Janggi

How Janggi is played

Janggi is Korean chess. It grew out of xiangqi and keeps its board of points and most of its pieces, but they move differently, you may pass, and a game that ends without a mate is decided by points. The goal is to checkmate the opposing general: to attack it so that no move can save it. An attacked general is in check, and no move may leave your own general attacked.

The board

The board has nine files and ten ranks of points, like xiangqi’s, but no river: every piece may go anywhere except the general and the guards. Each side has a palace of nine points with two diagonals. Blue moves first, Red second.

The pieces

The chariot moves any number of points along a line, forward, back or sideways, but not over other pieces. The horse steps one point straight and then one diagonally outward; a piece on that first point blocks it. The elephant steps one point straight and then two diagonally outward, and a piece on either point on the way blocks it. A soldier steps one point forward or sideways, never back. A piece captures by moving onto an enemy piece.

The cannon

The cannon needs a screen even to move: it jumps over exactly one piece along a line, to any empty point behind it or onto the first enemy piece there. The screen may not be a cannon, and a cannon never captures a cannon.

The palace

The general and the two guards step one point along the palace’s lines, the diagonals included, and never leave it. In a palace the chariots and the cannons may use the diagonals too, and a soldier in the enemy palace may step diagonally forward along them.

The setup

Before the game each side chooses whether the horse or the elephant stands outside on each wing of its back rank, which makes four setups. Choose yours in the game’s settings. As in tournaments, Red sets up first: a bot playing Red shows you its setup there, and a bot playing Blue answers yours.

Passing and bikjang

Instead of moving you may pass, unless you are in check. When the two generals face each other on a file with nothing between them (bikjang), the player to move must break it or pass; a pass then ends the game, and the points decide. Two passes in a row end it too.

Winning and points

Checkmate wins. A game that ends otherwise (bikjang, two passes, the third repetition of a position, or 50 moves on each side without a capture) is decided by points: chariot 13, cannon 7, horse 5, elephant and guard 3, soldier 2. Red gets 1.5 points for moving second, so there is no draw on points. A side that gave check with every move of a repetition loses instead. When both sides have nothing left but the general and the guards, the game is drawn.

Where it comes from

Janggi grew out of Chinese xiangqi and has been played in Korea for centuries. The generals bear the names of the two sides of the war between Chu and Han (206–202 BC): Cho (楚) for Blue and Han (漢) for Red. In Korean the other pieces are sa (guard), sang (elephant), ma (horse), cha (chariot), po (cannon) and byeong or jol (soldier).

Handicaps

In jeop-janggi (접장기) the stronger player takes Han (Red), removes pieces and moves first: here an elephant, a horse, a cannon, a chariot, or a chariot and a cannon (Koreans say "with chariot and cannon off" of losing what matters most), always the one on Red’s left. As Red moves first, the 1.5 points for moving second go to Blue. The bot can give them, or you can (the setup’s "Handicap").

More games

Chess and variants

• Chess · Classic chess or Chess960 with a shuffled back rank, against a bot.
• Chess960 · Fischer random chess: the back rank starts in one of 960 setups.
• Antichess · Losing chess: give away all your pieces, captures are compulsory.
• Atomic chess · Every capture is an explosion that clears the pieces around it.
• Crazyhouse · Captured pieces change sides and can be dropped back onto the board.
• Duck chess · After every move you move the duck, which blocks everyone. No check.
• Fog of War · You only see where your pieces can move. Capture the king to win.
• Friendly Chess · Nothing is captured: pieces unite and set off chain reactions.

The chess family

• Chaturanga · India’s ancient chess, the root of the family: take the king to win.
• Shatranj · The medieval ancestor of chess, with a weak ferz and a jumping alfil.
• Makruk · Thai chess: a slow, strategic game with a counting rule.
• Ouk Chatrang · Cambodian chess: Makruk with a leap for the king and the met.
• Sittuyin · Burmese chess: set up your pieces, then promote on the diagonals.
• Xiangqi · Chinese chess: a river, palaces and a cannon that jumps to capture.
• Shogi · Japanese chess: captured pieces return to the board on your side.
• Minishogi · Shogi on a 5 × 5 board: six pieces a side, short and sharp games.

More players

• Chaturaji · India’s four-handed chess: kings can be captured, captures score.
• Four Seasons Chess · Alfonso X’s chess for four from 1283: four seasons, the last king wins.
• Three-player chess · Three armies on a hexagonal board: you against two bots.
• Four-player chess · Four armies on a cross-shaped board: in teams or all against all.
• Eight-player chess · Eight armies on a board of 516 squares: all against all, in pairs or four against four.