Chinese chess problem

Hi! I don't know whether anyone on here is familiar with Xiangqi (Chinese chess), but, since I remember Go coming up a while back, I thought it might be worth a shot. This is a Xiangqi problem that has been bugging the hell out of me for days. The link to the solution on the website where I found it went to a 404 error. I've almost solved it twice, but blundered away my chariot both times and couldn't figure out how to take back a move in the Java app. Anyhow, if anyone can work this out, I can't tell you how much I'd appreciate your sharing the solution with me. This has been driving me nuts!

Problem - red to move.



Link to a Java app where you cant try to work it out with AI playing blue.

http://www.triplexunity.com/chinese_chess/puzzles/025.html

Thanks greatly in advance -- like I said, I'm really pulling my hair out over this one. I am almost certain that the rule against the emperor and the general facing each other needs to be taken advantage of by red, but beyond that I can't seem to get it to work out.

Never mind; I got it. Here's the solution if anyone cares.



Thanks again!

This is probably not the most efficient way, but it works. Blue will always match your rook location with a cannon, so the key is to move your emperor/general up, forcing Blue to make the first move and making you the counterer, allowing you to break through the front line.

1. K5+1
C9.6
2. R5.4
C6.7
3. R4+2
C7-1
4. R4.3
K5.6
5. R3.5
E5.7
6. P6+1
C3.5
7. R5+1
K6+1
8. R5.3
E7-9
9. R3-1
K6+1
10. R3.5
E9.7
11. P6.5
C5-2
12. R5+1
K6-1
13. R5-1
K6-1
14. R5.3
E7-5
15. R3-1
K6+1
16. R3.5
K6-1
17. R5.4
Red Won

edit: Ah you found it. I knew my way was pretty inefficient. But it's more destructive, and fun :)

Thank you so much! I had strongly suspected that "my" way was not the only possible solution, but at that point I'd spent so much time on it that I was just glad to get an answer that worked at all. And like I noted, I had been guessing that using the emperor to force the general's moves might come into play (although it didn't in mine). I'll also agree that your way is a lot more fun than mine. :)

After r5=6, why does blue respond with c9=6 instead of c3=4? Shouldn't the AI be blocking your rook every move until you somehow absolutely force it to play otherwise?

Quote: gog

After r5=6, why does blue respond with c9=6 instead of c3=4? Shouldn't the AI be blocking your rook every move until you somehow absolutely force it to play otherwise?

That's an excellent question. The blue cannon at 3=9 would have kept me from eating the cannon at 3=4 with my chariot. I'm actually puzzled by what c9=6 was supposed to be at all, unless the AI is worried that I'm going to try to exploit the line-of-sight rule for the emperor and general and wants to prevent that first and foremost. But the move that you suggest would have had the same effect for the other end of the palace and would have blocked my chariot at the same time, which, as you correctly note, the AI should be doing constantly, or at least until it runs into the perpetual chase rule.

Thanks!

Is that game harder than Chinese checkers ? Just curious.

I don't know if you can really compare the two. It is very similar to Western ("regular") chess, especially what I've read about chess prior to the 15th century. So sort of a proto-chess. Since it's got different types of pieces whose moves need to be memorized, and special rules for different parts of the board that have to be learned, it's probably slightly harder to pick up than Chinese checkers would be. If you already know how to play chess, it shouldn't be very difficult at all, though. Personally, I prefer Xiangqi to chess, and feel like it's a more tactical and faster-moving game (JMO).

You don't have to use pieces with Chinese words on them if you don't want to learn the sinograms. You can get pieces with pictures on them instead, or pieces that are figurines of what they represent. (Actual Western chess pieces with one extra added are also an option, but l've always imagined that this would be very confusing since most of them move differently than their nearest Western counterparts.) The ones with the Chinese words on them (as here) are far and away the most common, though.

For whatever it's worth, Chinese checkers was invented in Germany as a star-shaped variant of the earlier American game Halma.

Are you sure it was invented in Germany? I mean next you will be telling me Charles Chan was a white man !

heather,

The inventor of Break Poker claims its a poker card version of Chinese Mahjong - aka Mahjong Poker. Check this out eTable Games. Wizard has a posting on Break Poker. Do you agree?

Quote: buzzpaff

Are you sure it was invented in Germany? I mean next you will be telling me Charles Chan was a white man !

Stanford Wong is a very white man.

Well you have me stumped, I see no way to get around the cannons perpetually blocking your rook's advance on either side. All I can work out is that you can force blue's cannon to clear the 4th column with r5=3,c9=7,k5=6,c3=4, followed by any 'stall' move (eg k6+1). This lets your king align with the pawn to advance, but doesn't seem to lead to a win. And now my work day is just a little bit less productive.