Fwiffo: Not only have I played it, I wrote a ZRF for it. An article by Jean-Louis Cazaux on http://history.chess.free.fr/hiashatar.htm spells out an important limitation on the bodyguards' zone of influence on the movement of the horse. He also includes photographs of pieces.

Fencer: Thank you, Fencer! Those are great games, and I look forward to playing them on BrainKing. Is there a chance that the BK implementation of shogi will include handicaps?

Redsales, it is interesting, as you write, that Chinese characters are used in lieu of Hangul -- is there an historical reason for this; had Korean been written with Chinese characters in the past, or does it merely reflect the route of transmission of the game?

As to the shape of pieces, my only exposure to them is the shape of pieces that I purchased at shops of emigré Koreans and pictures on the internet. I have two sets in plastic; both have octagonal pieces of three sizes corresponding to their importance, the king being the largest, the pawn the smallest. The script is, as you write, Chinese. The red pieces are in a nicer printed script, and the green look like cursive versions of the same characters to be seen on a set of xiangqi pieces (although on both sides the kings' character is not the general/governor seen on xiangqi kings).

I have seen on the internet a set of Three Kingdoms' Xiangqi. Did you see or play that variant during your time in China? Have you ever read any articles on the history of xiangqi and its historical enlarged versions? I have wondered if there is a possible connection between them and the large shogi variants. I only know of one non-Asian source on the history of these games, Peter Banaschak's _Schachspiele in Ostasien_, but my ability to read German is not so good, so I await its future English translation.

I have suggested in earlier postings to this board that shogi and its smaller variant tori shogi would be grand additions to BrainKing's offerings (my personal preference is for shogi above all other representatives of the chess family of games). I wonder if other posters to this board enjoy shogi and whether any have tried tori shogi.

I have very few sources available to me on changgi, and none authoritative: can you confirm the stalemate rule for changgi that I have seen described as occuring when one side has given up the right to win by using his king to check the opposing king across an open file? That is, if he actually succeeds and wins, it is no win because he had resorted to using the king in this way.

I infer that you play both xiangqi and changgi: do you think that the slightly weaker cannon of changgi but its greater pawn strength from the opening move and the lack of movements restricted by a river make it a bit more enjoyable than xiangqi? I confess that the elongated knight move of the changgi elephant is still a bit difficult for me to deploy effectively.

By the way, would you know why the commonly available changgi pieces are octagonal and the nicer, wooden ones are round -- ease of carving, aesthetics?

Perhaps there is a solution if each opponent may choose how the game appears when he views it, i.e., traditional or Westernized? I have always treated the characters on the pieces as an identifying graphic, much like the shape of new pieces or a non-standard shape for a piece, to both of which one quickly accustoms himself.

In favor of the traditional pieces, may I mention that most of the literature on xiangqi or shogi that one would consult presumes a knowledge of these characters?

An intelligent internationalization of shogi and xiangqi pieces has already been made by the Shogi Association in the UK (George Hodge's lamentably defunct organization) and by the Asian Xiangqi Federation, respectively. I think that both of these international versions of the pieces are represented in the game fonts at http://www.partae.com/fonts/products/products.htm
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More important, however, is to have these wonderful games available here on BrainKing. I am strongly in favor of shogi over xiangqi, if some priority must be established. Without wishing to complicate matters overmuch, dare I say that I think that Korean chess (changgi) might be a slightly more pleasing game to play than xiangqi?

Dropping pieces makes shogi a very dynamic two-player game, and its play is much more satisfying, I think, than loop chess because of the balance of weakness and strength with piece movements.

If there are ever multiple-player games on BrainKing, there is a very entertaining 4-player version of shogi, yonin shogi. Effectively, you can play the game where two players act as team partners. Maybe that could be implemented even now on BrainKing without having to accomodate other multiple-player games?

Shogi is very interesting!

I think that Makruk would be a good addition to BrainKing, but I suspect that implementing handicaps and the special rules for checkmating a bare king within a requisite numbers of moves will prove difficult.

As to Chinese Chess, it is a very good game, but maybe Korean Chess (Janggi) would be preferable? It is similar to the Chinese game, but I think that it is a more satisfying game.

Shogi (and some of its worthwhile variants like Tori Shogi) would obviously be great games to add to BrainKing.

Maybe the large version of Mongolian chess called Hiashatar would be welcome? The way that the bodyguard can stride across the board with near invulnerability and its curious effect of diminishing piece power by its zone of influence certainly appealed to me. The remainder of the pieces in this game move as in orthochess.