 Starting position | |
| Years active | Since 13th century |
|---|---|
| Genres | Abstract strategy game Chess variant |
| Players | 7 |
| Skills | Strategy, tactics |
| Synonyms | Seven-handed xiangqi Qiquo xiangqi |
Game of the Seven Kingdoms (Chinese: 七國象棋, p qī-guó-xiàng-qí ;) is a seven-player variant of the game xiangqi ("Chinese chess"). It is traditionally ascribed to Sima Guang, although he died well before the 13th century, to which this game is traditionally dated. The rules of the game can be found in his book, 古局象棋圖.[2][3] There is skepticism regarding the game's 13th-century formulation.[4]
- ^ Pritchard (1994), p. 265
- ^ Sima Guang(司馬光). 古局象棋圖.
- ^ "七國象棋局（光緒觀古堂本） 第2頁 (圖書館) - 中國哲學書電子化計劃".
- ^ "The imbalance in the array must reflect on the play (assuming that the game was ever played), and can perhaps be attributed to the fact that a weiqi board rather than a bespoke board was used. The existence of pieces moving as Q and B at least two centuries before their introduction into orthochess is a phenomenon few will credit. (Leventhal, Chess of China)" (Pritchard 2007:343) [But note that the queen and bishop are already present in Japan in the game of chu shogi, which is recorded by the 14th century and was the most commonly played version of chess in 15th-century Japan. They are also present in dai shogi, which may have already existed by the 13th century.]