Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Roch]

[CentralCali]

Korean Chess is not Chinese Chess. They are different games, although they are similar.

A few similarities:

• Played with flat pieces whose identity is indicated by Chinese charachters.
  
• Played on a 9 by 10 board.
  
• Pieces are placed on the intersections of the lines, not the spaces.
  
• Each side has a fortress which the main piece and two advisors cannot leave.
  
• The board has an area, referred to as a river, that bars movement of the Elephants across that area and also changes the movement abilities of the pawns.
  

A few differences:

• Pawns in Korean Chess can move sideways from the first move.
  
• The Elephants have a different move in Korean Chess than they do in Chinese Chess.
  
• The Cannons in Korean Chess can neither jump over nor capture another Cannon, as Chinese Chess Cannons do.
  
• The Korean Chess Cannon must jump over another piece to move or capture. The Chinese Chess Cannon can only jump when capturing; otherwise, it moves as the Rook.
  
• The Rook, Cannon, and Pawn in Korean Chess may move along the diagonal lines in the Fortress. That is not the case in Chinese Chess.
  
• There are some differences in the two games relating to "Facing Kings" as well as how to determine stalemate.

Here are two good links about both games:

Korean Chess/Janggi/장기
Chinese Chess/Elephant Chess/Xiangqi/象棋

I've had no problem finding Koreans to play me in Korean Chess. Well, two guys won't play me anymore because I'm good (I learned in Junior High back in Virginia).

Baduk is known as Go in English, as I-go in Japanese, and as Wei-Qi in Chinese. The rules of the game are very easy to learn; however, the strategy of the game is quite complex. I'm not good at this one, but I don't stink either. Go has an excellent handicapping system that makes it possible to have a challenging game for both players when there's a wide difference in ability.

A note about the links above: A couple of the applet links on those sites do not account for all the rules in Korean Chess. I have a freeware program that does, but it may be too large to e-mail. The good thing about the file is that it's in English. Oh, it also permits you to use the traditional character set for the pieces or to have a pictorial representation for the pieces (less confusing if you can't read Chinese characters). If you're interested, send me a PM with your e-mail address and I'll try to send it to you.

I also have an excellent freeware program for playing Chinese Chess. This program has two language options: Vietnamese or English (the Vietnamese play Chinese Chess).

As you've probably guessed, I play all the games mentioned above, as well as FIDE rules Chess and also Japanese Chess (Shogi). Contact me when you get over here, KoreanAmbition, and I'll get you up to snuff on the local Janggi scene.