3 ms·
In Chinese chess, the horse behaves like the knight in western chess except that (a) it cannot jump over pieces, and (b) the definition of jumping over is that
by dheera 3y ago
In Chinese chess, the horse behaves like the knight in western chess except that (a) it cannot jump over pieces, and (b) the definition of jumping over is that it first move horizontally/vertically 1 step and then diagonally 1 step. It cannot first move diagonally.
This also leads to situations where two knights can be positioned amongst other pieces such that one knight is able to capture the other but not vice versa.
- zelphirkalt 3y agoMost people think of the knight move as one straight and then one diagonal. However, this is still ambiguous. Imagine one up, then one down left for example, resulting in the square left to the original square. A better description is moving 2 squares straight, not diagonal, into one direction, then moving 1 square into a 90° turned direction.
- tmtvl 3y agoForward two steps and the knight falls off his horse.
- paulddraper 3y agoMost people think of the knight moving 2 and then 1.
- zelphirkalt 3y agoChess players do, yet experience of basically any non-player I have ever heard describing it as "one straight, one diagonal" tells me otherwise. Also "moving two and then one" is ambiguous and would allow moving 3 squares into the same direction.
- basscomm 3y agoI was taught that a knight moves by going to the opposite corner of a 3x2 rectangle
- dheera 3y agoBoth western and Chinese chess knights move to the opposite corner of a 3x2 rectangle. However in western chess, it doesn't matter what pieces are in the other 4 locations of the 3x2 rectangle. In Chinese chess, you can only move from A to B if X is unoccupied. The locations marked "-" don't matter if they are occupied or not. A X - - - B A - X - - B - - B A X - - A - X B - etc. Of course, all the other pieces have their own rules as well, so it's a significantly different game. There is no queen, the elephant is sort of like a bishop but must move 2 squares at a time, the cannon moves horizontally and vertically but cannot kill without having exactly one (not zero) piece in-between, the "guards" and king all cannot leave the king's palace which is a 3x3 box, the pawns can move sideways after they cross the river in the middle of the board, etc. Come to think of it the only piece that has the exact same rules are the 2 "chariots" which are positioned in the same place as western rooks and function exactly like western rooks.
- tempestn 3y agoBut in Chinese chess, if the knight can't pass other pieces, thinking of it that way would be a rule change.
- thrdbndndn 3y agoBut you can do the same unambiguously if you are going to involve angles. "Move one straight and then move one diagonal into a 135° turned direction."