Chess

There are two games in China called Ch'i written in one case IMG:p104_9.png:Chinese characters in the other IMG:p104_10.png:Chinese characters and both called Che by foreigners, though the character is written with different radicals in the two cases, being stone and wood respectively; but this distinction is not closely observed. The game called Wei ch'i is played with about 150 counters on each side, on a board with 324 squares and 361 points of intersection of the lines forming the squares; starting with a clear board, the object for each player is to occupy as many of the 361 points as po ible. It will be seen therefore that this ch'i (with a radical showing the counters are of stone ) has very little resemblance to the game called che . See Wei Ch'i. The other game is unmistakeably the game of che . It is called hsiang ch'i IMG:p104_11.png:Chinese characters, and since hsiang means elephant and one of the pieces is called the elephant, the game may be called ' Elephant che .' Or again, since no doubt often played with ivory pieces though the radical is wood, it has been called ' Ivory che .' Again since hsiang has also the meanings figure, form, resemble, etc., the game may be called ' Figure che ,' ' Symbolical che ,' etc., a justification of such a name being that while on the two sides the pieces have similar powers the names, though corresponding, are not alike; the pawn, for example, on the one side being tsu IMG:p104_12.png:Chinese characters and on the other ping &, both words meaning soldier. Che is mentioned in the Lun YU and in Mencius, but under the IMG:p104_13.png:Chinese characters According to Giles this was Wei ch'i. The earliest mention of hsiang ch'i is found in the Ke chih ching yiian IMG:p104_14.png:Chinese characters IMG:p104_15.png:Chinese characters • It is also mentioned in the T'ung chien kang mu, referring to the date B.C. 154. The invention of Wei ch'i is, of course, referred by the Chinese to the age of Yao; Hsiang ch'i is put later, being attributed to the founder of the Chou dynasty, about B.C. 1120; although it is naively admitted that it may have originated a few hundred years later. The che -board has, like ours, 64 squares, but the opposing forces are divided by a blank space acro the board, called the river. There ai-e thus two sepafl-ate camps of 32 squares each. Another di imilarity from our che is that the play is along the lines and at the intersecting points and not on the squares. The lines are numbered 1 to 9 from right to left. On the back row stand 9 pieces: in the middle being the General, with a Minister on each side. Further from him right and left are the Elephants; next to them the Horses, and on the furthest points stand the Chariots. The second row of points is vacant. The third has two Ballistae (sometimes called cannon)' on lines 2 and 8. On the fourth, which is the front row, are 5 Soldiers on alternate points. Then comes a row of vacant points and then the river. The four squares or rather the nine points in front of the General and his Ministers, are the 105 boundaries within which these three pieces move; two diagonal lines cro the space. As to the movements of the pieces: the General moves one point at a time in any direction over the 9 points to IMG:p105_1.png:Chinese characters he is confined. He cannot be taken, but may take, provided he does not thus put himself in check. He may not be put or left on the same line with the opposing General without an interposing piece. Being in check he must take the checking piece, cover himself from check by interposing a piece, or move himself out of check. If he can do none of these things he is checkmated, or, as the Chinese sometimes say, dead. The Ministers are limited to the same 9 points as the General, but they only move on the diagonal lines, backward or forward; each therefore controls only four points. They have no privileges and when attacked must either be moved or covered, or they are captured. The Elejjhants move diagonally backwards or forwards two squares at a time if nothing blocks the way. They cannot cro the river, so that there are only seven po ible places for each to stand on. The Horse moves practically as our knight moves, — one point forward, backward or sideways and then one point diagonally; but it cannot leap over any intervening piece. It is free to move over the whole board. The Chariot moves exactly as our Castle does. The two Cannon have also the same movement as our Castle, with this strange difference that their attack is not valid except through some intervening piece. Thus the enemy General is not checked by a Cannon on the same line unle some other piece stands between them. The Soldier moves only forward one point aii a time till it has cro ed the river; it may then move forwards or sideways a point at a time, but m ver backwards; nor does it receive promotion on reaching the further side of the board. In all cases the capturing piece occupies the place of the piece taken. It may be added that the pieces are not figures as with foreign che , but pieces like draughts with the name written or each. All evidence seems to show that Indian and Chinese che are djerived from some common source. Wilkinson: Manual of Chinese Che , Shangha, 1893; Himly: The Chinese Game of Che as compared with that practised by Western Nations, N.C.B.R.A.S. Journal, vol. vi; Hollingworth: A.ihort Sketch of the Chinese Game of Che , ibid., vol iii; VoLPiCELLi: Chinese Che , ibid., vol xxiii; Holt: Notes on the Chinese Game of Che , Royal Asiatic Society Journal, London, 1885. 93 i