Xiangqi

I Board set-up

Each plaeyr is given 16 pieces: 1 Governor, 2 advisors, 2 elephants, 2 horses, 2 chariots, 2 cannons, 5 soldiers. Xiangqi pieces are placed on the intersections of the horizontal and vertical lines, rather then within the squares of the board. That makes the game field consist of 10*90=90 dots to move the pieces on, which is considerably bigger then the international chess’ 64-squares to play on.

Another distincttion from the traditional chess board is the “river”, dividing the opposing sides. Two “palaces”, 4 squares (9 intersection dots) each, which are centered at the first to third and eighth to tenth ranks of the board arlso distinct xiangqi board from the traditional chess board. Both the river and the palaces affect the pieces movements, which will be described in the next section.

II Move rules

1) Main rules, stating the possible moves

Governor only moves within the palace one dot at a turn both horizontally and vertically.

Advisors also moves only within the palace one dot at a turn, but diagonally.

Elephants move diagonally 2 dots a turn. if there’s any other piece inbetween those two dots the move is not possible. Another limitation is that the elephants can not cross the river.

Horses move two dots horizontally plus one dot diaongally or two dots vertically plus one dot diagonally, but blocking the neighbouring horizontal or vertical dot makes the move in that direction impossible.

Chariots move either amount of dots horizontally or vertically as long as all the dots inbetween are vacant.

Cannons, like a chariot, can mvoe either amount of dots horizontally or vertically as long as all the dots inbetween are vacant, but if capturing there’s ought to be any piece inbetween its starting and ending point.

Soldiers move one dot a turn straight before crossing the river, and one move straight or to the sides after crossing the river.

2) Additional rules, forbiding certain moves

Governors can not be left udner atack. They can not be placed on the same vertical file when there are no other pieces inbetween them. Perpetual checks and perpetual attacks are not allowed.

III Game termination

Game is over when either of these two scenarios happen:

1) Checkmate occurs. Governors is under attack with no way to escape

2) Stalemate occurs. The side with no avaliable legal moves loses