Chinese Chess

13 Nov 2019. Elder daughter Shee Yun told me that she has been playing (international) chess at school. The exams are over, the holidays are coming, the syllabus has been covered and there are no more classes. So the students have much freedom to do what they want. I asked her whether she knows how to play Chinese Chess, she said no. I have this Chinese Chess set at home which is my father's retirement gift. It is a beautiful set made of pewter. I took out this set to teach Shee Yun to play.

One problem with the board is the river is too wide. It should be only one square wide, not two. This is a little confusing. The manufacturer sacrificed usability for the sake of aesthetics.

The pieces are heavy, which is nice. However you can't use them like how you use regular Chinese Chess pieces. Typically the pieces are made of wood. When you capture an opponent piece, you first stack your attacking piece on the victim. You press your index finger on your piece, then draw the opponent piece out using your thumb and middle finger. When the opponent piece is pulled out, your own piece will snap onto the game board. The pewter pieces have a soft felt bottom and not a smooth one. So you can't do the customary thing with them.

The game board is made of wood, and it is quite heavy. The board can be folded in half to become a rectangular box. The whole thing is so heavy that you can probably kill someone with it.

I'm no good at Chinese Chess. I rarely play. I know the rules and some simple tactics, but I don't really know what the general strategies are or how to assess the board at a strategic level.

I attacked aggressively, forcing Shee Yun into a defensive mode. She applied the concepts she learned in Chess to Chinese Chess, and they mostly work.

I let her take back moves when she made mistakes, but I didn't go easy on her. Sometimes I helped her analyse the board situation, reminding her of threats and risks. One thing she found difficult to remember was how the knight / horse could be blocked by a piece immediately next to it. How the cannon works when attacking was also something new to her. In Chinese Chess, the cannon moves like the rook in Chess, but when attacking it must jump over one other piece.

Checkmate. My chariot (which is the rook-equivalent, top right) was poised to capture her king. I played aggressively since the early game, but Shee Yun grabbed the initiative and counter-attacked, checking my king a few times. I had to play carefully to avoid getting trapped. I did not actually plan ahead for this particular winning move. I only noticed it while analysing the board for my next move. When I saw it, I took it and ended the game.