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Flexible Palace and Flexible River Xiang Qi

Setup

Same as Xiang Qi, but you should play on a board without markings for Palaces and the River.

Pieces

Same as Xiang Qi.

Rules

Same as Xiang Qi, except:

The Palace is defined as the smallest bounding rectangle, with sides along orthogonals, of the Advisors and General. The General cannot leave what the Palace's boundaries are at the start of the move, though Advisors can. A General without Advisors is immobile, bar the facing Generals rule. You can think of the Advisors as the pillars that hold the Palace. A General may not face the other horizontally as well as vertically.

The River for each side is defined as the smallest bounding rectangle, with sides along the orthogonals, of the Elephants and Soldiers. The Soldiers promote when they cross the opponent's River. This can create what I call, "The Elephant Gambit", wherein you allow your opponent to capture one of your Elephants, so that he may not promote his Soldiers as easily. It also allows you to use your Elephants very effectively in sacrifices.

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By John Smith.
Web page created: 2008-12-14. Web page last updated: 2008-12-14