Changgi

Each player's horse and elephant pieces are interchangeable in their initial positions.

Alternate Names

Janggi, Korean Chess, Jangki

No. of Players

Two

Equipment

A Changgi board and a set of Changgi pieces are required for play. One player's Changgi pieces are usually blue or green in color while his or her opponent's are red. Cho and Han. I use blue pieces here for Cho or Han

History

Changgi is derived from or closely related to the Chinese version of Chess, or Xiang Qi.

Objective

The game is won by checkmating the opposing General.

Play

In tournaments, the elder player, or higher ranked player, conceals a soldier from each side in their hands. The opponent selects a hand to determine their color. After that, Han places their pieces first, followed by Cho placing theirs. (The reason both sides are not placed simultaneously is because the positions of horse and elephant can be transposed, giving some strategical advantage to the player who places last.)

After the pieces are set up, Cho moves first.

In tournaments, the elder player, or higher ranked player, conceals a soldier from each side in their hands. The opponent selects a hand to determine their color. After that, Han places their pieces first, followed by Cho placing theirs. (The reason both sides are not placed simultaneously is because the positions of horse and elephant can be transposed, giving some strategical advantage to the player who places last.) After the pieces are set up, Cho moves first.

Strategy

Variations

Sanjangjanggi (三將象棋, 산장장기) is an janggi variant with an unusual rule. In sanjangjanggi, the king can escape check only by capturing the checking piece with the king in the next turn. Thus, double check is an automatic loss for the side with the checked king since the king cannot capture both checking pieces in a single move.

Gwangsanghui is an an 18th-century Janggi variant

Sources

  1. Gollon, John. Chess Variations: Ancient, Regional, and Modern. Charles E. Tuttle Co.: Publishers, 1968.

  2. Parlett, David. The Oxford History of Board Games. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999

  3. Pritchard, D.B. The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants. Completed, edited, and published by John Beasley, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9555168-0-1

  4. The pieces shown in diagrams are modified from the Wikimedia file at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Janggi.svg and the original uploader was Yeo123 at ko.wikipedia

  5. Janggi at Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janggi

  6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janggi_variants

  7. https://librewiki.net/wiki/%ED%8C%8C%EC%9D%BC:Gwangsanghui.png