The History of Chess. H. J. R. Murray
on a board of 100 squares or 121 points. There is no clear statement as to whether the game was played on the squares or on the points, but the fact that there were only 6 Pawns points to the latter as alone affording a symmetrical arrangement. The total number of men on the two sides was 32, and the names of the men were identical with the existing men in the present game. Assuming that the arrangement of the men was symmetrical at the outset, the 16 men on each side would be composed of 6 Pawns, 2 Chariots, 2 Horses, 2 Elephants, and 2 Cannon, General, and Counsellor. Himly’s 17 reconstruction of the array is shown in the diagram on. The information as to the moves of the men is incomplete, but points to moves intermediate between the existing Chinese and Japanese games. The General and Horse appear to possess the Chinese moves, the Pawn and Chariot the Japanese moves. We have no information as to the other pieces.
If Himly’s reconstruction is correct, the game shows a remarkable approximation to the Arabic and Persian decimal chess.18
For the modern Chinese game which is played in China proper, in Annam, in Siam, and possibly also in parts of the Malay Archipelago, we are fortunate in possessing an abundance of reliable evidence. The first knowledge of the game was brought—together with actual game-sets—to Europe by the early Jesuit missionaries in the latter part of the 16th c. Since then there have been a number of records,19 the most valuable being the Manual of Chinese Chess (Shanghai, 1893), which Mr. W. H. Wilkinson, a most careful observer and student of Oriental games, based upon The Secrets of the Orange Grove, a Chinese work dating from 1632, and still a standard book on the game.
Chinese Chess (Culin).
The Chinese chessboard consists of two halves of 8 × 4 squares which are separated by a space, the width of one square, and generally left blank, which is variously called kyai-ho (= boundary river), hwang-ho (= yellow river), and t‘ien-ho (= celestial river, the Milky Way), and commonly by English writers the ‘river’. As for all practical purposes the river is merely an additional row of squares, the board is practically one of 8 × 9 squares. Four squares in the centre of the two opposite ends of the board, viz. two on the outer row and the two on the second row immediately before them, are considered as forming special areas, and the diagonals of these areas are drawn for the purpose of defining them, and the resulting square of nine points is called kyu-kung or the ‘nine castle’. Western writers have wavered between the terms ‘palace’ (Culin), ‘camp’ (Wilkinson), and ‘fort’ (Cox). The squares are not coloured, and the board is generally made of paper and destroyed at the end of the game. The pieces are placed upon the intersections of the lines instead of on the squares as in most varieties of chess, so that the board becomes one of 9 × 10, or 90 stations. The chessmen consist of circular disks of wood, ivory, or other convenient material, all alike in pattern, size, and colour. The names of the several pieces are inscribed upon the upper face of the disk, in two colours generally described as red and black, but in ivory sets the black is really blue, while in wooden sets yellow replaces red, and brown black. The favourite colour is red, the choice of which abandons the right to play first: ‘he who takes the red does not take the first move.’
The names and power of move of the Chinese pieces20 are exhibited in the following table:
I. PIECES CONFINED TO THE NINE-CASTLE.
II. PIECES CONFINED TO THEIR OWN HALF OF THE BOARD.
III. PIECES FREE TO MOVE OVER THE WHOLE BOARD.
Every piece takes as it moves with the exception of the Cannon. It may perhaps make the power of this piece clearer if its power at the commencement of the game be examined. The Cannon on b3 can move without taking as far as b7 forwards, b2 backwards, as far as g3 and a3 laterally, just as if it were a Rook or Chariot. It can also capture the Kt on b10 which is ‘screened’ by the Cannon on b8. The capture is effected by removing the Kt on b10, and placing the Cannon on that square. Any piece, red or black, can act as ‘screen’.
A General is in check (siang), (1) when it is under attack by any piece, and could—but for its immunity from capture—have been taken on the following move if nothing were done to remove the attack; (2) when the two Generals face one another upon the same file with no intervening men. When check is given (1) the attacking piece must be taken, or (2) the General must move out of check, or (3) the check must be covered. If none of these can be done, the General is defeated, szĕ (= dead) or tsao liao (= in Pekin, destroyed) being the technical term. A check can always be covered, in the case of the Kt by interposing a piece at the ‘angle’ of its move; in the case of the Cannon either by interposing a second piece or by removing’ the ‘screen’ behind which the Cannon is attacking. The greater possibilities permitted by the variety of checks that can be covered or discovered lead to such complicated checks as triple and quadruple check.
Either player can give triple check. Red by Kt c9 or g9, Black by Rf2.
Red gives quadruple check by Re9.
Multiple Checks in Chinese Chess.
The game is won either by checkmate or by stalemate. A player must not give perpetual check; in such a case he must vary his move.
At the present time the knowledge of chess is very widely spread through China, but the game is hardly held in the same esteem as in Europe. The more educated classes prefer Wei-k‘i, which is considered to be a far more difficult game, and skill at Wei-k‘i is highly appreciated and adds greatly to the reputation of its possessor. But chess is the game of the masses, and is used more as a means of passing away the time than as a serious mental exercise. A small stake is generally played for, the Chinese being a born gambler.24 At several points of the walls of Pekin inscribed chessboards may be found on the top of the ramparts, which have been carved by the soldiers who guarded the walls.25 Idlers and even beggars may be seen playing chess in the streets of any Chinese town, and the average standard of play remains low. The practical game is less popular than the study of problems, and while works on the latter abound, only a few treatises appear to be in existence which deal with the openings, or the game as a whole. A knowledge of chess problems is a valuable source of income to a gambler. The majority of these are constructed so that the one player is apparently on the point of being mated, but can, with the move, by a long series of checks obtain the victory.26 ‘There are few towns in China’, writes Mr. Wilkinson, ‘where the professional player is not prepared to set up an end game on the board, give you choice of men, and beat you for a wager.’27 On the preceding page I give two problems as specimens of the Chinese art.
Chinese Chess Problems.
Nevertheless the Chinese have in the past paid some attention to the theory of the Openings, though it is perhaps significant of the want of popularity of the game among the more educated classes that Mr. Wilkinson found that a book published nearly 300 years ago was still the standard Chinese work on the Openings. Before the appearance of the Manual of Chinese Chess only the barest indications as to the best or most usual methods of play had reached Europe.28 We now possess a collection of 33 games