                         Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess


Movement
~~~~~~~~
Using Keyboard- To move your chess pieces, use the arrows to position the
flashing square under the piece you want to move, then press <enter> to
select it.  Select the desired destination point by using the arrows and
press <enter>.  (You will notice that legal moves are solid green squares
and illegal ones are solid red.) You can also move the flashing square by
using algebraic notation.  For example, to move the Knight you would type
B1 <enter> C3 <enter>.

Using Mouse- To move your chess pieces, use the mouse to position the
flashing square under the piece you want to move, then press the left
button to select it.  Select the desired destination point by using the
mouse, then press the left button.  (You will notice that legal moves are
solid green squares and illegal ones are solid red.)


Playing Battle Chess II by Modem
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Arrange with your opponent who will be red and who will be blue.  One
player must set his side to auto-answer.  Do this by hitting <F2> and then
type ATS0=1 and pressing the <enter> key.  The other player must call you. 
To dial hit <F2> type ATD XXX-XXXX.  There are two steps to break the
connection.  First hit <F2> then hit +++, and wait a sec.  Then hit <F2>
and type ATH.  The game transfers at a whopping 300 baud with 8 bits and no
parity.  

Playing BC2 with Serial Cables
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     Just hook up a null modem cable and you are set.  Same as above, just
no dialing commands and the like.

Basics of Chinese Chess
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     The goal of playing a game of Chinese Chess is identical to that of
many other games - specifically, defeating your opponent.  In Chinese
Chess, this is done by placing your opponent's King in checkmate or
stalemate.

     Here are the rules of Chinese Chess in a nutshell:

-Two opponents play against each other.  One player is red and the other
blue.

-Each player has one king, two rooks, two cannons, two knights, two
ministers, two counsellors and five pawns.

-The object of the game is to put the opponent's king in checkmate or
stalemate.

-The red player moves first then you alternate.

-You can only move one piece per turn.

-No piece (except the cannon) may jump or move through any other piece on
the board.

-You take a piece by landing on the same spot.

-If your king is threatened, you are in check and must move out of check.

The Board
~~~~~~~~~
     As you can see by looking at your screen, the chessboard consists of
nine vertical and ten horizontal lines.  Each side has an Imperial Palace
made up of nine points in the 3x3 square marked by the diagonal lines.  The
open section, called the river, in the center of the board divides the
northern territory from the southern.  The markings at some of the
intersections denote the starting positions of the pawns and the cannons.

The Pieces
~~~~~~~~~~
Kings:

     The King may move one point forward, backward, left, or right, but
never diagonally.  He is also restricted to movement within the Imperial
Palace.  The King may never move so that he is in check or directly across
the board from the enemy King with no pieces in between.  Also, another
piece may not move in such a way that the King will be in check or that he
will be directly facing the enemy King.

Counsellors:

     Counsellors may move one point in any diagonal direction within the
Imperial Palace.

Ministers:

     Ministers may move exactly two points in a diagonal direction along
the same line.  They may never cross the river and they cannot jump over or
through obstructing pieces.

Knights:
     
     Knights may move one point forward, backward, left, or right followed
by one point diagonally left or right.  Unlike conventional chess, the
Knight may not leap over pieces to make its move.  For example, if a point
directly ahead of the Knight is occupied, the Knight cannot move forward in
that direction.

Rooks:

     Rooks may move any number of unobstructed points in a horizontal or
vertical direction.

Cannons:

     The Cannon moves much like the Rook.  It may move any number of points
in a horizontal or vertical direction.  However, in order to capture a
piece, the Cannon must first jump over a single piece of either color. 
This piece is called a "bridge" or "screen."  The Cannon then moves to the
point occupied by the captured piece.

Pawns:
     
     Pawns may move a single point forward, until they cross the river. 
After crossing, they may move left or right in addition to forward.  Pawns
may never move backward and they never promote upon reaching the far end of
the Board.  Unlike conventional chess, they capture by moving straight
ahead.

Roman Lettering
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Each piece is represented with the following on the 2D Roman board:

     K- Kings
     G- Counsellors
     M- Ministers
     N- Knights
     R- Rooks
     C- Cannons
     P- Pawns

The Individual Importance of Each Piece
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     By now, you should be getting a sense of the power of each piece.
     The Rook is considered the most powerful piece because of its ability
to move swiftly from one side of the board to the other.  It is considered
to have the roughly the power of a Knight and Cannon combined.  Its power
diminishes slightly toward the end of the game as it requires the help of
other pieces to penetrate a well-established enemy defense.

     The Cannon is considered the second most powerful piece because of its
ability to destroy from a distance and its swift movement.  Like the Rook,
its power diminishes toward the end of the game because its capturing power
is reduced as more pieces are eliminated from play.  However, it is perhaps
the most important piece during the opening both offensively and
defensively.

     The Knight is considered only slightly less powerful than the Cannon
because of its restricted movement early in the game.  During that time, it
is used primarily for defense.  Its power greatly increases toward the
mid-game as fewer pieces get in its way.

     Ministers and Counsellors are extremely limited because the former can
never cross the river and the latter cannot leave the Imperial Palace.  

     Pawns are considered the least powerful pieces because of their
limited movement.  Once across the river, however, the Pawn's power
increases as its movement abilities increase.  Initially, a Pawn is used to
block the enemy's attacks and provide bridges for the Cannons.  Unlike
conventional chess, Pawns are not promoted when reaching the far horizontal
line.  Therefore, it is not always wise to advance your pawns too far
across the board. Winning the Game ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Because of the limitations on many of the pieces' movements, Chinese
Chess games are generally shorter than conventional chess games. 
Basically, there are two ways to win: Put your opponent in checkmate or
stalemate.    

     A checkmate occurs when a King is in check and he has no way to escape
and he has no way to escape the check.  A stalemate occurs when a player
has no legal moves to make.  A player is considered to be in check when his
King can be captured by an enemy piece on his opponent's next move.  A
player can escape check in many ways: move the king to a safe place, move
another piece to block the king, capture the enemy piece.

     A player who cannot escape check in one of these three ways is said to
be in checkmate and the game is over.  If a player is not in check, but any
move the player makes will put him in check, is called stalemate.

Drawn Games
~~~~~~~~~~~
     As in conventional chess, if neither side is able to capture the
opposing King, the game ends in a draw.  This often happens if neither side
has any pieces remaining which can cross the river.  There are two other
rules, unique to Chinese Chess, which help prevent draws:

     1) It is illegal for the same piece to put the opposing King in check
three times in a row.  

     2) It is illegal for a piece to chase an opposing piece back and
fourth.  If either piece moves to more than two squares while the "chase"
occurs, then it is legal to continually threaten that piece.

     Also, if the threatened piece is protected at either point, the chase
can continue.

Chinese Chess Notation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     The Objective in Chinese Chess is the same as in conventional chess,
however, the strategies involved are much different.  In Chinese Chess, A
positional advantage is very important, since the King has such limited
mobility.  Often, a substantial material advantage can be offset by a
single Rook deep in enemy territory.  Remember that Chinese Chess is much
quicker and deadlier than conventional chess.  It's very common to win or
lose in the first few moves of a game.  Be aware of the many ways a King
can be checkmated and watch for these positions developing.

Openings:

     There are many different openings in Chinese Chess.  Whole volumes
have been dedicated to this single facet of the game.

     The most common opening is the "Central Cannon" opening.  this
consists of moving either Cannon directly behind the central pawn. 
Subsequently, the Knights may be moved out to defend the central Pawn in
case the opponent decides to open similarly.  Otherwise, the central Pawn
can advance with little fear of being captured by the enemy Pawn because it
would place the opposing King in check by the supporting Cannon.

     Other variations on this opening consist of 'jamming' the enemy Cannon
by advancing your other

                             Documentation typed by 

                                 R I F L E M A N
