Square chess

Square chess , also known as 丢方 and 下方, is an abstract strategy board game played traditionally in the northwestern regions of China, especially Ningxia, Gansu, Shaanxi, Qinghai, Xinjiang, and other areas with a high concentration of Chinese Muslims. The game is also played by Dungans, who have brought the game with them to Central Asian countries such as Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

Rules

The game is played on a 7x8 grid, with pieces played on the points, much as in . Players take turns alternately placing stones until the board has been filled up, attempting to form 2x2 squares with their pieces. When the board has been filled up, players each remove one of their opponent's stones. The player then counts up the squares that he/she has formed and removes an equal number of the opponent's pieces, as long as those pieces are not part of a square. After the initial removal of pieces, players take turns moving pieces; pieces can move any distance along the grid up, down, left, or right. Every time a square is formed, the player can remove one of the opponent's pieces. The player who removes all of the opponent's pieces first is the winner. Thus, the game is similar in concept to Nine Men's Morris.

Playing equipment

The game can be played on any 7x8 board using black or white go stones, even on the intersections of a chessboard. The game is popular in agricultural communities in northwestern China, and often played on a board traced out on the ground. Common playing pieces include stones, twigs, and sheep droppings.

Variants

The Xinjiang variant of square chess is played on a 7x7 board. Because this leads to an odd number of playing points the first player has an advantage. Thus, the second player is allowed to remove one more piece from his/her opponent during the initial removal of pieces.

Other variants of the game allow encirclement of pieces, as in Go. Still other variants disallow certain moves, for example, forming a square in the same way repeatedly .

Because of the game's popularity among country folk in rural areas, there are a great many variants of the game, each local to a specific area.