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Xiangqi: Chinese Chess. Links and rules for Chinese Chess (Xiangqi). (9x10, Cells: 90) (Recognized!)[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]
Jianying Ji wrote on Wed, Aug 14, 2002 08:20 PM UTC:
It seems to me that the elephant in xiangqi (on the blackside) is
most likely and almost certainly an import from india since china
has no elephants. the character used on the black side is that of 
elephant which would be quite strange if it originated in china. so
certainly that perticular character and that piece must have come after
contact with india. 

The cannon piece almost certainly originated in china, since
china invented gun powder quite early on.

Also the different symbols on each side almost hint that it might be 
different army game once, with different powers on the sides, though
there might have been a more prosaic reason, that all the pieces have
different symbols between the sides since the original pieces were carved
and the only way to tell the sides were the characters. (red and black
came later)

And finally, since it is the elephant (xiang) that gives name to the 
whole game, that is if translated directly word for word xiangqi would
be elephant boardgame (qi having being derived from weiqi) and that 
elephants only known in china after contact with india, it is very likely
that modern xiangqi derives from indian source.

Smitty wrote on Fri, Aug 23, 2002 06:16 AM UTC:Poor ★
Good try but not informative enough.
A person that know NUTS about chinese
won't know what you are implying.

Horse/ Knight in chinese is 'ma' NOT 'mao'.

Cheers!

Sam wrote on Fri, Aug 30, 2002 12:54 AM UTC:Poor ★
Notice you say the word points to describe where you put the pieces to play. Under Geometry A line has an infity number of points. Maybe you should use the word intersections to make it much easyer to understand where you place the pieces.

Robin wrote on Fri, Aug 30, 2002 11:58 AM UTC:
Holy nitpick, Batman!

Sam wrote on Wed, Sep 4, 2002 12:11 AM UTC:
I helped to make this page better but my name has not gone down on a thank you list. For example I pointed out that the elephant could only hit 7 spaces on the board. Your site said 8. You did change it and I did get a thank you but my name is no where on the page. If no body was thanked and recongazed then there would be no point to point out the mistakes on your page. I just want to give an idea.

Anonymous wrote on Wed, Sep 4, 2002 11:25 AM UTC:
Sam, it's hard to recognize someone who won't even reveal his or her complete name. <p>A list of recognized contributors to the Chess Variants Pages can be found at http://www.chessvariants.com/index/personq.php

Sam Zimmermann wrote on Thu, Sep 5, 2002 12:40 AM UTC:
My full name is Sam Zimmermann. Now can you please add it to your list. Thank you very much.

Anonymous wrote on Wed, Nov 13, 2002 01:25 PM UTC:
How to play Chinese chess

Ghost wrote on Sun, Nov 24, 2002 02:51 AM UTC:
i wanna play xiangqi online wif other pple. but seems like it is hard to find. wat 2 do??? sien ah... so can u all pls tell mi where can i play. thanx.

Ghost wrote on Sun, Nov 24, 2002 02:52 AM UTC:
be back next week.

Ben Good wrote on Sun, Nov 24, 2002 02:55 AM UTC:
a good place to play xiangqi by email is on richard's play-by-email server, all you need is an email account and it's free, and you should always be able to find opponents. <P> http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv/

tran wrote on Sun, Nov 24, 2002 01:03 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

yahoolian2 wrote on Thu, Dec 5, 2002 05:38 AM UTC:
Play xiangqi at <a href=http://www.clubxiangqi.com/>http://www.clubxiangqi.com/</a><br>Free and easy to use. Click Register on the website.

Javier wrote on Fri, Dec 6, 2002 09:40 PM UTC:Good ★★★★
Good sites about XiangQi in English are hard to find.  Here's a collection
of essential web-sites and programs for XiangQi.

------------------
RULES/INTRODUCTION

http://www.chessvariants.com/xiangqi.html 
Overall summary

http://www.chessvariants.com/chinfaq.html 
rec.games.chinese-chess FAQ

http://www.crockford.com/chess/xiangqi.html 
Introduction for chess players

http://www.ishipress.com/cc-rules.htm 
Sam Sloan's introduction

http://www.yutopian.com/go/ccLes/ccLes.html 
Yutopian's introduction

http://www.xmission.com/~gastown/afi/ch_index.htm 
Chinese & Korean chess

http://www.chesshub.com/cchess/tutorial/ 
Chesshub.com tutorial

http://www.chesshub.com/cchess/rules/ 
Chesshub.com Asian rules

http://www.acs.sch.edu.sg/acs_indep/eca/clubs/chinese_chess/guide.html 
Playing Guide

ftp://weber.ucsd.edu/pub/dmckiern/XiangQi.pdf 
Essentials of Chinese & Korean Chess

http://www.yutopian.com/chinesechess/chrules.pdf 
Basics of Chinese Chess

http://www.cchess.com/rules/rules.htm 
Chinese Chess Net

http://home1.gte.net/res1bup4/chess_intro.htm
Introduction by Peter Donnelly

---------------------
TUTORIAL AND STRATEGY

http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/orient/xianglearn.html 
MSO World - 6 pages

http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/universal.htm 
with Java - highly recommended!

http://www.geocities.com/yccheok/tutorial/menu.html 
with Java - online only

--------------------
SOFTWARE COLLECTIONS

http://www.nchess.com/

http://www.geocities.com/yccheok/software.html

http://tysung.cjb.net/xq/software/software.htm

PLAYING SOFTWARE

http://www.zillionsofgames.com/games/chinesechess-fd.html 
http://www.zillionsofgames.com/games/chinesechesswesternstyle.html
Zillions of Games

http://www.geocities.com/xqlearner/ 
http://xqlearner.ibid.com.cn (mirror site)
Chinese Chess Learner 
Shareware playing/database - value: excellent

http://www.nchess.com/cccmain.htm 
Coffee Chinese Chess Ver 0.4 java applet 
simple - value: good)

http://www.cc-xiexie.com
http://www.geocities.com/yccheok/software/xiexie.zip 
XieXie 
Strong playing program - value: excellent

http://www.geocities.com/yccheok/software/miloches.zip 
Milo's Chinese Chess 
2D and 3D - value: good

http://cosoft.org.cn/project/showfiles.php?group_id=100 
Mantis Chess Ver. 1.04 
Tiny GNU program - value: average

------------------------
EDITOR/DATABASE SOFTWARE

http://tysung.hypermart.net/cchview/m1.htm 
CChView Ver 3.5.0 
Get disk 1 from xiangqi.rm-f.net/disk1.zip - value: good

http://tysung.cjb.net/xq/software/cchview/help/main.htm
CChView 4.3.5 - value: excellent

http://www.nchess.com/xb.html 
XB Database Browser ver 1.1
Browsing only - value: good

http://www.nchess.com/eon.htm 
Endgame database viewer Of xiaNqi 
For evaluating end-games - value: average

http://www.nchess.com/ccwsetup.zip 
Chinese Chess World Ver 0.1
Trainer program with computer play - value: average

-----
GAMES

http://www.nchess.com/download.html 
Masters games

http://tysung.cjb.net/xq/index.html 
Xiangqi Master Database - huge collection

http://tysung.cjb.net/xq/software/cchview/help/main.htm
Xiangqi Master Database - for CChView 4.3.5

http://xiangqi.rm-f.net/index.html 
Xiangqi Opening Studies

--------------------------------		
SERVERS REQUIRING GENERIC CLIENT (ICCS = Internet Chinese Chess Servers)

http://xiangqi.com/ 
World Xiangqi League - site being revised

telnet chess.homeylife.net 5555 (active!)
Note: register by logging on with your chosen user handle, 
and when logged on type: 'register youremailaddress'

-------------------
GENERIC ICCS client 

http://icompile.hypermart.net/xiangqi/ccctwin.htm 
CCCT Ver. 1.85 for ICCS - recommended! 

http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Cave/7230/coolclient01.zip 
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Cave/7230/coolclient02.zip 
Cool Client Ver 1.1 for ICCS disk 1 & 2

---------------------------------
SERVERS REQUIRING SPECIFIC CLIENT

http://www.chesssky.net/eindex.htm 
Movesky XiangQi
http://www.chesssky.net/edownload.htm 
MoveSky XiangQi client
Note: www.movesky.net is their old URL

http://www.cchess.com/english-index.html 
CChess.com Chinese Chess Net
http://www.cchess.com/download/englishdownload.html 
CChess.com client Ver. 4.5.8
Note: some parts of inteface are in Chinese, seems deserted

------------		
JAVA SERVERS

http://www.clubxiangqi.com/ 
Club XiangQi - most active/recommended

http://www.chesshub.com 
Chess Hub - active - apparently $12 a year

http://library.thinkquest.org/12255/universal.htm 
seems deserted?

---------------------
PLAY BY EMAIL SERVERS

http://www.itsyourturn.com 
slow play over several days

http://www.gamerz.net/pbmserv/
Play By Email Server

-----------------------------------------
JAVA APPLETS FOR PLAYING AGAINST COMPUTER

http://24.101.164.160/xq/computer/computer.htm 
Xiangqi Database

http://private.addcom.de/dxb/ 
European Xiangqi Federation

http://www.nchess.com/cccmain.htm 
Coffee Chinese Chess

-------------------
LINKS AND RESOURCES

http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dmckiern/xiang_qi.htm

http://tysung.cjb.net/xq/index.html (Xiangqi Database - Peter Sung)

http://www.geocities.com/yccheok/index.html

http://www.nchess.com

http://www.yutopian.com/chinesechess/

-------------------
XIANGQI FEDERATIONS

http://wxf.hypermart.net/eg/index.html 
World XiangQi Federation

http://private.addcom.de/dxb/ 
European XiangQi Federation

http://www.asianxiangqi.org/ 
Asian XiangQi Federation

http://tysung.cjb.net/xq/club/txa/txa.htm 
Toronto XiangQi Federation

-----------
DISCUSSIONS

rec.games.chinese-chess 
newsgroup

http://www.nchess.com/forum
Computer XiangQi Forum

http://private.addcom.de/dxb/dxbforum.html 
European XiangQi forum

http://24.102.146.141/xq/mlist.htm 
mailing list from WXF - World Xiangqi Federation - seems inactive

-----------------
ARTICLES AND NEWS

http://www.chez.com/cazaux/champions-xiangqi.htm 
Xiangqi Champions

http://www.chesshub.com/faq/cchess/?L=players 
World's best players

http://private.addcom.de/dxb/dxbhof.html 
Europe's best players

http://www.chesshub.com/faq/cchess/?L=complex 
Space/State in Chess vs Chinese Chess

http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/orient/xiang_lu_world.html 
World Champ vs World game 1

http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/orient/2xiang_lu_world.html 
World Champ vs World game 2

http://www.msoworld.com/mindzine/news/orient/3Lu_world.html 
World Champ vs World game 3

http://www.yutopian.com/chinesechess/history.html 
history of XiangQi

http://www.asianxiangqi.org/English/10axmit/EngAlbum1.htm 
Photographs

http://www.sport.gov.mo/2001/en/xiangqi/index.phtml 
2001 World XiangQi Championships

http://www.cchess.com/others/others.html 
Chinese Chess and Culture

tuyen wrote on Thu, Dec 26, 2002 12:22 PM UTC:Good ★★★★

matt wrote on Sun, Dec 29, 2002 12:51 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
exactly what i needed!!! i'm in china at the moment and i want to start to play chinese chess, this is the first step, i hope its easier than learning the language!!

dsvgsd wrote on Mon, Mar 3, 2003 09:50 AM UTC:Good ★★★★

Charles Gilman wrote on Sun, Mar 9, 2003 11:06 AM UTC:Good ★★★★
This is an interesting variant, but it is weakened by the fact that similar pieces on a side start on similar 'colours'. A way of solving this while keeping close to the original would be to increase to ten files to match the ranks, with 4-file-wide palaces. The general could replaced by a standard King and a capturable Wazir, both still confined to the fortress. Both middle files would have Chinese pawns. A further improvement would be allowing the elephants to capture en route.

Travis wrote on Sat, Mar 29, 2003 03:14 AM UTC:Poor ★
Could you please tell the point value of each piece. Such as in Western Chess were the queen is worth 9 points and so on.

Anonymous wrote on Sat, Mar 29, 2003 05:42 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★
Travis: what happens if no one knows them? anyway, Xiangqi is a pretty nice classic game.

Travis wrote on Mon, Mar 31, 2003 02:46 AM UTC:Poor ★
I believe sombody has to know the point values, because Chinese Chess is the oldest form of chess.

Anonymous wrote on Mon, Mar 31, 2003 06:16 AM UTC:
Actually, Chanturanga is the oldest form of chess.

Travis wrote on Tue, Apr 1, 2003 02:44 AM UTC:
Can you prove that Chanturanga is the oldest form of chess. What sources can prove that it is the oldest form

John Lawson wrote on Tue, Apr 1, 2003 05:16 AM UTC:
I have checked the books in my library for values.

Terence Donelly, 'Hsiang Ch'i, The Chinese Game of Chess', and Dennis
Leventhal, 'The Chess of China', do not bring up the topic at all.

Sam Sloan, 'Chinese Chess for Beginners', discusses how a table of
values such as is used in FIDE chess is invalid.

H. T. Lau, 'Chinese Chess', gives:
  9    Rook
  4.5  Cannon
  4    Knight
  2    Counsellor
  2    Minister
  2    Pawn (after crossing river)
  1    Pawn (before crossing river)

David Li, 'First Syllabus on Xiangqi', has an eight-page chapter with
six charts, which may be summarized:

  Opening  Midgame  Endgame
   10       10       10      Chariot
    4.5      4.5      4      Cannon
    1        1        1      Cannon, premium when paired
    4        4.5      5      Horse
    1        1        1      Horse, premium when paired
    2.5      2.5      2.5    Advisor
    2.5      2.5      2.5    Elephant
    -        2        2      River-crossed Pawn
    -        -        1.5    Old Pawn (on last rank)
    2        2        2      Center Pawn
     .75      .75      .75   Other Pawns

There it is, for what it's worth.

Anonymous wrote on Mon, May 26, 2003 04:23 AM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

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