The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants

Piececlopedia: Cannon

Historical notes

The Cannon comes from Xiangqi, Chinese Chess. It is indiginous to China, where gun powder and cannons were both invented. Fairy Chess problemists commonly call it a Pao, which is a transliteration of its Chinese name. But in Chess variants, it is more commonly called a Cannon.

The Cannon has been used in the following variants. Except for two games by the same person, it has been called a Cannon in every one of these variants.

Al-Ces by Köksal Karakus
Cannon Shogi and Cannon Chess by Peter Michaelsen
Fantasy Grand Chess: Dwarven Army
Giant Chess by Köksal Karakus
Grand Cavalier Chess by Fergus Duniho
King and Queen by Dennis Xay Voong
Perfect12 by Jean-Louis Cazaux.
Shako by Jean-Louis Cazaux.
Tamerlane II by Jean-Louis Cazaux
Tamerlane 2000 by Jean-Louis Cazaux
Turkish Chess by Köksal Karakus
Xhess by David Howe
Yáng Qí by Fergus Duniho

Movement

When the Cannon does not take, it moves like a Rook, i.e., on an orthogonal line an arbitrary number of empty squares. When it takes, it must jump: when taking, the Cannon also moves over an orthogonal line, jumps over the first piece it meets (which may either be friendly or from the opponent) and then continues over the line until the next piece it sees: if that is from the opponent, the Cannon can take it by moving to that position.

Movement diagram

The Cannon on d5 can take the bishop on b5 and the rook on d1, and move to the squares marked with a black circle.

Vocabulary: Screen

To make a capture, a Cannon must jump over a screen. This is an intervening piece, which may be of either color, that must stand between the Cannon and its target. Without a screen between the Cannon and its target, it cannot capture the piece. The Cannon moves as a Rook without capturing, and once it jumps over its screen, it continues along as a Rook but only to capture. It cannot jump the screen to make a non-capturing move. When a Cannon attacks, it can be blocked by two pieces, or the opponent can defuse the Cannon's attack by moving the screen out of its path.

While a Cannon uses a screen only for capturing, another type of piece, known as a hopper, requires a screen for both moving and capturing. The best known hopper is the Grasshopper. Other pieces that use a screen only for capturing include the Vao and the Leo.

Images

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Chess

Xiangqi

This is an item in the Piececlopedia: an overview of different (fairy) chess pieces.

Written by Fergus Duniho and Hans Bodlaender. Diagram by Ben Good.

WWW page created: September 7, 1998. Last modified: December 15, 2001.

For author and/or inventor information on this item see: this item's information page.
Created on: September 07, 1998. Last modified on: December 15, 2001.