3 ms·

I was taught that a knight moves by going to the opposite corner of a 3x2 rectangle

• dheera 3y ago
  Both 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.