Is there a relationship between chess and China chess?

Of course. There is no essential difference between China chess and chess, only the difference in form.

Due to the different historical, geographical and cultural backgrounds between China and the West, the rules and actions between them are also different. In particular, the two chess games fully reflect the two different cultural backgrounds and cultural differences between China and the West, as well as their respective cultural characteristics. We can analyze and study the rules and moves of the two kinds of chess one by one around this problem.

Compared with China Chess, which has a long history in China, Chess is similar to China Chess: similar moves, similar rules, similar strategic ideas and similar tactics. Even when chess was introduced to China, technical terms were translated by the customary chess names in China.

China chess is very popular in China, and many families can play it. Many beginners have been exposed to China chess, and both have their own advantages and interests. However, due to different historical, geographical and cultural backgrounds, they are different in rules and methods. Looking at the development history of chess and chess in China and the differences between them, we can appreciate the social and cultural differences between China and the West.

Chess, like China chess and many other games, is an inevitable product of the development of human society. The art of chess originated from the production practice of ancient working people, and it is an art after refining and sublimation. Just as writing, poetry, music, dance and painting all come from productive labor. Among many games, entertainments and arts, only these two kinds of chess are closest to the humanistic environment of society, reflecting the social state at that time, and are almost a microcosm of human social state. Although the East and the West are far apart and there are huge social and cultural differences, we have to marvel at the extraordinary similarities between these two games.

There are different opinions about the origin of chess. There are various versions of the legend about the origin. People think it was invented by ancient India. Its prototype is a kind of chess called "Chatulanka", which includes four pieces: infantry, horseback riding, chariot and elephant, which just reflects the composition of the ancient Indian army. The further development of "Chatulanka" is "Chastelain Zi", which has made a large-scale improvement in chess pieces and rules and began to spread widely among all ethnic groups in Central Asia. Then this game spread from the east to the west through various channels such as trade, war and religion. The general route of its spread is: India-Persia (now Iran)-Central Asia-Arab countries-Europe. By the end of 1 1 century, it had spread all over Europe. Chess, also a compound word of Persian and Arabic, means "the dying king".

According to reliable written records, it has a history of at least 1500 years. Although more people think that it originated in the East, from its evolution and development history, we have to admit that it was stereotyped and popularized in the West, especially in Europe. During the Renaissance in Europe, people carried out major reforms on it. Some chess pieces have changed their moves, and the speed of playing chess has obviously increased. For example, the "former minister" changed from a romantic Frenchman to a king's spouse-and then even the gender changed like a social revolution. By the end of 15, it has evolved into a modern system. At that time, it became the seven compulsory subjects of knight education together with riding, swimming, archery, fencing, hunting and poetry writing. /kloc-in the 0/8th century, people led by knight education regarded fierce attacks and meaningless abandonment in chess as brave performances, while those who dared not accept abandonment or defense were considered cowards. However, this chivalrous chess concept and the strategic thought of completely ignoring defense have been eliminated by modern theory.

Now chess is very popular all over the world. Human society regards it not only as games and entertainment, but also as art disciplines and competitive sports, and even develops computer chess to challenge human wisdom.

Chess was first introduced to China in the 1920s and 1930s. At that time, students from China brought it back to China, but it was not popularized. It was not until 1950s that China listed it as a sport that it gradually became popular. Chess itself means chess, because its movements are very similar to China's. In order to distinguish it from China's chess, people add the word "international" in front of it, which is called chess. In some places in Asia where Chinese is spoken, some people call it "chess". The names of six kinds of chess pieces are completely determined by the names of China Chess. King translated into king; Queen translation; Rook: meaning castle, because it is the same as a car, it is called "car"; Knight: a knight (or knight), similar to a horse, called a "horse"; Bishop: missionary, similar to elephant (phase), called "elephant"; A pawn translates as a soldier.

There are different opinions about the origin of China chess: some think it originated from Shennong in ancient legend; Some think it originated from the legendary yellow emperor; Some people think that it originated in the Zhou Wuwang period: "Chess was made by the King of Wu, and its methods of advancing and retreating, attacking and defending, such as the sun, the moon and the stars, were the art of fighting for the country. Decorate the flag with ivory, so it is called chess. "

It is more regarded as the product of the struggle between Chu and Han in the late Qin Dynasty. Han Xin invented chess to train soldiers' attacking and killing ability. The evidence is that the word "Chuhe Han Jie" is often engraved on the chessboard of later generations. No matter when it originated, one thing is certain, that is, in the process of development, it was constantly influenced by the war mode and humanistic society at that time and constantly innovated in laws and regulations, including the increase of arms.

Judging from the unearthed cultural relics, China Chess was formed in the Northern Song Dynasty and stereotyped in the Southern Song Dynasty (see the poem Xiang Yi, A Piece Appears in Ye Qianzhong by Liu Kezhuang, a poet in the Southern Song Dynasty, which describes the form and method of chessboard and chess pieces, which is the same as the popular method now) and developed in the Ming Dynasty. Basically, each dynasty was slightly different at the beginning, and it was through continuous improvement that it became what it is today.

A famous expert said that China Chess is a summary of China's practical experience in social development, which is more traditional and closed. If you don't know China's feudal culture, you won't know China Chess.

From the similarities and differences of chess rules between China and China, we can see the social and cultural differences between China and the West.

China chess board consists of nine straight lines and ten horizontal lines. The scene of confrontation between the two armies at that time was vividly reproduced across the "Chu River Han boundary". "Chuhe Han Jie" is located on Guangwu Mountain in the northwest suburb of Zhengzhou. At that time, Hanwang City was in the west and Chu City was in the east. The vassal States were divided and dominated each other.

Interestingly, if you take away "Chuhe Han Jie", it happens to be an 8×8 square chessboard, almost the same as a chess chessboard. "9" is the largest number. In ancient China, it symbolized the meaning of diversity and breadth. "Kyushu" generally refers to China. "8" is more of a metaphor in all directions. 8 and 9 mean infinity in China and the West. The purpose of the ancient war was to seize more land. In order to occupy more territory, all chessboards as battlefields reflect the consciousness of ancient people.

China and the West have different ideas about battlefield confrontation. China's chess pieces occupy the intersection and confront each other through lines (roads); Chess is a face-to-face confrontation. A Ma Pingchuan doesn't even need to cross the river. This reflects the ingenious and skillful fighting style of China people, and also reflects the fighting style of all parties in the ancient western battlefield.

In the classification of chess pieces, both kinds of chess are 32 pieces, which are the same, but there are differences in the types of chess. The biggest difference is that China has a "cannon" in chess, but chess doesn't.

(1) cannon. "Continued Tibetan Classics" contains: "In the past, Shennong took the sun, the moon and the stars as an image. In the Tang Dynasty, cattle, monks and children used cars, horses, generals, scholars and soldiers to add guns and replaced them with chess." According to this record, there was no cannon in chess before the Tang Dynasty, and it was similar to modern chess after it was equipped with cannons.

There are no such pieces in chess. Some people think that chess may have been shaped after the popularity of artillery warfare (since the Northern Song Dynasty), while chess was shaped before the appearance of artillery. The author thinks that this statement is very vague and cannot be compared together in time. From the history of two chess games, we can see that the history of chess, or the time of finalization, is obviously earlier than chess. The problem is that China and the West use gunpowder at different times. Since China invented "gunpowder" in ancient times, it has been developed into artillery, which was used in the military as early as the Tang Dynasty. In the west, gunpowder was introduced by Arabs in the embryonic period of capitalism in about15th century, when chess was basically stereotyped. This fully proves that chess is constantly improved with the development of productive forces in the development process, and things closer to the humanistic society are constantly added.

In addition, the tradition of China people thinks that the success or failure of war depends on human factors and material factors, so there are such material factors as cars, horses and guns. In the ancient west, because of the low productivity, the success or failure of the war mainly depends on the quality and performance of soldiers at all levels, so the human factor is more reflected in chess.

2 king (handsome). The general (handsome) in China chess is equal to the king in chess. Although it is not strong, it is the most important piece. Eating it means the death of a court. Therefore, there are strict defenses against both types of chess. In China, chess is guarded by experts, and in chess, there is a move called "translocation", which can change from a battleground for the central military strategist to a safe flank.

The international grandmaster once said: "In the opening stage, Wang was still a baby; In the middle stage, Wang was still a child; By the end of the game, Wang has reached adulthood. " This fully shows the fighting value of Chess King. When there are not many people left in the endgame, its advantage of being able to fight everywhere appears. This is essentially different from the restriction that China's chess general (handsome) can't go out of the palace. And general and handsome can't be satisfied, which fully illustrates the ancient national conditions of China. In ancient China, except for a few founding emperors who led troops to fight, almost all emperors were behind closed doors.

(3) the queen. This is a chess piece standing next to the king. Its initial move is only equivalent to a taxi in chess. At 1475, as we said above, the romantic French suddenly increased their power, and they could control the battlefield of13 at most. The gender also changed and became the king's wife. Italy calls it Robioso, which means powerful. This shows the influence of the bourgeois Renaissance on the society at that time. In the history of ancient western countries, women's rights are also an important part, and the rule of queens is common, such as the Queen of Egypt, the Queen of England, the Queen of Denmark, and the Queen of Christina. But although it is the most powerful chess piece, it is still not as important as Wang.

There is no "Hou" in China chess, so it can be said that the whole feudal history of China is a "patriarchal history". Next to the general (handsome) are two scholars, which means polygamy in China's feudal society.

(4) cars and cars. The only player in two chess games who moves exactly the same way; At first, the car in chess also means "chariot", just like China chess. It turned out to be a castle.

(5) like a bishop, riding a knight. At first, the image of chess was "war elephant", and later it was changed to "herald". In the Renaissance, with the increase of the power of the church, it became a "priest". The difference between it and the phase (image) in China chess is that there is no river barrier. Xiang is a civil servant and doesn't go out to play China chess.

The biggest difference between horses in chess and horses in China is that they are not cheated in chess. In terms of playing chess, the requirements of chess are much looser than those in China, probably because the social system in the West was much looser than that in the feudal society in China. In the feudal society of China, the loyal courtiers were treacherous, the officialdom was corrupt and intrigued, and the trick of "tripping horses" was often used. Even if you are a noble horse, once you are tripped, you can't move, so you have to be old-fashioned and helpless. This phenomenon is vividly displayed in China's chess.

(6) Pawn Pawn. There is no doubt that this is the largest number of two kinds of chess, standing in the forefront, defending the dynasty with your own body, you can only charge and not retreat. At this point, China and the West have the same requirements for soldiers.

The difference is that the chess pieces in China are always just chess pieces, and at most they become worse after crossing the river. But the pieces in chess have a chance to change their fate. If he bravely rushes to the bottom line, he will be promoted to any son except Wang. This rule was finalized after centuries of evolution. At first, people didn't want to accept that there were two or more parties, so it became polygamy. But the game is a game after all, and both fun and logic should be taken into account. The difference between soldiers just reflects the hierarchy of feudal society in China and the tradition of "rewarding merit" in the west.

To sum up, the two kinds of chess fully reflect the two different cultural backgrounds of China and the West. More precisely, it should be the historical background of China feudal society and the embryonic stage of western capitalism. Their way of thinking is practical and concrete. Each of their chess pieces has a specific meaning and function, and each has its own division of labor, which is very humanized, so it has been widely circulated among the people or the court for thousands of years.