5 tigers: a chinese chess variant

The latest issue of XiangQi Review contains information on a popular variant called "5 Tigers". The "5 Tigers" refers to red's 5 pawns, which have special powers. The pawns can move 2 point each move, or red could choose the option of, on one turn, moving one pawn one point, and another pawn one point. Once they cross the river, they can also move sideways, just as in standard Xiangqi. A red pawn across the river could move one point forward and one point sideways on one turn.

So how to make the game fair for black? Well, in this variant, red plays WITHOUT his 2 rooks, 2 knights, and 2 cannons! It may seem at first glance that red wouldn't have a chance with such a material deficit, but that just shows the might of the 5 tigers, as their 2-point moves can quickly overwhelm the enemy king.

(So, we take the standard setup of Xiangqi, and remove reds rooks, knights, and cannons.)

Red's objective is to create passed tiger-pawns and get them as close to the black king as possible to deliver mate, and also to try to take as many enemy pieces as possible. Black wants to defend his king, kill off as many tigers as possible, while remaining with enough of a material advantage to win the game. If black can exchange either a rook, knight, or cannon for each tiger, he will probably win, because he will still have one piece remaining.

To see the danger of a red tiger in the black king's palace, look at this diagram:

In this position, black is checkmated! Notice the red tiger near the black king. Because red is threatening to take his king with P6+1 and P6=5, black must either move his king or kill the tiger. He can do neither. If black's left minister were above his king, he would have the move k5=6 and could escape.

The above was authored by: Stephen Leary. .
The above was edited/posted by: Hans L. Bodlaender
Created on: October 24, 1995. Last modified on: September 30, 1997.

Comments

Date	Name	Rating	Comment
2005-11-19	Andy Thomas	None	i would think that the five tigers should be able to move sideways from the beginning... how are they supposed to get across the river otherwise?... can't blue/black just kind of hover around on the far banks, re-arranging his pieces and picking the tigers off as they come across?... wouldn't it be better to let the tigers move sideways from the start? also, if i understand correctly, the diagram here does indeed show a checkmate, because even if the king's left advisor goes in front of the king, the pawn, with it's 2-point movement would simply 'turn the corner' and 'boom'... king taken... that ability to move 1 sideways and one forward (or vice versa)... seems fairly powerful for trapping the black/blue king in the palace....
2005-11-17	Kwan	Poor	dude.... with 5 pawns only, u can't even accross the river while the black have another 5 pawns, the red 5 pawns will be killed in the first 10 turns or less... ........................................... ............
2004-02-25	100	None	Normally the red player is a good player. I played this variation with an old man before and he beats me. Normally the black player would attack but you should start to defend your pieces first and attack after that. And as for red, if they are good, they'll check mate you. Even if they are not as good, they could force a draw and that itself is not easy already. So, black shouldnt just try to exchange pieces one on one. In short, you gotta be good for if youre playing red.
2003-02-24	emrave	Poor	It's possible indeed. I've played against the computer program by Ed Friedlander and won 10 games in a row (all games red human and black computer). Here's one of the games: 1.P3+1 P7+1 R9+1 2.P3+1 P3+1 C8-1 3.P3=2 P2+1 P1+1 4.P2+1 P2=1 N8+9 5.P1=2 P1+1 P1+1 6.P2=3 P3=4 Red wins I don't really like this setup of five tigers game though, I prefer another setup.
2003-01-29		None	ah, but that would take TWO moves, so it's still checkmate.

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5 Tigers

A Chinese Chess Variant

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