How To Play

First, you should know how the board works. There is a line in the middle which represents the river. All the board pieces can cross the river except the elephants, they must stay on their side of the river. Then there are two squares on both sides of the board which are called the palaces. Both the Generals and Advisors have to stay inside the palace which they can move inside of it. The General must stay inside the palace but can only move one space orthogonally. The black and red generals that be facing each other but only if there is one of the board pieces in between them. The advisors can only move diagonally inside of the palace. The Chariots are similar to the rooks in chess, they can only move in a straight line horizontally or vertically across any number of empty spaces. The Horses can only move one space orthogonally and by one more space diagonally outward. The horses cannot leap over other pieces. In Chinese Chess, the elephants cannot cross over the river that's in the middle of the board, but they can move two spaces in the same diagonal direction. The elephants also cannot leap over other objects. Next are the cannons. The cannons are located in the front of the other board pieces with the pawns. They have two ways to move which are to capture and to pass. The cannons can capture by hopping over a second piece in order to capture a third piece. They can only capture when they are hopping and they only hop when capturing and can only hop over one piece. Lastly, are the pawns or others call them soldiers. They are the ones in front of all the other board pieces from their same color. There job is to protect their pieces which is why they call them soldiers. The solders or pawns, move only one space vertically forward like the ones in chess. They get the additional ability to move one space sideways when they have crossed the river. The pawn's capture move and passive move are always the same which it can't get a double move and can't promote another piece on the last rank. When the pawn can't move any longer, the pawn on the last rank can only move right or left on the board. Also, when playing Chinese chess the red side always start first than the black.