Manchu chess

How Manchu chess is played

Manchu chess is xiangqi as the Manchu Bannermen of the Qing dynasty played it: Red has only one chariot, but it moves as a chariot, a horse and a cannon at once, against Black’s full army. The goal is to checkmate the opposing general: to attack it so that no move can save it.

The start

The board and Black’s army are those of xiangqi. Red has its general, two advisors, two elephants and five soldiers on their usual points, and its one chariot in the left corner, a1. Red moves first.

Red’s chariot

Each move it goes one of three ways: as a chariot, any number of points along a line; as a horse, one point straight and then one diagonally outward, blocked by a piece on that first point; or as a cannon, capturing by jumping over exactly one piece. It never moves over a piece without capturing.

Everything else

The palace, the river, the other pieces and checkmate are as in xiangqi. A side with no legal move loses; fifty moves without a capture are a draw.

Repetition

When a position occurs for the third time, the side that gave check with every move of the repetition loses. Otherwise the side that kept chasing a piece loses. Red’s chariot counts as stronger than any other piece, so attacking it again and again is a chase. If neither side did, or both did, the game is drawn.

Other readings

One collection of Qing stories, as quoted today, gives the Manchu side three such pieces; every other source has one. Some modern accounts let it start on i1 too, which gives the same game mirrored. PyChess calls the piece the banner and also offers Manchu+, where Black has it. Fairy-Stockfish plays the game with the rule on perpetual check only, without the one on chasing.

The story

China · among the Manchu Bannermen of the Qing dynasty, after 1644; recorded in 1917

When and where

Manchu chess is known from Xu Ke’s Qing bai lei chao (1917), a collection of stories of the Qing dynasty. He places it among the Manchu Bannermen after the Qing took China in 1644; when it was invented is not known.

How it changed

One side keeps its general, two advisors, two elephants and five soldiers and has only one more piece, which moves as a chariot, a horse and a cannon at once, against the full army of xiangqi. Modern accounts give that side to Red and set the piece on a chariot’s corner; everything else follows xiangqi.

Today

It is also called yitong qi, “unification chess”. Today it is played online, on PyChess among other places, where the combined piece is called the banner.

Did you know?

Xu Ke saw in the all-powerful piece the spirit of the Solon soldiers who fought for the Qing.

Original piece names

ju 俥 (Red’s one chariot, also horse and cannon; PyChess calls it the banner, qi 旗) · the other pieces as in xiangqi

Sources: Xu Ke, Qing bai lei chao (1917), Wikisource · Liaoning Antique Archaeology Institute, 满洲棋 · Wikipedia · PyChess

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