The Charm of Chinese Chess

heyuan58

I’ve never been much of a games
player, and used to approve of
the famous adage that “life’s too
short for chess”. It came, then, as
something of a surprise that one of the
things I most fell in love with on moving
to Beijing four years ago was xiangqi—
Chinese chess. It’s much more open and
direct than its “Western” counterpart,
using a bigger board with fewer pieces,
so that there is space to bring the stronger
pieces into the attack right from the first
move. Thus a game can be concluded
much more quickly, especially when played
at the furious tempo of the locals. And,
above all, it is much less pompous… and
more social. People play on street corners
everywhere, and almost always attract a
knot of onlookers, who’ll often point out
possible moves, frown doubtfully, mutter
cryptically, or laugh scornfully.
Moreover, I love having a licence
to be bad! I am frankly intimidated
by international chess: never having
put in the time to master the standard
openings and so on. I know that I will be
treated with disdain by any moderately
competent player. Doubtless, serious
xiangqi players can be similarly dismissive
of their fellow countrymen, but they
expect and tolerate incompetence in
foreigners; in fact, they are usually
surprised and delighted if you can so
much as remember the moves or even
just recognise the pieces.
Here in China, perhaps I could at last
become a good chess player; or at least I
will be allowed to enjoy being a bad one.