TABLE HEPTATHLON
Janggi
The Rules
The game of Janggi is said to have evolved from Chinese Xiangqi. That would account for the similarities in the board layout and the pieces.
Nevertheless, Janggi has its very own character and its many differences with Xiangqi accord it a completely separate identity.
The board is similar to Xiangqi's, featuring palaces on both sides, but there is no river, so pieces like elephants and soldiers do not change their behaviour based on the camp they are sitting on.
The pieces are not rounded, but octagonal, and characteristically change sizes according to their value, being the General the largest octagon in each army.
The two armies are, traditionally, blue and red.
The red player initiates the game by chosing the arrangement of his horses and elephants, with four legal configurations available. On his turn, the blue player choses likewise the configuration of his forces.
The blue player makes the first move.
Both players have 4 piece setups to choose from (any setup can be chosen, regardless of the opponent's):
One remarkable trait of Janggi is that there is no stalemate, because any player can pass his move at any given time, just by flipping his King.
If both players forfeit their move one right after the other, it's considered that a draw offer has been accepted and a count must take place to determine the winner, where the value of each player's remaining pieces must be established.
For this purpose, as for bikjang (explained below), the values of each piece are as follows: Chariot: 13 points; Cannon: 7 points; Horse: 5 points; Advisor & Elephant: 3 points and each Pawn: 2 points. Additionally, Red (Han) gets 1,5 extra points for not having the initial move, so that no draws can ever happen.
The Pieces
The General & Advisors
The General or King is similar to the analogue piece in Xiangqi, with his movements restricted to interior of the palace.
His starting position is one step ahead, though, and has the ability to move diagonally, like the advisors.
There's also a special rule concerning facing generals (forbidden in Xiangqi). When a King faces the other King, this causes "bikjang". The next player must then move his king out of the way or else the game is ended.
Once the game ends by bikjang, it's declared a draw in informal contexts. But according to tournament rules, draws by bikjang are not allowed, and so, the value of the remaining pieces on the board must be counted.
The following points are added per each player's remaining piece: Chariot: 13 points; Cannon: 7 points; Horse: 5 points; Advisor & Elephant: 3 points and each Pawn: 2 points. Furthermore, Red (Han) gets 1,5 extra points for not having the initial move, so that no draws can ever happen.
When bikjang and check happen at the same time, bikjang always takes priority.
The Advisor has the exact same motions and captures as the General, and is also constrained to move inside the palace. This means that, besides the diagonal motion from Xiangqi, it has an orthogonal one as well.
The Chariot
As in Xiangqi, the Chariot is the strongest piece on the board, and characteristically moves up and down the board, as well as sideways, an unlimited number of steps if not blocked by another piece, capturing on the landing point.
Moreover, the Janggi Chariot has an additional motion inside both palaces, where it can reach along the diagonals.
The Cannon
The second most important piece in Janggi is doubtless the Cannon, and its moves are significantly different from its Xiangqi counterpart.
Just like the Chariot, it moves orthogonally an unrestricted number of points and also diagonally inside the palace.
But a major difference with the Chariot is that it needs a 'screen' in the form of another piece to jump over when it moves or captures.
In the above diagram, the different potential moves for cannons red ad blue are depicted.
One additional rule for cannons is that they can't either jump or capture another cannon. This rule makes them a valuable defensive piece as well as offensive.
Compared to the Xiangqi Cannon, Jianggi's is relatively more powerful.
The Horse
The Horse in Janggi is identical in moves and captures to its Xiangqi counterpart.
This means that its movement is the combination of one step orthogonally and one diagonally, and that it can be blocked by any piece standing in its way (on the step it needs to cross after the orthogonal motion and before the diagonal one).
It captures on the landing spot.
In the picture above, three different horses are depicted, each partially blocked by an adjacent piece.
The Elephant
The Elephant is a completely different piece from Xiangqi.
In Jianggi, the Elephant is something like a long range Horse, capable of covering much ground in one move, but also rather difficult to manuever.
Its movement is the combination of one step orthogonally and two diagonally, and this means that it can be blocked on two different spots for each potential landing point: on the first point it crosses after the orthogonal part of its motion and on the spot it crosses after the first and before the second diagonal motion.
It captures on the landing point.
On the other hand, the Xiangqi river being non-existent in Janggi, Elephants can cover the whole board in their evolutions. They're not restricted to their own camp.
The Pawn
Pawns or Soldiers move in Janggi like Pawns that have crossed the river in Xiangqi.
This means they can move and capture one step forward or sideways. They can't go backwards.
This ability to move sideways from the start of the game allows for defensive pawn structures which are not possible in Xiangqi, as well as line-opening moves for the heavy pieces.
When a pawn reaches the opponent's palace, it can move and capture along the diagonals, just like the Generals and Advisors.
Winning the game
Both players' goal is to checkmate the opponent's General. This ends the game in their favour (except when bikjang takes precedence).
We have seen as well that bikjang and the circunstance when the two players mutually pass their turn, both end the game and force the winner to be established by counting the remaining pieces on the board.
Furthermore, repeating moves is not allowed, and the player 'chasing' is to be considered the loser of the game.
Under these tournament rules, no draws can be achieved.
