Dark Chess rules and tips
Dark Chess, called Jieqi in Chinese and Co Up in Vietnamese, is played on a xiangqi board, but only the generals start face up. The other fifteen pieces on each side are shuffled and placed face down on the usual starting points.
The rules
- A face-down piece makes its first move as the piece that normally starts on its point. A hidden piece on a cannon's point moves like a cannon, even if it is really a horse.
- After that move it turns over and from then on moves as what it really is.
- Revealed advisors and elephants are free: they may leave the palace and cross the river.
- Check and mate work as in xiangqi, and a player with no legal move loses.
- If you capture a piece that is still face down, only you see what it was. Your opponent has to work it out.
How to think about it
- Every side has the same set of pieces, so keep count. If two chariots are already showing, the hidden ones are less dangerous.
- Moving a hidden piece is a gamble that can land a soldier deep in the enemy camp or free a chariot in one move. Early on, prefer moves that open files for pieces already revealed.
- Elephants and advisors are strong here, because they can travel anywhere once they are revealed.
- Do not leave your general short of defenders: an unknown piece can turn out to be the worst possible attacker.