| Chinese Chess, or xiangqi, is perhaps the most
popular board game in the world, played by millions of people
in China, other parts of Asia, and wherever Chinese have settled.
In recent years it has started to become better known among
non-Chinese. Westernized sets of boards and pieces sometimes
show up in specialty games shops, and there have been several
computer versions. But this wonderful game is still not as well
known as it deserves to be.
For sheer fun, it's hard to think of a two-player board game
that matches Chinese chess. It exercises the brain in much
the same way as Western (international) chess, but it is much
faster moving. The movement of the pieces tends to be more
fluid, the positions more open. It might be said that Chinese
chess is more a tactical game than a strategic one. In a sense,
it is all "middle game." There is no careful buildup
of pawn structures, the major pieces come into play immediately,
and drawn-out endgames are rare. Although the openings have
been classified, my sense (as a pure amateur) is that it is
possible to become a good player without a lot of rote learning.
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