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Battle Chess II:

Interplay Pro ductions 3710 s. Susan, Suite 100 Santa Ana, C :A 92704 (714) 549 - 2411


Loading Instructions Loading Instructions
For IBM/Tandy and 100% Compatibles

Movement Movement
NOTE: Mouse and joystick operations are the same. Using Keyboard - To move your chess pieces, use the arrows to position the flashing square under the piece you want to move, then press < enter > to select it. Select the desired destination point by using the arrows and press < enter > . (You will notice that legal moves are solid green squares and illegal ones are solid red.) You can also move the flashing square by using algebraic notation. For example, to move the Knight you would type Bl <enter> C3 <enter>. Using Mouse - To move your chess pieces, use the mouse to position the flashing square under the piece you want to move, then press the left button to select it. Select the desired destination point by using the mouse, then press the left button. (You will notice that legal moves are solid g r e e n squares and illegal ones are solid red.)

Battle Chess II requires at least 640K to play. Before you begin, make a backup of your Battle Chess II disks. (Refer to your DOS User's Manual for instructions on how to make backups.) MAKE SURE Y O U PLAY WITH YOUR BACKUP DISKS ONLY 1. Boot your computer with DOS. If you have a mouse, make sure it is connected and the driver installed. 2. Insert your backup of the BCII Startup disk The first time you play CHINESE CHESS you must run the setup prog r a m . Type a:setup center >. Follow the instructions on screen. The setup program will configure BCII to your system (graphics, sound boards, input device). If you are not sure what you have or are having problems, configure your system to:

Graphics - CGA, Sound Board - Internal Speaker, Input device - Keyboard. When you are finished with configurations make sure you save them to disk 3. If you want to play BCII from your hard disk, create a subdirectory (we suggest creating one called C H E S S 2 ) and copy all files from all disks into it. (Refer to your DOS user's manual for instructions on how to create directories and how to copy files.) 4. To load BCII from here, make sure you are in the proper directory or at the proper drive prompt, and type CHESS2<enter>

C o p y Protection
During the setup program, you will be asked to type in a move from one of the fictional games in Appendix A of this manual. Type in the move it requests and type <enter>. For example, if asked for Blue's third move in game #5, Morphy vs. Ching Ti, you would type K5Fl center>. BCII will then be configured specifically for your system. If you change system configurations, you will need to run the setup p r o g r a m again.


Battle Chess II Menus Battle Chess II Menus
U s i n g Keyboard - Press the <F1> key to bring up the menus. Use the arrows to switch between the menus and highlight an option. Press the <enter > key to select it. Press the <ESC> key to exit without selecting any option. Using Mouse - Press the right mouse button to bring up the menus. Keep holding the right mouse button down as you move the pointer over menu titles and the appropriate options will appear. Move the pointer down to the option you desire and when the option highlights, release your hold on the right mouse button. The four menus contain the following options:

Battle Chess II Menus
don't have a mouse. The game will be loaded with i t s saved settings. p i e c e , and press the <enter > key. This will return your chosen piece to the chess board. From Set Up, you have four additional menu options: C l e a r Board: Removes all pieces from the board. Restore Board: While remaining in Set Up, this a b o r t s any changes you've made. N e x t Move Blue, Next Move Red: This determines who moves next. Done: Returns you to normal playing mode so you can play the game you've set up. Note that once you've entered Set Up Board, all moves stored from your current game are lost.

SETTINGS
S o u n d On/Off, Music O n / O f f , 3-D Board, 2-D B o a r d Roman, 2-D Board C h i n e s e , Human Plays Blue, IBM Plays Blue, Modem Plays Blue, Human Plays Red, IBM Plays Red, Modem Plays Red

S a v e Game
Pick this option if you want to save a game to disk while the game is in progress. After Battle Chess II asks you to insert your save disk, the Save w i n d o w will appear. Choose a slot with the mouse or arrow keys, type a name for the game you wish to save, and then press the <enter> key.

LEVEL
Novice, Level 1-8, Set Time Menu options that have a " +" beside them are currently selected. Note that the Boards you can change to will show up in the Settings menu, while the one you are on does not.

N e w Game
This option lets you start a new game at any time.

S e t Up Board

Menu Options Explained
L o a d Game
If you've saved a game before, this option recalls the game and picks up where you left off. After selecting Load Game, the Load window will then appear displaying a list of your saved games. Select the game you wish to load by double-clicking with the mouse or using the a r r o w keys and pressing the center > key if you

DISK
Load Game, Save Game, New Game, Set Up Board, Quit

This option lets you set up games for testing strategies. Set Up is performed on a 2-dimensional c h e s s board with the addit i o n a l chess pieces arranged vertically on each side of the board. Any of the pieces can be selected and moved into any position by clicking on them with the mouse. K e y b o a r d users: To select a piece on the side of the c h e s s board, press the < F3 > key, then using the a r r o w s choose a specific

Quit
Y o u ' v e had enough. Exit to the operating system.

F o r c e Move
If you get impatient while waiting for Battle Chess II to make its move, you can force it to move with this option. This interrupts the computer's thinking process and makes it take the best move that it has thought of so far (this comm a n d is not instantaneous).

MOVE
Force Move, Take Back, Replay, Suggest Move, Show Layout, Help Move


Battle Chess II Menus T a k e Back
This option will take back the last move made by either side. You can take back as many moves as you want, back to the first move you made. while illegal ones are solid red. This defaults to on.

Battle Chess II Menus
P l a y s Blue and Human Plays Red. If you wanted the computer to play against itself, set IBM Plays Blue, IBM Plays Red. Any combination of these is allowed (Exception: Modem P l a y s Red, Modem Plays Blue) as long as one side plays Red and the other p l a y s Blue. proximately that long to think per move.

Sound On/Off
T o g g l e s the combat and a n i m a t i o n sounds on and off.

S h o r t c u t Keys
If vou don't want to use the'mouse to select the menus, certain shortcut keys are available in combination w i t h the ALT key See the box below for the keys.

Replay
Let's say you've just taken back a move, then d e c i d e d it wasn't such a bad move after all. Just select Replay to put the piece back where it was.

Music On/Off
T o g g l e s the individual m u s i c scores for each piece on and off.

Levels
Levels Novice through 8 are available. Novice is the easiest, and 8 is the hardest. The longer Battle Chess II thinks, the more carefully planned its moves will be, and the better game it will play. Under the Novice level, Battle Chess II only d o e s one simplistic board evaluation. Remember, if it's taking too long, you can always override the thinking time by using the Force Move option.

3D Board
Shows the board in its splendid three-dimensional view with all pieces animating.

Suggest Move
Want a hint for your next possible move? The suggest Move option will give you that hint. Flashing h i g h l i g h t s will appear on a point occupied by one of your pieces and the suggested destination point (this command is not instantaneous).

Check
When your King is in icon. It will chan the normal the Ring escapes check

2D Roman
Shows the Two-dimens i o n a l board with Roman lettering carved into the pieces.

2D Chinese
Shows the two-dimens i o n a l board with Chinese lettering beautifully engraved into each piece.

I

Show Layout
If this is selected, a wind o w will appear showing the 2D board and pieces. T h i s is advantageous when you want to see the board layout without pieces in t h e way.

Set Time
This lets you change Battle Chess II's average thinking time to any amount you want, from 1 minute to 1 0 , 0 0 0 minutes. A window will appear after you pick this option. Type a number m e a s u r e d in minutes and press the <enter> key, and Battle Chess II will take ap-

Human/IBM/ Modem Plays Red/Blue
Use these six settings to determine who plays which side. For example, if you wanted to play against another person, set Human

Help Move
If selected, legal moves will be solid green squares


Playing By Modem Playing Battle Chess II by Modem
You can play Battle Chess II against a distant opponent if each of you has a Hayes-compatible modem hooked up to your IBM. If you have only one corn port, you cannot have a mouse driver installed. If your modem is properly connected, as shown in your modem manual, there are 3 steps to start playing over the modem with Battle Chess II. 1. Arrange with your opponent who will play Red and who will play Blue. After you've agreed, both of you should load Battle Chess II and set your opponent's color with the "Modem Plays Blue" or "Modem Plays Red" menu option. Hang up the phone on both ends before continuing. 2. One player must set his modem to auto-answer mode. You can do this by pressing the <F2> key then typing ATS0=l and pressing the <enter > key. (That's a zero, not the letter "O".) 3. The other player must call the player whose modem is set to autoanswer. To dial a number, press the <F2> key then type ATD 555-1212, substituting the correct phone number, and press the center > key You can use any phone number with the ATD command, including area codes. Your modem will pick up the phone and dial the number, and if all goes well, it'll then connect with the modem on the receiving end. If you get this far, you're set; you can start your chess game. When you move a piece, that move will happen on your opponent's end as well as yours. Note that after the two players are connected, the menu options New Game, Set Up Game, and Load Game will send an entire new chess board to both sides, discarding the current game. When you set one player to Modem you can send text to your modem or opponent by pressing the <F2> key. This will bring up a dialogue box in which you can enter a line of text. The window will disappear when you press center> and the line of text will be sent. This is the way you control your modem in Battle Chess II,

P l a y i n g By Modem
using the modem's AT commands, and it is also the way you send messages to your opponent once you are connected. Press the <F2> key then type one line and press the < enter > key. A window will pop up on your opponent's screen with your message. After he or she dismisses the window, the game can continue. You can receive these messages at any time except when a window is open on your screen. If you type modem commands in this way, the modems will act on them. See your modem manual for details on AT commands. There are two steps to break the connection and hang up the phone. First, press the <F2> key, then type + + + (three plus signs), press center>, and wait a moment. This will get your modem's attention. Then press the <F2> key and type ATH to tell your modem to hang up. This will close the connection between the two players. Battle Chess II communicates at 300 baud with 8 bits and no parity.

Playing Battle Chess II With Serial Cables
If you and an opponent have two IBM computers, you may play with one person at each IBM. Hook up a null modem cable between the IBMs' serial ports. Then one person should pick Modem Plays Red and the other, Modem Plays Blue. You can proceed to play as if you were connected by modem. The only difference is that you never need to type any dialing commands.


Brief History of Chinese Chess A Brief History of Chinese Chess
The central theme in all forms of chess is that chess is a representation of war w i t h o u t the randomness or i n e q u a l i t i e s of real war Both sides begin the battle r e f l e c t s the Chinese culture and philosophy. For ins t a n c e , since the Chinese w e r e the early developers of gunpowder, a piece repr e s e n t i n g a cannon was added to the set. Each piece has a unique history associated with it which r e v e a l s something of C h i n e s e culture. The river in the middle of the board r e p r e s e n t s the `Celestial River' or the `Yellow River' d i v i d i n g the "Northern Territory" from the "Southern Territory". All in all, Chinese Chess is perhaps a more colorful representation of war It c o m b i n e s a richer historical f e e l i n g characterized by t h e symbolic presence of each piece with a greater scope of movement allowed by the larger and more open board.

Basics of Chinese Chess Basics of C h i n e s e Chess
The goal of playing a game of Chinese Chess is identical to that of many other games - specifically, d e f e a t i n g your opponent. In Chinese Chess, this is d o n e by placing your o p p o n e n t ' s King in checkm a t e or stalemate. Here are the rules of Chinese Chess in a nutshell: Two opponents play a g a i n s t each other. One player is usually red, and the other, blue.
l l Each player has one Ring, two Rooks, two Cannons, two Knights, two M i n i s t e r s (blue Ministers a r e sometimes replaced by Elephants), two Counsellors (or guards), and five Pawns. l The object of the game is to put the opponent's Ring in "checkmate" or "stalemate". l The red player moves first and then the two p l a y e r s alternate moves. You must move when it is your turn.

is when a piece moves f r o m one intersection to a n o t h e r intersection. Each kind of piece moves in its o w n individual way, described in the section of the manual titled, "The Ind i v i d u a l Pieces."
l No piece (except the Cannon) may jump over or pass through any other piece on the board when it moves. Only one piece can be on an intersection at a time.

of chess can be traced back t o seventh century India, w h e r e the game was called `Chaturanga'. Soon, it s p r e a d to the nearby regions of Persia and China. By the eleventh c e n t u r y , the game had migrated throughout Europe by way of Spanish and Italian traders. During t h i s time, it underwent m a n y modifications until it b e c a m e the international version of chess that is s e e n today. While all this was happening in Europe, chess was u n d e r g o i n g different chang e s in China. The Chinese version of chess differs f r o m its western counterpart in that it more so

- Any piece may capture a n y of the opponent's pieces by landing on the same point with it. The capt u r e d piece is removed from the board and is out of the game. You may only capture one piece per turn.
l When an opponent's p i e c e threatens the Ring a n d that piece could capture the King on the next move, the King is said to be in "check". l If your Ring is in check, you must either move the King out of check, block t h e attack with another piece, or capture the piece putting your Ring in c h e c k If you cannot escape check in one of these ways, the King is in "checkmate", you lose, and the game is over.

- You may only move one piece per turn. A move


Basics of Chinese Chess
- If your King cannot make a legal move and is not in check, your opponent has achieved a vic-

The Board The Board
As you can see by looking at your screen, the chessboard consists of nine vertical and ten horizontal lines. When you boot Chinese Chess, all the pieces are in their starting positions. All Chinese Chess games start from this initial position. Each side has an Imperial Palace made up of nine points in the 3 x 3 square marked by the diagonal lines. The open section, called the river, in the center of the board divides the northern territory from the southern. The markings at some of the intersections denote the starting positions of the pawns and the cannons.

a statlernate vic-

t h r o u g h checkmate. A draw occurs when neither side is capable of achieving a victory in the ways described herein.
l


The Pieces The Pieces Kings:
The King may move one point forward, backward, left, or right, but may never move diagonally He is also restricted to movement within the Imperial P a l a c e . The King may never move so that he is in check or directly a c r o s s the board from the enemy King with no pieces in between. Also, another piece may not move in such a way that the King will be in check or that he will be directly facing the enemy King. direction within the Imperial Palace.

The Pieces Knights:
Knights may move one point forward, backward, left, or right, followed by one p o i n t diagonally left or right. Unlike conventional chess, the Knight may not leap over pieces to make its move. For example, if a point directly ahead of the Knigh cupied, the Knight cannot move forward in that direction.

Moves of the King

Moves of the Counsellor

Ministers:
Ministers may move exactly two points in a diagonal direction along the same line. They may never cross the river and they cannot jump over or through obstructing pieces.
The Minister

Counsellors:
Counsellors may move one point in any diagonal

The Knight


The Pieces Rooks:
Rooks may move any number of unobstructed points in a horizontal or vertical direction.

The Pieces Pawns:
Pawns may move a single point forward, until they cross the river. After crossing, they may move left or right in addition to forward. Pawns may never move backwards and they never promote upon reaching the far end of the board. Unlike conventional chess, they capture by moving straight ahead.
The Pawn I

Cannons:
T h e Cannon moves much l i k e the Rook It may move any number of points in a horizontal or vertical direction. However, in order to capture a piece, the Cannon must first jump over a single piece of either color. This piece is called a "bridge" or "screen". The Cannon then moves to the point occupied by the captured piece.
The Rook Moves
of

the Rook

Moves of fhe Knight

leap the blue cannon to capture the knight. The red cannon cannot capture the blue cannon

Roman Lettering
Each piece is represented with the following letter on the 2D Roman board:

Moves

of

the Cannon

T h e Cannon

K - Kings G - Counsellors (Guards) M - Ministers N- Knights R - Rooks C- Cannons P- Pawns


The Importance of Each Piece The Individual Importance of Each Piece
By now, you should be getting a sense of the power of each piece. The Rook is considered the most powerful piece because of its ability to move swiftly from one side of the board to the other. It is considered to have roughly the power of a Knight and Cannon combined. Its p o w e r diminishes slightly toward the end of the game as it requires the help of other pieces to penetrate a well-established enemy defense. The Cannon is considered the second most powerful piece because of its ability to destroy from a d i s t a n c e and its swift movement. Like the Rook, its p o w e r diminishes toward the end of the game bec a u s e its capturing power is reduced as more pieces are eliminated from play. However, it is perhaps the most important piece during the opening both offensively and defensively. The Knight is considered only slightly less powerful than the cannon because of its restricted movement early in the game. During that time, it is used primarily for defense. Its power g r e a t l y increases toward the mid-game as fewer pieces get in its way Ministers and Counsellors are extremely limited because the former can never cross the river and the latter cannot leave the Imperial Palace. For this reason, both are used exlusively for defense. Ministers provide the outer defenses while Counsellors block attacks within the Imperial Palace. P a w n s are considered the least powerful pieces because of their limited movement. Once across the river, however, the Pawn's p o w e r increases as its movement abilities increase. Initially, a Pawn is used to block the enemy's a t t a c k s and provide bridges for the cannons. Unlike conventional chess, Pawns are not promoted when reaching the far horizontal line. Therefore, it is not always wise to advance your pawns too far a c r o s s the board. A way of remembering all of this is to think in terms

The Importance of Each Piece
of points: a Rook is worth a b o u t 9 points; a Cannon about 4.5; a Knight about 4; a Minister or Counsellor about 2; and a Pawn about 1. If the Pawn has crossed the river, however, it should be considered a b o u t 2 points. Because of the King's importance in winning the game, his value cannot be a s s i g n e d a point value. Keeping this in mind, you can see that you would come out well ahead in power if you were able to trade a Knight for a Rook However, there will be times when you may want to sacrifice a high value piece for one of much lower value - if, for instance, by trading a Rook for a Counsellor you can set up for checkmate in the next move, then it doesn't really matter how many points you have lost. What ultimately matters in the game of Chinese Chess is whether or not you win the game. Everything else, i n c l u d i n g points, is second.


Winning the Game Winning the Game
Because of the limitations on many of the pieces' movements, Chinese Chess games are generally shorter than conventional chess games. Basically, there are two ways to win: 1. Put your opponent in checkmate. 2. Stalemate your opponent. A checkmate occurs when a King is in check and he has no way to escape the check A stalemate occurs when a player has no legal moves to make. A player is considered to be in check when his Ring can be captured by an enemy piece on his opponent's next move. A player can escape check in one of three ways: 1. Move the Ring out of the way to a safe point. 2. Move another piece to block the path of the check 3. Capture the enemy piece putting the Ring in check A player who cannot escape check in one of these three ways is said to be in checkmate and the game is over. If a player is not in check, but any move the player makes will put him in check (which is illegal), the player has been stalemated and loses the game.

Drawn Games Drawn Games
As in conventional chess, if neither side is able to capture the opposing Ring, the game ends in a draw. This often happens if neither side has any pieces remaining which can cross the river. There are two other rules, unique to Chinese Chess, which help prevent draws: 1. It is illegal for the same piece to put the opposing Ring in check three times in a row. "Draw By Perpetual Check", as it is called, is NOT allowed. 2. It is illegal for a piece to chase an opposing piece back and forth. If either piece moves to more than two squares while the "chase" occurs, then it is legal to continually threaten that piece. Also, if the threatened piece is protected at either point, the chase can continue. For example, a Rook moves from point A to point B to avoid capture by an enemy Knight. The enemy Knight then moves from point Y to point Z. If the Rook moves back to point A, the Knight could not move back to point Y unlesss the Rook is protected at either A or B. Therefore, draws usually occur when both sides are reduced in power so that neither can penetrate the enemy's defenses.


Chinese Chess Notation Chinese Chess Notation
For the purposes of playing Chinese Chess by comp u t e r , algebraic 123456789 notation is used to ' enter and note moves. The letters "a" through "i" run across the bottom of the board from left to right, while the numbers "1" 987654321 through "10" (or "0" for our purposes) run from S o m e Opening I bottom to top. Therefore, Moves to move the red Cannon on the left to capture the blue Knight on the first move, you type B3<enter> B0<enter> Descriptive Notation is more commonly used in t e x t s containing games, although it is rather a w k w a r d . The vertical lines are numbered "1" through "9", left to right for blue pieces and right to left for red. Each move consists of a four letter code. The first letter is the piece's designation (eg. "C" for Cannon). the next place is the number of the file (line) that the piece is on. The third letter represents the type of movement ("F" for forward, "B" for backward, and "H" for horizontal). The last digit represents one of two things: if the piece remains on the same vertical line, it is the number of steps taken forward or backward; if it changed lines, then it is the new line the piece is on. The four opening moves in Fig. 1 can be represented a s follows:

Strategy Strategy
The objective in Chinese Chess is the same as in conventional chess, however, the strategies involved are much different. In Chinese C h e s s , a positional advantage is very important, since the Ring has such limited mobility. Often, a s u b s t a n t i a l material advantage can be offset by a single Rook deep in enemy territory Remember that C h i n e s e Chess is much quicker and deadlier than c o n v e n t i o n a l chess. It's very common to win or lose in the first few moves of a game. Be aware of the many ways a Ring can be checkmated and watch for these positions developing. decides to open similarly. Otherwise, the central P a w n can advance with lit-

Other variations on this

Algebraic
H3-E3 Bl-C3 G4-G5 B3-B7

seventh rank or, using the Cannons to defend ranks adjacent to the river from attack Other strategies involve moving pieces to free the most powerful piece, the Rook Carefully watch w h i c h pieces are endangered and which ones you c a n capture. It's important to establish yourself offensively and defensively from the start of the game. For example, you can capture an enemy Knight with your Cannon on the very first move. This is generally not considered a good move since the resulting loss of your Cannon is

Descriptive
C2H5 N8F7 P3Fl C8F4

Openings:
There are many different openings in Chinese Chess. Whole volumes have been dedicated to this single facet of the game. The most common opening is the "Central Cannon" opening. This consists of moving either Cannon directly behind the central Pawn. Subsequently, the Knights may be moved out to defend the central Pawn in case the opponent


Strategy
usually devastating in the opening game. However, it is important to note that you can threaten many pieces within one or two moves. T h o u g h the o p e n i n g game is important, it is not absolutely necessary to consume a vast k n o w l e d g e of o p e n i n g moves since the C h i n e s e Chess board is so much larger and more open than its western cousin. Imagination and innovation in the opening game very often results in a far superior position. the board to the other in order to keep your opponent off balance. - Capture at least one Minister and/or Guard to help you set up your final blow.
l Keep pressuring your o p p o n e n t ' s weakly protected pieces, even if they are only Pawns. l Move your Rooks out into an attacking position early, but not at the expense of your initiative.

Strategy
well defended King, since it is the only piece in the game that can `jump' over other pieces. The side with the most pieces or points does not necessarily have the advantage. Many strategies exist to win the game or at least force a draw when you are at the disadvantage. L e a r n i n g and practicing end game strategies by setting up boards with only a few pieces will greatly improve your Chinese Chess playing.

Endgame:
The end-game in Chinese Chess is not quite as complicated as conventional chess because a) the King is very limited in its mobility, and b) a stalemate is considered a victory. There are a few points to keep in mind when approaching the end-game:
l The King cannot move diagonally Therefore, a Rook can effectively limit the King to only a few moves without the risk of being captured itself. l The King cannot directly face the enemy King without another piece between them. This rule can effectively be used to contain the enemy King to a smaller area. l Make sure you have enough pieces to overcome the defenses. Otherwise, you should try to force a draw by using your offensive pieces (ones that can cross the river) in defense.

If a piece cannot be protected from an attack very easily, it is often better to use the `extra' move to advance another piece to a much better position.
l

Midgame:
Like conventional chess, there is no single "formula" for success in the midgame. There a several guidelines that may be helpful in forming your own strategy:
l Do not attack without e n o u g h reinforcements. l Try to shift your point of attack from one side of

W h e n deciding whether or not to sacrifice a piece, you must take into account how valuable that piece is at that point of the game. For instance, a Cannon is not worth as much later in the game simply because there aren't that many pieces to jump over. Knights generally tend to become stronger later in the game because they benefit from greater mobility. Also keep in mind that a Cannon is inv a l u a b l e when attacking a


Appendix A Fictional Games from History
1) Marco Polo (Red) vs. Kublai Khan (Blue), 1275 AD It is rumored that on one of his visits to China, Marco Polo engaged the great Khan in a game of Chinese Chess. Althoughneither player was a master, Kublai was the more experienced of the
two.

Appendix A
10. R2F7 11. C5F4 12. R2H5 13. N4F5 14. R2F7 15. N5F3 16. RSB4 17. RSH4 18. G6F5 19. G4F5 20. R4F5 21. K5H4 22. K4Fl 23. N4F4 24. K4Bl 25. R4B2 26. R4F3 27. R4Bl 28. R4Fl 29. R4Bl 30. resigns 2) Xi Tsung (Red) vs. Emperor Chao (Blue), 975 AD Tai Tsung is one of the early masters of the game of Chinese Chess. His strategy is unusual and worthy of observation. Un-. C5F4 N3F5 M3F5 R9Fl R9H4 R4F4 C5B2 R4H5 C5F4 G6F5 R5H3 R3F4 R3H7 R7Bl R7H5 G5B6 K5Fl K5Bl K5Fl K5Bl like many players, Tai Tsung used his Pawns as offensive spearheads for his attacks. Here is one of his rumored games against the Emperor. Notice Tai Tsung's early sacrifice of one of his Cannons for position. Then he slowly advances his Pawn along the seventh rank to secure his victory. Red 1. C8F4 2. NSF7 3. C2F5 4. N2F3 5. RlH2 6. R2F6 7. R2Fl 8. R2F2 9. M3F5 10. P7F1 11. N7F6 12. N6F7 13. M7F9 14. R9H7 15. P7Fl 16. PlFl 17. R7F3 18. N3F5 19. P7H6 Blue C8H5 N2F3 NSF7 C5H8 C8H9 P7F1 R9H8 N7B8 C9H7 c7F4 M3F5 K5F1 C7H1 R1F1 N7F6 RlH4 ClH5 R4F6 R4H5 20. G6F5 2 1 . P6Fl 2 2 . G5B6 2 3 . C7B3 2 4 . P6Fl 2 5 . C8H9 2 6 . K5H4 2 7 . P6Fl 2 8 . C9F5 2 9 . C9Fl 3 0 . P6Fl mate 3) Su Hsun (Red) vs. Tai Sung (Blue), 989 AD It is rumored that the aging master Tai Tsung put his undefeated record on the line against the poet Su Hsun. Tai Tsung as usual moves his Pawns out early, but Su Hsun reacts well to this movement. It is Su Hsun's Rooks, however, that move in for the kill to give Tai Tsung his only recorded defeat. Red 1. C8H5 2. C2F4 3. N2F3 4. N3F5 Blue N8F7 C2H5 C5F4 N2F3 R5Hl RlF2 RlH2 C2Fl N3Bl R2H4 C2F6 K5Bl C2H6 G4F5

Marco Polo's fast and furious attack on the Khan's territory is at first successful, but he sacrifices too many pieces. The end result has Marco Polo with only one offensive piece remaining and a certain victory for the Khan. Red 1. C2H5 2. N2F3 3. RlH2 4. C8F4 5. P7Fl 6. R9H8 7. C8Fl 8. C8H3 9. N3F4 Blue N2F3 C8H6 N8F7 C6F4 C2F7 C6Hl ClH7 C7B4 C7H5


Appendix A
5. C5H3 6. C3F4 7. P3Fl 8. P7Fl 9. P9Fl 10. P9Fl 11. P3Fl 12. NSF7 13. N7F5 14. NSF6 15. C3H6 16. C6H5 17. C2H4 18. P3Fl 19. C5Bl 20. C5H4 21. RlH2 22. R2F8 23. C6H5 24. C5H8 25. R9F4 26. R2H6 27. R9F5 28. K5Fl 29. K5H6 30. R9H6 mate M3F5 P3Fl N3F2 P5Fl P5Fl PlFl M5F3 PlFl M7F5 K5Fl N7F6 K5H6 C8H4 N6F4 RlF3 K6H5 RlH6 K5Bl R6H5 N4B2 M5F7 C4H7 C7F7 P5H6 C7H4 4) Dmur (Red) vs. Yung Le Ti(Blue), 1 3 9 5 AD The great general of Southeast Asia, Timur, is rumored to have avoided a conflict with the Ming Dynasty in China by chall e n g i n g the best Chinese player at the time, Yung Le `Ii, to a game of Chinese C h e s s . The winner would be allowed all of the territories in Indochina w i t h o u t interference from the loser. One can only guess at how the history of that region might be different if the outcome of this game had been different. T i m u r moves into attack position early, while Yung Le Ii establishes his defens e s . Through careful sacrifices, it is the great g e n e r a l and strategist, Timur, who comes out with a victory. Note also Timur's use of both Rooks t o achieve his checkmate. Red 1. C2H3 2. RlF2 3. N8F7 4. C3F4 5. P3Fl Blue C2H3 CSHS C3F4 P3Fl P3Fl 6. PlFl 7. R9H7 8. P3Fl 9. C8F5 10. C8Hl 11. P3H4 12. P4Fl 13. K5H4 14. P4Fl 15. C3H5 16. P4H5 17. P5Fl 18. RlH6 19. R4F6 20. R4Fl 21. R4H5 22. C5H7 23. R7F3 24. R7F2 25. R7Fl 26. R7H6 mate C3F3 NSF9 R8H8 R8F9 M7F9 R8H7 R7H6 P5Fl C5H3 P3Fl G4H5 K5Fl C3F5 K5Fl N2F3 K5H4 C3B4 C3Fl RlF2 M3F5

Appendix A
C h i n e s e Chess and one g a m e of European Chess. A f t e r soundly defeating his o p p o n e n t in the European g a m e , Morphy was quite s h o c k e d to lose the C h i n e s e game in only e l e v e n moves. M o r p h y attempts one of t h e standard openings in Chinese Chess, but his exp e r i e n c e d opponent uses it to set up the kill. Notice the power Ching `Ii has w h e n his Cannons are l i n e d up together. Morphy can move out of the way briefly, but not for long. Red 1. C8H5 2. P5Fl 3. C2F4 4. N2F3 5. C5F4 6. C2H5 7. RlH2 8. K5Fl 9. K5H4 10. N3F4 11. N4F3 Blue N8F7 C2H5 K5Fl C5F3 N7F5 C7H6 C6F4 C6H5 C5B3 C5H6 C5H6 mate

5) Morphy (Red) vs. Ching Ti (Blue), 1 8 6 0 AD T h e great American c h e s s m a s t e r , Palos Morphy, is rumored to have agreed to play the Chinese master, Ching Ti, one game of


Index
1

Index
Loading Instructions Movement Battle Chess II Menus L o a d Game S a v e Game New Game Set Up Board Quit F o r c e Move Take Back Replay S u g g e s t Move Show Layout H e l p Move Sound On/Off Music On/Off 3 D Board 2D Roman 2D Chinese Human/IBM/Modem Levels Set Time Shortcut Keys Check P l a y i n g By Modem History of Chinese Chess Basics of Chinese Chess T h e Board The Pieces The King The Counsellor The Minister The Knight T h e Rook The Cannon The Pawn Importance of the Pieces Winning the Game Drawn Games Chinese Chess Notation Strategy Openings Midgame Endgame Appendix A Fictional Games 2 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 8 10 11 13 14 14 14 15 15 16 16 17 18 20 21 22 23 23 24 25 26 26

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