Janggi (장기) is the chess played in Korea. Two players, Cho (green, moves first) and Han (red). To win, you must checkmate your opponent's General.
A 9 × 10 grid. Pieces stand on the 90 intersections, not in the squares. Each side has a 3 × 3 palace crossed by four diagonal lines joining its corners to its centre. Unlike Chinese chess, there is no river: every file runs unbroken from one end of the board to the other.
Pieces are traditionally octagonal counters of three sizes, marked with hanja. Both camps write the same characters except on the General and the Soldier. The second icon of each row is the same piece in the 2D Pictograms skin, for players who do not read the characters.
| Cho | Han | Piece | Moves |
|---|---|---|---|
| General (楚 / 漢) | One step along any line of the palace, diagonals included. It starts on the centre of the palace and may never leave it. | ||
| Guard (士) | Exactly like the General, and just as confined. The two Guards start on either side of the General's file, and are its main protection. | ||
| Horse (馬) | One step orthogonally, then one step diagonally outwards. Blocked if the first step is occupied - exactly as in Chinese chess. | ||
| Elephant (象) | One step orthogonally, then two steps diagonally outwards, reaching the far corner of a 2 × 3 rectangle. Either intermediate point blocks it. With no river to hold it back, it takes an active part in the attack. | ||
| Chariot (車) | Like a rook, and along the palace diagonals as well, one or two steps in a straight line. The strongest piece in the game. | ||
| Cannon (包) | Jumps over exactly one piece, friend or foe, at any distance, and lands or captures beyond it. The screen is needed to move as well as to capture. It may neither jump over nor capture another Cannon, and no Cannon can move on the first turn of the game. On a palace diagonal it goes from one corner to the opposite one, over whatever stands on the centre. | ||
| Soldier (卒 / 兵) | One step forward or sideways, never backwards, capturing the same way. There is no promotion in Janggi. Inside the enemy palace it may also follow the diagonals, as long as they take it forward. |
Every piece except the Horse and the Elephant may travel along the diagonal lines of a palace. Those lines only join the corners to the centre, so the middle of each palace edge has no diagonal.
A General may be moved onto the open file of the enemy General, with nothing in between. This is a draw offer: if the opponent does not break the alignment - moving his General away or interposing a piece - the game is drawn. This is where Janggi parts company with Chinese chess, which forbids facing Generals outright.
A player who has no legal move does not lose and is not stalemated: he passes, leaving his General where it stands, and the game goes on.