Ever since a little kid, my hobbies were all about strategy games (chinese checkers, advance wars, many board games such as risk and strategy, and of course those stupid pokemon cards). I was largely influenced by my grandpa.

When I was in first grade, my grandpa would teach me Xiangqi after I get back from school. Even though at first I was reluctant and moody (cause he was taking up my precious time for cartoons), I played with him. Yea, that's cause I was being rewarded in other things haha. But then, grandpa would be quite evil and perform crazy moves on me in handicap games. It was merely an entertainment for him; he would sometimes wickedly laugh at my follies and bad beats.

Everyday, I would spend some time with him to practice. It was through repetition that I learned from my mistakes, and his godly approach. Although I would get mad and quit at times, I would still play my grandpa the following day, because Xiangqi has begun to entice me. Little by little, chess would begin to get the better part of me. I would learn to anticipate grandpa's moves and plan strategies around his to avoid traps and such. As I grew, my game too, has grown more mature. I began to play more solid against him. The games then would be more in dept; maybe 5-6 steps ahead for each scenarios. In my high school days, I even started a trend in teaching friends and groupies Xiangqi; I also made friends playing good players who knew the game in the school. And if you had seen my yearbook, half of the comments were about "chess master" lalallaala, I didn't say it. Man it was fun... until grandpa passed away a few years ago. His skill was unmatched; there's no one I play who can give me the tremor of excitement like he can, hands down.

Now that I'm all nostalgic for it again, it's because of the Shogi that I'm trying to learn (inspired by Shikamaru). For the past moment, I began to analyze how much impact my grandpa left me. And I'm deeply grateful and in debt to him.

I feel my affinity toward Xiangqi helped me aquire a great deal of personality, on a positive level. I've become a more reflective, patient person. I feel I've come to appreciate many forms of art and music- much more than if I hadn't been influenced by Xiangqi. I am constantly seeking truth and knowledge, whether it be a quick glance in wikipedia for something exotic, or cnn news and discovery channel that I would leave my TV on in the background. I am endlessly pursuing many great things in life that interests me- cooking, popping, small magic, romance, etc... I feel I am who I am today because of the mindset that my grandpa once sowed. This is the power of chess that have affected my life.

Besides Western chess, as most of us know how to play, does anyone play other forms of chess? Here are many different chess variants:

Chaturanga - an ancient Indian game, presumed to be the common ancestor of chess and other national chess-related games.
Chaturaji - four handed version of Chaturanga, played with a dice.
Shatranj - an ancient Persian game, derived from Chaturanga.
Tamerlane chess - a significantly expanded variation of Shatranj.
Xiangqi - China.
Jungle (or animal chess) - China.
Banqi (or Chinese Half chess) - China.
Shogi - Japan (see also shogi variants).
Janggi - Korea.
Makruk - Thailand.
Sittuyin - Burma.
Shatar - Mongolia.
http://www.wikipedia.org

my gosh, you know so many type of chess from every country!!! ^^ i used to play the regular chess game with the horse and kings.....and those chinese chess with the square board with the red x and circle chips with chinese words on them, i'm not which one is similar to the ones you mention above..but yeah, that's about it. I'm not even that good at chess but it's kinda fun to see how the other person is going to find their way out if they're stuck

pic85 Wrote:my gosh, you know so many type of chess from every country!!! ^^ i used to play the regular chess game with the horse and kings.....and those chinese chess with the square board with the red x and circle chips with chinese words on them, i'm not which one is similar to the ones you mention above..but yeah, that's about it. I'm not even that good at chess but it's kinda fun to see how the other person is going to find their way out if they're stuck

sounds kinda like chess, but also sounds kinda like bingo

Xiangqi? Is it different than Western Chess, since that's the only version I know. Any other versions I do know are variants of the western chess (i.e. Bomber Chess, Bug House) so not really any real cultural influences, although I have heard of Shogi and was going to learn it one of these days, and Chaturanga, for which I did a report on in High School.

Hmm Chess Master? We share something in common, for I was called Chess Master by the fellows of our Chess team in our yearbook also and was my nickname when I was on the golf team (for I had a habit of bring a chess board to Golf practice to play chess when we get bored. Ah I miss those days!).

If you're looking for a challenge, try your hand against me! Although I have to say I'm probably not as good any more and my national rating is embarrassingly low (lower than the points we start off with) but I do enjoy the game and would like a friendly match with you

It's a LOVE STORY, baby, just say YES!

Rondillo Wrote:Xiangqi? Is it different than Western Chess, since that's the only version I know. Any other versions I do know are variants of the western chess (i.e. Bomber Chess, Bug House) so not really any real cultural influences, although I have heard of Shogi and was going to learn it one of these days, and Chaturanga, for which I did a report on in High School.

Hmm Chess Master? We share something in common, for I was called Chess Master by the fellows of our Chess team in our yearbook also and was my nickname when I was on the golf team (for I had a habit of bring a chess board to Golf practice to play chess when we get bored. Ah I miss those days!).

If you're looking for a challenge, try your hand against me! Although I have to say I'm probably not as good any more and my national rating is embarrassingly low (lower than the points we start off with) but I do enjoy the game and would like a friendly match with you

That would be awesome. I'd love to play you some time. If you live in the Southern California region, we can prolly meet up. If not, I guess playing online would do... idk.

I've never really participated any tournaments in national level. I'm pretty sure I would definitely be somewhere down a low low tier.

Well I am from Southern California, but I think online would still be best for us, since I don't think I would like to do any traveling even if it was only an hour away XD

It's a LOVE STORY, baby, just say YES!

Well, I was hoping you'd say that. Cuz this way, I feel I'm not the only one who's on the lazy end.

I used to play online xiangqi on this chinese website. It's been years since I've logged onto that account, I don't remember anything about it. So it's as good as none. If you by chance have a site that you play on, it'd be easier for me to create a new one from there. If not, I'll see what I'll find and tell you about it.

xiangqi? I only know how to play chess! Or is it the same? If not, then you'll have to teach me first

It's a LOVE STORY, baby, just say YES!

Ah I see... I thought you meant xiangqi all along. Well, if it's chess, then I guess you can still play me. But I'm just mediocre.

i will learn xianqi then. I always wanted to learn it. But I'm too busy right now, but after this week I'll be good to learn it!

It's a LOVE STORY, baby, just say YES!