Manchu chess
(
), also known as Yitong or Yitong chess (), is a
variant of xiangqi. It was created during the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
by the
Bannermen and was one of the most popular
board game
A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...
s among them.
Rules
Black's pieces are set up and move the same as in
xiangqi
Xiangqi (; ), commonly known as Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a Strategy game, strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. Xiangqi is in the same family of games as shogi, janggi, chess, Western ches ...
, but horses, cannons, and one of the chariots are absent for Red.
The remaining chariot has the combined powers of the chariot, horse, and cannon.
Although Black appears to have the advantage, the lethality of the red chariot can easily lead to a losing endgame if Black does not play cautiously.
The red chariot is believed to be the representation of
Solon soldiers who were brave and battle-hardened during the
Manchu conquest of China
The transition from Ming to Qing (or simply the Ming-Qing transition) or the Manchu conquest of China from 1618 to 1683 saw the transition between two major Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasties in Chinese history. It was a decades-long conf ...
.
See also
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List of Xiangqi variants
*
Maharajah and the Sepoys
Citations
References
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{{Chess variants, state=collapsed
Abstract strategy games
Xiangqi variants
Traditional board games
Chess variants
Manchu culture