#janggi

(The following article outlines a fictional variety of chess created for the constructed world of Rangya)

Canggi (将 棋, Yenmun: 장끼) is the traditional variety of chess native to the Kingdom of Rangya. Chess forms were first brought to Rangya when Rangya had contact with Japan, and later perfected when Rangya traded with China and Korea. Heian Shogi (平安将棋) was introduced to Rangya first and for a while was enjoyed by locals along with Korean janggi and Chinese xiangqi. Some time later, some proposed merging the 3 forms of chess to create a unique variety, which has since spread.

Canggi is played on a board of 9 by 9. There are 3 special areas on the board:

The areas highlighted in red are the palaces (宮, jul), marked by the 4 dots on the board, known as stars (星, ami). It serves as the promotional zone for most pieces. The vertical strip in the middle is called the river (川, ruru), and affects the pawns. Even though no lines run between the 2 banks of the river, the river strip is still counted as having separate squares and not one big square.

Due to characters like 車 (and that in the ancient times, pieces were only written with black ink), it is hard to tell which side has the piece. Therefore, pieces are pentagon-shaped, pointing towards the opponent, so that one could easily tell which pieces belong to who. The pieces also vary in size, with the smallest being the pawns, the biggest being the rooks, knights, and cannons. The guards and elephants are medium-sized.

As Heian Shogi had no drops (Japanese: 打つ), canggi does not either.

The pawn (兵, peng) moves and captures one space forward. If it has crossed the river, it gains the ability to move one space sideways. If on the river, since it has not yet crossed it, it moves only one space forward. If a pawn enters the opposing palace, it promotes to a guard (士). Promoted pieces stay promoted throughout the rest of the game and aren’t demoted. Promotions are not mandatory.

The rook (車, chya, “chariot”) moves orthogonally as many spaces as desired, like a Western chess rook. If it enters the opposing palace, it promotes to a dragon (龍, rong), which gains the ability to move one space diagonally. The dragon was borrowed from the later Dai Shogi (大将棋), as it did not exist in Heian Shogi.

The knight (馬, ma, “horse”) moves the same as the Western chess knight. It is a result of merging the Chinese/Korean knights (who cannot jump) with the ability to jump over pieces from Japanese shogi. The promoted knight, the foal, (駒, kyu, “young but strong horse”) moves like a knight and a general. While the foal is an original piece from Rangya, the name of the piece is adopted from the word for a chess piece in Japanese (駒, Japanese: koma).

The minister (相, sang) moves 2 spaces diagonally. Like the knight, it is allowed to jump over pieces. Note that the 2 ministers protect the central pawn in the starting positions and are able to attack the opposing palace. Unlike xiangqi, elephants may cross the river (from Korean janggi). The promoted minister, the elephant (象, zang), moves as a (3,2) or (2,3) leaper (e.g. like the fairy chess piece zebra), jumping over any intervening pieces. Note that the minister could actually only reach 12 squares on the entire board. After promotion, the elephant is able to reach any square on the board, though due to awkwardness in movement, players may choose not to promote it, as promotion is not mandatory. The move of the elephant is adapted from Korean chess.

The guard (士, ji) and the general (将, cang, stylized 將 on canggi pieces) move 1 space orthogonally or diagonally. Neither of the pieces promote. Unlike the Chinese and Korean generals and guards, they are not confined to the palaces. In the early days of Rangya canggi, the guards had a more limited movement and both them and the generals were confined to the palace, but it was quickly realized that it did not make for a balanced game considering the powers of the other pieces, so this rule that they were confined was lifted.

The arrow (矢, si) has a similar move to the Korean cannon: it moves in an orthogonal line, jumping over the first piece on the line (friend or foe) and can land on any number of spaces beyond until it reaches another piece. If that other piece is an enemy piece, the arrow may capture it. If the other piece is a friendly piece, the arrow must stop before that space. The arrow is not allowed to jump over another arrow (to prevent capture of the opposing knight on the first move), though it may capture another arrow.

The promoted arrow, the cannon (炮, pho), moves like the Chinese cannon: when not capturing, it moves as a rook; to make a capture, it jumps over the first piece in line (the screen) and captures the second piece in the line, provided that it is an enemy piece. It is allowed to jump over another arrow or cannon in making the capture.

Some terms:

Check: 将軍 (cangkun)

Checkmate: 将 擒 (canggim)

A canggi move: 手 (ka)

Fourfold repetition: 輪回手 (runhwaisyu)/삼사라手 (samsarasyu, from Sanskrit संसार, saṃsāra)

Perpetual check (fourfold repetition caused by consecutive checks): 連續将軍두輪回手 (renzok cangkun tu runhwaisyu)

Screen (the piece that the arrow/cannon jumps over): 臺 (dai) [Note: 臺 is specifically the word for the cannon’s screen but it’s also used to collectively refer to both. For the arrow’s screen specifically, the word 弓 (nan) is used]

The game ends when a player is checkmated, has resigned, or a draw has been agreed. A game is drawn when there is fourfold repetition or when both players agree that it is no longer possible to mate each other’s general. The exception to fourfold repetition is that it is against the rules to cause such a repetition through consecutive checks.

By Chaturaji

So, what is this game? well, as you can imagine, it was once the game of kings and still is, and even featured in the most epic out of Ancient India - Mahabharata

This is Chaturanga that would go to be the ancestor in some forms of: Chinese GO, Japanese Shogi, the Korean Janggi, - famously in Perisa it was adopted as chatrang or Shatranj during the Sassanian empire's time. And many more.

Other games you might be familiar with out of old India? Leela, also to mean divine play, very important in the culture and our stories.

But what did it inspire, oh well it was a game about moral values and you use a dice and…you know, you can move laterally or linearly across the board via snakes and ladders and…oh.

:) This is why btw you see boardgames and other mediums too featured in Tales of Tremaine and they're so important. :)

Janggi (including romanizations changgi and jangki), sometimes called Korean chess, is a strategy board game popular in Korea. The game derived from xiangqi (Chinese chess) and is very similar to it, including the starting position of the pieces, and the 9×10 gameboard, but without the xiangqi "river" dividing the board horizontally in the middle.

Janggi is played on a board nine lines wide by ten lines long. The game is sometimes fast paced due to the jumping cannons and the long-range elephants, but professional games most often last over 150 moves and so are typically slower than those of Western chess.