Chinese Chess Soul is a “try-before-buy” product.Here you can download a free trial version of the software and use it as long as you want.You will need to register Chinese Chess Soul if you decide to get the fully-functional version.
To download and install please follow these instructions
- Click the bule download button(download directly) above to start the download.
- When the File Download dialog box appears click the "Save" button.
- When the Save As dialog box appears choose a folder location and save the file to a known location on your computer, for example, to your Desktop.
- Wait for the file to download and then close all applications including the browser.
- Double-click on the saved file icon to start the installation process.
- Follow the prompts within the installer to complete the installation of Chinese chess soul.
Chinese Chess Basic Rules
- The King moves only one space either horizontally or vertically at a time. Furthermore, the King must always stay within the palace, which is a square marked with an X.
- The Guards move only one space at a time diagonally. Similar to the King, the guards must stay within the palace.
- The Ministers (Elephants) move two spaces at a time diagonally, for example, twp spaces left or right and two spaces up or down in a move. They must stay within their own side of the river. If there is a piece standing midway between the original and targeted position of a minister, the minister is blocked and the movement is not allowed.
- The Rooks (Cars) move one or more than one spaces horizontally or vertically if all positions between the original and targeted positions are without any block.
- The Knights (Horses) move two spaces horizontally and one space vertically or respectively two spaces vertically and one space horizontally. If there is a piece next to the horse in the horizontal or vertical direction, the horse is blocked and the movement is not allowed.
- The Cannons move one or more than one spaces horizontally or vertically like Rook. However, in a capture move, there must be exactly one non-empty space in between the original and targeted position. In a non-capture move, all spaces in between must be empty.
- The Pawns (or Soldiers) move one space at a time. If a pawn does not cross the river yet, it can only move forward vertically. Once crossing the river, the pawn can also move horizontally.
- Capture: When a piece moves to a position currently held by an opponent's piece, it captures that opponent's piece. The captured piece will be removed from the board.
- King's line of sight: The two Kings in the board must never be on the same vertical line without any pieces in between them. Any move that puts the two Kings in such a setting is illegal.
- King safety: One must never leave the King to be captured by the opponent in the next move. Any move that put the King in such a setting is illegal.
- End game condition: The game ends when one of the following situations happens: Checkmate: If one threatens to capture the opponent's King and the opponent has no way to resolve the threat, one wins. Stalemate: If one does not have any valid movement, one loses.
