The Chess Variant Pages

Version with graphics.

This is from the Xiangqi FAQ, by Stephen Leary. He posted these rules on Feb 25, 1994, on rec.games.chinese-chess. September 29, 1995, he posted on the news that this game is called the game of Three Friends, instead of the game of the three kingdoms, which is another three-player variant of Xiangqi.

Game of the Three Friends

According to H.R. Murray, this game is supposed to illustrate the war of the Three Kingdoms (although perhaps "The 3 Kingdoms" version, and not this one, is meant): Wei (blue), Shu (red) and Wu (green), A.D. 221-64. The lines of the board are not straight throughout, and each army faces the other two. The pieces consist of the regular 16, but also a different piece (2 of them for each army). This piece in red's army is designated as (F) for "fire." Blue's is called (B) for "banner" and green's is called (W) for "wind." Their move is an extended knight's move: 2 steps vertically or horizontally and then 1 step diagonally. In the initial position, they each sit 2 spaces directly above the guards of each army.

When one of the Generals (who are named Wei, Shu, and Wu) is mated, the player who has mated him removes the king from the board and adds the remainder of his army to his own.

The board has 6 sides. 3 of the sides have 9 spaces across (where the 3 armies start). The other 3 sides have 10 spaces across, each. The board is really 3 half regular boards, plus 12 squares (3 X 4 squares, each dividing each army's half board from the others) & 1 triangle space (in the very center of the board).

A diagram of the board is given in H.R. Murray's book, "A History of Chess."


R = Rook         K = King      F = Fire
H = Horse        C = Cannon    B = Banner
E = Elephant     P = Pawn      W = Wind
G = Guard

Here's my diagram of the board. Pretty good, huh? :-)

Blue Army         (R)-+----+---(P)-|----|-(P)---+----+-(R)       Green Army
                (H)---+---(C)------|----|------(C)---+---(H)
              (E)-----+-------(P)\ |    | /(P)-------+-----(E)
            (G) -----(B)---- \    \|----|/   \ / ---(W)------(G)
          (K)  +              \    |    |    /\            +   (K)
        (G)       \             \  |    |  /    \      /         (G)
      (E)   \          (P)        \|----|/       (P)           /   (E)
    (H)   +   (B)             \    |    |    /       \      (W)   +  (H)
  (R)  \     \   \                \|----|/              /       /   /  (R)
    +   (C)   (P)   \            /  \  / \           /      (P)  (C)   +
      +    \     \     \ /           \/        \   /        /   \/    +
       (P)   \     \ /   \           /|\         /   \    /     /  \(P)
          \    /     \      \    /    |     \   /       /  \  /    /
            +    \     \   /  \       |       /   \   /     /   \ +
              \    \  /  \     \      |      /      /    \ /    /
                +   \     \     \     |     /      /     /    +
                 \    \    \     \    |    /     /     /    /
                 (P)---+---(P)---+---(P)---+---(P)---+---(P)
                    +--(C)--+---(F)---+---(F)---+--(C)--+
                     +----+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
                     (R)-(H)-(E)-(G)-(K)-(G)-(E)-(H)-(R)

                                  Red Army

Written by Stephen Leary.

Last modified: August 14, 1996.

This page is not indexed!

[info] [edit] [link]

Get free web-based email with POP access!

Last modified: Monday, August 23, 2004