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🕸Fergus Duniho wrote on Wed, Mar 8, 2006 04:44 AM UTC:

I have come across different interpretations of the facing generals rule. The one I've encoded is described on the Wikipedia Janggi page as, 'If the generals come to face each other across the board and the player to move does not move away this is bitjang, a draw.'

In The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, David Pritchard describes the rule along similar lines. He says, 'The rule concerning facing generals (forbidden in xiangqi) is ill-defined. In theory, the player who in piece terms is materially weaker may face generals, directly or as the result of a capture, forcing the second player to avoid the confrontation or accept a draw.'

In choosing between these, I decided it was expedient to ignore differences in material and go with the first interpretation.

The rule you mentioned is given on our page for the game, but it is not mentioned by Pritchard, whom I do consider to be a fairly authoritative source. It is also mentioned on the Wikipedia page and on the page for the DOS program Jangki. The latter mentions that it has been fact-checked by a Korean player. In all, I think the rule I already coded and the one you mentioned fit together, and they may be used together.

Putting these two rules together, I get this. When any player moves his general to face his opponent's general, he forfeits the ability to win. When one player has already done this, and the other player does it too, the game ends in a draw. This allows the first player to 'check' the second player's general with his, except that the threat is stalemate, not checkmate, meaning that it is not really check. So long as the second player breaks off any facing of generals and lets the game continue, any checkmate by the first player counts as a stalemate.


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