If you're looking to win at chess, you need a few things. First, you'll most definitely need lots and lots of practice. Second, you'll need a chess teacher or a chess tutorial. This is actually much easier than it sounds, as there is a popular chess program that is available dirt cheap. It's just one of the things we dig into here at the chess board games blog.

http://homepage.eircom.net/~reidr1/index.html

http://www.banaschak.net/pdf/thechessofchina.pdf

When I lived in the Republic of China, the Chinese taught me how to play "syang chi" -- Chinese Chess. What an amazing game! 5,000 years old and still the best game around! Especially the short board version.

The Chinese actually have two versions, the long board, which is like our Chess, and the short board which is my favorite since a game can be played in 10 to 15 minutes.

This link explains the origins, the pieces and strategy.

To share this game with Americans, I used a label gun and ranked the pieces, and put each number ranking so that people can tell by the number.
(i.e, 1=king killer,
2J=the jumper,
3= horse,
4=chariot,
5=elephant,
6=warrior,
K=king).

I have other sets of the game that don't have the numbers on them which a lot of people enjoy playing.

If you find any great syanchi sites--or that better fit your needs, please email me at:
hunter621@yahoo.com

I have taught this game to dozens of people and they love it! I am a counselor and many of the teens had counseling--but I can teach them ancient game that no one else can comprehend and not only do the teens learn it quickly they accept me as a counselor!!


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