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Rules of Chinese Chess
You win by checkmating or stalemating your opponent. Repetition is to be avoided. You can't repeatedly check an opponent in the same manner, and you can't keep repeating the same moves to avoid capture. A game is drawn when neither side can force stalemate or checkmate.
| Red | Blue | |
|---|---|---|
 |  | The General moves one space orthogonally within the confines of the 3x3 palace identified by the area with diagonal lines drawn through its center. It may not move into check, and it may not face the enemy General across an open vertical line. |
 |  | The Guard (Adviser, Councellor) moves one space along any of the diagonal lines within the palace. It moves like the Ferz, but only within the confines of the palace. |
 |  | Red's is called a Minister, and Blue's is called an Elephant, but the movement is the same. This piece steps two spaces in the same diagonal direction. It may not stop with one space, and it may complete its move only if it passes over an empty space. It may not cross the river. |
 |  | The Horse is a kind of non-jumping Knight. It moves one space orthogonally, followed by one more space diagonally outward. It may complete its move only if its first step takes it over an empty space, and it may not stop on the first step. Without any obstacles, a Horse reaches all the same spaces as a Knight. |
 |  | The Chariot moves exactly the same as the Rook, riding along any orthogonal line. |
 |  | The Cannon moves as a Chariot (Rook), except that it must hop over an intervening piece to capture a piece. |
 |  | The Pawn (Soldier) moves forward one space. Once it crosses the river, it may also move right or left one space. |
Notation
You should be aware that Game Courier's notation is not identical with standard Chinese Chess notation. Game Courier has been designed for general use with any of several different Chess variants, and it accordingly uses a generic system of notation. This system is described in detail in the User's Guide. As it happens, Chinese Chess normally uses a completely different system of notation than Game Courier uses. They are not even remotely similar to each other. Game Courier uses a generic form of algebraic notation, much more similar to Chess notation than to Chinese Chess notation. In this Game Courier implementation of Chinese Chess, every move may be written as a move from one coordinate to another, using the hyphen to separate the two coordinates, as in "e1-e2". As a courtesy to your opponent, and to allow Game Courier to do some simple error checking on your move, you should precede the move with the piece label, as in "G e1-e2", which moves the Red General from e1 to e2. Note that Red's pieces are identified by uppercase labels, while Blue's pieces are identified by lowercase labels.
How to Move Pieces
Full Algebraic Notation
Algebraic notation identifies each space by a coordinate that begins with its file label and ends with its rank label. On the Chess board, files go up and down from one player to the other, and ranks go from left to right. In most games, files are represented by letters, and ranks are represented by numbers, but there is no fixed rule requiring this for all games, and some games, such as Shogi, reverse this convention. If you look at the diagram, you will usually see the file labels going from left to right and the file labels going up and down. And if you hover your mouse over a space, you will normally see the name of the coordinate appear in a tooltip.
It is not uncommon to see algebraic notation being used for Chess, but it is often in an abbreviated format that requires you to know both the rules of the game and the current position to know exactly which piece moves where. For example, the notation "Ne6" indicates that a Knight is moving to e6, but it doesn't indicate which Knight, and it doesn't specify where the Knight is coming from. To figure this out, you need to know how a Knight moves and which Knight on the board can make a legal move to e6.
Although rules may be programmed for individual games, Game Courier itself does not know the rules of any game, and it is unable to parse abbreviated algebraic notation. Therefore, it relies on full algebraic notation, which completely specifies the move without requiring any knowledge of the game's rules or the current position. The most usual type of full algebraic notation indicates the piece that is moving by its label, the space it is moving from, and the space it moving to. In Chess, a typical first move might be written as "P e2-e4". When you hover your mouse over a piece, you will normally see the piece label followed by the coordinate for the space, and when you hover it over an empty space, you will normally see the coordinate label. Including the piece label in your notation allows Game Courier to check that the piece you're moving is the right one, and it makes game notation easier to follow, but it is not mandatory.
You may promote a piece by including a promotion move after your regular move. A promotion move has a piece go directly to a coordinate. Here is an example: "p e7-e8; q-e8".
You may remove a piece from a space by adding an @ to the space or by omitting the destination coordinate. For example, both "@-e4" and "e4-" would remove the piece on "e4". This is useful for en passant when you are playing a game that does not handle this automatically. For example, "P d5-e6; e5-" removes the Pawn on e5 after a Pawn moves from d5 to e6.
You will not need to remove spaces for most games, but if you should need to, you can do this by omitting the first coordinate in a move. For example, "-e4" would remove e4 from the board. To add or return a space to the board, you may add an @ or any other piece to it.
Available Pieces
Pieces are represented by labels, usually using uppercase letters for White and lowercase letter for Black. When you enter a move or specify the starting position for a game, you should remember that piece labels are case-sensitive. Many piece sets are available for use with Game Courier, and this table shows you which pieces belong to the piece set you are currently using.
The inclusion of a piece does not indicate that it is used in the game you are playing. But if your game uses pieces not included here, you should choose a different piece set.
Credits
Game Courier was created, programmed and written by Fergus Duniho.
Game Courier, Copyright © Fergus Duniho, 2001-2017
WWW Page Created: 15 August 2001
Kibbitzing Etiquette
Kibbitzing is the practice of commenting on a game you are not playing. In commenting on a game, please follow these rules of etiquette.
(1) If you notice that someone has made an illegal move, please mention it. Some Game Courier presets cannot enforce rules, but Game Courier does enable players to take back any previous move. Details on how to take back a move are provided in the User's Guide, linked to above the board.
(2) Unless otherwise specifically asked to, do not offer hints or suggestions to players on what moves they should make. In general, avoid coaching comments.
(3) Once a game is over, it should be alright to offer your analysis of the game and your specific comments on what moves players should have made. If some players don't want this, they may mention it in the Kibbitzing section, and you should honor this request by not commenting on the game.
(4) Be polite. At the appropriate time, offer any criticism you have in a constructive manner. Avoid heckling players for bad moves.
(5) Don't spam this space with irrelevant comments. If you have a comment about Game Courier, rather than about the specific game you're viewing, please post it on Game Courier's Index page to give it.