Aftershock
Cannon-fire (Cannon-fire) is a short book by Shaye-Alexander Ellis Nicholls of Merridonia
© SAE Nicholls 2019-2020
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From A Chess Set
‘It seems the Cannon was probably not part of the original game of Chinese chess and may not have been added to the game for some centuries – opinions vary widely though as to what century*.....but whatever, the move of the Cannon (and the Horse) make possible several situations that do not occur in Western chess’
One source however gives the person as well as a date
From Chinese Chess by H.T. Lau, 1985
‘It was reported that in 839 the prime minister of the Tang dynasty added two extra pieces called cannons to the game.’
And the impact on the game:
From Hsiang Ch’i by Terence Donnelly, 1974
‘…..the Cannon is the most intriguing and exiting feature of Hsiang Ch’i. Its potential strength is enormous, but at the same time it is very vulnerable…..’
*For example; according to The Oxford Companion to Chess the piece was a 13th century invention – compare this to the date from Chinese Chess above.
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Cannon-fire
(Cannon-fire)
By SAE Nicholls
Contents
Phantom chess, Plateau chess and Stepladder tournaments
Two-piece Pin, Triple Check and Quadruple-check with Checkmate
Opening shots and The Quickfire gambit.....and Statistics
Phantom chess, Plateau chess and Stepladder tournaments
Phantom chess
Before Cannons were added to Chinese chess the game was, it is generally agreed, played for centuries - though as noted the exact number of these has considerably varying opinions…..and at first it might be assumed that if the Cannons are simply removed from the board and nothing else changed this would be the form of the game as played…..but this form does not offer much scope to bring about a win against an equally strong opponent, or perhaps against any strong opponent though it may be a useful way for beginners to learn something of Chinese chess proper…..But was this the form of the game played for centuries prior to Chinese chess – a proto chess…..or is it a phantom, and was there another and unknown game that held players interest over these centuries…..and could it do so again…..
…..Weight of opinion is that Chinese chess derived from Indian chess, as did Arabian chess and the later Western chess – all Chess in fact, and the lines of movement of the games’ travels can clearly be seen on a map…..
…..only Korean chess and perhaps Japanese chess would appear to be later derived from Chinese chess…..the line of the game’s travels to here from India crosses over the Himalayan Plateau, as can be clearly seen on a map…..
…..Indian chess, as with Arabian and Western chess, commences with the Soldiers placed on all the squares along the second ranks…..
…..If Soldiers are placed on all the intersections (squares equivalent) of the fourth ranks the Cannons can immediately reduce the nine Soldiers back to the five as they are placed in Chinese chess…..
…..would Cannons be exchanged for Chinese chess Horses immediately if they could leap as do Indian chess Horses…..perhaps they would, and this would immediately give a probably reasonably even-chanced dynamic to the game (this could be tried out – but also see Opening shots later and the point there regarding Chariots), but then Chinese chess has more representational features than Western chess and what if there are good reasons for its Horses not being able to leap – the terrain he is in perhaps, the type of Horse he is maybe…..who knows…..
Plateau chess
…..it is hoped that players of Go as well as Chess will find the game to be of interest…..
…..the game can be called simply Plateau
Pieces
…..at the moment the only changes to Chinese chess envisaged are as follows
1. There are no Cannons
2. The Soldiers commence as set out in Level categories below
3. The Generals, in contrast to Chinese chess, may face each other along an otherwise (between them) open file – see the representational point below
4. At the moment there is no change to the Horses, but if changing them to be able to leap is beneficial then this may be done
5. It may be that Soldiers further promote (from Leading soldiers – see below) to Soldiers-in-Command upon reaching their end rank – they would have the powers of an Adjacent as described in LancerChess, and he has the ability here to force Checkmate on his own with only Generals on the board*…..but this further promotion is TBD – but see the asterisked note
Some piece names may change, but at the moment they are as below
Generals may still be called Generals
Chariots may be called Warlords
Horses are still called Horses – they are manned and very sure of foot
Soldiers are still called Soldiers
Promoted soldiers are called Leading soldiers
Elephants are called Defenders
Guards are called Shieldsmen and (representational) they wield swords as well as shields
Players may be called Emperors
Fortresses are Military encampments
Other matters like 3D pieces, draws, playing on squares etc. are set out in QiPlacements and elsewhere, and Plateau would accord with this, though first move may have further adjustments TBD – some points regarding this are however made here and there in the following
The basic board colouring scheme etc. is TBD – but see below
Stand-alone scoring is TBD - but would not be less than RiverQi
The above should be sufficient for the game to be commenced playing and trying out, while decisions on items TBD can be made at a later time.
*For example, if the Generals are on their commencing squares and the southern Soldier-in-Command is on square g10 and is to move: 1. Soldier-in-Command f9 check, General d10 (the only move) 2. Soldier-in-Command e9 Checkmate…..one point that is in favour of a further promotion to this piece is that there is less in the way of attacking piece power in Plateau than Chinese chess and the game is likely to be more about the play of the Soldiers – perhaps much more, and a possibly decisive promotion of a Soldier would be a logical culmination to this aspect of play.
Representational
The river of Chinese chess is replaced by a great plateau, though it has no effect as the river in Chinese chess has no effect - except that it has influence on the players’ clocks as below…..
Though movement is slow over the high plateau it is unimpeded – players may make their moves quickly of course, but in representational terms the movement of the piece would take some time and to correspond with this players may each have a fixed reserve on a separate clock*1
Warlords may be on rare and specially trained Horses that are exceptionally well adapted to the terrain – these Horses are faster than the other Horses but are not so agile at sideways movement
…..the two Generals do not have a talismanic Rod (Sceptre) in Plateau – these would not work in any case with the wall of rock between their realms…..see QiPlacements for the representational aspects of Sceptres
…..the two sides may consist of a number of Provinces north and south of the Plateau that are ruled over by Emperors – as well as being called the Northern and Southern Provinces and Emperors they may be given names, as may the Plateau, but these are TBD…..but see next
…..a possibility for the naming of sides is that the first-moving south side (who would probably carry any further-away handicap – see Level categories later) are called the Snow-lepan*2 Provinces (as is their Emperor etc.) and the north side Provinces etc. are called the Qsiang-ze (pronounced as, with English comparisons, zighantze - where zigh is as in high with a z, and ze is as in a slightly shorter see with a z)…..the Snow-lepan army and encampment might have a colouring scheme along the lines of Snow-leopard markings whilst the Qsiang-ze army and encampment might be predominantly of a yellow hue…..the Plateau might be called the Awning of the World – it is the world’s highest plateau but is likely to be predominantly of a green hue
…..the background story may be that the Emperors both seek to obtain control of the Plateau – holding the ‘high ground’ is well known to be a military advantage and they, together with their Generals and Warlords would be very keen to do this…..the object of the game remains and is to Checkmate the opposing General and this wins the Battle and gains control of the Plateau by military occupation thereafter, and it is annexed by the winning Emperor and renamed after the winning Provinces (i.e. the Snow-lepan Plateau or the Qsiang-ze Plateau) – the winning Encampment will become a (the Snow-lepan or Qsiang-ze) Fortress whilst the losing Encampment will be abandoned and dismantled
…..the Role-playing possibilities of Plateau may, hopefully, be interesting to some at least…..
*1 A player’s Stepped Fixed-reserve Clock (as it would be called) would count down at commencement of each of his moves and his main clock would not start to operate until the reserve was used – the reserve would be topped up each time after a player moves…..there is some similarity with a Fixed-reserve Clock and Time-lagging but there are three differences – firstly time lagging is usually for very short periods of time whereas the reserve amount here would probably be quite substantial; secondly the amount of Time-lagging, though known, is not generally displayed as it counts down, and thirdly, though described as fixed the reserve could be set to periodically adjust itself (Stepping) – perhaps after a certain number of moves have been played the amount would be reduced and this could be reiterated further on in the game and even stopped after a certain point…..it is also possible to have both a Fixed-reserve Clock and Time-lagging in operation, and there would likely be Independent Countdown clocks as well – but these would probably be set at times longer than for most other Steps games…..this probably sounds more complicated than it actually would be once a player was used to them, and in a slower-paced game there is more time for consideration of the time situation…..clocks are talked about more fully in Part three of Steps.
*2 For those who like them there is an anagram in part of the name of the Snow-lepan Provinces that relates to their broad whereabouts…..and a clue – a State where Snow-leopards live.
Level categories
These categories for players work as a handicap system as follows
1. Faraway (furthest away)
2. Midway
3. Freeway (nearest)
Faraway - all Soldiers commence on their second rank
Midway – all Soldiers commence on their third rank
Freeway* – all Soldiers commence on their fourth rank
*It is assumed a player would place his Soldiers on their fourth rank if given a free choice.
To be continued
Stepladder tournaments
…..these may become the standard form of Steps tournaments…..
…..the basic idea is that there are a set number of players either in a ‘Stepladder’ to begin with or following preliminary events…..at the conclusion of the preliminaries (if any) the set number of players – for example the top seven, are then placed in a Stepladder according to where they finished in the preliminaries, here we would have…..
1. Player A
2. Player B
3. Player C
4. Player D
5. Player E
6. Player F
7. Player G
…..then the 7th placed Player G plays the 6th placed Player F and the winner plays the 5th placed Player E then the winner of this plays the 4th placed Player D and so on until the remaining two players (one will be Player A) play each other as a final – any of these seven players could therefore win the tournament…..
…..with Plateau a possibility is to commence with six players (one less than the above example – Stepladder numbers can vary) – three Freeway, two Midway and one Faraway…..firstly the three Freeway players would play a mini league to decide where each of them goes on the first three places on the Stepladder, then the two Midway players would play a match to decide where they go on the next two places and then the Faraway player goes on the sixth place – the Stepladder then is as below
1. Freeway player A
2. Freeway player B
3. Freeway player C
4. Midway player A
5. Midway player B
6. Faraway player A
…..the handicaps have here given reserved placing advantage to Freeway over Midway over Faraway – in a no-handicap tournament this placing advantage might not occur…..the league format is for each Freeway player to play two games against the other two – one as south and one as north (six games in all)…..the match format (played afterwards) is two games with each Midway player playing one as south and one as north…..then the players play the Stepladder in the way described with their handicaps – only one game would likely be played here with perhaps the higher placed player moving first (south moves first)…..
…..an alternative possibility for who moves first in the Stepladder is that the player with the further-away handicap always plays south (nearer handicapped is a possibility TBD, but is less likely) and that if this was the same the higher placed player would move first (lower placed is a possibility TBD, but is less likely)…..
…..with this particular format there is firstly a six-game League, then a two-game Match and finally a five-game (handicapped) Knockout – three different types of playing format in one tournament that could add interest to the event…..
…..at the end of the tournament there is a final placing and points are allocated according to each player’s final placing…..
…..the tournament just described could be the culmination of a number of preliminary events (possibly also in Stepladder format and perhaps categorised) whereby the winners would be entered into the final event in Stepladder format…..
…..details such as tie-breaks and method of points allocation…..(a tournament would be allotted a total number of points for allocation to players – there would be a bonus element that could be a substantial amount, but this amount would depend on the level of tournament etc.)…..remain TBD*, but for now this is the likely basic format for not only Plateau but other Steps games Tournaments (some perhaps handicapped) as well…..
*One possibility is what is called the ‘Sum of Digits’ method – for example: in the above six player Stepladder the numbers one to six (the number of players) are added together to give twenty one (1+2+3+4+5+6 = 21), then the first placed player is allocated 6/21 of the total allotted points, the second placed player is allocated 5/21, the third 4/21 and so on…..the total points allotted would be divisible by 21, for example if 63 points were allotted first placed would receive 6/21x63 = 18 points, second placed would receive 5/21x63 = 15, third placed 4/21x63 = 12 and so on.
Two-piece Pin, Triple Check and Quadruple-check with Checkmate
Two-piece Pin
A single Cannon can pin two pieces - for example, with South to move
North Cannon e7
North Princess e10
South Horse e4
South Protector e3
South Princess e1
South must move his Princess since moving either his Horse or Protector would leave his Princess in check – both the Horse and Protector are then pinned.
Triple Check
An example, with South to move
North Princess e10
South Horse e6
South Chariot e4
South Cannon e3
South Princess e1
Horse to f8 or d8 and North’s Princess is in check from South’s Horse, Chariot and Cannon.
Quadruple-check with Checkmate
The Quadruple-checkmate Puzzle makes a reasonably challenging Chinese chess puzzle and is: To set up a position where one side has four pieces and moves to Checkmate in one with a check from all four pieces – obviously both Princesses must also be placed on the board (or the position would be illegal) and there could be a further stipulation that no Chariot is allowed – an answer:
North Princess f8
South Leading soldier (or Chariot) g7
South Horse h7
South Horse g6
South Cannon f5
South Princess e1
South is to move (North is not in check here - this would be illegal with South to move)
Leading soldier (or Chariot) to f7 and North’s Princess is in Checkmate with a check from all four of South’s pieces - there are also variations where the four pieces give check but not Checkmate (for example if all the pieces were moved one square to the left though South’s Princess need not be, or just South's Princess could be moved one square left or right).
This Quadruple-check with Checkmate could perhaps theoretically occur in a game, but it is intended as an amusing puzzle only rather than a study, and perhaps it should be added that the Horses are not necessary for Checkmate here but their unblocking gives rise to two extra checks that are necessary to answer the puzzle.
Opening shots and The Quickfire gambit.....and Statistics
When looking at the Traditional and Accelerated placements it can be seen that it is possible to make captures with the Cannons at the very start of the game:
Opening shots
With the Traditional placement South can start the game by exchanging both his Cannons for both opposing Horses, but the recapturing Chariots then come more quickly into the game and the Cannons are likely to be an advantage for the coming middle game – this opening possibility may scarcely have been played and were South to play it he would, I think, find himself at a disadvantage if playing against an equally strong North…..but this opening could be played by inexperienced players as practice games where South must make the most of his Horses and North the most of his Cannons – perhaps useful learning experience made more so by the focus on different pieces…..and perhaps it should have a name – ‘Opening shots’ seems passable.
The Quickfire gambit
With the Accelerated placement South also has possibilities to make immediate captures with his Cannons, but these are of a different type from the above Opening shots and the possibilities can collectively be named the ‘Quickfire gambit’ where the object is to use the Cannons to leave the opposing Princess with less defence and open to a subsequent attack, particularly by South’s Chariots…..so, keeping symmetry in mind, some moves are:
1. Cannon x Attendant f10 (One shot variation)
The very first move is a gambit by South – Quickfire indeed
1… Princess x Cannon f10
This leaves North’s other Attendant undefended, and so
2. Cannon x Attendant d10 (Two shot variation)
At first glance it appears South has captured both of North’s Attendants for the loss of one of his Cannons, and his second Cannon on d10 attacks both North’s Horse on b10 (though defended by the a10 Chariot) and his undefended Protector on g10…..but the Cannon cannot simply be extricated and escape being captured
2… Princess e10
North attacks the Cannon immediately
3. Cannon x Protector g10 (Three shot variation)
The Cannon now forks the Chariot on i10 and the Protector on c10 – both are undefended
3… Chariot i8
North moves his Chariot out of the line of fire
4. Cannon x Protector c10 (Four shot variation)
South has captured all four of North’s defensive pieces after four moves and his Cannon now forks the a10 Chariot and the h10 Horse…..and both are undefended
4… Chariot a9
North moves his a10 Chariot out of the line of fire - the Chariots have full control of their second and third ranks
5. Cannon x Horse h10 (Five shot variation)
The Cannon captures the undefended h10 Horse and attacks North’s remaining Horse on b10 who is now himself undefended, and in addition also has a possible escape route back along the h file…..North here has a choice of moving or defending his remaining Horse, or cutting off the Cannon’s escape route
5… Chariot h8
North cuts off the Cannon’s escape route and attacks it while taking control of the open h file
6. Cannon x Horse b10 (Six shot variation)
The Cannon captures North’s undefended remaining Horse and also now has a new possible escape route, this time back along the b file
6… Chariot b9
North cuts off the new escape route and attacks the Cannon and also takes control of the open b file
7. Cannon c10
South moves his Cannon out of attack
This is probably the most radical line (perhaps rather an extreme one) of this opening and has led to the opposite of gambits generally with South here having a material advantage but not an initiative as all his pieces other than the Cannon are unmoved, whereas North has both his Chariots fully active, but North has lost all his defensive pieces and his Princess could be very vulnerable if South can bring his Chariots into the vicinity of her Palace.....but whatever of the above mentioned choices North continues with on his fifth move I think he would need to make full use of his more active Chariots with the support of his Cannons before South can use his own Chariots in an attack on the Northern Princess…..but there are other possible moves besides those shown.....first though it may be worth saying something of Initiative and Tempi:
Statistics
It is widely considered that at the start of a game of both Western and Chinese chess the first moving side has an advantage – how much of an advantage though…..well, there are now databases of many high level games of Western chess going back well over a hundred years and the statistics suggest an advantage to the first moving player of perhaps around 55%.....but I am not aware of such an amount of information being readily available for Chinese chess – however in Hsiang Ch'i (a fine introduction to the game) Terence Donnelly states that having first move in Chinese chess probably gives a greater advantage than in Western chess, and gives an example of a 50 game collection where First move won 33 and Second move 13, with the remaining 4 being draws (at 8% a much lower percentage of draws than in high level Western chess – over 50%)…..this gives a First move advantage of 70%*, but the number of games are far less than the Western chess numbers here – nevertheless I think it is worth keeping these figures in mind…..but there is a point to be aware of and that is, unlike in Steps, stalemate counts as a win in Chinese chess and there are one or two other rules that tend to reduce the number of draws (Steps does not have them) - however I would think the percentage of First move advantage to still be significantly higher notwithstanding these…..
*The calculation for this is: add the number of wins to half the number of draws, then divide this by the total number of games, finally - multiply this by a hundred for a percentage…..and for Second move subtract this from a hundred – giving a 30% disadvantage here.
To be continued
Cannon-fire is over but
A Chess Set continues
E&OE
Shaye-Alexander Ellis Nicholls of Rhun, Merridonia
Sunday, 1st November 2020
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