Which Is More Complex,chess Or Xiangqi(chinese Chess)?

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Sort: wjcsz Jun 4, 2014 0 #1

Everyday in China there is much discussion about chess and xiangqi that which is more complex. I want to konw your opinions about this,friends from all over the world.Especially the friends from Vietnam,because Vietnam maybe is the only country which has both many strong chess masters and xiangqi masters besides China.Thanks. 

macer75 Jun 4, 2014 0 #2

According to Wikipedia Xiangqi is slightly more complex.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_complexity#Complexities_of_some_well-known_games

Remellion Jun 4, 2014 0 #3

Don't forget Singapore!

Complexity can be defined in several ways. If we just talk about legal board positions, xiangqi has about 10 times that of chess. But because the board is larger, game tree complexity of xiangqi beats that of chess by 37 orders of magnitude.

From personal (patzer) experience of both, chess seems more complex but xiangqi is way harder. Chess has many principles, such as pawn structure, endgame conversions, endgame breakthrough techniques, opening ideas etc. A larger variety of piece moves, the ability to castle, en passant and promotion increase possibilities and make the game more complex.

Xiangqi's "positional play" is very vague and much harder to evaluate, as it is mainly about piece mobility and attack potential, rather than pawn structure. The endgames in xiangqi are very technically demanding (单马胜单士，双兵对双士 for example) and usually it's easier to win in the middlegame than an endgame. Not to mention that tactics and attacks feature heavily at every move in the game, almost more so than material concerns. The ideas in xiangqi are simpler (not quite "sac, sac, mate" but close) but much harder to execute.

yureesystem Jun 5, 2014 0 #4

Xiangqi is a lot harder, the pawn capture forward and they don't interlock, so it is  a lot open position, basically it is all about mobility and attacking the general. The endgame is extremely complex and pawns don't promote.

VULPES_VULPES Jun 5, 2014 0 #5

As a Chinese who plays amateur Xiangqi, I have to say that Xiangqi is simpler, but much more tactical than chess. Tons of dynamic play in XiangQi.

yureesystem Jun 5, 2014 0 #6

No! Wei qi (Go) is a lot harder and complex game than chess or Xiangqi.

VULPES_VULPES Jun 5, 2014 0 #7

The question is about chess and XiangQi, not Go or any combination of the aforementioned. 

condude2 Jun 5, 2014 0 #8

Stratego has the most possibilities if you follow the link to Wikipedia. 

10^535 possibilities!

VULPES_VULPES Jun 6, 2014 0 #9 condude2 wrote:

Stratego has the most possibilities if you follow the link to Wikipedia. 

10^535 possibilities!

There is a Chinese equivalent of that (which probably inspired Stratego anyway). It's called Lu Zhan Qi 路战棋 (if I wrote that right. My chinese is rusty).

johnyoudell Jun 6, 2014 0 #10

I've played chinese chess once or twice. It was fun but didn't lead me to take up the game. The fact that chess has spread worldwide but chinese chess has stayed mainly at home may not answer the OP's (slightly odd) question but it does suggest chess is the more engrossing.

Remellion Jun 6, 2014 0 #11

Probably it should be 陆战棋。Land warfare chess. I think. I haven't actually played that variant before, though.

As for why xiangqi is not more international, it's probably to do with the pieces used. For chess we have these fancy ponies and castles, but xiangqi just has chinese characters on flat discs. Not so much to do with the gameplay itself, which is plenty engrossing and tricky. Tactical attacks can be conducted with as few as 2 pieces, and even 3 pieces can mean mate sometimes (三子归边). The calculations needed for a 3 piece attack, in my opinion, are far more complicated than the daily ~2300 tactics trainer puzzles I do here.

Benzodiazepine Jun 6, 2014 0 #12

Is this a real question?

Of course Xiangqi!

In china... everything is more complex.

psyducker Jun 6, 2014 0 #13

i agree to Benzodaizepine

psyducker Jun 6, 2014 0 #14 [COMMENT DELETED] psyducker Jun 6, 2014 0 #15

i made it up

hicks83 Jun 6, 2014 0 #16

I know which is more complex to say.

ghostofmaroczy Jun 6, 2014 0 #17 VULPES_VULPES wrote:

The question is about chess and XiangQi, not Go or any combination of the aforementioned. 

Of course.  But Xiang means Elephant.

Elephants like to play Go.

Remellion Jun 6, 2014 0 #18 hicks83 wrote:

I know which is more complex to say.

Xiangqi: "see-ung-chee" (Speakers of English, please learn IPA so we never again need to do this mangle of spelling to tell you how to pronounce things. [sɪʌŋtʃiː] I believe.)

Chess: "shatranj"

There, not so difficult, right?

Masterjatin Jun 6, 2014 0 #19

I'm thinking to create a variant which is more complex than either. It will replace chess like chess did to shatranj and chaturanga, the slowest board games(rook was only far range piece).

It will have princes and a better version of warfare. Not completely thought yet. But be prepared for it, maybe after 20 years or so.

ghostofmaroczy Jun 6, 2014 0 #20 Remellion wrote:

Xiangqi: "see-ung-chee" (Speakers of English, please learn IPA so we never again need to do this mangle of spelling to tell you how to pronounce things. [sɪʌŋtʃiː] I believe.)

Chess: "shatranj"

There, not so difficult, right?

Chess may be pronounced "shatranj,"

but alfil is pronounced "heffalump."

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