of differences,the pieces
are set up in basicallythe sameway.For example,in both
games,the king is in the center, the rook in the corner
Chinesechessis a gameplayed on a board consisting
and the knight is next to the rook. After that comesthe
of 9 by 10 lines.It has a rook, a knight,a king and pawru,
bishop,althoughthe bishop in Chinesechessis a much
ail of which move in the same way or a similar way to
weakerpiece than the bishop in internationalchess.Ac-
thosesamepiecesin internationalchess.It doesnot have
tually,the bishopin Chinesechessmovesthe sameway as
a queen.Instead,it hasa can-non, a guardand an elephant the bishop(whichwasthen calledthe elephant)movedin
(sometimescalled a bishop) all of which have no real
the originalArab and Indian forms of internationaichess.
equivalentin intemationalchess.The object of the game The presentbishopand queenusedin internationalchess
is to checkmateor stalematethe enemyking.
wereboth innovationsintroducedin Italy in about 1497.
Chinesechessis a relative of internationalchess.The
Chineseauthoritiesin Beijing claim that somepredeces- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
sor form of the gamewasplayedas early as the first cen-
turies B.C. This is much earlier than any record of chess
existingin either India or Arabia. However,international
chessand Chinesechessclearlysharea commonorigin.
At the sametime, there are major differencesbetween
the two games. Chinese chessis played on lines and
points rather than on squares.It has a river in the middle
of the board and an imperial palaceon eachside of the
board.The king and his guardsare neverallowedto leave
the imperial palace,iike the emperoi in not so ancient 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
China, as those who have seen the movie The Last
Dia. 1. The initinl set-up
Emperor wtlThave learned.
- 8 - - 9 -
 Whereas there is one queen in international chess,
there are two guardsin Chinesechess.These also move
like the equivalentpiece in historical Arab and Indian
chess.For that reason,at the start of the game,there is a
row of nine pieceson the back rank in Chinesechess,as
opposedto only eightpiecesin internationalchess.
Chinesechesshas only five pawnsto eachside.These
start on the fowth ranlg not on the second,and havegaps
in betweenthem.
There is one piece which is much different from any
piecewhich existsin internationalchess.That is calledthe
cannon.It givesa 1otof trouble to any experiencedplayer
of internationalchesswho tries to take up Chinesechess.
In the initial positio4 the caruronsort of hangsin mid-air
on the third rank of the board.
How the Piecesare Named.
Although there are sevendifferent tj?es of pieces,no
agreementhasyet been reachedas to what namesto call
them. Westernerstend to use the samenameswhich are
familiar to them from internationalchess.Chinesetend to
use the word which is the direct translationof the name
of that piece from Chineseinto English.Thus, the piece
which startsin the corner and has the power to move and
capturevertically and horizontallyis called the 'rook' by
Westerners,but the Chinese usually call it either the
'chariot' or the 'car'. The reason for this is that the
-10-
Cllnese character for that piece is rlso the word for
automobilein modern Chinese.Therefore,do not call the
police if your Chineseopponent in Chinesechesssudden-
ly announcesthat he is going to take your car.
Similarly, almost all of the other pieces in Chinese
chesshave two or three possible names.The knight can
be calied the horse,the bishop can be cailed the elephant,
the guard can be called the assistant,the cannon can be
called the gunner or the gun, the pawn can be called the
footsoldier and the king can be called the general. Any
new player will just have to get used to hearing these and
other possiblenamesfor the variouspieces.
The Asian ChineseChessAssociation. of which twelve
countries ate members, previously adopted the conven-
tion of calling the pieces by the following names:charioL,
horse, elephant, assistant,gunner, pawn and king. In a
meeting at Kunming, China in 1990,they dropped chariot
in favor of rook and gunner in favor of cannon.However,
we will call the pieces by the namesrool hright, bishop,
guard,cannoq pawn and king.
The Piecesand their Movements
Each player has a total of 16 pieces,of seven different
types.There are five pawns, two rook, two knights, two
bishops,two guards,two cannonsand one king in each of
the opposing armies.They move from one intersection of
lines to another.Their movesare asfollows:
-11 -
 ROOK - moves any number of un-
obstructedpoints left, right, forward or
backward.In other words, it moves ex-
actlylike a rook in internationalchess.
KNIGHT - movesone point 1eft,dght,
0 forward or backwardplus one point fiu-
ther diagonallyright or left in the same
@ each other across the board. ln other
direction.In other words,it movesexact-
ly the sameas the knight in intemational
chess.However, there is one big dif-
ference. The knight in Chinese chess
cannot jump. For exampie,if there is
anotherpiece one point directly in front
of the knight, it will not be able to move
forward.
BISHOP - moves exactiy two points
diagonally, but carurotjump and cannot
crossthe river. Therefore,there are only
sevenpossiblepointswhich a bishopcan
occuDv.
GUARD - moves exactly one point
diagonally,but cannotleavethe imperial
palace. There are only five possible
pointswhich a guardcan occupy.
-12-
KING - moves exactlyone point 1eft,
@ right, forward or backward. The king
@ cannotleavethe imperial palace.Unlike
the king in internationalchess,the king
in Chinesechesscamot move diasonal-
ly. A rule of utmost importanceI that
the two kings are not allowed to face
words, if the two enemykings are on the
same 1ine, there must be at least one
other piecein betweenthem.This rule is
importantto rememberbecausethe kins
often takespart in a checkmatingattackl
CANNON - moveslike a rook but cao-
rures by jumping. This is the hardeit
piece for a player of internationalchess
to leam. In order for the cannonto cap-
ture an enemy piece, there must be
anotherpiece in between,called a ,gun
mount', which the cannon 'fires' over.
The gun mount can belong to either
side.
-13_
 PAWN - movesand capturesby moving
one point forward. After the pawn has
crossedthe river, it acquiresthe power
to move and captureone point to either
the left or right. In Chinese,this is called
a 'river-crossingpawn'. Unlike the pawn
in international chess, the pawn in
Chinesechessmovesand capturesin the
sameway.Also unlike the pawn in inter-
nationalchess,it cannotmove two points
forwardon the first move.
Colors of the Pieces
In official sets used in recognizedtournaments,the
pieces are colored red and black. Red moves first.
However, sets used by the general public use a wide
variety of colors.For example,on some sets the pieces
are blue and green. Alnost any color will do. There is
alsono conventionabout which side movesfirst. In infor-
mal games,Black movesfirst almostasoften asRed.
Shapeof the Pieces
The Chinesedo not usefigurinepieces.In other words,
the knight is not shapedlike a horse.Instead,the pieces
consistof flat disks with Chinesecharacterswritten on
them. Even here, there is no uniformity. On piecesused
in mainlandChina the Chinesecharacterusedon the red
-74-
side will generally be a little bit different from the
Chinesecharacteron the same piece used by the black
side. However, the Chinese character for the bishop is
completely different for the opposing sides. The red
'minister' whereas
bishop uses the Chinese character for
the black bishop uses the Chinese character for
'elephant'. However, in the spoken language, the two
wordsare pronouncedin the sameway.
This practice does not &luse as much confusion as you
might imagine. More than that, if the set gets old atrd the
paint wears off, you wili still know which piece belongs to
which side,becauseof the different characterused.
In the official sets designed by the Asian Chinese
Chess Association, the red pieces and the equivalent
biack pieces are indicated by exactly the same Chinese
characters. This is supposed to make it easy for non-
Chineseto take up the game.
Many experiments have been made over the years
using figurine pieceslike those in intemational chess.The
purpose of these experiments has been to get more
Westernersinterested in Chinese chess.These experi-
ments have failed, however, because most Westerne$,
having once learned the game, prefer to use pieces with
Chinese characterswritten on them rather than figurine
pteces.One person in Hong Kong has even tried moving
the pieces off of the points and onto squaresby creating a
boardof 9 by 10squares,without success.
-15-
 The Asian Chinese Chess Association has adopted a
The Board
standard Chinese chessset to be used in all official com- Diagram 2 showsthe bare board. Notice that there is
petition. On one side of eachpiece is the Chinesecharac-
an empty sector in the middle called the river. It simply
ter of the piece and under it is the name of the piece in divides the board into half. It only directly affects trvo
English. For example,the lnight has the Chinese charac- pieces.The bishopis not allowedto crossthe river. Also,
ter for 'horse' on it and under that the English word the pawn acquiresthe power to movesidewaysafter it has
'horse'. The pieces
can also be turned over, if either crossedit. The major pieces,the roolg the knight and the
player wishes, and on the other side are pictures of the cannon,canmovefreely backand forth acrossthe river.
piecein question,suchas a horseor an elephant. The secondfeatureis the imperiaipalace.This is a sec-
This set seems to represent tle best solution to this tion of 3 by 3 points on either side of the board. It is
diffrcult problern- There are only seven Chinese ihess markedby an 'X'.
charactersto remember, plus the name is also written in Neither the king nor his guards are allowed to leave
English. This mal<esthese pieces rather easy to com- the imperial palace.
prehend. Under tle official rules, either player has the
right to insist that all the pieces be turned over and the
side with pictures of horsesand elephantsused. However,
it is noteworthy that so far there is no known caseof any
player having asked for this. It seemsthat everyone feels
that the Chinesecharactersare easierto remember.
Most readersprobably do not have a Chinesechessset.
If you ca:rnot find a set, ask your local gems51s1sto carry
some. Good quality sets are available from Ishi PressIn-
ternational, 76 Bonaventura Drive, San Jose, CA 95134
and 20 Burges Place, I-ondon NW1 OIE. Meanwhile, we
have included and a set of paper piecesat tle back of the
book. You can cut these out and draw a board on a piece 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
of paper. Dia. 2. The Board

_t6_ -t7-
 There are also other markings on the board. These cannon. Note, however, that the cannon captures dif-
vary from board to board. Usually,they show where the ferently, bYjumPing.
pawnsand the cannonsare initially placed.These marl- Diagram 4 showsthe movement of the knight. It is of
ings are just to help the player orient himself, like the great importance to note that the lcright cannot jurnp.
'a', 'b' and
white and black colored squaresused in international Thus, the red knight here can move to points
chess. 'c'but not to 'd' or 'e'. Also, the red knight can capture
either of the nvo black knights shown in the diagram, but
The Initial Set-Upand PieceMovements the black knights cannot capture the red ladght. Both
Diagram 1 on page 9 showsthe initial sefup. Moving blackknightsare blockedby other pieces.
from the corners to the middle are the rooks, knights,
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 23 4 s 6 7 8 9
bishops,guardsand king, in that order. In ftont are five
t
pawns.Below and betweentnem are two cannons. \ll
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
A/.
li I Gi
a
\_)/
n 64 YT_l_l_r_l_r
( i Il ti \--

R
-f, I
,l
c \ 1 , /

\:=,
\ / \
I
//l\
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4
i Dia.4 DilL 5

9 8 7 6 s 4 3 2 1 Diagram 5 shows the movement of the bishop. Since

Dia 3 the bishop moves exactly two points diagonally and can-
not cross the river, there are only sevenpossible points
Diagram 3 showsthe movementsof the rook and the which the bishop can occupy. Pleasework this out until

_18_ _19_
 you understandthis important fact. The points to
which Diagram 7 showsthe movementsof the pawns.Note
the bishop can move are marked by dots. Note that the
that a pawn that has crossedthe river has three possibie
black bishopcannotmove to point ,a,becauseit is biock_
legal moves.Sucha pawn is strongand dangerousto the
ed by a pawn.A bishopis a purely defensivepiece,since
enemypieces,whereasa pawn which has not yet crossed
it cannotcrossthe river and attackthe enemyking.
the river is almostworthless.Also note that a pawn can
Diagram 6 showsthe movementsof the guarls. Since
nevermovebackwards.
the guard can only move one point diagonally and cannot Diagram8 givesexamplesof the capturingmove of the
leave the imperial palace, there are only five possible
camon. Note that the cannon can captue the enemy
points on which the guard can ever land. Again,
please knight but camot move to point 'a'. The two cannonscan
work out the reason for this. Each guard starts in
the capfureeachother but cannotcapturethe rook.
corner of the imperial palaceand thereforehas only one
legal move.A guard in the center of the imperial palace t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
h.asfgur possiblelegal moves.A guard is a purely defen_
sivepiece.It guardsthe king. a!
\ a
z\
ti { UA
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 67 8 9 i

n\
( {v
.\tz )-
/a\
T
:i-1ft-rx-r- 5 4 3 2 |
Dia.8

Object of the Game

5 4 3 2 1 6 5 4 3 2 1 The object of the game in Chinese chessis to win the
Din.6 Dia 7 enemy king either through checkmate or stalemate. A

_20_ -21,-
stalematewins the game,just like a checkmate.In other
words, unlike in internationalchess,a stalemateis not a
draw but rather is a win for the sidegiving stalemate.
Draws
The draw rule is the most complicatedrule in Chinese
chessand in fact has not yet been formalized.The reason
for this is that perpetualcheckand perpetualrepetitionof
movesare quite cornmonpossibilitiesin Chinesechess.In
fact, if playerswereallowedto force a draw try perpetual
repetition of position,as they are in international chess,
then almost everyfairly evenlycontestedgameof Chinese
chesswould end in a draw.
As a result, perpetual check is almost absolutely
prohibited. Generally,the playergivingperpetualcheckrs
required to make some other move instead.The catchis
about this word 'generally'.If the player canprove that he
is being forced by his opponentto give perpetualcheck,
then the gamemight be ruled a draw.
An even more difficult caseariseswhen the positionis
being repeatedbecauseone of the playerskeepsattacking
an enemy piece or else keeps threatening checkmate,
without actually giving check. In such cases,the player
who is forcingthe other to movewill be requiredto make
a different moveand the gamewill continue.
In official tournamentsthere are sometimesdisputes
about this and an arbiter has to be called. What the ar-
-22-
hiter tries to do is to determinethe guilt. In other words,
lhere is usually one player, usually the player with the
weakerpositionon the board,who keepsattackinghis op-
ponentand forcing the opponentto move back and forth,
in that case,the guilty player will be ordered by the ar-
bitcr to changehis sequenceof moves.However, some-
rimes it happens that both players are attacking each
other.In that case,the gameis a draw.
This is sucha complicatedsubjectthat it is beyondthe
scopeof this book. The Hong Kong ChineseChessAs-
sociationhas publisheda book of disputedpositionsand
what the ruling of the arbiter was and the reasoningbe-
hind the ruling in variouscases.Also, the Asian Chinese
ChessAssociation and the ChinaChineseChessAssocia-
tion are in disagreementconcerningsomefiner points of
theserules.
Fortunately,thesedisputedcasesare fairly rare and a
beginningplayer does not need to be much concerned
aboutthem. However,Dia. 9 is intendedto be a rudimen-
taryexampleof howthis problemm.ightarise.
In Dia. 9 (nextpage),the playerof the black pieceshas
an overwhelming material advantage.Therefore, the
player of the red pieceswould be quite happy to get a
draw. Right now, the black cannonis being attackedby
the red rook. The only placewhere the cannoncan move
and avoid captureis to point 'a'. However, in that case,
then the red rook wlll move to point 'b' and attack the
-23 -
cannon again. The cannon will have no choice but to
move back to its present position. The rook will also
movebackandthe positionwill be repeated.
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
6 5
Dia.9
This caseappean to be fairly clear cut. The rook is
clearly forcing the cannonto move back and forth. The
cannon is merely trying to escape.Therefore, the side
with the rook is guilty of trying to force a draw and conse-
quentlyshouldbe orderedto makeanothermove.
But wait! When the cannonmovesto 'a', it just so hap-
pens that coincidentallyit threatensto move to point 'c',
which is checkmate.There is only one defenseto check-
mate.That is for the red rook to move to point 'b'. If the
arbiter rules that Red is not allowedto make this move,it
-24 -
is just like passing a death sentenceon Red. Therefore,
'b'. The can-
the arbiter must rule that Red can move to
non then movesback to its presentposition, where it does
not threaten mate. When Red also moves bach Blacr
againcomplainsto the arbiter.
What will the arbiter now rule? In this particular posi-
tioq he will probably rule that Red must make a different
move, which will result in a win for Black However,
nobody can sayfor sure,becausethe autlorities are not in
fr:ll agreement on this kind of situation. Fortunately, it
doesnot happen often enough to be of any great concern
to the reader at this stage.
Notation
The Chinese use a descriptive system of notation to
record their games. Under this systern, a move is
described with words like: 'Cannon on the second line
movesover to the fifth line.' This, incidentally, is regarded
as the best fust move for Red in Chinese chess.These
words are reduced to symbols.Using these symbols,this
move is written 'C2.5' or possibly'A=5'. The vertical
Iines are numbered from l" to 9 from each player's right.
Thus, the first line for the player of the red pieces is the
sameas the ninth line for the player of the black pieces.
Other legal first moves by the cannon include 'cannon
on second advancesfour', which is written 'C2+ 4' ar'rd,
'camon
on secondrefeats one',which is written 'C2-1'.
-25_
 Rook movesand king moves are written in the same
way. However, the recording of knight moves is a bit
tricky.The idtial knight movemight be written 'knight on
secondadvancesto third' or, in symbols,'N2+3'. If one
looks at the position on the board,one will find that there
is only one point on the third line to which the knight on
the secondline can legaily advance.Becauseof the way
the knight moves,this will alwaysbe true. Incidentally,we
are following the conventionfrom internationalchessin
which a knight is designatedby the letter 'N'. This avoids
confusionwith the 'K' for king.
Sometimesit will happenthat a player has t'wo of the
same kind of piece on the same line. In that case,the
move of the piecewill be generallybe recordedas for ex-
ample "front knight advancesto six" which is ryrnbolized
as 'FN + 6' or "backrook over to nine" rvhichis written as
'BR.9'or 'BR :9'.
On rare occasionsin the endgameor in composed
problems,it happensthat there are three pawns on tie
same line. Then, a move might be recorded as 'middle
pawnover to five'or'MP=5'. Peoplewho are interested
in such things have found ingeniousways to record the
movesin even more complicatedsituations,such as five
pawnson the same1ine.However,thesecasesneverreally
arisein actualp1ay.
It shouldbe observedthat any move in Chinesechess
can be written with exactlyfour characters,never more
-26-
and never less.This conformsto the Chinesesystemof
orderllness.
One of the first things which just about every
Westemerdoeswhen he decidesto takeup Chinesechess
is to invent his own algebraicsystemfor recording the
moves.Under this sort of systerq the vertical lines go
from a to i and the horizontallines go either from 0 to 9
or from 1 to 9 and then to 0. Thus,an initial knight move
'Nh0-g2'.Seeif you canfind
by Red might be recordedas
this move on the board in the initial position.If you are
havingtroubie, then you will understandwhy this sort of
algebraicsystemhas not been successful. As a hint, you
shouldlnow that the samemove is recordedulder the
Chinesesystemas'N2+3'.
This is not to saythat the Chinesenotationalsystemis
all that wonderful. In every book on Chinese chcss
publishedin Chinesethere are numerousrecording er-
rors.In fact, theseerrorsare so numerousthat they seem
to appearin almosteverypublishedgame.Part of the task
in plalng over a publishedgameis figuringout what must
havehappenedwhen a mistakeappearsin the score.The
Chinesedo not seemto considerthis to be any sort of a
problem.They seemto thint that correctingmistakesis
lust a normal part of the process of playing over a
publishedgame.
Perhaps the Chinese should consider adopting an aI-
gebraicsystemto reduce the frequencyof these type of
_27 _
mistakes,just as international chess has finally done.
However, for the moment, there are more than one
hundredmillion Chinesewho are usedto the presentsys-
tem and it would be foolish for anyoneto try to swim
asainstthe tide.
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 1 3 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Da 10a Dia.10b
The Asian ChineseChessAssociationhas adoptedthe
conventionof using a dot rather than an equalssign to
record a horizontal move. Therefore, the first move
'C2.5' rather than 'C2=5'. However,
should be written
just to be obstreperous, we againwill not follow the offi-
cial system,but rather will use equals.This seemsto be
more logical and consistent,since the mathematical s).'rn-
'-') are alsobeingused.
bols for plus and minus ('+' and
-28-
As a test,try makingthe following movesfrom the ini-
tial positionin Chinesechess:1. C2=5, N2+3; 2. N2+3,
C8=6;3. P3+1,N8+7; 4. N8+9, R9+1; 5. C8=7,
R1=2; 6. R9:8, C2+4. By now, you should have
reachedthe positionin Dia. 10a.If you havedone so suc-
cessfully,then you havemasteredthe notationalsystemin
Chinesechess.By the way, this is a standard opening
variation,so you have learned somethingby taking the
dme to play over thesemoves.Dia. 10bis the sameposi-
tion aswill be found in a book publishedin Chinese.Note
that in the opposingarmies,the pawns,bishopsand kings
are different, whereas the rooks, cannons,knights and
guards are the same. This diagram is from a book
publishedin Singapore.These,in turrL are different from
the 'official' pieces designatedby the Asian Chinese
ChessAssociation.In the official pieces,the red bishopis
the sameasthe blackbishop,for example.The purposeof
the official piecesis to make it simplerfor non-Chineseto
understand.
-29 -
 Don't get overconfident.Diagram 12 is a much harder
ChapterThree s35e.The black king is in checkfrom the red rook. That is
easyenough.However,the king cannotmove to the right
becauseit cannotleavethe imperial palace.AIso, it can-
Checkmateand Stalemate not move to the left becauseof the important rule that
two kings can never face each other. Pleaseremember
Now, we will move on quickly to examplesof check- this. This rule is so important that it will be repeated
mate. Someof theseexampleswill be a little bit hard for again.The kings can neverface eachother. Another way
the beginningplayer, but it is important to underctand to explainthe sameidea is to saythat the king moveslike
this section. a rook when it comesto checkingor capturingthe enemy
We will start with an easycase.In Dia. 11, Black is in king"
checkmate becausehis king cannot escape from the t 2 3 45 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
enemyrook. This exactcheckmatemight occur in inter-
nationaichess. .4 \ l-\
\ \ I
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ,
R
\ 7),
,/N ./t \ \

ft n
\v

-a ,a

6 5 4 / o i )

,/\l
. ) ( v \ ,/,x Dia.13 Dia.14
6 5 4 7 6 5
Diagram 13 is another hard case for the beginning
Da 11 Da 12 player.The black king is in checkfrom the red rook, but

?1
-30-
it looks like the king can just capture the rook, or else Rememberthat the cannoncapturesby jumping. ln this
move away.However,it cannot.The king cannotcapture case,it will jump over the guard and capturethe enenry
the rook becauseit cannot leave the imperial palace. king. The only possiblemove of the guard is blocked by
Also, it cannot move away because it cannot move the other guard.It is important to observehow the guards
diagonally.The only escapepoint which the king might have causedtheir own king to be checkmated.If either
haveis now occupiedby its own rook. guardwere removed,then it would not be checkmate.If
Diagram 14 (preceding page) is an example of the guardto the right of the king is removed,then it is not
stalemate.It doesnot look like the gameis over,but it is. even chec\ becausethe camon needs to have a sun
The red knight attack the only two points to which the mount to jump over in order to captue tfre nng. ahq if
black king might be able to move. Again, Red wins be- the guard in front of the king is removed,then Black has
causeBlack has no legal move. Rememberthat the king two waysout of check.He can move the king forward or
cannotmovediagonallyand cannotleavethe palace. he can move the guardup. ff you do not understandthis,
pleasestudythis diagramcarefully,becausethis particular
t 2 3 45 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 matecomesup all the time.
\!)- \-r \ t Diagram 16 is anothercolrmon checkmateby the can-
I / ( ri
,,Y\ Fn
\v
non. The king cannotmove to the left becausethat point
is attackedby the knight. It is imporrant ro nore rhat the
, , 1o
: , black guard can capturethe red knight,but this doesnot
affect the checkmate,becausethen the cannonwill jump
overthe guard.
Diagram 17 (next page) is similar to Dia. 16 except
that the black king is on a differentpoint. Now, the guard
1't / \ , i-/\ cannot capture the knight becausein that casethe two
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 | 1 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 r enemykingswill faceeachother.
Dia 15 Da 16 Diagram 18 (next page) is one of the most common
and important checkmatesin all of Chinesechess.please
Diagram 1-5is an exampleof checkmateby the cannon. study this diagram carefully.The red rook attacks the

-32- -33-
black king. The black king cannot capturethe red rook can
6xx5ethe lear camon
becausethen the nvo kings would face each other. The iump over the front cannon'
'Hu*"u.t,
next point is important.The black guard cannot captue in this diagrarn,
the red rook becausein that casethe red cannonwould Black has two bishoPs,two
be checkingthe black king. guards,a cannonand a roo\
^ll of *hi.h can seem to
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
movein front of the cannons
\
a
z:r\
and block the check.
Flowever,it is still check-
mate becausein that case
the front cannon $/ill be 6 5
givingcheck.Also, the front
carutoncan be capturedby Dia.19
G
\\
)2 the rook or the knight,but
\r_ that will still not affectthe checkmate.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dia 17 Dia 18
Stareat Dia. 18for aslong asit takesfor you to under-
stand it. If you still don't get it, do not be concerned.
Your opponentswill be happy to demonstratethis par-
ticular checkmateto you hundredsof times until you get
the hangof it.
Diagram 19shcwscheckmateby two cannons.Again,it
is important to understand why this is checkmate.
Presently,the king is in checkfrom the rear cannon,be-
Examplesof Checkmate
Diagrams 20 through 30 are a1l examplesof mates'
(From here on, we will consider both stalematesand
checkmatesto be simply mates,that is, wins)' ln each
case,it is Black to move, but Black has no lega1move'
Pleasetake as much time as you need and go through
thesediagramsone by one until you are surethatyotl un-
derstzmdwhy each one is mate. Remember that check-
mate and stalemateends the game' so there is nothing
more importantthan to be ableto recognizethem.

-34- -35-
Examplesof Mate Examplesof Mate
t 2 3 4 s 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 11 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
\. ,
rl
!
fr V
t
t
r+4,N
\at\
/ ^
r0 A1
try
,6
f

4
tl ,
\.|
{K.)- 4\ \l
(6\
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Da 20 Da 21 Da 24 Dia 25
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
\ v \w_
v \
d
€\
ET
!ry!4,
i
t l A
a l\\ o# E'V

\
I i :

/^'
l--traTt-.] \r'
\r/ lr
4
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2I 1
\l

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
X
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 ) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dia.22 Dia.23 Dia 26 Dia 27

-36- 7.'7

, @
\ In Chinesechess,if you win a whole bunch of material,
,/)
vll \
6 5 4 7 6 5
Da 28
If you havecompletedyour
studyof all of thesediagrams,
try setting up your own
mating positions. Actually,
there are not that many.The
same mates tend to occur
again and again.Perhapsyou
could qeate your own small
library of possiblecheckmates
(including stalemates).You
will need to developthis skill
.\ ,/\vl downagainstan opponentand play a reai garne.
z/D\
\"1
1,
The fine art of checkmateis much more important in
Chinesechessthan it is in intemationalchess.The reason
for ttus is that in intemationalchess,you generallytry to
win material or queen a pawn. Most of the time, you do
not think about administeringcheckmateuntil you have
aLready acquiredoverwhelmingforce.
^:\ you are probablydoing somethingwrong.A playerwho is
far aheadin matedal has probablyalreadymissedseveral
mating possibitties.AIso, the cannon tends to become
Da.29 weakeras the enemypiecesare removedfrom the board.
Therefore,you need to concentrateprimarily on how to
mateyour opponent,not on how to win material.
\ ,v,/
,^(
,\n
Quiz Number One
Diagrams31 through 40 are Quiz Number One. You
are askedto decidewhethereachposition is mate or not.
If the position is not mate,then Black has only one legai
move.The answersstart on page42. If you do not score
/A lffi%, go backuntil you understandwhat you did wrong.

of creating mating positions, 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

becausethat is what you will Dia.30
be trying to do when you sit

-38- -39 -
Quiz One. Is Black Mated? Is Black Mated?
euiz One.
| 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
lt , \ I
^l
1H '- t I
,
) I E{
) \
\
/i
E@\

G l !l" l ' 1 "

t )

\,/
,a
lb,\A ,4
4) 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 s 4 3 2 1
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Da 31 Dia 32 Dia 35 Dia. 36

t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 s 6 7 8 9
\
7 E'! X ,/
( i r
{
i\
(dd()
G \\
2'
o
1{
)
l 9

/a\
ryTT-[
d '\
}
,
,r\l '\,/

4^) ,#/L\
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
I
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dia.33 Dia. 34 Dia 37 Dia 38

-40- -41 -
 34. This is not checkmate.The guard simply captures
\
G )>7\
1\.!: fa Y\Y/ the knight.
I
!t ^j/; /v\
35. This is not checkmate.Black has one legal move:
n't-(
r\!-J'
-r-r---r@-rr--l-
-+-{e_|_-{-|-- 36. Not checkmate.Black plays N3-5, capturing the
I Y l l l
rear cannon.
\./
1K-
t /
A\ 37. Mate by stalemate.If Black movesthe rook or the
9 8 7 6 s 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2| knight,then the cannontakesthe king.
Dia.39 Dia.40
38.Not checkmate.Black'sonly moveis B3 + 1.
AnswerTo Quiz Number One @iagrams 31 - 40)
39, Double checkbut not checkmate.Black playsB5-7.
31. This position is mate (by stalemate).The guard
cannotretreatbecauseof checkby the cannon. 40. Not checkmate.Red hasjust playedN5 + 6, giving
triple check.The knight,rook and cannonare all checking
32. Also mate (by stalemate).The black guard cannot at the same time. However, in spite of this, Black can
move, becausethe knight would capture the king. Note merelystepawaywith K5 : 6.
that the black king is not presentlyin check. The red
knight, which would otherwisebe checkingthe king, is If you did score 100Vo,then you are ready for Quiz
blocked by the guard.Rememberthat the knight cannot NumberTwo, which is Dias. 41 through50. The question
jump. is whether Red has checkmatein one move and, if so,
how. Again, you really need to score1007oon this quiz,
33. This is not checkmate.Black has one legal move, or elsestudythis sectionsomemore.
RB:6, blockingthe knight.

-42- _43_
Quiz Number T$o @iagrams 41 to 50) euiz Two,DoesRed Have Mate in One?
DoesRed Have Mate in One?
| 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 I | 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 I t 2 3 45 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
t {RXC \ \try./ \ ,v/
Y Y >f,
A /
/i i\
\ li
17{
./ri\\
\7
I
A
6\
4 I /i
w-
s, \_v
f=t
- t li
///\\
l{

Y I
{( )-
\1./ \Z
/,
\\l ,/l>
---al )- \
I z\J
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Da 41 Da.42 Dia 45 Dia 46
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
\tl vst

,x\ \
A I
,l 1t n
E
,t IiA
\
\Y
(

E'

oY
\1,/
AA ,/ 1\.)
qf )-
ZN n{
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dia.43 Dia.44 Da 47 Dia 48

*44- ^<
 44. Red stalemateswith K4 = 5.
\{) ,l
a I i 45. Not checlffrate. ff Red plays R4 + 4, Btack surprises
) \L
,/\
v him by capturingthe rook with C3:6.
ia\
I
T
46. Not checkmate.If Red check with N4+3, Black
E)r€r€--rOl blocks the knight with R64 or caphfes with C1:7. If
RedplaysN4 + 6 check,Black hasCl :4.
\./ \1,/
,+4\ ,/l>,
I 47. Red has mate (by stalemate)with P6 + 1.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 48. Red has checkmatewith R6+1. However,if Red

Da 49 Dia. 50 tries R6 = 5 double checlg Black merely steps away with
K5=6.
Answersto Quiz Number Two @iagrams 41-50)
49. Not checkmate.If C9=5 capturingthe rook with
41. Mate in one.Red mates(by stalemate)with N2+4 check,Black canplay N7-5.

42. Red has checkmatewith R2:4. If. instead,the red
rook retreats, giving check by the cannon, then Black
rnerelyadvanceshis cannon,breakingthe check.This ex-
ample comesup frequently.
43. Red stalemateswith C5 + 3! Do not feel bad if you
didn't get that one.This blockingtheme is commonin ac-
tual olav.
50. Not checkmate.It is not legal to move the knight
becausetlen the two kings will face eachother. However,
if Red's king were on the fifth line rather than the fourth
line, Red would give stalematewith N4 +5. N4 +3 would
not evenbe checkbecauseRed's knieht would be blocked
by his own oawn

-46- _47 _
 W + I ??, C7 +7 cbeck;5. G4 + 5, C7:9 checkwinning
ChapterFour therook.
4. N8 +9. Unlike in internationalchess,it is quite nor-
A SampleGame 6al to placea knight on the edgelike this.
4 . . . .. , N 8 + 9 .
It is time to seewhat an actual game of Chinese chess 5. Rl =2, R1=2. Placingthe rookson open files is also
look like. Although the game selected is uncommonly a commonidea in intemationalchess.
short, it is a real game by Liu Chen Ching, a famous 6. C8=7. Both Red and Black have now adopted a
playerin the 1950's. popularattackingformationwhichwill be discussed in the
next chapter. While it is normal to see one side or the
1. P3 + 1. The most popular first move is cannonto the
center. The move here is one of the major alternatives. other set up this formation,it is lesscommonto seeboth
1. . . . . , C8 =7. Black attack the pawn right away, playersplay it at the sametime.
6.. . . ., P7+1. Black sacrifices a pawnand opensup
2. C2= 5, C2 = 5. Both playerscentralize their cannons.
3. N2+3, It would have been bad for Red to capture the gameradically.We havenow reachedDia. 51.
the pawn with C5+4 checlc Black would simply defend t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
against the check with G4+5 and tlen drive back the
cannon with N2+3, gaining a lead in development. A
pawn at this stageof the opening is almost worthless.It is
much more important to develop the piecesquickly.
3.... ., N2+3. Sinilarly,it wouldhavebeenquiteter-
rible for Black to captwe the pawn with C7+3. The
reason that Black attacked this pawn with his cannon on
the first move was not to try to win Red's third line pawrl
but rather to pressure any piece which might happen to
be behind that pawn For example, if Red's right side
7 6 5 4 3 2 1
knight had not come out on tle previolls move, Black
Dia. 51
could now have played 3. . . . . , Yl+l; hoping for 4.
-48- _49_
 7. Y3+!, R2*4. The pupose behind the sacrificebe- 9. R9=8. Red rvouldhavebeenbetter off doingthis on
comesapparent.Black intends to recapture the pawn with .t L. I:rsrmoveand thenwouldhavebeenone moveahead
rr! '--
the rook, activating his pieces and putting strong pressue ,)f hisPresentdevelopment.
on Red's third line. g. . . .. , R2=8. Now, Black has recoveredthe
8. P3 =2. Red could not advancethe pawn with P3 + 1, sacrificedpawnwith a big lead in development.
because Black would simply capture it with the knight. 10. R2=1. Tenible. Red apparentiydid not want to
You can see that the knight, in spite of being stuck on the trade rooks becausehe felt that his right side would be
edge of the board, is already playing an active role in the unclefended. However,this passivemoveis just hopeless.
game. 10....., R8=7. Simultaneously attacking the knighl
8. . . . , , R9=8. It was probablya mistakefor Red to with both the cannonand the rook.
try to savethe pawn with the previous move. Now, Black 11.Rl +2. The only hope to defendeverything.If Red
has merely increased his lead in development and the tries N3-1, then Black traps the knight with R8+8. If in-
pawn is still in jeopardy. We are now at Dia. 52. stead 11. N3-5, Black pins the knight by capturing the
pawn with C5 + 4, threatening to end the game with
C7+ 7 check.
t7\ 11.. , . . , R8+8. A fatal penetration.
12. R8+4, R8=7. Now, Red resigns,Biack threatens
o6 ( ) li
to take the knight with the cannonwith C7+5. The red
il
7 o A\
!t
a,T
rat
knight is attackedby three piecesand defendedby only
two. Moreover, if the knight moves away with N3+4,
-.6 Black capturesthe pawn with C5 +4. After that, the two
t \ (
A -\7-
/A r^\ -\t
!)' \7- rook plus the two cannonsbearingdown on the virtually
\Yl (E
,A 6\ G
|2/
\\./
I tt
\ undefendedking guaranteesany number of possible
!ry checkmates. The final positionis found in Dia. 53.
.\-
fot n6\
6 5

Din.53

-50-
 ChapterFive ,
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How to Start the Game 7 rt tt
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It may seema bit earlyto discussopeningtheory,but ir -l_ A

is no fun to try to play a game of Chinesechess,only to P)
i\ ,6\
-\]f
/A\ -\7-
,4,
6\
{e)-
,{\
get crushedin the first eight moves.Fortunately,it is not 0r-
-\
\\i/
\-"1
I

too difficult to get a reasonableposition out of the early / G\fr r-z\/l.-\/E \

opening.There are a number of formationswhich even
grandmasters use and yet beginnerscan learn to set them
up without much difficulty.
Diagram54 is not intendedto representan achralplay-
ing position (althoughit could be) but rather showstwo
possibleopeningformationswhich Red and Black might
well use.Each sidehasplayedsix moves.Most likely, Red
made his movesin the followingorder: C2=5, N2+3,
R1 = 2, N8 + 9, R9 + 1 and C8:7. Meanwhile,Black has
made the following moves:N2 + 3, C8 = 6, NB+ 7, 83 + 5,
P7+1,G4+5.
Red has adopted a shong attackingformation which
many grandmastersplay. One cannon is on the center
line, where it menacesthe enemyking. The other is on
the seventhline, where it is lined up againstthe enemy
knight. Both of Red's knightshavemoved out. The rooks
are alsodeveloped.
z\\tr/\rv$.ry\u, \./-
9 8 7 6 s 4 3 2 1
Dia. 54
Meanwhile,Black has adopted one of the strongest
defensiveformations known to exist in Chinese chess.
"Fan Gong
This formation is known in Chineseas the
Ma".It is alsothe favorite of manygrandmasters. The key
to Black'sdefenseis the cannonon Black'ssixth line. At
first, this cannondoesnot seemto be doing anything.Ac-
tually,it is the glue which holds Black's entire position
together.The camon directly protects the knight on
Black'sthird lile becauseof the bishopwhich actsas the
gun mount betweenthe cannonand the knight. The can-
non also indirectlyprotectsthe knight on Black'sseventh
Iine,becauseit attacksthe point beyondit on the eighth
Itne. In other words, the red rook cannot now move up
sevento attackthe knight with the move R2 +7, because
thenBlack'scannonwill caotureRed'srook.

<,) -53-
 Note that Black has also moved up both one of lf5
guards and one of his bishops.The two bishops noys
protect each other and the two guardsalso protect each
other. One guard alsoprotectsthe sixth line cannon.The
presenceof the bishop in the middle enablesthe cannon
to defend the knight on Black's third line. That bishop
alsoretardsRed's threatenedadvanceof the pawn up the
seventhline.
Black has movedup his seventhline pawn to free the
knight.Rememberthat the knight is not allowedto jump.
For this reason,the other knight on Black'sthird line can-
not presentlymove anylvhereexceptbackwards.Also note
that Black has moved up both the guard and the bishop
liom the same side. This will enable Biack to bring his
rook into play efficiently.One of Black'snext few moves
will probably be R1 :4, bringing the rook next to the
king. This preparesthe rook for actual penetrationinto
Red'sposition.
Black'sformation is so strong,so advisableand so easy
to remember and set up, that it is recommendedthat
every beginning player adopt it whenever possible.
However,this is not a beginner'sopening.Hu Long Hua,
the strongest player of Chinese chess in the world,
regularlyplayslike this. ln fact, he sometimeseven turns
the board around and playsthe Fan Gong Ma from the
red side.In short,you canplay the Fan Gong Ma in every
game for the rest of your life and not suffer any disad'
-54-
va11tage,except for the fact that your opponentwill be
ableto predict in advancewhat you are goingto play.
The position in Dia. 54 is important from both sidesof
the board, so we will continueto look at it. Notice the
nlacementof Red'srook. Red has diversifiedhis rooks,ir
commonpractice in Chinesechess.One rook points up
the secondline. The other will probably come over to
eirherthe sixth or the fourth line, from which it will try to
penetrateto the ninth rank and sit on a point directly
diagonalto the enemyking.
Rememberthat for the moment,we are just looking at
the featuresof Red's formation,irrespectiveof the place-
ment of Black'spieces.In the actualposition in Dia. 54,
Red'srook cannotpenetrateall the way up the fourth line
becauseit is blockedby the cannon.It will alsoprobably
nevermake it up the sixth line either, becauseas soon as
the Red rook cornesto the sixth line, the Black rook will
opposeit on Black'sfourth line and offer a trade of rook.
(Rememberthat Red's sixth line is one and the sameas
Black'sfourth line, in casethis causesany confusion.)The
point is that Red has adoptedhis current attackingforma-
tion with certainobjectivesin mind, one of which is to try
to penetratewith his left handrook up the fourth or sixth
line,if Black ever giveshim a chanceto do so.
One move which Red might considerright now is to
advancehis seventhline pawn. This does severalthings.
First and foremost, it preventsBlack from immediately
advancinghis thlrd line pawn,which is what Black migl61
otherwiseprobably do on the next move. Black wants1q
advancehis third line pawn in order to free the knighl.
L,et us supposethat Red now advancesthis palvn but
Black is a weak playerand thinksthat his knight can come
out anylvay.The game continues,7. n+\ P3+1?; g.
P7+ 1, reachingthe positionin Dia. 55.
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dia. 55
Now, Black realizesthat he has just made a terrible
beginner'sblunder. He was thinking that he could now
safeiyrecapturethe pawn by 85 +3, becausethe knight is
defendedby Black'ssixthline cannon.However,he forgot
that, while the knight is now defendedby the cannonin
the position in Dia. 55, this is only becausethe bishopln
betweenthe lcright and the cannonactsas a gun mount.
-56*
If the bishop movesawayto capturethe pawn, then the
knightwill be left undefended.
Now, Black is really worried, as well he shouldbe be-
.311sehis position is already nearly lost. He considers
bringingup his knight with either N3 +4 or N3 +2. Justin
time, he remembets that the opposingpawn has now
crossedthe river and therefore car move sidewaysand
caprurethe knight with either P7= 6 or P7 = 8, depending
on wherethe knight moves.
Finally,Black has a wonderful idea. He will move the
rook over to defend the knight with R1 :3. However,
thereis one little thing wrong with this.He hasplacedhis
rook into a self pirq which is an especiallydangerousthing
to do when there is an enemycannoninvolved.He will
not have to worry about this problem for very long,
however.Red will put him out of his misery right away
with P7+ 1. Now, the knight is lost. Black camot move
the knight anpvhere,becausethen Red will capturethe
rook with C? + 7. Therefore, Red has no choice but tr.r
move somethingelse, following which Red will simply
capturethe knight with P7+ 1.
Sti1l,we cannotsaythat the positionin Dia. 55 is really
lost.Black can more or lesssuwive,althoughhis position
is bad.His best chanceis to make anyrandomdeveloping
moveand thereafterrefeat the knisht when it is attacked
by the pawn.One ideawouldbe to playR1:4, activating
the rook. Now, Red aclvances with 9. P7+ 1, both attack-
ing and blockingthe knight.
Again, it must be rememberedthat the knight cann61
jump. In this position,which is now Dia. 56, the knight on
B1ack'sthird line has actuallyonly one legal move. Blac\
must play N3-2. If you do not understandwhy this is the
only legal move in this positionwith this particularlaighq
go back to the sectionon how t}te piecesmove.

!
l r
ri/i| a\^ 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
\ ,v )
ii /A I
( Dia. 57
a \r, \t
L
!t Note that the knight on Black's seventhljne cannot
-\ then capturethe cannonbecauseit is blockedby its own
A /A
U
(n G
\r7 {P'
ia\ ,6\
{BI cannonon the sixtl line. However,pawn captureslil<s1'ris

.R)
\^!z u are usually risky. Here, Black can immediately p)ay
R4+ 7, forking the camon and knight. Red has a defense.
T
crClilddrr He brings the knight back with 11. N3-5, defendingthe
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 camon. However, this type of defenseis generallybad.
Dia. 56 Here,it leavesRed's king with no point of escape.Black
cannow play K5:4, reachingDia.57. This sneakyking
The game goes on. Black has lost a pawn and an movethreatenscheckmatewith R4 +2. Red, who had al-
enemy pawn has crossedthe river. However, Black has mosta winning position until just two movesago,is now
somecompensation. Red useda lot of movesto bdng up Iost. I:Ie avoids immediate checkmateby interposinga
this pawnwhile Blackcontinuedhis development.By the pawnwith 12. P7=6, breaking the connectionbetween
way,Red can now win a secondpawnwith 10.C5 + 4. Black'sking and rook. (It would havebeen much better,

-58- -59-
instead,to interposea cannonwith 12.C5 =6). Black now
capturesthe pawnwith R4-4.
Since we have gone this far, we will show how 1!15
game might continue.Red, realizingthat he is lost, tries
to mix it up with 13. N5 +4. Black could now just win 3
cannon with R4:5, but he is greedy and wants more.
Therefore, he plays R4+6 check.Red cannot take the
rook, becauserwo kings cannotface each other, so he is
forced to play 14. K5+1. After R4=6, the gamemight
continue 15. N4 + 5, R6-6 (trapping the carlnon); 16.
R9:6, (2:4; 17. R6+5, C6-1 (auackingthe cannon
with the knight); 18. C7=6 (so that if Black rries to win
the cannonwith N7+5, Red irstead wins the rook with
R4:5, discoveringcheck with the cannon,followed by
R-5='4)N2+4 (if Black playsK4=5, Red can snapoff
th, t,rrxoll with R6+1); 19. R6=7 reachingDia. 58.
Blat.r now resigrsbecausehe has no answerto the threat
of R6 + 3 mate since both his cannonand his knight on
the fourth line arepinnedby the red cannonto the king.
This has been a poorly played game. First, Black
blundered a pawq then Red nearly got himself check-
mated, and then Black misplayedan easilywinning posi-
tion, got his piecescompletelytangledup and lost. Here
is the completescoreof this gamefor posterity:L A=5,
N2+3; 2. N2+3, C8=6; 3. R1=2, N8+7; 4. N8+9,
B3+5; 5. R9+1, P7+1; 6. C8=7, M+5; 7. P7*1,
P 3 + l ; 8 . P 7 * 1 , R l = 4 ; 9 . P 7 + 1 ,N 3 - 2 ; 1 0C. 5 + 4 R 4 + 7 ,
-60-
- =
11. N3-5, K5 4; 12. P7 6; R44; 13. N5 + 4, R4 + 6; 14.
(J+1, R4=f; 15. N4+5, R6-6;16. R9-6, C2=4; 17.
R6+5,C6-1;18.C7=6, N2+4; 19.R6=7 Blackresigns.
1 2 3 4 s 6 7 8 9
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dia.58
Why has a1l this attention plus four diagramsbeen
devotedto such a bad game starting with essentiailya
beginner'sblunder on the seventhmove?Becausegames
like this happen all the time, that's why. The tlpe of
blundersmade in this game are rather typicai of those
madeby new playersof Chinesechess.Actua1ly,this was
an inventedgame.No two humansreally playedlike this.
We will return againto a discussionof Dia. 54,because
the formationsof both Red and Black are to be recom-
mended. As noted previously, Red's next move will
probablybe to advancethe seventhline pawnwith P7+ 1
-6r-
This is a good move becauseit freezesBlack'sthild line
knight. It also gives the Red knight on the ninth line 3
chanceto get into the gamewith a future N9+7. AIso, a1
some future point in the game,Red might advancefuig
seventhline pawn agair with the idea that if the pawr
capturesthe pawn, then the cannoncapturesthe knight.
Again, this does not work right now becauseof Black's
central placementof the bishop,as a result of which the
cannon defendsthe knight. However, later in the game,
an advanceof the seventhline pawn is likely to be a
strongattackingidea. lndeed,that is exactlywhy Red has
placedhis cannonwhereit now is.
There is still more to be saidaboutDia. 54. Notice the
placementof the red knights.One is near the center,but
the other is on the edge.This will shockand horrif, most
playersof internationalchess.There is a saylngin interna-
"a knight on the rim is grim". Every
tional chessthat
beginneris told not to develophis lcrightsin this way.
However, in Chinesechessit is not so bad to put a
knight on the rim. Grandmastersdo it al1the time. There
are several reasonsfor this. A knight on the third or
seventhline is likely to be both undefendedand unableto
move.On the other hand,a knight on t}rerim is automati-
caliy subjectto protectionby the bishop.For example,the
third line lcright in Dia. 54 might be stuck in its present
position for a long time. It will probablynot be able to get
into the game until the pawn in front of it moves.That
-62-
nawncornot be moved now, however,becauseit will be
crpnrredby the enemypawn. After that, the black pawn
rvouldadvanceand push back the red knight, just as the
hlackknightwaspushedbackin Dias.55,56 and57.
One way in which Red might try to get his knight out
sone daywill be to bring his secondline rook up four and
then aclvancethe third iine pawn up one to force a trade
of pawns.However,this will not work at present.If Red,
in Dia. 54, plays7. R2 + 4, Biack will counterwith R9 : B,
offeringa trade of rooks.If Red acceptsthis offer with 8.
R2+5, Black recaptures with N7-8 and Black hasgained
irom this exchange.ln Dia. 54, Red had an active rook
which controlled the secondfile, whereasBlack had a
passiverook stuck in the corner. Now, Black has ex'
changedhis bad rook for Red'sgoodrook.
On the other hand,if it was now Black'smove in Dia
54, he would not bring the rook directly over to oppose
the red rook. The reasonfor this is that it would involvea
Iossof time. If Black to move now playsR9 : B, then Red
immediatelywill exchangerook. Red is quite happywith
this exchangebecausehe has gained two moves.This is
the conceptknown in internationalchessasthe "tempo".
This conceptis quite importantbecauseit comesup all
the time. We will illustrateit more clearlywith a position
from an actual popular openingvariation shown in Dia.
59.This positionarisesfrom the movesl. C2=5, C8=5;
2 . N 2 + 3 .N 8 * 7 : 3 . R l = 2 .
-63-

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dia.59
In this position, Black cannot continue with 3 . . .
R8:9 becausethen Red exchanges rookswith 4. R2+9,
N7-B;5. N8 +7, reachingDia. 60. Now, count the number
of pieceswhich havebeen developed.Red hasmovedout
three pieces:one cannonand two knights.Black, on the
other hand, has only one piece out: the cannon.He lost
two movesbecausethe knight moved out and then back.
It is now Black'smove.He may decideto bring the same
knight out again.That will still leavehim a move behind
where he would havebeenhad he not exchangedrooks.
lrt us sayinsteadthen that in Dia. 59, Black continues
with 3 ....N2+3. Now, if the red rook movesup the line
with R2 + 4, Black seizesthe opportunity with R9 = 8.
Then, if Red exchanges rooks with 5. R5 + 5, N7-8; 6.
N8 + 7, we reachDia.61.
-64-
CompareDia. 61 to Dia. 60. In both casesit is Black to
move.Perhapsyou can see the difference.Black has one
exrra knight out. This makes al1 the difference in the
world.In Dia. 60, Red has a far superiorposition.In Dia.
61,the position is almost dead even and Red has nearly
givenawayhis advantageof the first openingmove.
Going back just one more time to Dia. 54, we have
now explained various reasons why the formations
adoptedby both sidesare consideredfavorable.However,
thereis no suchthing as a really solid position in Chinese
chess.Every position containsweaknesses. You just have
to try to do your best to stop your opponentfrom coming
in to exploit your weaknesses, whiie thinking of ways to
exploityour opponent'sweaknesses.
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
9 8 7 6 5 4 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
Dia 60 DirL 61
-65-
 f-et us considerfirst the weaknesses in Red's position
in Dia. 54. Flis cannonoccuplesthe center,which is con-
sidereduseful in attackingthe enemyking. However, 45
long asthe cannonstayswhereit is, the bishopscan never
get cnnnectedthe waythat Black'sbishopsare now.
Another problem is with the knights.As alreadyex.
plained,the knight on the third line might wind up stuck
there for a long time. The other knight is also not doing
so we1l.The best way for it to get out will be throughthe
moves P9+ 1, N9 + 8, and N8 + 6, attacking the enemy
knight. Rememberthat in this resultingposition,the red
knight is threateningto capturethe black knight but the
black knight is blockedby the pawn and thereforecannot
capture the red lcright. However, this maneuver takes
time. It also conflictswith Red's more urgent plan to ad-
vancehis seventhline pawn,becausethat pawnwili block
the knight from going from the eighth to the sixth line.
Fina1ly,Red is faced with the burden of being red.
Having the first move is a big advantage,much bigger
than in internationalchess,but this compelsRed to attack
stronglyand try to crushhis opponent.However,if the at-
tack fails,Red couldbe in trouble.
Black also has problems to worry about. Having a
bishop and a guard in front of the king is good for
defense,but preventsBlack from shiftinghis rooks quick-
ly from one side of the board to the other as Red can do'
He alsohasproblemswith the cannonon the secondline
-66-
and the knight next to it. The cannonright now is com-
pletelyundefendedand the red rook might attackit with
jO = 8. The knight on the third line is defendedbut will
not be able to get out easily.It is alsoto someextenttied
to the defenseof the centerpawn.
One firal point shouldbe mentioned.Black in Dia. 54
has a pawn en prise. However, nothing would please
Biack more than for Red to capture this pawn with
C7+ 4. This would be truly a beginner'smove.The reason
rhis mnve is so weak is that then the cannonwill have
nothing to do after it arrives on this point. Moreover,
Blackcan attackthe cannonby playingN7 + 6 foliowedby
N6+ 4. If the cannonmoves away,Black's other knight
will then be free. Al1 of Black'scurent problemswill be
solved.The rook now on Black's first line will come in
quickly,the two knightswill swarmall over and Red wil1
be luckvto survivefor h.ventvmoves.
 ChapterSix
RelativeValue of the Pieces
In intemational chessthere is a sort of mathematical
formula which saysthat a pawn is worth one, a knight or
bishopthree,a rook five and a queennine. Thus,a queen
and a rook are worth two bishops,two knights and two
pawns.This formula has proven over time to be surpris-
ingly accurate.
In Chinesechessthere is no suchformula. In order to
appeasethe cravingby someplayersof intemationalchess
for a formula which applies to Chinesechess,one oc-
casionallyseessuch a formula, but this conceptis really
invalid.However,certainobservations canbe rnade.
First, the rook is by far the strongestpiece.In fact,it is
evenstrongerthan a lnight plus a camon combined.Two
cannonsplus a knight or rwo knightsplus a cannonare
sfonger than a rook, however.
Second,the knight and the cannonare about equal.It
all dependson the position.In the earlypart of the game,
when the board is cluttered with pieces,the cannonis
stronger. L,ater on, as the pieces are cleared from the
board, the knight gets strongerand the camon weaker.
The reason for this is that the cannon cannot capture
without jumping. If there were no pieces to jump over,
-68-
rhenthe cannonwouid be worthless.
On the other hand, the knight has problerns in the
earlypart of the gamebecauseit is not able to jump. As
thepiecesare clearedfrom the board,the knight becomes
strongerand stronger.
Then there is the pawn. The pawn becomestremen-
douslystrong and valuable in the endgame.Without a
pawnit is often impossibleto win, evenwith force which
wouldseemto be overwhelming.For example,it is pos-
sible to be a fu1I rook ahead and not have sufficient
mating matedal because of not having any pawns.
However,just one pawn aheadcal be enoughto win the
game.
On the other hand, in the opening,a pawn can be ac-
tuallyworth lessthan nothing.Pawnsget in the way of the
rooksard especiallyof the knights.If the pawnswere not
alwaysgettingin the way,the lnights could quickly come
outwith devastatingforce.
The bishopsand guardsare purely defensivein nature.
Therefore,they havezero value in somecasesto a player
who is attacking.A player who is in no dangerof losing
will find the gr-rards
and bishopsto be valueless,exceptin
so:rlecaseswhen he is attackingwith the cannon and
wanbto bring it aroundbehind a guardin order to check
thc king. The guard is a strong piece when defenriing
againstthe knight but often worse than wor.thlesswhen
ctetencling againstthe cannon.See,for example,Dia. 15
-69-
where Black is in checkmateonly becauseof his oy1
stupid guards.It often happensthat a defender rn the
endgamewill try to throw awayhis guardsand bishops,
especiallyif being attackedby a cannon.
If a player has one pawn in the endgame,but thar
pawn has crossedthe river and is slowly approachingths
enemyking, exactlyhow valuableis it? It may be worth a
thousandpoints if it is threateningto give checkmate.
Otherwise,it might not be worth an).thing.A defenderis
often willing to trade both of his bishops for just one
slowly approachingpawn. Otherwise,the pawn may just
slip pastthe bishopsand renderthem useless.
In short, there .is no valid way to assignany fixed
numericalvalue to any of the pieces.It all just dependson
the oosition.
-70 -
Chapter Seven
GeneralStrategicConsiderations
One thing which a player of international chesswill
haveto do if he wantsto take up Chinesechessis to learn
howto think differently.In other words,he shouldtry to
reshape the strucntreof hisbrain.
In spite of the similarity betweenthe two games,the
basicstrategicideas are fundamentallydifferent between
them. For example,in international chessthere is the
conceptof the centersquares.Ideally,you try in the open-
ing to occupythe center squareswith pawnsand to con-
trol themwith pieces.
No such concept existsin Chinesechess.The actual
physicallocation of the center of the board has no
strategicsignificancein Chinesechess.However,there is
a differentidea. Red usuallytries to attackup the center
Iine by putting a cannonon that line becausethe enemy
kinghappensto be on that line. If that line is blocked,he
insteadtries to attackup the fourth or sixth line. Another
rdeais to try to put a rook or a cannonor both on the
enemy'sback rank in order to attack the king from the
side.
A different considerationis that there are no long
diagonalpiecesin Chinesechess.There is no queen or
-11 -
long range blshop. In international chess,one fties 1o
keep the major piecesdefendedbecauseof the dangers1
queen forks. One does not have to worry about this I
Chinesechess.Even knight forks occur lessoften, siqpl,
because the boardis bigger.
In Chinesechess,as there are no big diagonalpieces,
everything moves horizontally or vertically, unless you
considerthe knight move to be a partially diagonalmove,
Therefore, attackingand defensivepiecestake longerto
maneuveraround the board into the right position.Yen
will need to be able to see attack comingfrom a longer
range in order to be able to bring your defensivepieces
around in time. You will alsoneed to keep remernbering
that the bestway to stopyour opponent'spiecesis usually
by blocking them. You will not have been used to doing
this in internationalchess,and thereforewili keep forget-
ting about it in Chinesechess.
Often, an enemyrook, cannonor knight will be slowly
maneuveringthrough a clutter of other pieces.You will
haveto be able to realizethat it is gettingreadyto check-
mateyou four or five movesin advance.Otherwise,when
the position is only two or three movesawayfrom check-
mate,it will often be too late to stopit.
In Chinesechess,a player often wants to "guardthe
river". He might move the cannon,for example,up to the
edge of the river, just to block an opposingpiece from
crossingit. This concept,of course,doesnot existin inter'
-72-
national cness'
1sinternationalchess,you usuallytry to keep the rooks
connectedand preferablydoubled.Among other things,
this protects t"hemfrom queen forks. In Chinesechess,
thisis generallynot desirable.To the contrary,you often
try to diversi$/the rooks. If they do not shareany com-
mon line or rank, they will cover more territory.
Moreover,it can be dangerousto havetwo rook on the
sameline. If an enemy cannonmanagesto get on that
line,one of the rooksmight be lost.
Blockingis important in Chinesechess.ln intemation-
al chess,one rarely tries to biock the enemypieces.The
queencannot be blocked becauseit is too strong, the
bishopcannotbe blocked becauseit is too weak and the
knight cannot be blocked becauseit can jump. The
bishop,becauseit moves diagonally,cannot block the
rook and the rook cannot block the bishop. In Chinese
chess, the piecesare much easierto block. Just place anv
piecein front of a knight and it cannotgo forwarcl.The
cannoncan also be blocked in a similar way, as long as
thereis no piecebehind which it canjump over and cap-
ture.The rook can be perpetuallyblockedby the cannon.
ror example,in Dia. 62, if Black's rook ever reaches
Red'sback ran\ it will be chec}rnate.However,the rook
will never be able to get past Red's cannorx, because,
wnereverthe rook moves,one or the other
of the nvo
cannorxwill be able to block it.
-73 -
 \
ChapterEight
,s,
s{
/rl\ (
Managementof the Pieces
TheRook
€- The rook is by far the strongestpiece.As a result,it is
/t /6 A
) ?./ \\-, importantto bring the rooks quickty into the game and
-(
) not to leavethem stuckin the corners.This is often easier
rtn n'K saidthan done.It is usuallypossibleto get at leastone of
6 5 4 rherooksout quickly.However,the other rook often gets
Dia.62 left behind zrndis jr:st forgotten about. We have already
seenseveralexamplesof this. In the game in Chapter
Four, Red lost in just 12 moves.The reasonis obvious.
Notice the way that the cannonsin Dia. 62 seemto be-
Blackwasable to activatehis rooks quickly.On the other
have like a scaleof weights,with eachside balancingthe
hand,Red'srooksneverreatlygot into the game.
other.
Don't feel so smugaboutthis.You are goingto losea
In short, in Chinesechessit is necessaryalwaysto be
lot of gamesjust like Red did. Everybodylosesgameslike
thinking about ways to block your opponentand to stop this.The best chanceis that if your opponenthas an ac-
him from blockingyou' tive rook and you have a passiverook, try to exchange
Havingsaid that, let us look at the individualpieces your rook for his. A discussionof how to do this has al-
and seehow they canbestbe used. readybeenpresented in connectionwith Dias.59 to 61.
I[ you do manageto get a rook out, what do you do
with it? Naturally,you try to get it behinclenemy lines.
Unc of the bestplacesfor the rook is insidethe imperial
pirlrrccjusrdiagonal to rheenemyking,as in Dia.Oj. Not
only does the rook there menacethe king, but it breaks
-'74 - _75*
the connectionbehveenthe two bishops.For exarnple,in
Dia. 63, the red cannon is threatening to capture the
black bishopwith C7 + 7 checlanate.
1 2 3 4s 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
TheKnight
The knight is the secondeasiestpiece for a player of
internationalchessto masterbecauseit also existsthere.
In contrast,Chinesehavea lot of trouble with the knight
rnciconsiderit to be more difficult than the cannon.

v
K t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

G
\! )-
G
\ )-
\t./
./\-
+r )_
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2r 9 8 7 6 s 4 3 2 1
Din.63 Dia.64
One other thing to be concernedabout is that if you 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
manageto get one of your rook behind enemylines too Dia.65
quickly, it might get trapped. For example,in Dia. 64, One of the bestplacesfor the knight to be is shownin
Red seemsto havedone ever)'thingright. All of his major Dia.65,which is checkmate.How manymovesdid it take
pieces are developedand his rooks are posted actively tot the knight to get there?The alswer is five. Startingon
Red has even won a pawn. On the other hand, both of polnt zero, the knjght arrived on points 1, 2, 3 ancl4 as
Black's rooks are stuck in passive,defensivepositions shownon the diagram.In practice,it is much easierfor
The only small problem which Red has is that his rook is the knight to crossto the oppositeside of the boarclthan
trapped and will be capturedby the cannonon the next LItsto arriveat point 'a' on the samesideof the board.
move. Actually, Red has a lost position already.Be care- When the knight arrivesat one of thesevital points in
.
ful aboutthis; thi.ssort of thing happensquite frequently. Ineenemycamp,there is a Chineseexpression that "1he
-'16 - -17 _
horse is in the stable".Usually,when the horse is in qu becauseotherwiseyou cannotactivateyour rooks.
4Lrickly
stable,checkmateis not far away. fer this reason,there was once a tendencyto bring the
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 lnights immediatelyto the edgeof the board with moves
like N2 + 1 and NB+ 9. There, they were out of the way
t \lt\gt
JA+- ilncl at the same time were protected by the bishops.
Llorvever,modern playersrealizethat at least one of the
?t(
rt
T

knightsmustbe developedtowardsthe centeror elsethey

I, it
!t rre likely to be left permanentlyout of the game.
While the knightsmust be developedat an early stage,
)
A\
\t/
,6\
\!/
-vG you should be careful about moving them out into the
G
openboard too quickly.Dia. 67 illustratesa t)?e of posi-
\.o,,1
.r-_r
t tion which might arise. This position could be reached
{BXCVAA a f t e rt h e m o v e sl:. C 2 = 5 . N 2 + 3 ; 2 . N 2 + 3 , C 8 = 6 ; 3 .
9 8 7 6 s 4 3 2 1 R l = 2 , N 8 * 7 ; 4 . P 3 + 1 ,8 3 + 5 ; 5 . N 3 + 4 , R 9 + 1 .
Dia.66
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
In the initial position, a knight has only two legal
moves.Remember,it can't move immediatelyin front of
the guard becauseit is blocked by the bishop.However,
you might want to move the bishop at an early stageand
shift the knight quickly to the oppositeside of the board
as in Dia. 66. This maneuveris especiallysuitablewhen
the enemyhashinderedthe lright from comingdirectly
out by advancingthc seventhline pawn,preventingthe
third line pawnfrom advancing,asin the diagram.
In the early part of the game,the knights are difficult
to managebecausethey are alwaysgetting blocked bI 8 7 6 5 4 3 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
their own pawns.However,you must get your knightsour Dia 67 Dia 68

-78 - -79 -
 Here Red has a choiceof two succulentpawns.Which
one shouldhe take?He can capturethe pawn on his third
line directlywith 6. N4 + 3 or he can win the centerpawn
with 6. N4+5, N3+5; 7. C5+4, G4+5. (Remembel
again that the black knight cannotnow take the cannon
becauseit is blockedby its own cannon).
The answeris, of course,neither.Taking the pawn 61
the third file is especiallybad becausethe knight has no
future there. If it wants to get back in the game,it will
have to go back to where lt came from. Note that the
knight will not be able to hope for N3 + 1 foliowed by
N1+ 3 checlgbecausethe edgepoint it needsto crossis
guardedby the bishop.
Taking the centerpawn is alsobad. In general,it is not
a good idea to waste time tryhg to win pawns in the
opening.In this case,Black will eventuallymove the can-
non on his sixth line, unblockingthe knight and attacking
Red's camon that will then haveto retreat.
In the t)?e of positiontn Dia. 67, the correctplan is to
bring the knight to point 'a', attackingthe black knight.
Later in the game,Red's knight might evenreachthe ob-
jective shown in Dia. 65. However, at present,it is too
earlyin the gameto bring the knight to point'a'. If Red
plays6. N4 +6, Biack playsP3+ 1, unblockinghis knight,
thereby counter-attackingRed's knight. Then there *'jll
likely be an exchangeof knightswith 7. N6+7, C6=3.
Now, Red has spentfour moveson a knight, only to ex-
-80-
knight which has only made one move. In
charlleit for a
the resulting position, Black has a clear advantage.
Diagram 68 (precedingpage) showsa common type of
trap which almost every beginner has fallen into at least
once.This particular position could arise after the follow-
ingmoves:t. C2=5, N2+3;2. N2+1, 83*5;3, Rl=2,
gg=6;4. R2*8 BlackResigns.
The reason Black resigns is that his knight is trapped.
Rememberagain that the knight cannotjump. Regardless
of what Black now does, on the next move Red will play
C5= 2 followed by C2 +7, captudngthe knight.
However, if Black had played G4 + 5 instead of 83 + 5
on the secondmove,he would have a way out. He could
play4. . . . ,A-l attacltngthe rook. Regardlessof where
the rook moves, the knight will be able to come out and
Black will be ahead in development.(Actually, Black has
a wayto savehimselfin Dia. 68.Can you find it?)
This actually happenedin the great game I-arry Kauf-
manplayed againstGrandmasterLu Chin in a grrnnasium
in New York City's Chinatown on Jure 17, 1986before a
crowd of severalthousandspectators.It was an exhibition
gzunewhich was supposedto prove that a personwho is
not Chinesecannevertheless play Chinesechess.
The game started as follows: 1. C2=5, N2*3i 2.
N2+3, p7+1; 3. R1=2, CJ=6; 4. It2*g, G4*5; 5.
N8+7.C2-l reaching Dia.69.
-81 -

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Da 69 : Kaufmanv.Lu Chin
It is not clear why Kaufman thought that his opponent,
the current champion of all of Chin4 was going to allow
his knight to be trapped on just tle fourth move. Anyway,
in Dia. 69 Kaufrnan's rook was forced to retreat and the
game continued:6. R2-4, N8+7; 7' I'31*1' F7*1; E.
R2=3, N7*6; 9.C8=7, 83+5. Blackhadnow equalized,
in spite of having the secondmove, due to the time Red
had wastedmoving his rook back and forth.
Actually, after this opening, Kaufman played quite
reasonablyand his opponent allowed tle game to go on
for 27 movesbefore sacrificingfor checkmate.
The Cannon
If you want to know how to use the cannon, dont ask
me. I still haven't got it figured out. Seriously,the cannon
-82-
is rhe most difficult and frustratingpiece for a player of
internationalchessto dealwith. Perhapsthe real problem
is that everythingelse is so easythat you don't expectto
experience so much difficultywith the cannon.
The Chinese,on the other hand, considerthe cannon
an easypiece to deal with. Their problem is that they
c|n't figureout the knight,whichis a reallysimplepiece.
Intellectually,of course,the cannonis an easypiece tc
understand. It moveslike a rook but capturesby jumping.
Whatis so difficult aboutthat?The problem is that in the
heatof battle, with the clock ticking and momentsleft to
makethe final moves,you tend to forget al1aboutthe fact
thatthe cannoncanjump. Horrible blundersresult.Here
is howto stop a few of the most cornmonblunders:
1. \Vhen you haveboth a rook and a cannonlined up
to capturea target piece,you haveto rememberthat the
cannonmust capturefirst. If the rook capturesfirst, the
cannonwill no longer be attackingthat point. For ex-
ample,going back to Dia. 68, after tie red camon comes
overto the secondline, the knight must be capturedby
the cannon,not by the rook. After that, the rook musr
withdrawand only then the eurnon can withdraw. Be,
causeof the time this takesand the resultingdangerof a
counter-attacbthere is the temptationto want to take the
knightwith rhe rook.This is a gooclwayto losea rook.
2. Never put three pieces on the same line without
checkingto make sure that there is no cannon lurking
-83-
about which might be able to attack all of them on 6.,
line. For example,in Dia. 66, if Black had a cannonwhis6
he could place on point 'a', he would automatically attac\
either a camon or a knight. Regardlessof which piece
movesaway,he will be able to capture one of the remnin-
ing pieces on that line. (Actually, in this particular q-
ample, Red would be able to recover the piece. Can you
seewhy? This sort of situation occursfrequently.)
3. Remember that when you capture somethingwith a
cannon,it will not normally be able to go back to where it
camefrom right awayand might even get trapped.
4. When attacking the enemy king with yorrr cannon,
remember that the enernyguardsare your friends. If they
are in such a position that you can capture them easily,
they are probably getting in the way of their own king.
5. Do not go aroutrd capturing random pawns in the
opening with your cannon.Once the c:mnon has captured
an early pawrg it is likely to be out of the game for a long
time. If you really want to capture a lot of pawns,yolu oP
ponent will be happy to oblige you. You can start the
game with C8=7. Theq you can capture two pawnswith
C1 +4 afi A =3. By now, yoru opponentwill have ac-
tivated his roolrs, so you will be able safelyto capture two
more pawnswith C3=9 and C9=1. Now, there is only
one pawn left, and you can get that one as well with
A:5 andC5 +4. You havenow got all of the pawnsand
the position is nearly checlmate. The only problem is that
-84-
voll are the one who is going to get checkmated,not your
,.noonent.
LJTT
While you have been taking off all of these
oa\vns,yolr opponentwas developinghis piecesand by
nowhe shouldbe just aboutreadyfor mate.
6. Cannonfork are dangerous,especiallyin the early
pfft of the game.The more piecesthat are on the board,
ihe b"tte. it is for the calnon. Here is a rypicalexample
of a camon fork. 1. C2=5, N2+3;2. N2+3, C8=6; 3.
p 1= 2 , N 8 * 7 ; 4 . R 2 + 6 , P 7 + 1 ; 5 . P 7 + 1 , B 3 + 5 ; 6 .
N8+7,C2+4; 7. N7+6, R9=8. Now,Red decides not to
exchiinge rooks becausehe doesnot want to give r-rphis
actrve rook for his opponent's relatively undeveloped
rook. Therefore, he decides to attack the knight. 8,
M=3?, C.2=7reachinsDia. 70.
1 2 3 4 s 6 7 8 9
7 6 5 4
Dia.70
*85-
 Black has just forked Red's rook and bishop with 61"
cannon.Red's only chanceis to attack the other cannon
with 9. Rli = 4, but Red first capturesthe bishop pi16
C7*3 checkand then defendsthe other cannon'"vith10.
G4+5, G4+5. Black now has nearly won the game.T\s
important thing is not that he haswon Red'sbishop(in it-
self a minor matter) but that he is able to get into the
enemycorner with Red's king exposed.This bringsus 1s
the next point, which is:
7. The most effectiveposition for the cannonis n the
opponent'scomer. When the cannonis there,it is almost
impossibleto dislodge,especiallyif there is nothing be-
tween it and the enemykilg. The rook cannotinterpose
to drive it awaybecausethe king wor d then be in check.
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
( ))- -li|19lr
o@l(
t+,
I t / V bishopis a weak piece, it protects vital and important
1r ) ;
6 5 4
Dia 71
-86-
.fhe ideal placementof the three major pieces,knight,
is illustratedin Dia. 71. The cannonis
rookand cannon,
in the corner, the knight is in the stable and the rook is
insiclethe palace.It is not surprisingthat Red has check-
mateon the movewith R6 + 1.
Another point is that if Black doesnot defendhimself,
the red cannonscan checkmatewithout any outsidehelp
in just four moves.From the startingposition, Red can
playthe movesC2=5, C5+4, C8+2 and C8=5 check.
mare.The positionis shownnDra.'72.If you cannotsee
rvhythis is checkmate,pleasereview the section on the
movementof the pieces.
TheBishop
Ideally,the bishopsshould be connectedtogether,so
as to protect the king. Remember,of course,that the
bishopsare purely defensivepieces;they cannotcrossthe
river and they cannotjump. When two bishopsare con-
nectedtogether,the opponentwill often try to put a piece
in behveenthem so asto break the comection.Once one
of the bishopsis captured,the other one is almost dead.
You really need to have both bishopstogetherfor them
to be of muchuse.
Actually, this is not completely true. Although the
pornts.When there is only one bishopleft, it might run to
tneedgeof the board,figuring that the opponentwill not
-87 -
take the time and trouble to try to pick it off. From the
edge,the bishoponly protectstwo points.However,the5g
two points might turn out to be vital. The presenceof 15g
bishop on the edge of the board might slow down the
enemyattackjust long enoughto savethe game.
Consider how much stronger two bishops are when
they are connectedtogether.When the two bishopsffs
connected:Lndone is in the middle,they defenda total ol
six points. However, when they are not connecteds1
when neither of the bishopsis in the middle, the two of
them together defend exactlyfour points, not more and
not less. Try moving the bishops around the board to
verify that this is true. The reasonfor this is that when the
bishopsare not connected,they do not defendeachother.
For that reasonalone,they defendfour points and not six.
For example,in Dia. 71, the two bishopsonly defendfour
points betweenthem becausethere is a rook in betweer
and thereforethe points upon which the bishopsthemsel-
ves are sitting are not defended.However, remove the
rook and now the bishopsdefenda total of six points.
Naturaily, you will want to try to win one of your
opponent'sbishops.However,rememberthat the bishop
is basicallya weak piece. If you waste too much time
trying to maneuveraroundjust to capturea bishop,you
might fall behind in development and your opponent
might be able to cormter-attack. It is best to go afiet a
bishooonlvin comectionwith a directthreatof mate.
-88-
TheGuard
'Ihe guard is an important piece in protecting
against
the rook or the knight, br.rtis uselessagainstthe camon.
Whenfacedwith an attack,one of the guardsshouldbe
plrcedin the middleof the imperialpalaceto prorectthe
orherguardanda.lsothe king.
However,the guardsoften do not guard at all. Some-
limesthey help strangletheir own king. For example,in
Djas.72and 15,Black is in checkmatebecausethe suards
preventtheir own king from escaping. Removethe guards
and these positionsare no longer checkmate.There are
moreand better examplesof this.
Frequently,in the endgame,a player will just push his
guardsasideand march his king to the front. This is not
onlyto attackthe enemyking but alsoto keep the guar<is
frominterferingwith their own king.
If your opponentgivesyou the chanceto captureone
of his guards,think twice. A loose guard often causes
more problems for the defender than for the attacker.
Perhapsit will be better to let him keep his guard zrnd
concentrate on checkmatinghis king.
TheKing
Although the king's safetyis impofiant, you must also
rememberthat the king can be an aggressive
attacking
f,:,c N though rhe king crn neverleave the imperial
irlllirce.
it actslikea rookwith respect
to theenemyking.
-89-
 The way to attack the enemy king is usually up 6.
16okbecausethe cannon would then check the king.
three center lines. Dia. 73 illustrates a common sifuation ftlctwevet,once again,Red doeshave an ingeniousmove
Whoever movesfirst wins. to savehimself.Try and find it.)
Both sideswant to seizeRed's fourth line. ff Red is to Always be on the lookout for the type of situation
move, he will play 1. R8:4 check.Black must move bis shownin Dia.73. This is one of the most commonkind of
king with K6=5 and then Red will play K5=4. Now checkmates in all of Chinesechess.Pleasetry to be sure
mate is unstoppable.No matter what Black does,ua1s,s thatyoLlare the one who is checknatingyour opponent,
he just gives away his roo\ Red has checkmateon 6. norhe the one who is checkmating you.
next move with R4 + 5. A kind of tacticalmotif which often arisesis shownin
Dia.74. As usual,this is supposedto be just an example,
notan acfualplayhg position.
,
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
, ,Y..-;
it I A I ,^ i I
\l
/=\
e
,A _\
v

,6\
D. Iri,-'\r
I
7 6 s 4 3 ]- i-ti
Dia 73 i)-<BXG,KXC
Il on the other hand, it is Black's turn to move, he 7 6 5 4 3
seizesthe same line with R1= 6. On the next move he Dia.74
will play R6+5. Remember in these examplesthat the Red is a pawn down and wantsa draw,so he decidesto
king cannot take the rook becausethe kings c:rrmrotfNe capturethe last pawn. However, there is a surprise in
each other. At the same time, the guard canxot take the store for him. He captures the pawn with 1. N4+5,

-90* -91 -

L.
N3+5; 2. N6+5. His knight is now pinned.It caqor
move awaybecausethe two kings cannot face each ot1s,'
Therefore,the black knight simply artacksthe red kniehi
with eirherN8 + 7 or N8-6.The red knight cannot,nfy.
and thereforeis lost.
However,Red noticesthat after the black knight cao-
tures the red knight, then the black knight will also be
pinned. Therefore,he plays3. R9=8, so that after N7-s
he has 4. R8+6 winning back the knight. However,in-
steadBlackcanplay3. . . ., R1 + 1, so that after4. R8+6
he has R1 =5 pinning the knight and at the sametime
breakingthe comectionbetweenthe two kingsso that the
red knight canbe safelycapturedon the next move.
In the middle and endgame,watch your opponent\
king carefully. Beware if he ever moveshis king one point
tr ti;e left or right without being forced to do so. This
sneakyking move is almost certainly part of a plan to
checkmateyour king. When your opponent moves his
king, all sorts of bells shor.rldbe going off in your brain.
You should start trying to figure out what mate he is pian-
ning and what you can do to prevent it. (Actually, by the
time he moveshis king,it is oftentoo lateto stopmate.)
The Pawn
A famous quotation lrom internationalchessbI
Philidor, the best player in the world more that two
hundred yea-rsago, is "pawns are the soul o[ chess."
-92-
pawnsare not quite the soul of Chinesechess.Sometimes
theyjust seemto get in the way. However,it would often
beimpossibleto win an endgamewithout pawns.
In the early part of the game,the major benefit of the
prwnsare that they keep the enemypawnsout. Starting
lronr the initial position, as soon as a pawn crossestle
1iver,it encountersan opposingpawn.
Pawnsare easyto capture in the opening.your op_
ponentwill generallybe happy to let you captureone or
moreof his pawnswith your cannonor your knight. you
hadbetter avoid this. For example,let,s saythat at some
earlystageyou play C8 =7 followed by C7 +4. Now, you
havewon a pawn. The next thing you wiil need to do is
getyour equivalentpawn acrossthe river. Therefore.vou
pushwith P7+t and P7+ I agajn.Now,you norice;har
yourpaw]l hasjust blocked the only retreat polnts avail_
ablefor your camon. You want to bring your camon
backso it can shift over and attack somethinselse. At
present. il is more or lessout of the game.Therefore.you
getyour pawn out of the way with p7 = 6 and retreatyour
c:mronwith C7-4.
You
rvq rr.rvc
have rluw
now caplureu
captured aa pawr!
pawr4 but have eX-
DUt yOU nave ex-
perdedsix movesto get your pawn across
the river and
Dnngyour cannonback to safety.your
opponentdecides
urdrrnlsnonsense
fL... -r
hasgoneon for long enough.He brings
'it\ rook over, recaptures
yotlr pawn, and material is equal
agan,except that you
are far behind in development.
_93*
 ChapterNine
The Endgame
The endgameis a vast subjectin Chinesechess.
Mosr
games between fairly equal opponents reach
the
endgame.The endgameitself often goeson for more than
a hundred moves and two-hundred-moveendgames
n1.s
not that uncorlmon. There are lots of books on endgame
studies,just crammedwith all kinds of fantasticand un_
believablesolutiorsto difficult situations.
This presentsa problem becauseit is obviouslybeyond
_
the scopeof this book to deal adequatelywith sucha vast
subject.The reader will not be prepared for this. More
than that, the biggest problem which a new player of
Chinesechesswill have is just to get to the endgameat
all. Most new playerswill get wiped out long beforethat.
Finally, there is the problem that most examplesin the
endgame books do not seem to have much oractical
value.Perhapsit is like the bishop and knight againstting
endgamein international chess.Everybodv studies and
learns this endgame as a beginner. ffren, ii never comes
up. I have been plalng international chesssince I was
sevenyears old and I have never yet seenthis endgame
actually played in all the hundreds of tournamentsand
matchesI haveattended.Bobby Fischeroncetold me that
-94-
L--
hedid not know how to win the bishopand knight against
kingendgame.(He said he would figure it out over the
boardif the situationever cameup.)
Here, we will try to solve the problem with Chinese
chessby discussing just a few of the more basicencls:une
situations.In Chapter Three dealing with simple check,
ntates,we alreadyshowedtwo of the most basic mates.
Diagram 12 shows how to mate with khs and rook
againstking. Diagram 14 showshow to mate with a kins
andknight againstking.The other would be kins and can-
nr.rnagainstking. However,a cannonalone is n-otenoush
to checkmate.The cannonmust also be aided bv a suard
(a bishop will not do). The camon comes Uetrini tne
guardand checks,reachinga position like that in Dia. 75
(nextpage).Notice the routine procedureof putting the
kingin the front of the imperialpalaceso as to more easi_
ly threatenthe enemyking.
Now, the black king is in checkfrom the red cannon.
He must move to the left with K5 =4. The red kins alst_r
movesto the left, seizingcontrol of the center line. Next,
Ine cannon and the guard move one line to the left,
reachingthe position in Dia. 76 (next page),
which is
checkmate. The next exampleis Dia.'77 lpage Ol). tn ttrls
ptlsition,Red has an extra rook. Howevei,
the game is a
clraw.Pleasecheckthis out. Try moving
the piecls around
until you are satisfiedthat there is no
wav that Recl car.
makeprogress. Similarly,a singleknight or a singlecan-
-95-
non would not be enoughto win in this situation.
andso are easyto catch,especiallyif you still havea pawn
t 2 3 45 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 s 6 7 in the way. However, once acrossthe river, they have
threedirectiors in which they can move and it is difficult

X D evenfor the mightyrook to catchthem.

t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
\E try,/ v,
tX
(
t ' 7 I\ ,4
\l/

-tr l l
\
)-
f\@z
ZF\ A1\
8 7 6 5 4 3 7 6 5 4 3 2 i r ;i
I | \\9,/
Dia" 75 Dia 76 1 1 t
__.{GXK \u/-
/6
This exampleis supposedto teachyou the importance 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
of pawnsin the endgame.Without pawns,it is generally Dia.77
impossibleto win. Only one pawn is usually more than
enough,however.A singlepawn can be worth more than Mastersof Chinesechess,like mastersof international
two bishopsin the endgame.ff ever you are in a losing chess,are especiallymastersof the endgame.They win
position in the endgame(as often you will be) try to run consistentlywith even the tiniest advantage,or no ad-
around and capturea1lof your opponent'spawns.If you vanhgeat all. Frequently,the player with the advantage
can get all of his pawns,you havea good chanceto draw will win even a theoretically drawn endgame.He just
However, if just one pawn escapesfrom your clutches, keepsmovinghis piecesback and forth, torturing his op-
you areprobablya deadduck. ponentto death,until finally his opponentallows a fatal
Try to catch the pawns before they cross the river weakness.
Before crossingthe river, pawnshaveonly one legalmove Going back to Dia. 77, remove either one of Black's

-96- -97 -
bishopsor one of Black'sguards.You can alsoremoveal axpturethe
back bishopwith R3 +2. If that bishopmoves
of Red's bishopsand guards,becausethey are totally ir_ .way,then he takesthe front bishop.Therefore,Black has
relevantto the situation. go to the left with K5:4. Theq Red
no choicebut to
I{aving done that, the position is now a win. If y6u checksand puts his rook right in the center of the im-
removeda bishop,then it is easyto run down the rern4in- perialPalace'
ing bishop.Finally,you might reacha position like that irr
Dia. 78,which is mate (by stalemate).Notice that Red hs5
pushedawayhis grrardsand bishopsso a^sto try to direcfly
confrontthe enemykhg.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
A
6.
.R)_
T
'-/,Y
/fi
@
v
{
,\

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
n
{ Da 80 Dia BI

Now, Black is in a situation which in international.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 chess is known as"zugzwang". If Blackwasnot required to
Da 78 Da.79 makea move but could simplypass,the gamewould be a
draw.However, the rules require Black to move some-
If you removed a guard then you might wind up in.a tntng.Any move he makeswill allow Red either to cap-
position like that in Dia. 79. On the next move, Red wtll trrrc{rncof the hishopsor. if thekingis in frontof the im-
taketheguardwith the rook.Lateron.you mightreach a perialp:Llace,to bring his rook back and over,
achieving
position suchasthat in Dia. 80.The red rook threatenst0 Inecheckmateshownin Dia. 81.

-98- -99 -
 ,o Blackmust retreat the king with K6-1. Again, Red ad-
vances the pawn with checkwith 3, P3+1. If Black goes
z I
tl ,
I !
fbnvard,Red checkmateswith N1-3. Therefore, Black
,/^,s nust retreat agail with K6-1. Now, Red plays the key
v )G
G
)- { \
G
ld. ( moveof 4. Nl * 2, reachingDia. 84.
In Dia. 84, Black has only one move. He must play
R8=9. Now, Red merely retreatswith 5. N2-3, On the
lext rrlovo,he has checkmateregardlessof what Black
piays.Presently,he threatensmate with P3:4. If Black
\i,,/
tnesto defendwith R9 + 1, Red hasmatewith P3+ 1.
,/)
<N\ ZN
8 7 6 5 4 3 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Dia- 82 Dia. 83 , rat
,/ ,.
)o-
Incidentally,I had to figure this all out myseif.These
endgamesare consideredso elementarythat it is difficu.lt
to find them in any book in Chineseon Chinesechess,
even a beginner'sbook. You should play around with
these endgamesyourself until you are satisfiedthat you
canwin them.
Diagrams 82 and 83 are a cute duo which is in the
bools. The only differencebetweenthem is the position
4N
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
of the black rook. Both positionsare a win for Red. In Dia.84
DLa.82, Red startswith l. P4+ 1 check.If Black retreats
the king,Red hasN1 13 checkmate. In the endgame, you must remember that perpetual
.
Therefore,Black takesthe pawnwith 1. . . . . , K6+1. checkis prohibited. It will almost always
be possible for
Now Red plays2. P3+1, advancing thepawnwith check, a defcnding rook or some other piece
to check the enemy

-100- -101 -
king back and forth forever.However,that is not allowed. havereachedDia. 86. Red threatensN1 +2 check.If the
That is the reasonthat we saidback in Chaptertwo thai comesback,Red canplay N2-3,forking the king and
11ng
goesforward,Red hasR1-2 mate.
if perpetual checkwere a draw then almost every gnqu rook.If the king
would be a draw. t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
In the final positionjust before checkmatein this ex. \ ,& -1{!

ample, Black could have checkedwith R9 + 9 and then t I I

started checkingthe red king back and forth forever.11 z\ \!!
,/"r \
,
{
t ti I
an official toumament game, the arbiter would hnyg tl , tJ ,
stopped him after rwo rycles.Thus, the possibility that
Black can start checkingis irrelevant and is not evendis-
cussedin theseexamples,
Diagram 83 is the hvin to Dia. 82. The solution is l.
P4*1 chec\ K6+1; 2. P3*1 check,K6-1; 3. P3=4
check!,K6*1; 4. N1'3 check,K6-1; 5, N3*2 checkand
,+{ /i. / \

wins becausethe king and rook are forked by Red\
knight. As you can see,theseendgamesare in someways
quite similarto thosefound in internationalchess.
Diagram 85 is much more difficult. In comesfrom a
book on the endgameby Wang Jia Liang of Harbirl
China,who wasborn in 1933and is a veteranglandmaster
of Chinesechess.He hasnow retired from activeplay and
works as a trainer in Singapore.Although the solutionto
Dia. 85 is not easy,it involvesideaswhich comeup in ac-
tual gamesand wasselectedfor that reason.
Red stansby checking,forcingthe Bllck king towards
the middlewith the moves1. Nl +3. K5=6:2. Rl+l'
K6 + 1; 3, N3-1. This last is one of the key moves.We
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Da 85 Dia 86
Thereare now two variations. The first is 3,....,
R5=8; 4. Rl=3. Red threatensa matewhich comesup
quitefrequently.There is even a name for it in Chinese.
He threatensto play 5. N1-3 check,K6 + 1; 6. R3-2 check,
K6-1;7. R3 + 1 checkreachingDia. 87.Now, regardlessof
whatBlack does,there is checkmateon the next move.If
Blackgoesforwardwith K6 + 1, Red mateswith 8. R3 =4.
If Blackretreatswith K6-1, Red mateswith 8. R3 + 1.
Blackdefendsagainstthis checkmateby playing4. . . .,
R8'1,bbcking the knight.Red plays5. N1+2. This move
tnreate[sto move the rook with discoveredcheckby the

-t02- -103-
knight. In particular, Red threatensto take the gun.6. lnight check. Therefore, play continues with 6.
Black defendsagainstthat by 5. . . , . , G5-6.Now, Red gS=7;7.N1-3,K5-1reachingDia. 89.
doublecheckswith 6. R3-1,forcingBlack to play K6 + 1.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 , \

#
a tl
/\

#@d n
v
\ I
\ ,
I

v
tCI
D(t

,+11\ 6\ ni 'C, /1\

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dia. 87
The next move is the key move. Red quietly plays7,
K6=5 and after R8-2,capturingthe knight, Red retreats
with 8. R3-8, reaching Dia. 88. Black resigns, because
there is no defenseto R3 = 4 checkmate.
The secondvariationfrom Dia. 86 startswith 3. . . . , ,
K6+1; 4. Rl =3, K6=5; 5. R3-2,G5+6. Black played
theselast movesin order to stop the checkmateshownin
Dia. 87. However,Red now playsthe key move, 6. R3'1.
The idea behind this move is that Black is now forcedto
trade rooks.If insteadBlack moveshis rook forward,Red
will be able to shift his rook to the sixth line followedby
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9 8 7 6 s 4 3 2 1
Da 88 Dia 89
Now, we have reached a classicposition: a knight
againsttwo guards.In just four more moves,Red will be
ableto finish Black off. 8. K6+1. A tempo move.8. . . . , ,
K5-1.There wasno other legal move.9. N3 +2, G4 +5. If
Blackretreatsthe other guardby G6-5, Red has a win by
stalemate with K6=5. Checkthis out. 10. K6-1, G5+4.
Again,Black had no other legal move. 11. N2-4 check
captrrringthe guard.Blackresigrs.
There are other, relatively minor, variations to this
endgame. It is recommendedthat you play aroundwith it,
untilyou are satisfiedthat you can checknateagainstany
Possibledefense.

-104- -105-

ChapterTen
About the Openings
Another vast subjectin Chinesechessis the studyof
the openings.There are almostas many books aboutthe
openingsin Chinesechessasthere are about the openings
in international chess.Curently, there are around sixty
openingbook in print in Chinaalone.There are certainly
more openings, simply because there are more legal
movesand plausiblevariationsin the averagepositionin
Chinesechessthan there are in internationalchess.
Fortunately, a new player in Chinese chess has a
limited objective.He doesnot want to win in the opening.
He merely wants to avoid losing.It is quite possibleto
achievethis limited goal (althoughsometimesjust barely)
becausethe sameideasand themeskeep comingup even
in much different openings.
It must be emphasized, however,that the openingsare
of critical importance.This is demonstratedby the fact
that in high level competitionbetweenequal opponents'
Red wins about fifty percent of the games,with the
remainder being divided about equally betweendraws
and losses,ln other words, in tournament competition'
the player of Red is roughly twice as likely to win as the
player of Black
-106-
tlntil around twenty or thirty yea$ ago, everyone
xEced that the best ffust move was the center carnon
nroveof 1..O,:5. That wzrsplayed in about 80% of the
toumamentgames.Now, playersare trying other moves.
Still, the center camon is played in around 50Voof the
sames, with other movesdividingup the rest.
Actually, almost every legal first move is playable.
Aboutthe only movesthat are really bad are movingfor-
ward the rook, because then the opponent's cannon
wouldcapturethe knight, and moving forward the king,
whichwould be a goodway to commit suicide.
Popular alternativefirst movesinclude advancingthe
third or seventh line pawrL bringing out the knight,
centralizingthe bishop and moving the cannonto some-
whereelsethanto the center.
Note that the initial position in Chinesechessis sym-
metrical,unlike the initial position in intemationalchess.
Ary first move from the right sideof the board could also
be playedfrom the left side.It makesno differenceif;r
playeropenswith 1. C2=5 or 1. C8:5. It happensthat a
majorityof playersmaketheir first moue from rhe rieht
side.burthereis no rule or convention aboutthis.
One point which must be mentionedis that in defend-
.
tng againstthe central carrnon,on the first move, one
musteither protect the attackedcenter pawn or elseput
somethingin betweenthat pawn and the king. Otherwise,
tnegameis lost.
-r07*
 This is obviouslya critical and important point. f,ysry
now and then, a player goesto sleepand sornething111u
this happens:1. C2=5, P7+1 ???7;2. C5+4, [,1x.tr
resigns.
The reasonBlack resignsis that there is no real wayto
prevent Red from eventuallyplaying moves like C8+2
followed by C8:5 checkmate.Black could try movinghis
king forward,but is not 1ike1y to survivefor long.
There are plenty of movesto defendagainstthe central
camon, however.Among them are N8 + 7, N2 + 3, 83 + 5,
87 + 5, G4 + 5, G6 + 5, C2 = 5 and C8 = 5. Also, everynow
and then a wise guy comesalongand defendswith C8+ 1
followed by A:8, seizingcontrol of Red's secondline
This is playablebut not really to be recommended.
Logically, the best first move would seem to be 1
83 + 5. With this move, the two bishops protect each
other and also the two cannonsprotect each other. The
king is safer.Although this moveis a bit slow,it is a solid
move which most playerswili want to get in anyrvay. The
only problemwith this moveis that it preventsthe camon
from occupyingthe center. However, the center cannon
move is not always effective, anyway.Black quickly for-
tifies his center by bringing up his knights, bishop and
guard and the cannonsometimesgivesup ard movesto
anotherline. Perhapsthe real reasonfor the popularityof
the central cannonis that the Chineseare naturally ag-
gressiveand just want to go out and try to kill their op-
-108-
ight away,without regard for the consequences.
'ooffint
Inrerestingly,the most prominentplayer who playsthe
central bishop is Hu long Hu4 the best player in the
world.You might think that if the best player in the world
playsa cenain opening,others would take it up as well.
i{o*.uet, until now, Mr. Hu seemsto be the main one
whoplaysan initial 83 +5.
Advancing the ure third
Auva.l.tlrlrE, or severun
ullr u ur seventh filee pawn ls more
popularthan the centralbishop.However,if you startthis
way,you can expectto get attackedimmediately.A t),pical
openingmight go as follows: l. P7+L, C2=3i 2. N2*3,
P3+l; 3. N8+9, P3+1; 4. C8=5, N8+7; 5. C2+2.
P7+1.
An even more radical approachis an immediate pawn
sacrificeon the first move. Nobody recommendsthii, but
it is quite dangerousagainst anyone who does not know
the refutation.1. P7+1, p3+ll; 2. p7*1, B3*5; 3.
P7+1?.This is a mistake.Once Red tries to hans onto
hispawn, Black gains the advartage.Red needed tJ leave
the pawn where it was and try to force Black to
spend
valuable time capturingit withthebishop.3....., Ni+l;
.+..P7=6,Rl=3. Now, Red is in serioustrouble. His
Dlshopis attacked and none of his pieces
are developed.
His pawn cannot advancefruther because
it will be cap-
tured by the cannon. Eventually,
Black will probabiy
recwer*re sacrificedpawn
with a big advantage.
un around the third move, Red should have played
-109-
CB:7. Otherwise,Black will play N2 + 4, followed by
Rl=3 and R3*4, recoveringthe sacrificedpawnwith a
goodgame.
Against an initial knight move, the opponent vrdll
probably push up the opposingpawn to keep the knjg51
in. A tlpical opening might go as follows: 1. N2 +3,
P7+l; 2. P7+1, N8+7; 3. N8+7, N2+3; 4. N7+6.
8 3 + 5 ; 5 . C 8 = 7 ,R 9 + 1 ; 6 . R l + 1 ' C 8 + 1 .
Againstthe centralcannon,the best deferseis the Fan
Gong Ma, which was alreadydiscussedin chapterfour. 4
typical openingmight go: l. C2=5, N2+3; 2. N2+3,
C8=6; 3. R1=2, N8*7; 4. P7+I, P7+1; 5. R2+6,
G4+5; 6, R2=3, R9*2; 7' C8=7, 83+5; 8' N8+9,
C 2 + 4 ; 9 . P 5 * 1 , R l = 4 ; 1 0 .R 9 = 8 , C 2 - 4 1 L l ' C 5 * 4 ,
C6+3; 12. C5-1,R4+5; 13. C7=5, R4=5; 14. R8f3.
This position is quite messy,but tlpical of Chinesechess,
especiallyin gamesplayedat a higherlevel.
Another excellentway to counterthe centralcannonis
to answerin kindwith l.C2=5, C8=5; 2' N2+3, N8+7
Now, if Red plays3. R1:2, Black answerswith R9+1'
but if Red plays 3. R1 + 1, Black answersR9 = 8. The
reasonfor this wasexplaine<i backin ChapterFive. If play
continueswith 3. R1=2, R9+1, Black will try to get in
R9 = 4, fotlowedby R4 + 7, with a goodcounter-attack.
One sacrificewhich everyonewill eventuallyencounrcr
cones at the first move: 1. C2 = 5, 83 + 5. Alnost
everyonewho seesit for the first time will immediate{
*110-
u1i1y2. C5 * 4, capturingthe offered pawn with check.By
ir,,v, the reader of this book shouldbe able to figure out
rhatthis is bad. Black will simplydefendagainstthe check
.r,ith2, .. . . , G4+5. fhen the knightwill comeout and
arracl(the canno& driving it back with a gain in time.
Red's cannon will be misplaced,being in front of the
pawnrather than behindit, and Black shouldgain the ad-
vaitage.Insteadof taking the pawn on the secondmove,
Red should havejust deveiopedhis pieces,ignoring the
offeredPawn.
One good thing about the openingsin Chinesechessis
that they do not have to be memorizedto the samede-
greeas the openingsin internationalchess.You will not
be told, for example,that it is absolutelynecessaryto
committo memory the flrst 26 movesof the Ruy [,opez.
(Acruatly,they rarely tell beginnersin intemationalchess
aboutthis.This secretis supposedto be kept from begin-
nersuntil much later.)
ln-steadof memorizing fired sequencesof moves,
Chinesechess players become familiar with patterns.
Consider,for example,the pattern in Dia. 90. This, of
course,is not a completeposition.Half of the board has
beenleft off to emphasizethe point that it is not the
wholepositionwe are concernedabout,just the patternof
theseparticularpieces.This pattern is a cornmonoccur-
rence.
-111-

9 8 7 6 5 4
Dia.90
We have arrived at this position after Black'srook at.
tackedRed's cannon.Red could have defendedthis can.
non in any number of ways,but the best way is often to
put the rook behindit, ashe hasdonehere.
In this type of position sometimesit is Red's tum to
move; sometimesit is Black's.We will considerboth pos-
sibilities.
If it is Red's tum to move, he might move the cannon
forwardto point'a'. This threatensto playC8=5, captur-
ing the pawn with check.In that case,the knight cannot
capture the cannon,becausethen Red's rook will take
Black'srook. Note that this combinationwiil work onlyif
Black'scenterpawnis protectedonly by the knight.
Another thing Red might do is bring his cannontwo
points forward to guard the river. Among other thil$'
-7t2-
'b,. Depending
thiskeepsBlack'srook out of point on the
sitLration elsewhere on the board,Red might be planning
to shift his ca lon over to anotherline, therebybringing
abouran exchangeof rooks.Note that this idea wilt only
,vorkif Red'slcrightcontinues to defendthe rook.There_
fore,the knight is required to stay where it is until this
plan has been executed.
If it is Black'smove,he will want to stop both of these
plansand thereforewill move his rook to point .b,, block-
ing the cannon.Red will now probablymove forward his
seventhline pawn with P7+ 1. Note that Red,sninth iine
pawn(the rook pawn) is en prise.However,Red is happy
if BlackwastesvzLluable time capturingthat pawn.
Sometimes,this formation is reached, except thar
Red'sknightis on point'c'. In that case,Blackshoulclnor
advanceto point 'b'with the rook, becausethe red can_ i
non will move over with C8:7. Now, the seventhline
pawnis defendedby the lmight.It would be a mistakefor
Blackto capture the rook pawn here, becausethen his
rook would be sealedout of the game for a long time.
(Noterhat on 'c'. Red'sknightis deiended
by the blshop).
lherefore,BIackwould be essentially forcedto exchange
rooks,and Red would havegainedbecause
of tradine his
passive rook for Black'sactive rook. 'l ru----s
is the ime
pointdiscussedearlier in
ChapterFive with Dias. 60 and
0i.
-113-
 Y
ChapterEleven
More Games
Until now, we have discussedvarious aspectsof ths
game,but we have not shownmuch in the way of actual
games,as they are fought and played by actual players.
Now, we are goingto makeup for that.
First, I am going to show one of my own games.A1-
thoughI am not by any stretchof the imaginationanysort
of world classplayer,this particulargamehasa numberof
advantages. It is a tlpical gameby averageplayers(even
on the Chinesestandard).Grandmastergamestend to be
rather mysti$'ing.It also involvestacticswhich come uD
frequently,especiallyin gamesby averageplayers.Some
important points I want to explain about the opening,
middle and endgameI have saved for this particuiar
game. Also, most importantly, this game has been
analyzed by a number ol top masters and ever.
grandmasters, so I am confidentthat what I savaboutthis
gameis correct.
l-his was played as an exhibition game in Singapore
before a crowd of about 200 spectatorsin connectionwith
the Guinness Asia Cup Chinese Chess C-.hampionship.
The movesof the gamewere flashedon a computerized
demonstrationscreenas they were played,with move by
-714-
L.
fliov€ cornmentary given over a microphone by kung
Ire Shin& one of the leading players of Hong Kong, al-
finadrg with a top player from Singaporeand a number
of other prominent playerswho happenedto be present
ar the time. Even Grandmaster Li Lai Chen, regarded as
the second sfiongest player in the world, offered corn-
mentarYon this game.
Why did a game by averageplayers attract such atten-
tion and interest?Becauseboth of theseaverageplayers
happenedto be non-Chinese.My opponent, Winston Wl-
liams,is also a chessmaster. He has held a FIDE radflg
0f2220,has played on the Singaporechessteam, and has
representedSingaporein intemational chessevents.This'
therefore,is possiblya gamebetweentwo of the stongest
knownnon-Chineseplayers of Chinesechess.
My opponent won the draw for color and therefore
playedthe red pieces.
WinstonWilliams vs, Sloan, Singapore,Dec. 19, 1988.
l . C 2 = 5 , N 2 + 3 ; 2 . N 2 * 3 , C 8 = 6 ; 3 .R l = 2 , N 8 + 7 ; 4 .
R2+6, P7+1. Now, we have reachedDia" 91. Red has
playeda common opening sequence.Black has responded
with the "Fan Gong Ma", one of tle most popular defet-
ses.You might call the resulting position the "Ruy Lopez"
of Chinesechess.You wilt find this position discussedin
most standard opening books. 5. P7*1, B3+5; 6.
-115-
 Y
N 8 + 7 , G 4 + 5 ? ; 7 . M = 3 , R 9 + 2 ;8 . N 7 + 6 . S e eD i a .9 2 .
Black'ssixth move was an error. Instead,Black shoulrt
havebroughtup the cannonwith 6.. .. .,A+4. He musr
do this before Red movesthe }night up to the river. fhg
reasonfor this is that the cannon advancepreventsthg
red rook from moving onto the third 1ire, becausethen
the black cannonwill captrueRed's third line pawq fork-
ing the bishopand rook. We sawan exampieof this sans
fork back in Dia. 70.
| 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 I 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 |
Dia 91 Da.92
However,it is now roo late for Black to bring up hrs
cannon.In Dia. 92, if Black plays 8. . . . . , (2+4, Red
respondswith N6+4, attackingthe knight and defending
the third line pawn (the bishop pawn) simultaneous{'
Notice that this basic type of knight maneuverwas ills'
- llo - -r17_
gnssed back in Dias. 65 and 67.
8. . . , . , R1=4; 9, N6+4, N7-9.Becauseof Black,s
epeningerror, he has been forced back into a passive
position.However,he is not by any meanslost. A good
ihingabout Chinesechessis that evenif a player mafes a
badmove in the opening,he rarely gets a tost position.
Here.Blackhascompensation in otherareas.
10.P3+1, P7+l; 11.R3-2,R4+4; 12.N4+2. Diasram
93.Already,Black is startingto recover.His rook islow
active.The red lcright is not only attackingBlack'sknight
but, rnore importantly, it is threatening to fork with
N2+ 3 check. However, Black has a simple defenseto
boththreats.If you do not see it right away,pleasekeep
$anngat the board until you do, becauseit is quite im_
portantto be ablero seemovesIike this.
12,...., R9=8. The rook block the knight,thereby
stoppingboth threats.Also, now the re<l knieht itself is
blockedand the black knight is threateningto caprureit,
not the other way around.This blocking and unblocking
themeis one of the most cornmonfeaturesof anygame
of
Chinesechess.
13.N2+4, R8=6; 14.C8=7. Diagrzmr94.Now, Black
.
hasfully recoveredfrorn the inferioi position
he had in
Dia. 92. Red has been forced to
exchangehis active
knightfor Black'scaruron.Both
of Black,srooks are now
"\ rrvcryplaced and his
;r^r;,^r
knight is ready to come into the
tsdmeby attacking the rook. The onJy problem
which
 Y
Black still has is that his cannonand knight on his secoq6
and third lines are stil1inactive.
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 | 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dia.93 Dia.94
GrandmasterLi l-ai Chen,who waswatchingthe game
on the demonstrationboardwhile it wasin progress,com-
mented that now Black needed only to play 14. . . . ',
R4 :2. This would seizecompletecontrol of Red'seighth
line and it might take a long time for Red's rook to get
into the game.
Instead,Black becarnegreedyand decidedjust to ac'
tivate his remainingtwo inactivepieceswithout any con'
sideration aboutwhat Red miehtdo. 14.. . .., P3+1?'
This is a terrible blunder. Black was assumingthat Red
would take the pawn immediately,in which caseBlacl(
would recapturewith the rook, attackingthe cannon.
-118-
'"4
L-.
6 5 4 7 6 s
Da 95 Da 96
15. R9=8. Diagram 95. Now, Black has lost his ad-
vzntageand is in deeptrouble.B]ack'scannonis attacked
bythe rook. If the cannonretreatswith C2-2,Red wins a
piecervith M. m + L R4 = 3; 17. C7 + 5, R3-2; 18.R8 + 9
check.If the cannonmovestwo points forwardwhere it is
protectedby the knight with c2+2, Red alsowins a piece
with16.P7+ 1, R4 = 3; 11. C7+ 5, R3-2; 18.R8 + 5, cap-
turingthe cannon.
Most of the audiencethought that the gamewas over
andsomeevenstartedto wanderaway.I went into a deeo
thinkhere and it wasmy good fortune that I found a way
outof this horrible mess.
15.. . . . , C2=l;16. R8+7, B5-3.Diagram96.Look at
.
the ingeniousdefense!The bishopcomesback to defend
-tt9-
 the cannonwhile, at the same1ime.opening
the tl;. ihel Black can play B7+5, defendingthe other bishop
rankso that the rook defends
tt. trig'i,t.iftr;Jlld
-" ure "ni1attackingthe cannon.The cannon in fact is nearly
onlywayBlackhad to keep from losinga piece.
it is not a grearsurpriserharsucha defense llxpped'
'
.Actually, !p, it turns out that Black was not lost after his 14th
existed.Chinesechessis a resilientgame.There be
fantastic
*. "irll nove after all. Perhaps the question mark should
defensesto eventhe mosli"a"i."riurJ,iiill
positions-. renroved'
It.isperfectly
respectable
,o u. .ru.t in"u"riTl
term defensivepositionin Chinesechess.If you t 2 3 4 s 6 7 8 9
ur. in i
bad or even a lost position,just keep doggedly
finfrno
waysto defendand keepthe gamegoing.Eventua\, y6lf
opponentwill oftenblunderandgiveyou u.t *." io
*in.
17. P7+ l. Most oi the commentaro., ,.u.r.t,
criticized this move. Red should have played 17.C7
+i.
That move threatens C7*4, capturing the bishop, fol_
lowed by R8 =9, capturingrhe cannon.If Black tries
to
defend by bringing in the bishopwith B7+5, the rook is
cut off from the deferse of the knight. The gamewould
continuewith 18.RB= 7, 85 + 3; 19.R7 +2, capturingthe 6 5
bishopwith checlgfoilowedby p7 + l, capturingthe othe, Din.97
bishop. The important thing is not that Red wins two
bishops,but that Black's king is exposedto threatsof 1 7 . .. . . , R 4 = 3 ; I 8 . C 7 + 2 , N 9 + 8 . B l a c ka t t a c k tsh e
checkmate. to^uk.fhally bringinghis lcrightjnto the game.I9. R3 =2,
As it happened,however,Black has a defenseto thls ru*6. Afiackingthe
knight again.20. M=4, N64i 21.
move as well, which even the commentatorsdid not see R4+3.Seeoia."gl.
right away.After 17.C7+3, Blackcanplay R6=4, which This sequenceof moves got the audience excited.
.,
urirn(lnrasler "lt is amazingthat
threatensFRl- 5 chec( followed by BR + 6 checkmat€. Li [-ai Chencommented,
Red mrrsldelentlagainsr rhis rhreaiwirh lB. G4 +5, but apersonwho
is not Chinesecan olav such moves."While

_720_ -121 -
L--
 Y
I was naturally flattered by this, I could not understan6
what the fusswasall about.
I-ater, it was explainedto me that the Chinesehavs.
lot of trouble maneuvering their knights. They were
amazedthat I could ma,kethree knight movesin 4 16y.
each time attackinga rook, and firally end up forking 1
rook and a cannon.They didn't seemto realizethat tl15
sort of maneuveris the simplestthing imaginablefor an
experiencedplayer of international chess.I have been
making moves like this since I was a baby. Fortunately,
thesemovesdid not in any way involve a cannon'Other-
wise,I would probablyhavemessedit up completely.
21. . , ,. , G5+6. This was the criticalmove in the
game.Black has four different legal captures.Theseare:
N4 + 3. N4-2, R3 + 1 and G5 + 6. N4 + 3 is unplayablebe-
causeRed answerswith R8:7, winninga rook. (R4=7
wouldbe a blunderbecauseof22. Cl:3 and Blackhasa
strong attack).R3 + 1 could be emswered with 22. R8 =7,
G5 + 6: 23. R7-3. N4 + 3. Most of the attention centered
on the possibilityof N4-2. After that, Red simply moves
awayhis rook.
After a lenghy discussionin Chinese,the commen-
tators finally deci<ledthat the move I playedwas actually
best.Unfortunately,I cannot understandChinesewell, so
I camot tell you what they said.
22. C7=5, N4+5? This was a mistake.I still can'tsee
cannonmoves,so I forgot that Red can recapturewith a
-122-
L-_
gxnnon.Black should just defend againstthe check by
jhying B7 +5, forcing Red to move the rook. Fortunate-
ju.my oversightwasnot serious.
'
23. C5+2, G6-5;L4. B3+5, C1+4. Black has been
ableto capturethis pawn for a long time. This pawn is
oftenavailable,but it is usuallya mistaketo captureit in
rhemiddle game,becauseafter the cannoncapturesthis
pawrqit is left out of the game.However,here,Black cap-
Nres this pawn, not to win a iowly pawn, but to get his
cannoninto one of the corners to threaten mate. The
mostdangerousplace for the cannon is the opponent's
corner.
25. N3+4, Cl=9;26. C5=7, C9*3 check Diagrarn
98.Now, we have reachedthe endgame.Although Black
is two pawnsup, it does not look at first like he will be
ableto put these pawnsto much use. Actually, the a''-
vantageof thesetwo pawnsis nearly decisive.They 'nay
moveslowly,but they are virtually unstoppableand even-
tuallywiil stranglethe red king.
27. CA+5, N3+4; 28. N4*5, R3-1;29. N5+6, R3-2.
Redwasjust bluffing.He wastrying to frighten Black,but
he was not really threateninganything.Therefore,Black
shouldhave played29. R3:8, threateningto
penetrateto the back rank. The b1uff worked. Black
wastedtime defendingagainsta non-existentthreat in-
steadof finishingoff the game.
-t23-

6 5 4 t i 5 4
Dia 98 Dia 99
30.C7=5, B7+5; 31.N6-5,R3+2; 32.N5-3,R3=7. It
wasnot legalfor Black to take the knight with the bishop,
Lrtcause of checkby the cannon.33. R8+2' K5=4. Red
was threateningto play RB:7 checkmate!!Black neatly
sidestepsthis threat by movinghis king. It is important to
be alert to the possibi[ty of checkmateat al] times.These
keep coming up, especiallyin simple positionslike this.
34. C5=6, N4-3.Gettingout of check'See Dia. 99 Al-
though Black's king appearsto be in a precariousposi-
tion, in fact it is perfectlysafe,aslong asBlack is careful.
Black's last move has been carefuliyand, fortunately'
correctlycalculated.Black is forcinga trade of knightsbe-
causeboth the rook and the knight are attackedat the
sametime. Red cannot defend the knight with the rook
-r24-
with R8-4,becausethen Black'slrright capturesthe rook.
Blackhas played this line becausehe seesthat after the
slchangeof knights,he will pick up the cannon.
35. R8-2,R7+1; 36. R8=7, R7+5. SeeDia. 100.The
p6int. Black gives double check with the rook and the
cannon.Red hasonly one legalmove.He mustbring back
rheguard.Then, Black retreatshis roo( givingdiscovered
checkby the black cannonwhile simultaneouslyattacking
the red cannon.Red must block this check. (If Red ad-
vanceswith the king instead,the black rook grvescheck-
mate).Then, Black capturesthe cannon.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dia 100
37. G5-4,R74; 38.B5-3,R7-4. Red tried to giveaway
his bishophere to distractBlack from taking the cannon,
but Blackrefusedto takethe bait.39.G6+5, P9+1; 40.
-125-
 Y
R7-5,C94; 41. R7 = 9, R4,-2;42.P5 * 1, R4 = 5; 43' P5+ 1,
R5 + 1; 44. R9 *4, C9=2. Here, Black could have
threatenedthe mate which has been discussedso fre-
quentlyin thisbook.Blackhad 44... '., C9:5 check.If
Red answeredwith 45. 83 +5, Black wouid play R5=4
with the mate threat of R4 +5. As you can see,this is vir-
tually identical to the mate shownin Dta. 73. Red could
still hold out by defending on the back rank with 45.
87+5, zu =4; 46.R9-6.However,afterthat,he coulddo
nothing but mark time while Black slowlybrought up his
singleremainingpawnto finish him off. (lt is important to
note that in spite of being a cannon ahead,Black also
the gameis a draw.)
needsthisexra pawn.Otherwise.
This gamewasplayedunder tournamentrules.My flag
had alreadyfallen once and the scorekeeper was coult-
ing down the minutes until the final time forfeit. (This
procedure will be explainedunder the section dealing
with tournament rules.) Therefore, my main objective
here was to make a bunch of moves quickly and avoid
both blundersand a time forfeit. As a result,the the game
becamerather sloppy.Eventually,on move 58, I broke
throughandwon both of Red'sguards.Red resigned.
There will no doubt be somereaderswho will not feel
completely satisfiedjust to play over a game by Sam
Sloan.Therefore,we havejust what the doctor ordered:a
gameby Hu Long Hua, the best playerin the wor1d.This
was one of the most profound and difficult gameswhich
-126-
anyonehasseen.In it, Mr. Hu sacrificesa cannonfor just
two insignificantlooking pawns(or who knows,maybehe
just blundered).Slowly,he collectstwo more pawnsand
then the four pawns together push towards the enemy
king like an arrny of termites.His opponentis the peren-
nial championof llong Kong. This gamewas also played
in Singaporeat the GuinnessAsian Cup Championship.
ChenJian Yun (Hong Kong) vs. Hu Long Hua (China),
Decernber
Singapore, 17,1988.
1 . C 2 = 5 , N 2 + 3 ; 2 . P 7 * 1 , C 8 = 6 ; 3 .N 2 + 3 , N 8 + 7 ; 4 .
Rl=2, P7*1; 5. N8+9, B3*5. SeeDia. 101.Red has
openedwith the Central Cannon and Hu has defended
with the Fan Gong Ma. It will be noticed that this posi-
tion is alrnostthe same as that reachedin the previous
game.6. C8=7, N7*6; 7. R9=8, C2=1; 8. R8+3,
G 4 + 5 ; 9 . G 6 + 5 , R 9 + 2 ; 1 0 .C 5 = 6 , R 9 = 7 ; 1 1 .R 2 * 4 ,
N6+7; 12. B7+5, R7+1; 13. R2=4, R1=2. Diagram
i02. So far, there is nothingparticularlynoteworthyabout
this game. Red has moved his cannon away from the
central Line,admitting the futility of his opening.Black
has captured a not very valuablepaw\ or, at least, the
pawn is not very valuableright now. Black now offers an
exchangeof rook.
14. R8+6, N3-2;15. C7+1, N7-8;16. P7*1, P3*1;
17. R4-8, N2+4; 18, N3*4. Notice that on move L6
_127_
Red sacrificedhis seventhline pawn just to be able 16
shift over his rook to threatenthe enemy king. Hu noqn
has two pawrls,but Red has an attack.With the current
move, Red forks Black's rook and knight, but his actual
plan is to bring his knight over to his left side to help a1-
tack the king. 18. ., R7=8; 19. N4+6, P5+1; 20.
=
C6 + 6, R8 4. Dia. 103(nextpage).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
6 5 4 6 5 4
Dia.101 Dia. 102
Now, the fun begins.Red has captureda knight, but
Black recoversit by forking the cannonand knight with
the rook. Now, Red is going to put his cannon in tle
corner (remember,the corner is the most dangerousspot
for the cannon) and start threateningmate. 21. R8+5'
G5-4;22. C6=9, R4+1; 23. C9+1, Pl+I; 24. C7'3t
Cl*4. Diagram 1(X (next page).Here it is. Red was
-128-
threatening to play 25. C7:6, followedby R8:6 check,
rvinningthe rook. Black getsout of this threat by sacrific-
ing a cannon.Since there is nobody in the world better
than Mr. Hu, nobodybut he can saywhetherthis sacrifice
wasjust a desperateeffort to get himself out of a bad
positiorl or if it was part of a profound plan he made
manymovesago.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
7 6 5 7 6 5 4
Da 103 Dia. 104
25. C9-6, P3+ l. Hu sacrificesone pawn to dislodge
the bishop so that another can advance.After capturing
this pawn, this bishop will never move againfor the rest
of the game.Now, the pawnsstart mzLrching one by one.
2 6 . 8 5 + 7 , P L + l ; 2 7 .C 9 = 7 , P l * 1 ; 2 8 .N 9 - 8 R
, 4+2;29.
FC-l; C6=7; 30. B3+5, N8+7; 31. c5+6, R4+1.
Diaeram105.
-129-
 Red gives away one guard for nothing,just to make
more spacefor his king to live. Otherwise,Mr. Hu p4s
threateningN7+9 followedby N9+7 mate. (Note thal
the knight would be in the stable),32. G4+5, R4-l; 33.
B5-3,R4=5;34. FC=3, R5=2. This moveforcesa trade
of rooks, becauseboth the red rook and the red knigll
are attackedby the black rook. Hu wants to reduce *ys
numberof pieceson the board,because the lesspieceson
the board,the strongerhis pawnswill be.35.R8-6,Pl=!.
36. N8+9, C7=9. Diagram 106. Now that Black has
achieveda trade of rook, he is goingfor the last pawn.In
spite of havingone piece less,it is unlikely that Black will
lose now becausehe has both guardsand both bishops
and,without pawns,his opponentcan almostnevermate.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
37. N9+8, P5+1; 38. C3=9, G4+5; 39. C9+7,
C9+4; 40.83+5, G5+4; 41. N8+7, G6*5; 42. C7=9,
N7+9; 43. BC+4, P5+1; 44. BC=8, G5*6. Red was
just threateningcheckmate.(I hope you noticed that by
now.) Black moveshis guardsup just to make spacefor
his king. Actually, Black does not care about his guards
llny more. He wantsto get rid of them, sincehe is being
aftackedby two cannons.45. C8*5' K.5+1; 46. C9-1,
N9+7;47.K5=6, P5=4; 48.N7+8, K5-1.Diagram107.
The interestingthing about this is that Mr. Hu is being
repeatedlythreatenedwith mate by the fu11force of two
cannonsplus one knight, but he doesnot seemto be the
slightestbit worried about this. In fact, Red hasno way to
checkmateaslong asBlack is carefuland doesnot slip.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

V
'@( I

,fi\ L
t-l--t-?darr \J

--r@-r@lr-
6]]'ra
!J a ' lYr![rD-
*,
A )41
T
4 iY. ,6\

9 8 7 6 s 4 3 2 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 9 8 7 6 s 4 3
Dia 106 Dia. 107 Dia 108

-73L-
 49.N8-6,K5=6; 50.N6+8, C9-1;51.N8+6, B5-3;52.
N6-7,83*5; 53.N7-5,C9=5;54.B5-3,P7+l; 55.C9+l
K6+l; 56. C84,P7*l;57. C8=4, K6=5; 58.Ca-S,Ni.
6, Diagram 108.Now, the game is drawingto a close45
Red seemsunableto find a way to stop the march of the
pawru.Unfortunately,the scoresheetis alsobecomingil-
legible. Incidentally,I am not coplng thls game out of a
boolg becauseit hasn't been publishedanyr,vhere yet. In_
stead, I have the actual score sheet, hand written in
Chinese.Already,I havecorrectednumerouserrorsmade
by the personwho wrote down thesemoves.SinceI have
a partially legible scoresheet and I know the final posi-
tion and sinceI alsoknow that the gameendedon move
77, I wldldo my bestto work out the interveningmoves.
t 2 3 4 s 6 7 8 9
t 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
9 8 7 6 s 4 3 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Dia. 109 Dia 110
-732-
>-
59.N54, K5-1;60.C9+5, N6+7;6r. C9-5,CS=4;62.
C9=6, C4+3i 63. K6+1, P2-3i 64. C4=5, G6-S;65.
C 5 + 1 ,P 9 + 1 ; 6 6 .N 4 + 2 , P 7- 6 i 6 7 . N 2 + 4 , P 9 + 1 .I s t i l l
think I have the score right. We will celebratewith a
diagram.SeeDia. 109.68. N4+5, N7-8;69. N5-3,K5=4;
70.N3-4,P9+ 1; 71. C5- 7, K4 - 5; 72. C7- 5, K5 = 6; 73.
C 5 = 1 , B 5 * 7 ; 7 4 . N 4 + 3 , K 6 = 5 ; 7 5 . N 3 - 2 ,P 6 + 1 ; 7 6 .
Cl+3, K5+l; 77. CI=Z, P6+1 Red Resigns.Black
threatensto play P6:5 check,followedby P4+1 and
P4+ 1 checkmate.If insteadthe guard now moves,then
Black check with the lcright followed by checkmate.
Black only used59 minutesfor this entire game,whereas
Red used95.The fina1positionis shownin Dia. 110.
You will see that in spite of being the best player in
the world, Mr. Hu still follows the samebasicprinciplesI
havetried to explainin earlier chapters.If you study this
game carefully, you should be able to figure out the
reasonsfor most of the moves.
-133-
 Y
ChapterTlvelve
Who'sHu in ChineseChess
If you decide to take up Chinesechesson a serious
basis, you will want to know about tie leading per.
sonalitiesof the game.This makesfor a rather long list,
becausethere are so many peopie who have essentia\
devotedtheir livesto Chinesechess.
The leadingpersonalityis Hu Long Hua of Shanghai.
He is the Bobby Fischer of Chinesechess.His career
closelyparallelsthat of Fischer.Born in 1945,he won the
A-lI-ChinaChampionshipfor the first time in 1960,when
he was only 15 years old. At that time, this victory was
regardedasa bit luclry.Hu then provedit wasno accident
by winningthe championshipa total of ten timesin a row.
By comparison,Bobby Fischer,who wasborn in 1943,
earnedthe grandmastertitle by finishingeighth in the in-
terzonaltournamentin Yugoslaviain 1958.That resultar-
guablymade him the tenth bestplayerin the world at age
15, becausethe world champion and the leading chal-
lenger were exempted from the interzonal. However,
there was no FIDE rating systemback then, so we cannot
sayexactlyhow strongFischerreallywas.
It is a matter of opinion as to whether being the All-
China Champion(whichis, in effect,the world champion-
-t34-
L-
,6p) of Chinese chessis greater or lesser than being the
tonthplayer in the world at international chess.However,
Fischer'sachievement was not only that he was strong,
but also that he came from esseniiallya non-chessplaying
countryat the time, namely the United Statesof America.
If Fischer had been a Russia4 it would not have been
sucha big deal.
Hu long Hua proceeded to win tle All-China cham-
pionshipin the years1960,62, 64, 65, 66,74,75,77,78
and79, which was every year that it was played. (In one of
thoseyears he tied for fint.) The gap in the years 1966to
1974wx causedby the cultural revolution. No Chinese
chesstoumaments were held in China during this period.
Mr. Hu had a job cleaning and maintaining a swimming
poolin Shanghai.
Recently, a number of young players have emerged
and Hu is no longer head and shoulde$ above the rest.
The first grandmasterof the post-Hu period was Liu Da
Hua. Born in 1950,he won the All-China championship
in 1980and 1981.After that, an evetr younger player, Li
lai Cheq born in 1960,took the title in 1982.Hu won in
1983and Li Tai f,fis1yyen again in 1984.Hu regained the
title in 1985. The youngest grandmaster, Lu Chin (b.
1962)of Guangzhou (Catrton), won in 1986.Then came
U tai Chen in 1987and Lu Chin again in 1988.
Since these tournamentshave recently been conducted
on a Swisss)6tem, there is a certain amount of luck in-
-135-
 Y 't
I
volved. Everybody saysthat Hu l-ong Hua is still the best
player, although they concede that he does not s1uq,
much any more. Li I-ai Che4 ranked number two, is saiO
to be the hardestworker at the game.
It is fairly recently that the China Chinese ChessAs-
sociationhas startedto adopt someof the practicesof in-
ternational chess. They now award the titles q1
grandmasterand master and have started a ratitrg system.
However, only about 140 players in all of China have
ratings. The highest rated player is Hu I-ong Hu4 with a
rating of 2585.
There is an informal rating systemin China, in addition
to the official FIDE-type system which is just getting
started. In this syster! first grade is roughly equivalent to
classB, secondgrade to classA, third grade to expert, and
fourth grade to master. Fifth grade players are Hu I-ong
Hua and the other grandmasters.
The criteria for being awardedthe grandmastertitle is
that a player must win the All-China championshiponce
or finish in the top two twice or in the top three three
times. This is a tough standard, since Hu has almost al-
ways won. Only eight players have been awarded the
grandmastertitle and only about 30 have the master title.
Three grandmastersare veteransfrom before the Hu era
Since there are now a total of 267 grandmastersof in-
ternational chess, plus around 800 international chess
masters,it is clearly much harder to be a grandmasterof
-136-
chessthan it is to be one of intemationalchess.
Chinese
The five active gandmasters of Chinese chessare Hu
WngHna, Li Iai Cheq Liu Da Hu4 Lu Chin andZhot-
Go Lorug(b. 1961).The retired grandmastersare Yang
GtatLin (b. 1925),Vy'qngJia Uang (b. 1933)and U Yi
Trns(b.1937)'
Two of the three inactive grandmastersstill play, al-
rhoughofficially they are retired. One of these is Yang
Guan Lin of Guangzhou. He won the All-China cham-
pionshipin 1956,57 and 59 and tied with Hu l"ong Hua in
1962.The other is Wang Jia Liang of Harbin. He finished
secondin the All-China championshipin 1956,57 and 59
andwasfourth in 1981.
The queen of Chinese chessis Mss Xie Si Mng of
Beijing.Bom n 1962,she won the All-China champion-
shipfor women starting in 1980 at the age of 18 and has
continuedto win it almost every year since. She was the
first to be awarded the title of Woman's Grandmaster of
Chinesechessand is also the only woman who is regarded
asa masterstength player on the men's standard.If that
is true, then she is in the top forty players in China and
therefore in the top forty in the world. This makes her
comparablybetter than any woman player of intemationa-
chess, with the possibleexceptionof Judy Polgar.
Miss Xie is the only really strong player in China who
isalso a fluent speakerof English. This, her attractiveness
and charming personality make her one of the most
-137 -
 girls,WangPnr,77, andpengZhao er;.,23.
There is everyreasonto believethat
theseChinese
womenwill monopolizethe wo-man,s
*o.tO .fra_pio^frip
manl'yearsto come.Signiflcantly,
lor theyhJ;k;;;p

mff,,ffi*ffiffi#Hf
international
chessjust a fer
riedand
ralea
to."lci",i:iilTl,*.;x?#{
C}inesechess.Imaginewhatwould t upp.n
if ,orrr"-oi tt "
s.tron-C
loung playersof Chinese"t.r, toot ;il;;_
tionalchess.

';n*''i*i,,ffi[fffi
O": gf the top officialsof Chinese
-. chessis Uu Guo
lT":|.I"!ly thecurtural
T""cbanaed. re";r;;6,n"r"
essentially The purpose anJint"rrt of
:ness lvas
the cultural revolution was to uproot
and exterminate all
vesugesof ancient Chinese
.Jto.e. Chinese ;;-*
ciearlypart of thatculrure.
t"r" *"." ouif;;"L",
tike I iu Guo Bin. It is saidthat

ffi;'i*.*?',*-k
l::-i,"rl"*:riprs he hid the an_
llllj of Chinesechess in tf," t*"_"ot o-frrt
nouse in order ro keep them
aad his family ;;;;;;*g
.1.:Y:*O.gylt theculturar revotution. I onceasked
jf during.thecultural,""orrti;;. ;";;;;", him
I"t:l^:: u.runese
.."
cfiess,but very secretly.
f^d-y:,u.
t'or this bravery, he has,now

-fih,#;,ftim"*H+#Il;fi'ii:ii
been rewarded -r,by being
,"rr"
u 1op official of Chinese
lud..
prominent personarity .fr"*. ,1" "
aad appearson national terevision
tn Cfuna in connection
with Chinesechess.
rong with two Guo Bin is Mr. CnenZuDe,whois a
other Chinese
sports
,.#"::,yj.Liu
official,not a chess
r138_ "tr1;;r.-;;";;;,ffii;
-- -739-
 Y
1943, was the AII-China Champion many times of the
game of go, known in China as wei'chi. He is ranked as I
9-dango player.
Outside of China, Chinesechessis lesswell organized-
It seemsthat in every major city in the world, there are
two clubs or groups of Chinesechess,and they are always
fighting with each other. This conforms to the Chinese
systemof disorderliness.
There are so many important personalities in Chinese
chessthat it is only feasible to mention those who eitler
speak English or who are interested in attracting non-
Chineseto the game.
At the top of the list is Mr. Henry Fok, who is believed
by many to be the richest Chinese in the world. In addi-
tion to owning a major portion of Hong Kong, he has an
interest in Macao gambtng casinos, among his other
holdings. His name in Chinese is Huo Ying Dong (Man-
darin) or Fok Ying Tung (Cantonese).He is the chairman
of the Asian ChineseChessAssociation.He has offereda
prize of a half million dollars to the first non-Chineseper-
son to win a tournament of Chinese chess ahead of a
Chinese grandmaster. He sponsored a match of China
againstthe Rest-of-Asia,which China easilywon. He is an
impofiant personality in other sports as well, including
football.His nameis known to all Chinesepeople.
'f.
Mr. Paul I-am is the Chairman of the newly formed
World ChineseChessFederation.He is also the former
-L40-
L--
Chairmanof the Hong Kong ChineseChessAssociation.
His Chinese name is lam Ting Bor. He is a graduate of
rhe University of California at Berkeley in Chemistry.
Another millionaire backer and top otEcial of the
World Chinese ChessFederation is Mr. Wong Ming. He
is one of the shongestplayersin Hong Kong.
Mr. kung t"ee Shing of Hong Kong is a businessman
who is the President of tle Hong Kong Chinese Chess
Association. He is interested in introducing computers
into Chinese chess and in attracting Westerners to the
game.He also strongly encouragedme to write this book.
Another prominent personality in Hong Kong is Ire
CheeHoi, born in 1928.Once one of the game'sstrongest
players,he is now a leading organizerand officiat.
One of the most active persons internationally is Mr.
Chen [,o Ping of Manil4 philippines. He was onl of the
foundersof the Asian ChineseChessAssociationin 197g
and has servedas its long time secretary.He is very inter_
estedin introducingWestemersto Chinesechess.
Mr. Chan Fok I-oi is the active and energetic Secretary
General of the Asian ChineseChessAssociation.He is
also the Presidentof the SingaporeChineseChessAs_
sociation.Remarkably,this organiz2fi6nhasbeen in exist_
ence since 1934! His predecessor,Robert I_ooi, has
traveled the world in his efforts to stir up interest by per_
sonsof other culturesin the game.
In Taiwan, the leading personalities in Chinese chess
-141 -
 are Mr. You and Mr. Lim Yi She.Unfornrnately, they d6
not speakEnglish. Wu Gui Lin is the best player.
Surprisingiy,the third shongestcountry in the world in
Chinese chess seernsto be Thailand, behind China and
Taiwan but possibly ahead of Hong Kong and Singapore.
The national champion and orgqnizslien president is
Chen Su Fei. The principal organizet is Chen I Ping.
However, the best player is said to be Sei Kai Jo, who is
not a member of the principal organization, or perhaps
Liu Po Liang. The name of Sei Kai Jo in the Thai lan-
guage is SanguanJiakiangkai. He finished a clear second
in the SevenStars Cup lnternational ChineseChesstour-
nament held in October, 1988 in Beijing. However, Liu
Po Liang also has a good case.He played fourth board for
Asia in the China against the Rest-of-Asia match held in
Singaporeand got a draw with Liu Da Hua.
Europe, America and Canadaare far below the stand-
ard of Asia in Chinesechess.At the 1988SevenStarsCup
toumament in Beijing most of the bottom places were
taken by players from Europe. I beat Ire Chi Gong, the
U.K. representative.(I was the only non-Chinese there).
The president of the English ChineseChessAssociationis
Dr. M. Chandler. The chief organizer is l*e Chi Gong.
The oresident of the German Chinese ChessAssociation
is Rainer Schmidt.In France,there is Li Hong Da
The best player in New York is now Gong Fan, tho
former Beijing Junior Champion, who assisted in the
- 1,42-
>--
preparation of the first edition of this book, and who im-
l"rigratedfrom Beijing to America in 1990with the assis-
tanceof this author. Probably number two is Chien Chi, a
boat person from Viet Nam. They play at a Z+-hour
Chinese chess club in New York's Chinatown. In San
Frarcisco, the best player is either Yan Tat Su4 a
businessman,or Ng Hak Ill from Hong Kong.
fhe most energetic and enthusiastic organizer of
Clhinesechessin America is Frank C. Eng of San Francis-
co. Mr. Eng has this wonderful talent and ability which
few players of Chinesechesshave,which is that he is able
to teach the game in fluent English. However, nobody
there has ever heard of Frank C. Eng. His name in Can-
toneseis Wu Chi Gong.(Seepage174for his address.)
There are active communities of Chinese chessin l-os
Angeles, Vancouver and Toronto. Yu Chou Jeq Li
Chung and Irong Chick are regarded as the best players
in Vancouver.
The best Japanesenational is Akihiro Tanaka-He was
bom in Beijing, China, but was able to emigrate to Japan
when he was twenty becausehis motler is Japanese.His
Chinesename is Chen Zu Jong Haw. However, he is not
even in the top ten in Japan.In the 16 years that the
Japan National Championshipof Chinese chesshas beetr
held, no Japanesehas ever won. The best player is Mr.
Go, from China. The chief organizer and official in Japan
is Einosute Fuiio. However. the hesident of the Jaoan
- 1,43-
 Chinese Chess Association is much more famous as 91"
President of the Japan Shogi Association.He is \41 ChapterThirteen
Oyama,the veteran grand championof Japanesechess.
In Indonesi4 the leading Chinese chess organizer i3
History of ChineseChess
Tanama.The best player in Indonesi4 and very likely the
best player in the world who was not born in China, is Yrr
Chong Ming. (His Indonesianname is Ivan Minarta). 11 There are two ancient Chinese writings pertail.
shiang-chi,as Chinese chessis called, dating bac$ng to
Brunei, there is Sung Pak Leong. In Malaysia,there is rA'
thantwo thousandyears.Thesewe will call and \ more
Tan Koong Hean. The best player in Macau is U Jin
Huan.
Finally, there is Mr. K.K. Chan of Malaysi4 who lives A = EffiA& ' 6xffqu (€ffi
in Hong Kong. He is a developer of computer software
for Novag Computers,which is marketing a Chinesechess
B = ET,.ftEFtlFAAHnn*trJr(ffiAE)
computer, and also for Mr. leung I-ee Shing of the Hong ',{ is from a collection of poems lmown as C},
Kong Chinese Chess Association, who is developing a
The author was named Chii Yuan. He was th;u Chi.
databaseand electronicdemonstrationboard system.
famouswriter in the Chou DTnasty(L046255 B.(i most
A few years ago, the standard of Chinese chessinside 'B'is from a
China was so advanced as compared with the standard
killed himselfby jumping into a lake. o''). He
book of philosophy known as Shuo Yuan, which ciiamous
outside of China that the outsiders had no chancein any 'A'.
It is from the Han D)'nasry(206 B.C. - 221 A.D.Fd
serious contest. It was one of the highest compliments to
arewell lnown to any student of Chineseliteratur{' Bot}t
say,"That player is so sffong that even Hu I-ong Hua can-
You will observe that both of them contli
not give him a handicapof more than two moves." ttr the
Chinesecharactersfor shiang-chi,nameiy: fi.ffi
Now, the gap has narrowed. One reasonfor this is that 'elephant
The words shiang-chi mean, literally,
previously there were not enough books and the players
asopposedto anotherChinesegame,wei-chi(go)Same',
inside China knew lots of opening traps and tricks which
means 'surround game'. No doubt, many reade;which
had not been pubiished.Now, there are many book and
have a knowledge of Chinese will strenuously o\\ *ho
the playersoutside of China are studyinghard to catchup.
the spellingswhich are used in this book. ln therect to
Finytn
- 1.44- _ Ms _

L-
l-
spelling system, what here is call shinng-chi is spelled
xiangqi and in the older Wade-Giles systemit is spelled
h"siang-ch'i.However,while those spellingsare doubtless
more widely acceptedand technically correct, the average
English language reader will have no idea how to
pronounce a word spelled either xiang or hsiangbut will
easilybe able to pronounceshiang.
Now, the question is: Does this use of the Chinese
charactersfor shiang-chirefer to Chinesechess,or doesit
refer to another game or perhapsto somethingelse en-
tireiy? If we can prove that it refers to Chinese chess,we
havejust proven that chessis a much older gamethan has
previously been believed and that it was probably in-
ventedin China,not in lndia.
Nobody seriously contendsthat the game played in the
Chou Dynasty is the same game which we now know as
Chinesechess,althoughthe name is the same.However,
the possibility existsthat it might be a direct ancestor.Ab-
sent a major archaeologicaldiscovery,nobody will ever
knorv the exact truth about this subject.Still, a number of
Chinesescholarsand researchersare trying to find out.
Part of the problem is that the Chineseare great ir-
ventors of games.Today we know about gamesltke mah-
jong wei-chi, dominoes and even a game known in the
West as 'Chinese checkers', which is still popular in
China. AII of these gameswere invented by the Chinese.
It seemstlat manymore board gameshaveappearedand
-146-
disappearedover the centuries in China. Nobody knows
the exactrules of thesegamesor how theywere played.
The leadingauthoritieson the subjectof Chinesechess
history include Chen Chien Ching of Singaporeand Yang
Guan Un, a Chinesegrandmaster.The curent best thirk-
ing is that the game of shiang-chi played in the Chou
Dynastywas a board game with only four pieces and was
not recog4izableas chess.In other words,it did not have
'checkmate',which everychess-type game,
the elementof
by definition, must have. However, by the Tong Dynasty,
in around 800 AD., shiang-chi had evolved into a game
substantially similar to the game we have today. It was
also during this exact period that Buddhism spread from
lndia to China. Consequently,there was a cultural inter-
change.It could be that chesscame to China from India
and simply usurped the name shinng-chi,which had pre-
viously been the Chinese name for some other board
game. It could also be that the game traveled the other
way and that the Chinese nwne shiang-chiwas revised to
the Indian chaturanga. However, there is no proof in
eitherIndia or Chinafor either one of thesetwo theories.
Some sourcesgive the 8th or 9th century as the date of
the introduction of the cannon,the last major innovation
in Chinesechess.Otherssaythat the cannonwasinvented
around the yeff 1200.Most sourcesagree that the same
game as played today was played during the latter part of
the Song Dynasty (960-ln9 A.D.). It is generally
-r47-
 Y
regarded as a proven fact that Chinesechessas we know
it existedby at least the twelfth century. The oldest books
and actual game scores come from the Ming Dynasty,
around 1500A.D.
Interestingly, this conforms almost exactly to the his-
tory of intemationalchessin Europe.The oldestbook on
international chesswas published n l49j in Italy. Thg
oldest game n the Word Encyclopediaof ChessGamesis
dated 1490.However,that game doesnot obey the legal
rules of modern chess.
A popular book on sale in China has this to say about
chesshistory:"Chinesechessis one of the traditionalcul-
tures. It has a long, long history. A long, long time ago
before 2300yearsago the history books have alreadywrit-
ten the words sy'liang-chi.But at that time the chesspieces
were made of ivory, also called liu bo chi. The modern
chess reached its present form around the end of the
SongDynasty.There wasone famouspoet. Her namewas
Li Ching Zhou. Shewrote one book entittedHitting Hone
Pictrtre. Already the chess board then was the same as
now. At that time, the chesspieces also had the same
names as now. When we open the coffins from the Song
Dynasty, we find the same names and number of the
pieces." (Teach You How To Play Chessby Chang Ching
Ming Beljing, 1988,ISBN 7-5007-0395-3, p. 1.)
One significant point which is not readily apparent
about the abovequote concernsthe use of the term liu bo
_148_
ts-
rhi. This is believed to have once been an alternative
that Chinese
n,rmefo. shiartg-chi.One occasionallyhears
sided
chesswas at somepoint either a six sidedor a thee 'six'
liu means and
same.The reasonfor this is the word 'six
iiu bo chi can be translatedto mean sidedgame'.
There is a children's game known in the West as
'Chinesecheckers'and, in fact, is a six sided game.The
ClLinesecall that gametiaa chi, bttt it is not a chess-tlpe
gamenor is it a game of the checkersvariety.
It is probably a mistalceto conciudethat there ever was
a six sided or a three sided version of chess.Liu bo chi
wassimply the name of the game' Problems like this al-
waysarise in the Chineselanguage.Every Chinesecharac-
ter has severaldifferent possiblemeanings.
Another factor which causesuncertainty on this entfue
subjectis that atrcient referencesto gameshke shiang-chi
also contain referencesto asffolory.The Chinesesome-
times seem to connectchessto astrolos/.Another game
more clearly connected with astrology is Chinese
dominoesQtaigow utd tin gow), which have combinations
of red and white dots. Finally, it has been suggestedthat
'elephant', the term
because the word shiang mearts
shiang-chiwhen used2000yearsago merelyreferred to a
piece of elephant's tusk. It might just mean that the game
itself,whateverit was,wasplayedwith piecesof ivory.
Liu Guo Bin of Beijing is regarded as one of the
authoritieson the historyof Chinesechess.He personally
-t49-
 Y
was the guardian of some of the historical Chinese
manuscriptswhich were otherwisebeLevedto havebegq
destroyed during the cultural revolution. He saysthat 6
predecessorform of chessdid exist in China in the firs1
centuries B.C. hut that the exact game which we play
today has been played for only about the last 500 years.
He also saysthat chesscame from India. The interesting
thing is that theseassertionsare mutually exclusive.Chess
did not exist in India until the seventh or eighth century
A.D. (if then) and so, if it existedin China in one hundred
B. C., it must havebeeninventedthere.
Any person who cmnot read Chinesewill have diffrcul-
ties discussingthis subject. There is a different approach
which does not requhe any specializedknowledge of lal-
guage.We can follow the method of comparativelinguis-
tics and try to reach conclusions about the history of
Chinese chess,and of chessin general, by examining the
other forms of chesswhich are populartoday.
Other Varieties of Chess
These are a total of six known varieties of the game of
chesswhich are popular and regularly played in the world
today. These are international chess, Chinese chess'
Japanesechess,Thai chess,Indian chess and Korean
chess.Of course,people are alwaysinventingchessrype
games, taking out patents on them, and trying to get
otiers to play, but the above seemsto be a complete list
-150-
>--
of chesstype gameswith over a miliion regu-larplayers.
Malaysianchessand Nepalese'tiger chess'turn out to
be merely gamesof the checkervariety.Burmesechessis
flentioned in variousbook, all of which cite H.J.R. Mur-
ray as their original source,but this author was unable to
find any such game during a brief visit to Rangoon and
Mandaiay. Burma recently joined the World Chess
Federationand the members of the Burmese national
chessteam are also unaware of any such game. Another
game called 'Malay chess'by H.J.R. Murray is simply
Thai chessby another name. It is still possible that Bur-
mesechessor some other form of chessexistswhich irs
not on the above list. However, Robert Inoi of Singapore
hasconducteda world tour looking for other membersof
the chess family of games besides those six mentioned
above,and hasbeen unable to find any.
AII of these six varieties of chess have certain fun-
damentalelements in common.All have two opposingar-
mies which consist of a king in the center, rook in the
corners,knightsnext to the rooks and a bishoptype piece
next to the knights. AI have pawns in front. In all cases,
thegameendsby checkmate.
In view of these similarities, the differences are minor.
The boardsare ali about the samesize.International,In-
dian and Thai chess all use a board of Bx8 souares.
Japanesechessuses 9x9 squares.Chinese and Korean
chessuse 9x10points.Actually,the differenceis evenless
r<1
 than rhat.If you look ", chessboard,you\uilt
se€.rharit contains i.^:li"::,AI the
64 squares. and at the iatest they got it shortly after the death of Ali,
Chineseiii'. oneof the four original companionsof the Prophet.
adda river in the middlef,,,
move thepiecesfrom *o
*" lffi:.Tfr: il",'li..o"*0, After that, Spain became an Arab country and
By examining the diffe remained so until 1492, when the Moors were finally
reach
conclusio; "0"",i"1i11,
Jffi :"L::,ff#'#.,:* driven out. For that reason,we have a lot of old Arab
Wecanfoitowsomewhu, 6anuscriptsabout chess.Many, if not most,of thesewere
,r,"ru,i" olo..* ffiilT::j actuallywritten in Spain.The Spanishword for 'bishop'is
guists.divide languages
into familiesanJ,;Gr;il|: 'alfil', which means'the
clude how they evolvedand separated still elephant' in Arabic.
tom ea"t otte. The rules for chaturanga, which the Spaniardscon-
At the starting point, we have a game
";i;';;;;."_ dnued to play, were: the rook moved like a roolq the
g3 ThI is supposed to havebeerithe o.iginurioria"ot
chess.It is saidto havecomefrom India. knight moved like a knight, and tle king moved like a
Ti;;;;.*. king. Significantly, the bishop jumped exactly two squares
know aboutchaturangais that this i, ,f,"
gu-" ,ilJf, 0,. diagonally, just like the bishopin Chinesechess.Also, the
Arabs broughtwith them when they spr";J
Isl;:i;;" queen moved exactly one square diagonally,just like the
armiesgaltoped
across
n*,, otin'.."-
l1r" '{"b.
Spain
guardin Chinesechess.The only differencebesidesthe
,quered. andpenetrated inro France,ti"Alv lJi"" i"
battle in Tours, Francein 732A.D., rh"; cannonbetween Chinesechessand chaturangawasthat in
;;; ;;;;"", Chinesechess,the bishop cannot ffoss the river and the
a religion; they were alsobearing;il;.
9*nnt
game Thr, guard cannot leave the palace. These ideas are purely
waschess.The Arabs calledlt tlatian;i
ffowevl
theArabsh.adonJyacquiredchessa fewyearr';i;;.- - Chinese.In historical Chin4 the king and his guardscould
alsonot leavethe palace.
,1. authoriryin the Arab world on chesshis_
tory is 1._u9*g
MohammadSuccarof Beirut,Irb"";
The nature of international chesswas radically changed
rl1d. ull of.the originalArab and p"rriun H;;; when the Italians gave the queen and the bishop their
rnunur"rloi, present powers. This happened in 7497. We can be
wnrcnmenrionchess.He saysthat
the Arabs"64;";;.
after they took kan, then knownu, p-r,-.ln sot ches, surprisinglycertain about that date. The reasonwe know
this is that people were writing about the old kind of
Othersgivea slightlylater date.t, *y
"u"rrt,-it" ^i""a chessnntil just a few yearsbefore 1497.However,as soon
that the Arabs had acqured chessby the
Omavado"eriod asthe new kind of chessstartedto be played,the old kind
-152*
-153-
E-
 of chess.completely disappearedand wasforgotten.
The important thing is that
"lu* and one diagonally.
lurt 1,4i In addition,the positionof the knight and the elephant
way between what we now call,chutorungu
internaional "i;;;
Chinesechess.We also know rhat chatuanga *d ar-ereversedby eachplayer on one side of the board. If
tr;; ;d. youwiil look at the board you will seethe reasonfor this.
Therefore, it follows that charuraaga
*ur"fotuiii ,1. Otherwise,both the elephantswould have no legal move
parent of both Chinesechessand intirnation.al
.i,"rr1 fir. in the initial position, becausethey would both run into
other possibility is that the evolutionary
"frun **-.o*"- either a center or an edge pawn. The elephant turns out
what longer and that chatr "tiil.::
haps
thaigame.
*i;;; ;;::ff ilr:f f affi: to be a weak piece. In fact, one of the main strategic ob_
jectr'vesis to exchangean elephantfor a guard.
in the first centuriesB.C.
Other differences are that the cannon not only cap_
We can get more information about this
by looking at tues by jumping, but it also has to jump to move. it can-
the other forms of chess.
lot.iuTq.over or captureanother cannon.Consequently,
in the initial position, tle cannonhas no iegal move. Alst_r,
Korean Chess
there is no promotion. The pawns move one forward or
Korean chess should be of great interest
to the one sidewaysfrom the start. There is also no river. The
Chinese becauseit is almost exactly the
same as Cnioo. lines extend directly across the board. The kinss and
chess.The board is almost the ,urn". It "u"r
has ";;;;. guardscan_ move freely alongthe lines in ttre palace.:lhey
The Chinesecharactersused are similar.
If y", i" *, naveexactly the samemove. However, the king starts in a
know whal to look for, you cannot even
tell the difference
betweenthe two games. lolewhat more exposedposition,one point forward from
ils inidal positionin Chinesechess.
Visuaily, the biggest difference is that Indian Chess
Korean chess
usesoctagonal(eight sided)piecesand,instead
of red. the Indian chessis almost the same as international chess.
precesare green.In Chinesechess,
the piecesare rounc. The main differences are: The pawns
The biggest difference in the game is can onlv move one
tlat tire elephant ia squareon the first move,not two.
Korean chessdoesnot -ou" iik" a bishop There is no castline.a
"t all.'R;; pawn promotes to the piece
it moves like a giant knight. Its move is of the file on whicf, it
one forwarJ and promotes,if that piece is
two diagonally, whereas the knight moves available.Two queensor three
one forward rook for one sideare not
allowed
-154-
_155_
 Sometimes it is said about the great master of $e
1930's,SultanKhaq that he becameone of the best chess
players in the world, even defeating the world champion,
Alekhine, while still a beginner at intemational chess,be-
causehe was a masterof lndian chess.This seemslessof
an accomplishmentwhen one realizesthat Indian chessig
almostthe sameasintemationalchess.
The interestingquestionabout Indian chessis: Where
does it sit on the evolutionaryfiee? Perhapsthe British
brought it when they conquered India, and the Indians
simplified the game. Perhaps,it came straight down from
chaturang4 but the Indians modified it, introducing the
queen and the bishop, following the European example'
JapaneseChess
'i'ie
Japanesehave done the samething with chessthat
the/ have done with everything else, which is that after
getting it from somewhereelse, they have changedit and
made it into just about the most fiendishlycomplexgame
which normal human beings would still be interested in
playrng.
- The Japaneseword for chessis shogz.
The Japanesereally went wild over this, developing all
different kinds of shogi gameson all sizes of boards, the
biggestof which had a25v25board and 354 pieces.These
gameshad nameslike big shogi,smatt shogi, middl'eshogi
andgreatgreatshogi 'andpieceslike thephoenix, the drunk
elephant and the blind tiger. (Spain also went through a
(jnilar but less radical period, with a W{fin and other
fl)thical animalsfor pieces).
In the end, shogipiecesbecameweakerbut more ag-
to move backwards.
gressive,tending to lose the capac-:ry
The rook became a lance, which can only move forward.
Tte knight also can move only in a forward directio4 and
thushas oniy two legal moves.The bishop becamea silver
general,which can move exactly one squarediagonally or
one square straight forward. The queen type piece,
equivalentto the guardin Chinesechess,becamethe gold
general,which moves one square in any direction except
for diagonally backwards. Uke the guard in Chinese
chess,there are two gold generalsin Japanesechessbe-
causethe board is nine squareswide.
Around 500 years ago, Europeals came to Japan.
While unsuccessful in getting them to change their
religioq they did manageto convincethe Japaneseto
adoptEuropeanfeaturesin chess.They reintroducedthe
rook and introduced the European bishop. These new
pieceswere placed on the secondrank, in front of the
other pieces.The pawnsare on the third rad<.
The main difference between shogi and other kinds of
chessis that a piece, when captured,is not out of the
game.It becomespart of the enemy'sarmy and can be
droppedback into the gameon the playersturn to move
on almostany squareof the board.It is this featurewhich
nakes shogi the most complexof all chesstlpe games.
 Y
Secondly, alrnost every kind of piece can promote to a
sfonger piece. Promotion takes place upon passing
ttnough the opponent's first, second or third rank' The
rook fromotes to a dragon,the bishopto a horseand fts
pawnsand other piecesto a gold general'
Thai Chess
Millions of toudsts pass through Thailand every year'
failing to notice the game which is being played alnost
everywhereon the street. Thai chess,known in Thailand
as malcrook Thai, has such a wide following that move by
move commentary of the big matches is given on the
nightly television news, something which cannot be. said
about any other type of chessin any country' The national
championship finals are held in a sports stadiur! to al-
commodate all the spectators, and the games are dis-
played using giant pieces.This author competedin the na-
iio"ut .t u-pio"ship of makrook Thai in 1990'He got his
photograph published on the front page of most of the
newspapersin Bangkok as a result.
The Thais have their own style of pieces' All of them
are shapedlike a Buddhistpagodaof varioussizes,except
for the knight, which is shapedlike a glant horse' How-
ever,Thai Jhesscould be playedwith tlre sameboard.ani
oieces as international chess,except for the pawns,which
mustbe turned upsidedown whenpromoted'
Thai chessis half way between chatuanga and sho9'
-158-
E-
The board is 8x8 uncheckeredsquares.The r1
and king movesexactlythe sameas in intemati'i)k ,
However, the queen moves only one square \^T , trugnt
just like in chaiuranga.More important!, trr(,,\j'.{ chess.
Thaichessmovesjust like the silverg"""ia i i.1S:tnr,
chess.The pawnsalso start on the third rank, I l^\noP m
Japanese chess, and promote upo" reql\ir"Pmese
opponent'sthird rank, againjust like in Japa6'\l' [Ke rn
f{owever,a pawn can only promote to a quee*\18 . the
ihe weakestpiecein Thai chess.The pawnis 11,,'.,cnes.
a bottle-cap and is prornoted by being tur\\\:^hich is
down.In the startingpositio4 th.'Li"g- 1*"r t1l\iuld like I
\;^Upside
queenacrossthe board. 'PDosing
The similarities between malcook Thai and ".
led researchers to concludethat chessmust h""\^
t moughThailand before reachingJapan.This \*"& hu*
Thai chessmusrbe very otd, becauseit is be,ll"fasseO
chessexistedin Japanby at leastthe year 1636!1fl\ that
chessresembles chaturangaand mayte tl" or;Jialhat
of the game. However,tn. truis' themseh+'r:'Thai
rccordedhistoryof their gameand seemto bel;l,l.rorm
is onlya few hundredyearsold. AlthoughftdI*-,,t o9
\,-'rlat lt
(ltinayanabranch)is differentfrom Japanese
(Mahayana branch),it is possiblerhat chess"Jr,i)ls.
hom Thailandto Japanby Buddhistmonks. \;:nrsm
'''u8ht
Because Thai chessis sirnilarto internationa
best Thai chessplayers are also strong
" at h,^'1"""
\l_.s$, the
'ational
- 159 -
 chess.The best player of Thai chessis Suchart Chaivichit.
who has held a FIDE rating as high as 2420.For years,lg
made his living as a street hustler of Thai chessand was
completely illiterate. Recently, some public official5
decided that it was unseemly to have a national figure
living like that, so they taught him how to sign his name
and got him a respectablejob working for the electricity
company. In spite of still being illiterate, Suchart got g
gold medal for his 88.9%result at the 1988World Chess
Olympiad in Thessaloniki,Greece.He had the best per-
centagescoreof any male player in the 107nation event.
Taking the above information and following the
method of comparative linguistics, we can say that there
once was a gamewe shall cal).pron-chess.It had a piece
that moved like a rook, anotherpiece that moved like a
knight, plus a king-type piece, a bishop-type piece and
pawns. The object of the game was to checkmate the
enemy king. This method does not provide us with any
information about when or where the game was first
played.It does,however,tell us that all chess-typegames
which exist in the world today are direct descendantsfrom
that original game.We can also saythat any game,past or
present,which does not contain those basic elementsis
not chess,and, on the other hand, any gamewhich does
containall of thoseelements,is chess.Any element,such
asthe knight,which existsin all modernchess-type games,
must haveexistedin that proto-chess.On the other hand
-160-
\-.
any feature which existsonly in one or two of the modern
games,suchas the cannonin Chinesechessor the queen
in international chess,was most likely a new invention, or
'innovation'.
what linguists call an
From the above, we can construct a family tree. We
can see that the original proto-chess,chaturangaor per-
hapssome other earlier gamethat we don't know about,
branched into three directions' One direction becamein-
temational chessand lndian chess,the secondbecame
Chinese chess and Korean chess and the third became
Thai chessandJapanesechess.
I should caution the reader that this is just a theory'
Even the method of comparative linguistics still is just a
theory. The idea that a game like chess evolved and
developedin much the sameway that the lndo-European
tamity of languagesevolved must be regarded as just this
author's own opinion and idea, and nothing more'
The above is just an outtne of a subjectwhich requires
deeperstudy.A great deal of misinformationhasbeenin-
flicted upon the public about the subject of chesshistory'
For example, it is almost certainly not true that the
was
original form of chesswas a four-handed game' That
a crackpottheory propoundedby a British writer named
been
Forbesin his 1860bookThe Historyof Chess'It has
con-
dismissedby every serious scholar who has ever
all chess
sidered the subj".i. Stiu, a high percentageof
the tact
playen today believe it. The theory is basedon
- 161,-
that the word chalur means four. Therefore chaturanga
might mean four armies. However, we have the word
chaturangafrom Arab sourcesand it seemsto be a cor-
ruption or mispronunciationof the Arab wordshatranj.ln
'sh'
almosteverylanguage,the word for chessstartswith a
or 'ch' sound. These include Chinese (shiang'chi),
Japanese (s/zogz),Russian (shal<tnaty),Arabic (shatranj)
and German (Schach).This provides linguistic proof that
all of these gamescamefiom the samecornmonsource.
The two worst books ever inflicted on the history of
chess were: A History of Chas and A Short History of
Clrcss,both by H.J.R. Murray, another British author. The
last of these book was written in 1917,when a form of
romantic semi-schoiarship was popular in England. The
style of the day was to presentthe writer's ideasof what
might possiblyhave happenedas factswhich did happen'
For example, Murray cites two early Sanslrit works
which he saysmention chess.These are Harshacharitaby
Bana and Vasavadattaby Subhandu. These works are
studied by every Indian schoolboy. Modern ffanslations
show that neither of these great epic works contain even
the remotest reference to a game resembling chess'
Similarly, Murray cites the Karnamak, a Persian work
from about the 7th centurywhich he saysdealswith chess.
Murray makesit sound like he actually sat do\rynand read
this work himself. In fact, the Karnamak is one of the
famouslost book of history.Nobody has seenit for the
-t62-
last one thousandyears. If they ever do find it, it will be
one of the world's oldest surviving literary works. In addi-
tio4 Arab scholarswho have studied the original work of
an Arab philosopher named Al-Beruni say that Murray is
not corect when he statesthat Al-Beruni describedchess
being playedin India in the year 1030.Unfortunately,al-
most every chessauthor since Murray hasjust copied and
repeated his mistakes,without bothering to check the
sources or doing any original research work. Indian
Sanskrit scholan have expressed surprise at Murray's
statement that chesswas invented in lndia. The Indian
HistoricolQuarterly,Calcutta,June, 1938,Vol. 14, No. 2,
part I, p. 275, in n article by C. Chakravarti, concluded:
'No earlyIndian work on the subjectof chessis known'.
The fact is that Murray was nothing more than an
elementary school teacher, with no qualifications as a
professionalhistorian.Only one real historianhastackled
this subject.That was Richard G. Eales,in his 1985work
Chess: The History of a Game. Eales refuted point by
point almost every word written by Murray, while at the
sametime giving Munay fu1l credit for at least trying hard
during a period when the $eat historicalwork in Persian
and Sanskrit were just starting to be translated into
English.However,Ealesclearlydid not lnow the rules of
Chinese chessand therefore was unable to recognize the
contributionof the Chineseto the modeir form of chess.
Eales followed Golombeh who dismissed Chinese
_163_
7
chessas 'the Chineseriver game,and saidthat it was un_
related to chess. Referring to the ancient Chinese
manuscripts, Golombek said that, ,They refer to the
Chineseriversidegameof chess,which is in fact not chess
as we know it'. See Golombek, Chex, A History, G. p.
Putnam's Sons,New Yor( 1976,p. 10. It is clear that
Golombe( an honorary grandmasterof chess. never
learned the rules of Chinesecbess.Otherwise,he could
not havefailed to haverecognizedthat chessand Chinese
chessare really different variations of the samesame.
The book by Ealesdemonstrates why so littlJ has been
published on chesshistory and why most chessplayers are
not aware that Murray's theodes have been refuted and
are consideredbaseless.In spite of being an exceilent
work, Chess:TheHistory of a Game is now out of print.
Murray's book state tlat chesswas invented bv one
man named Shash4 after whom ,chess' was named.
Shashalived in a part of lndia which is now in pakistan.
gives the place of invention of chess as Sind,
{urray
which is a province of pakistan- The story which made
Murray famous is that Shashaasked, as a reward, that,
startingfrom one, grains of corn be doubied and placed
on each successivesquare the chessboard. Thai story
originated from H. J. Raverty, who first published it in an
article entitled 'History of Chessand Backgammon,,Jour_
nal of the Royal Asiatic Societyof Bengal,Vol. 71, part l,
p. 47, Calcutta 1902.Raverty was a British army officer
-164_
\-
I who had servedin Afghanistan and who wrote the Pashtu-
English Dictionary. Pashtu is a language spoken in Af-
ghanistan and in Peshawarin Northwest Pakistan. Thus,
Murray would have us beteve that the Pathan desert
tribesmenof Afghanistaninventedchess.
Murray did not invent the theory that chesscomes
from India. That idea has always existed, even in China
and Arabia. It is basedon the fact that in most languages,
the third chess piece from the corner is called the
'elephant'. Exceptiors include English, where it is called
the 'bishop', and French,where it is called the'fool'. In
Chinese,even the rune shiang-chimeanselephantgatne.
However, the Arabs also had elephants.The Chinese
alsohad elephantsin their history.On the other hand,the
Indians did not have horses,anotier chesspiece.Horses
exist in India, but in such small numben that they were
not normally used for war. Chariots were not comrnon in
India. Horses exist in northern China in large numbers.
More importantly, we saw from the quotes in the first
page of this chapter that the term shiang-chior 'elephant
game' existedin Chinese2300 years ago. Although that
gamewas probablynot what we would now call chess,it
was also presumablynot a gamefrom India. The fact that
the word for elephantappearsin almosteveryversion of
chess which exists anywhere in the world might just as
easilyprove that thesegamesare all descendedfrom that
original 'elephantgame'playedin China.
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 Y
ChapterFourteen
Where to Play, ComputerSoftware,
and Other ThingsYou Needto Know.
How to Find an Opponent
One of the easiestthings in the world to do is to find
an opponent at Chinese chess.Just go into any Chinese
restaurant and ask the waiter to play a game witl you.
Don't laugh. You have to take thesegamesseriously.It
will be some time before you can beat even the average
Chinesewaiter, and, when you can finally do that, you will
almost be to the level of some of the best non-Chinese
playersof Chinesechess.At a recentinternationaltourna-
ment in Beijing, the roorn boys working in the hotel were
alrnostasstrongassomeof the weakerplayers.
If you ever do learn enough to defeat the average
waiter, the next level is the old men on the street. Just go
out and buy yourself a Chinese chessset. Then sit down
on the sidewalk in any Chinesecity. It can be guaranteed
that within thirty secondsan opponent will materialize.
Your new opponentwill not be so easyto beat. Remem-
ber that he has probablybeen playingchesson that very
sidewalk every day for the last forty years.A large crowd
wili invariably gather around the game and make com-
-166-
ments on the moves.Whenever you see a crowd gathered
on t}re street an) vhere inside Chin4 you can bet that
there is a game of Chinesechessbeing played at the cen-
ter of tle crowd.
Be sure to carry your own set with you at all times.
There is always a shortage of sets. Since you will be
weaker than most Chinese,nobody is going to be willing
to let you play on somebody else's set, especially when
there are stronger players than you waiting to play. The
way I learned how to play, incidentally, is that I took
several long distancerailroad trips acrossChin4 carrying
my own set. Even though almost all of the other pas-
senge$were too strongfor me, they had no choicebut to
play against me anylvay,becauseI was the owner of one
of the setsand there was notling else to do.
When you are carrying your own pocket set, do not be
surprised if the Chinese ask to borrow it so that they can
play with each other. Actually, they will not be much in-
terested in playrngwith you, until you can prove that you
can beat them some of the time. This is one of the ad-
vantagesin owning your own set. You can insist that if
they want to play, they have to play with you.
If you can beat the averagesidewalk player, you are
ready to graduate to the park. In alnost every Chinatown
in the world there is a park and Chinese chessis played
there. For example,there is Victoria Park in Hong Kong
and Portsmorth Park on the corner of Washington and
- 1,67-
a
Kearny Streets in San Francisco.However, now you have
hit the big time. Be sure to bring plenty of money with
you, becauseyorr opponentswill want to play for money.
The minimum is usually ten dollars a game.
If you can win in the park, you will quickly become
rich. However, this is not so easy.Many players there are
full-time hustlers of Chinese chess. Before you play
anybody for money, try asking what his job is. If he
doesn'thaveone,you may be in for a toughgame.
The playing conditions in the park are less than ideal.
Tremendous crowds gather around the games.Spectators
start shouting suggestedmoves at the players, like spec-
tators at a boxing match who shout, 'hit him with a right.'
Since they will be shouting the suggestedmovesprobably
in Cantonese,your opponent will get the benefit of what
they say, but not you. Sometimesthe spectatorswill ac-
tually reachover and movethe pieces.
Finally, there are the clubs. In the clubs outside of
Chin4 they play for more money, ranging from forty to
one hundred dollars per game. Actuall% even if you do
find the club, you will at fust have trouble getting in the
door. They will think that you are from the police and are
coming to raid tleir gambling joint. However, if you can
somehowfinally convincethem that you are actually there
to play Chinesechess,you will be welcome.
Most of the playersin the clubs will not be able to
speak English and will not be much interested in playing
with you unlessyou come with pockets bulging. However,
the clubs have several advantages.Spectators wilI not
shout suggestedmoves if there is rnoney involved in the
game.Also, if you are strong enough actually to win, your
opponent will not glve up. He will play game after game
with you, until he is broke, even if he has no chance of
winning. This is t}le reasonthat there are so many profes-
sional players of Chinesechessoutside of Chin4 much
more than there are professional players of international
chess.ff you can win regularly in the clubs, you will be-
come a millionaire. You will not need to bother with the
half million dollars Henry Fok is going to give you.
In placeslike Hong Kong you will sometimesfind a
dozen or so men lined up, eachwith a Chinesechessset
at his feet with a position set up. These are professional
players of Chinesechess.They have a proposition to offer.
You can take either side of the positionon the board that
you want, red or blaclg and they will play the other side.
They are prepared to wager a considerable amount of
money that you cantrotwin or draw, as the casemight be,
regardlessof which side you take. Do not bet with these
people. The positionsthey show might look simple, but
actually are so difficult that nobody can solve them who is
not fami[ar with that particular position.
Where to Play ChineseChess
The following is a list of clubs, contact penons, as-
-169-
a Y
sociationsand federations around the world. It is neither
complete nor uniforrn The idea is just to help you get in
touch with someone who plays Chinese chesswherever
you may be. If you can just find one such person, he will
generally be abie to introduce you to the others.
China: Beijing. The Chinese Xangqi Association is at
the new 'chesspalace' or China Qi Yuaq 80 Tiantandong
Road, Beijing 100061,China,tel. 86-1-7011618, FAX 86-
1-5112294.Otricials there include Liu Guo Bin. Go and
international chessare also played there. There is also a
club in one of the buildings along a western wail inside
the Forbidden City. However,mostly go is played there.
A master player and noted author in both Chinese chess
and international chessis Xu Jia Liang, 8 Tiyuguan Rd,
tel. 757L6Lext. 26L. Also, there is Miss Xie Si Mng, Post
Box 687,Beijing Normal University, (408) 629-2606.
Guangzhou (Canton): The club is on Shiamen island
by the tennis courts in front of the White SwanHotel.
Shanghai:Try Hu l-ong Hua himself. His addressis: 4,
I-ane 591,NanjingRd (W.), $toanghai, Chn4tel.531267.
Harbin: Wang Jia Liang, Heilongjiang ChessAcademy,
19 Heping Road,Harbin, China,tel. 229342or 229125.
Chengdu: Miss Un Ye, Sichuan Chengdu Chess
School,West SuburnSportsStadiurn,Chengduor Mr. Cai
Shao Pu, Manager, Sichuan Sports Committee, 1
TiyuchangRoad, Chengdu,SichuarqCbrna,Iel. 62574.
Lanzhou: Han Kuan" Gansu Province Xiangqi Federa-
-L70-
L.
xo4722v DunhuangRd,l-anzhou, tel.35911Ext.2565.
Taiwan (ChineseTaipei): Telephonenumben of the
TaiwanChineseChessAssociationare (02) 5533741and
(AD 5536120.Mr. Yu and Mr. Lim are the top officials.
The club is locatedat 34-1Kung-YuanRd, Taipei,tel.
361,-6138. By mail, try JohnsonJiang,4F No. 75 Min-
ChuanW. Rd.,Taipei.
Hong Kong ChineseChessAssociation, Flat F,lF,4/F
\\iang CheungCommercialBuilding, 249-253Reclama-
tion St.,Kowloon,teI.3-'723090. Oneof tle bestpeopleto
contact is L.S. Leung, 1 Tai Hang Road, 11/A" Hong
Kong, tel. (res.) 8902918,(otr) 0-a666813, FAX 0-
4563304or else try ke CheeHoi, 20-30Morrison Hill
Road 15th floor Flat C, tel. 5-723090. The Chairmanis
Paul T. Lam, tel. 7923691.Ottrer importantpersonalities
are HenryY.T. Fo\ Room 500-2PedderBldg.,12 Ped-
der St., Hong Kong tel. 5-'2i4944utd 5-?27131. and Mr.
Wong Mng, 15/F C.M.A Building, 66 ConnaughtRo.
Centrai,HongKong,tel.5-8153683, FAX 852-5-8150012.
SingaporrChineseChessGeneralAssociation,10B,
Lnr. 10,Geylang,Singapore 1438,tel 741,0989.Theyare
still in the processof movingfrom their previousaddress
of 21 Tyrwhitt Road #05-07,FoochowBuilding,Sin-
gapore0820.TeL2960767. This is a veryenthusiasticor-
ganizerof intemationalcompetitions,with ChanFok Ili
as the president and Cecilia Tay as the secretary.Hu
I-ong Hua, regardedas the 'Bobby Fischer' of Chinese
-171 -
7
chess,hasrecentlybeenthere as a chesscoachttnder con-
tract. Also, there is the Beidou ChineseChessClub. Mr.
Lim Kwzm How is the president.The addressis: 13
Hillview Ave., #24-14\6, Singaporen66, tel.4590830.
Thailand Xiangqi Association, 76 Trok Pantajit
Mytrijit Road, Bangkok 10100,Thailand, tel. 2242308.
There is also a rivdl group,The Tio ChewAssociationof
Thailand, 1/1 Soi Watprok 1 Soi Yenchit Yannawa,
Bangkok, tels. 2112803,21.13204and 2113905.Thailand
has a large Chinese community and is perhaps the third
strongestcountryin the world in Chinesechess.The best
man to contact is Chen I Pirry, 215-217SiprayaSap Road,
Soi Santipap1, Bangkok10100,tel. 2362651and2362729.
His houseis convenientlylocatednear Patpong.An excel-
lent speakerof English is Mr. Lin Tse Wei, 191/78Soi
Chokchai4 I adpraoRd., Bangkok,te1.539-1989.
Japan: Contact Mitsunori Yamada, Niichu Chinese
Chess Association, Shimo Igusa 4-1-15, Suginami-ku,
Tokyo, Japan,tel. (03) 3399-1592(home) (03) 3713-7000
(office). Another contactis Mr. Nagataof Yokohama,a
professorat Hosei University,who speakssome EnglisL.
His telephonenumberis (045)432-8139.
Indonesia: Percasi Unit Catur Gajah Pusat, Jalan
PejagalanI No. 35C, Jakarta-Barat.The presidentis Mr.
Tanama,tels.3809742(off.) and 6394569(res.).Also try
Lim Cin Kiong, Jl. VikamasUtarail25, Villa Kapuk Mas,
Jakarta-Utara.te1.374830.
-772-
Malaysia: MalaysiaChineseChessAssn.,ZO-Q Jalan
Bugis,Pudu,55100Kuala Lumpur, tel.2224224.There is
alsoa club aroundthe cornerfrom the Lido Hotel, on the
second floor, near to the YMCA Also try Persatuan
Catur Cina Wilayah Persekutuag No. 10, 4th floor, Jalan
Panggung,5000 Kuala l-arnpur, tet.'2321579.One of the
officials is Tan Koong Hean, tel. 03-2411000page 6291
and03-77542i70 (res.).AIso, there is John C.C.Chong tel.
07-630695.
East Malaysia: East Malaysiais locatedon the island
of Borneo, far from mainland Malaysia and nearer to the
Philippines. They have their own federation. The address
is Persekutan Persatuan Xiangqi Sarawak Dan Sabah,
P.O. Box 792,90008Sandakan,Sabah,East Malaysia,tel.
272n78 and 666182.ContactMr. [:u Kiing Ho.
Brunei Chinese Chess Association,P.O. Box 1417,
Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalarq tel. 22:n57.
The best man to contact is Sung Pak Leong, a
businessmanand speakerof English, or Mr. KC. Chong.
Philippine Federal ChessEnthusiastAssociation,Inc,,
Room 219, 945 GandaraSt, Manila, tel.483736.The best
person to contact and one of the most energetic and
authoritativepersons in the worid of Chinese chessis
Chen l-o Ping, 624 Ongpin St, $:nil4 tel. 486218,FAX
63-2- 461291.His office was formerly the official address
of the Asian ChineseChessAssociationof which he was
the secretary.
-r73-
7
Macau Chess General Association,3, TravessaDas
Venturas, Macau, tel. 330377.Contact Mr. Kou PengKoi.
United States of America: San Francisco.Absolutely
the best person in America to contactin Frank C. Eng,
res. tel. (415) 731-7913.He is the President of the
Chinese Chess Association, 153-,{ Waverly Place, San
Francisco,Caiif. 94108,tel. (415) 391'-1236.
He comesto
the club every eveningat about 5:30 P.M. He is also a
member of the organizing committee of the World
Chinese ChessFederation. His name in Cantoneseis Wu
Chi Gong, so ask for him by that name. If you live in
America but do not happen to live in San Francisco, he
will know someonewho plays near where you live.
A newcomerto the sceneis JamesFeinsteiq P.O. Box
1305,San Bnuro, Calif. 94066,tel. $15) 75642a6 $es.)
and (a15) 876-0909(otr). He has a bold plan to make
Chinese chessinto a favorite pastime for all Americans,
and hasdesigneda new kind of set,amongother things.
Another personalityof note is David Woo. He publish-
es his own newsietteron Chinesechess.This is perhaps
the orily English languageperiodical of Chinese chessin
America. One can also contact this author at Sam Sloan,
2420 AthertonSt. #6, Berkeley,CA94704.
New York Until recently, the club was the Chinese
ChessConfederationof Eastern U.S.A, 81 Bowery St.,
secondfloor. room 6. New York, New York 10002,tel.
(212) 431-8782.However, in 1991, they were abruptly
-t74-
evicted in a dispute with their landlord and nobody can
seemto find them. Someof their membersspeakEnglish.
The best contact pe$on is Edward Ling Fai Chan,
formerly of 9424 46th Ave., Elmhurst, Queens, New
York 11373,if only you can find him. Another possibility
is to write them at P.O. Box 1079,G.P.O.Brookgn, N.Y.
Los Angeles.Chinese ChessAssociationof hs An-
geles, 539 East Garvey Avenue, Monterey Park, Calif.
91754.
Miami, Florida. Try Larry Kaufrnan, 77 I-awel [-ane,
Parkland, Fla. 33067, tel. (305) 341-4798.Mr. Kaufman
can also generally be contactedthrough the United States
ChessFederationin New Windsor,New York.
Washington, D.C. Try Sen Huei Chen, Univ. of
Maryland, Math Dept., College Par( Md.2U42.
Canada: Vancouver Chinese ChessAssociation:Mr.
P.H. Ma, 242-3TEPenderSt., Vancouver,B.C. V6A 1S9,
tel. (604) 433-0308.Also Mr. I-awrence Der, lTl East
64th Ave., VancouverV5X 2M3, tel. $A) 3n4494.
Calgary ChineseChessAssociation, Mr. Milton Ang, 8
Varcourt Place Nortlwest, Calgary, Alberta 73A OG8,
rel.(043)u7-&49.
Toronto ChineseChessAssociation,32 ScottDrive,
RichmondHill, Ontario,IAC48, tel. (416)492-7581.
Edmonton ChineseChessAssociatioq34 Sterling
Road,Edmonto4Alberta,Canada,T5X 4C3,tel. (403)
421,-0405.
-175-
7 Y
Australia. Try Iri Shou Tie, the director of the
ChineseCultural Center in Melboume.
German Chinese Chess Association, Mr. Rainer
Schmidt, Handjerystr. 58, 1000 Berlin 41, te-.
030/8512168. The German organizationseemsto be the
only one with a significant number of members who are
not overseasChinese.Their most famous member is Dr.
Robert Hiibner, a sinologist and one of the top fifty rated
grandmastersof intemational chessin the world. David
Wurman has written a book on Chinesechessin German_
Hamburg: Sektion Hamburg Taggstr. 15, D-
2213llVilstr.,Germany.
Holland: NederlandseXangqi Bond, do Peter Blom-
mers,Tollensstraat134,2513GE Den Haag Netherlands,
tel.070-6M102.
England ChineseChessAssociation:Mr. C.K. l.;Lt"12
l,agan House, Sumner Road, London SE15 5RB. The
president is Dr. M. Chandler,88 CharterhouseAvenue,
SudburyTown, Middiesex,England.
France ChessClub: Amicale des Teochewen,41, Rue
du Disque, (Entree: 66 avenuedTvry), 75013Paris. Mr.
Ly Trach Trung, tel. 45-82-0601.Also, Chinese Chess
Club of the American I-egion, Department of France, 49
Rue Pierre Charro4 75008 Paris, tel. 7214456.Also, Li
Hong D4 23L, rue du Fg St-Martin 75010 Paris, tel.
4?392226and 48333686.AIso 5, rue Henri Barbusse
93300 Anbervilliers. Also, Association de Xiangqi en
-176-
L-_
France,c/o Asia Services,15, Rue Des Freres D'Astier,
De l,a Vigerie, 75013Paris,France.Also, RencontreEt
Culture Franco-Asiatique,29,Av De Choisy,75013Paris
tel. 45861052.
The above list is undoubtedly incomplete, but still is
possiblythe most completesuchlist ever assembled.
Computer Software
Since the publication of the fi$t edition of this book, a
first class Chinese chess databaseprogram has been
developedin Taiwan. This program is similar to Chess-
Base.It runs on MS-DOS computers.It was used by the
SingaporeChineseChessAssociationto record all of the
gamesof the 1989World Cup ChineseChessChampion-
ship. It not only records and saves the games, but it
produces a guaranteed accurate score. This program is
especiallyuseful becausea high percentageof all publish-
ed gamescontainerrorsin the score.
Unfortunately, although this program is commercially
available,it can only be obtainedin Taiwan In addition,
the only souce of information about this program has
been Mr. Yu of TaiwarL and Mr. Yu speaksno English'
Mr. Yu did bring rwenty copies of the program with him
to the World C\p ChineseChessChampionships in Sin-
gapore, but they were immediately gobbled up by the
players,and none more are presentlyavailable.
A programof this type has alsobeen commissionedby
111
7 Y
Mr. L.S. I-eung of the Hong Kong Chinese Chess As-
sociation and is being developedby KK Chan. However,
that progam is still in the initial developmentstages.
Mr. Gong Fan and Mr. Meng Chang tr of Beijing,
China have developeda floppy disk containing 124 ganrcs
of Hu [,ong Hua. They also have disla for intemational
chess,including one disk eachfor the best gamesof Fis-
cher, Kasparov and Karpov. Their Chinese chessdisk is
excellent for a player at any level. The program nrns on
CGA or EGA" but not on Hercules. This was perhapsone
of the first caseswhere someonehas marketed computer
software directly by mail order from tle People's
Republicof China.
Mr. Gong Fan recently immigrated to the U"SA., with
the assistanceof this author, who got him out of China on
June 22, 1989.Mr. Gong Fan presently residesin Brook-
iyn, New Yorlg where he is gainfully employed as a dish
washer,but his exactaddressis unknown.
There are several programs on floppy disk which play
Chinesechess.Perhapsthe best is ChineseChessmaster,
which comes from Taiwan The graphics and display are
excellent.The program is not terribly strong,but not weak
either. It is quite alert to short term tactics. There are
probably few non-Chinesewho can defeat it. Although I
can win almost every gameagainstit, I am angry at myself
for not having used it more to prepare for a tournament
in Beijing. A few hundred gzures against that program
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would have gotten some of the blunders out of my system
which I otherwiseplayed.
Novag Computers, one of the major manufacturersof
computer chessgamessuch as the Novag Super Expert,
also has a Chinese chessmachine. That machine has not
been a great successand more than 5000remain unsold.
They have hired [Iu Long Hua who has already provided
an openingsbook of 8000half movesfor the next genera-
tion machine.
K.K. Ctran, both a programmer and a spokesmanfor
Novag, claims that the Novag Chinese chessmachine has
been tested and found to be stronger than Chinese
Chessmaster.The Novag computer sells for about US$50.
Wang Xiao Rurq Guangming General Company, 106
Yong An St., Beijing 10005Qtel. 338561ext. 392, FAj{
3016716, has developed computer algorithrns for a
Chinese chess program with a professor at Nankai
University in Tianjin. However, they do not have a work-
ing program yet.
Tournament Rules
In Chinese chess tournaments at a high level, the
player of the red pieceswins about 50Voof the games,
with the rest being divided almost equally between draws
and losses.BecauseRed has a big advantage,most tour-
naments are played under a two game syster! although at
times a one gamesystemhasbeen used.
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 Y
The Chinese have picked up another Western idea of
using Swiss system tournaments. As the Chinese rating
systemonly coversa few players,they use lottery pairings.
Although playen with equal scores are paired against
each other as much as possible, the exact pairings are
drawn by lot. This is much fairer, as pairings by rating
tend to give an unfair advantage to the higher rated
players. The pairings are made publicly, with the players
watching the lots being drawn. In international chess,the
pairings are usually made in a secretpairing room.
The time control systemfollows that developed for go
(wei-chi). Each player might have one and a half hours to
play his game.ff his flag falls, he has ten minutes to make
the next ten moves.If he fails to make the next ten moves
within ten minutes, he losesby forfeit. If he completesthe
ten movesin time, he continues to play until his flag falls
again,when the processis repeated.The playersdo not
keep their own score.Instead,a scorekeeperwrites down
the moves.The gamesare collected and toumarnent bul-
letins are published containing all of the games.
This system can become crazy at times. Sometimes,
two matches of two games each are scheduled for one
day. This meansa total of four gamesin one day.A game
can easily go on for more than one hundred moves.The
players might stafi at ten o'clock in the morning and still
be sittingthere at six o'clockthe next morning.
In international chess,there is a general rule of 'quiet
-180-
in the toumament room.' In Chinese chess,it doesn't
quite work like that. There is a moderator with a loud
speakeror a microphone.He calls out the moveswhich
are displayedon a demonstrationboard to the audience.
If several gamesare going on at once, each score keeper
will saveup a few movesat a time and then all the moves
will be displayed together. Sometimes,a resident master
will give move by move commentary over a microphone'
while the playersare sitting right there playing the game.
The playersdon't seemto mind this. Perhaps,they got
used to this while playing sidewalk street games on the
way to the top. Also, this systemhas advantages.It makes
Chinese chessinto a spectator sport. This is the reason
that there can easilybe a thousandspectatorsat a contest
of Chinese chess,while an equally strong competition of
international chesswill get almost no spectaton.
The results of a competition are determined by match
points in two game matches'A win and a draw is just as
good as a win and a win. ff two players or tearnsare tied
on match points and the tournament is a Swiss,the ties
will be broken by the sum of the scoresof the player'sop-
ponents.After that, game points might be counted. Final-
iy and surprisingly, the number of minutes used in the
games are considered for tie-breaking purposes' The
player who has played the fastest during the tournament
wins on tie-breaks.
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 Y
Handicap Games
When you are a new player of Chinesechess,you may
find that your opponent will offer to give you a handicap
when he realizes your actual level. The standard hand-
icaps are one move, two moves, one lmight and two
knights. Do not be irsulted by this. Actually, a master can
give a fairly strong player the odds of one knight. Even at
odds of two knights, it is not so easy to win. There is a
special rule for gamesat odds of two knights. The player
receiving the odds is not allowed to capture the
opponent's center pawn unlessthe pawn has moved or he
is giving check. This is because a player without two
knights finds it difficult to defend his center pawn
The player who gives the handicap of one or two
knights has a compensatingadvantage.He does not have
to worry about developinghis knights, becausethey don't
exist. Therefore, he will be able to bring his rooks out
quickly and penetrate with them to the opponent's second
rank He will try to pin the opponent'stnight and capture
it with the cannonin the manner we sawback in Dia. 68.
If you play at these odds,you will have to develop your
knights quickly to stop that from happening.perhaps you
might try moves like N2 + L and N8 + 9, just putting your
knights on the edge of the board for the time being. The
danger of this is that your knights will be more or less out
of the game for at least a while. Also, your center pawn
will be Ieft undefended. However, if you can survive the
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opening, you should be able slowly to activate your pieces
and wirl After that, your opponent will not be willing to
offer you odds of two knights any more.
ChineseTerminologt
Througlrout this book, we have avoided any use of
Chinese terminolory. There are several reasonsfor this.
The marn reason is that it is uselessto give the Chinese
terminolory, becausethere are so many Chinesedialects.
Until now, we have managedto use only two Chinese
chess words in this entire book. These are xiangqi or
shiang-chi, the name of the game, andfan gong ma, the
name of a popular opening formation I thought of
presenting a list of other well known opening formations,
like the pin fong ma, btrt decided against it. In fact, we
have not even given the Chinesenamesfor the pieces.
J6n need to know the word shiang-chibecauseother-
wise, when you say Chinesechas, most people will tttink
you are talking about go (wei-chi). Actually, you need to
know two terms,chunguoshiang-chi,which meansChinese
chess, and guaji shiang-chi which means intematbnal
chess.Tll,e word gzoji meansintematbnal.
We could have told you that the word for horse or
knight is ma, the word for cannonispao and the word for
bishop or elephant is shiang. However, you might have
gotten discouragedwhen you found out tlat the word for
red pawn is different from the word for black pawn. Im-
-183-
 Y
agine how discouraged you would have been had you
been told that after learning the Mandarin words for
these things, it was then absolutely necessaryfor you to
learn also the equivalent words in Cantonese,Fukienese
and Shanghaiese. We havedecidedthat it is better for you
to use your brain power trying to learn how to play the
game well, rather than trying to memorize a bunch of
terms which you will probably never use.
I tried to write this book using a directory of basic
simplified and complex Chinese characters plus their
Pinyin pronunciation. It didn't work. If I want to know
how to pronounce a man's name, I still have to call him
up and ask. Knowing the Chinesecharactersdoesn't help
much. The main thing to know about the Pinyin systemis
that the letter 'x' soundsto Englishspeakerslike 'sh', 'q'
like 'ch', and'r'Like'l'. For example,I have calledthe
sfiongestplayer in the world 'Hu I-ong Hua', but he spells
his own name 'Hu Rong Hua'. I have tended to call the
name for Chinese chess 'shiang-chi', but they spell it
'xiangqi'. On the other hand, I left
the spelling of the
name of Grandmaster 'Xe Si Ming' the way it is, rather
'Shie
than spell it Si Ming'. With this knowledge,you will
also be able correctly to pronounce the name of the new
Woman's World ChessChampion,whose name is Xe
Jun.
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Books and Playing Setsfor Chinese
Chess,Shogi, Go and Mah Jong
Whenever you're looking for the best in stratery ganes from the
Orient, think of Ishi Press.We're committed to offering English-speal-
ing readersthe best ir all thesefascinatinggames'
Ask your local retailer for our good-qualityChineseChessset with
durable plastic chesmen and a folding woodenboard. If you can't find
it in your local area,contactus directly for ordering information.
You may also find JapaneseChess(sft41) of interest.Read about it
in our book S/r4z /or Beginnen, or learn to play with our Shogi Master
computer program for IBM PC and compatibles.
Go (Weichi in Chineseor Pahduk in Korean) is another classical
strategygamethat will challengeyour mind' We publish tho most com-
olete collection of books about Go to be found in aly Western lan-
guage.And we can supply the most complete selectionof Go-playing
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-L lookiog fot a basic set or the most elega:rttraditional Go-ban with
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Ask your local retailer or write for a free catalog!
In North America: In Europe and U.K:
Ishi PressIntemational Ishi PressInternational' Ltd.
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Other Countries:
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CPO Box 2126,Tokyo, Japan
-185-
7

Go Books from Ishi Press

BeginnerBool<s
AN INTRODUCTION TO CO by JamesDavies and Richard Bozulich
TIIE MAGIC OF GO by Cho Chikun
THE WORLD OF GO (Anything you would ever want to know about Co)

ElementaryBool<s
THE SBCOND BOOK OF GO by RichardBozulich
BASIC TECHMQUES oF Go by HaruyamaIsamu and NagaharaYoshiaki
TFST YoUR GO STRENGTH by Miyamoto Naoki
LESSONS IN THE FLTNDAMENTAI-S OF GO by IGgqrdma Toshiio

ElementaryGo Seies
VOLUME 1: IN THE BEGINNING by hhigure lkuro
VOLUME 2: 38 BASIC JOSEKI by Kosugi Kiloshi ard Jame.sDavies
voLUME 3: TESUJI by JamesDavies
VOLUMB 4: UFE AND DEATI{ by JatnesDavics
voLUME 5: ATIACK AND DEPENSE by lshida Akira and JamesDavies
VOLUMB 6r TTIE ENDCAME by OgawaTomoko and JamesDavies
VOLUME 7: HANDICAP CO by NagaharaYoshiaki and Richard Bcaulich

IntermediateBooks
STRATEGIC CONCEPTS OF GO by NagahalaYchiaki
KAGB'S SECRBT CHRONCTES OF IIANDICAP GO by Kage,€maToshiro
THE BREAKIHROUGH TO SHO-DAN by Miyamoto Naoki
A.PPRECIATING FAMOUS GAMES by Ohira Shuzo
KATO'S ATIACK AND KILL by Kato Masao
TIIE POVIER OF THE STAR-POINT by TakagawaShukaku
THE CHINESE-STYLE FUSEKI Kato Masao
ALL ABOUT THICKNBSS by Ishida Yoshio
THE 3-3 POINT by Cho Chikun
POSITIONAL JUDGMENT by Cho Chikun

AdvancedBool<s
DICTIONARY OF BASIC JOSEKI (3 Volumes) by Ishida Yoshio
BlackChessPieces
-186-

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t,
' RedChessPieces

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