Life In 19x19

Many people are aware of tibetan go, played on a 17x17 board with special capture rules.
It seems there are also other games played in Tibet using black and white stones. One of them is played on a 14x14 board. Does anyone know what this game is?

http://eng.tibet.cn/life/news/1480130868464.shtml
This page has a photo of a 14x14 demonstration board. (The article focuses on a different game played on an irregular-shaped board with diagonal connections, which seems to be a variant of tiger hunt / Bagh Chal.)

http://www.vtibet.com/en/news_1746/ctbn ... 29576.html
This page has a photo of a guy deep in thought in front of a 14x14 board filled with stones. Many of the stones have no liberties, so this isn't just go on a 14x14 board (unless it's in counting, but it doesn't seem that way). There's also a photo of Gu Li signing a regular tibetan 17x17 board - note the hoshi on the third line.

http://english.chinatibetnews.com/gdtp/ ... 68744.html
This page has a photo of people playing on a 14x14 board, with all the stones being placed near the center. It looks like they are playing five in a row in that picture, but the position in the photo on the previous page definitely doesn't look like five in a row. Perhaps its some variant of go starting with a crosscut in the center?

There is a game that starts with a crosscut in the center, looks sort of like go, but the captures aren't removed, which would fit all the photos. But I'd be surprised to hear it was played in Tibet on a special board.

I'm really intrigued by this. If I had to bet, I would say it's some variant of Fangqi, but we're going to need some Chinese-speaking person to nail it down.

palapiku wrote:There is a game that starts with a crosscut in the center, looks sort of like go, but the captures aren't removed, which would fit all the photos. But I'd be surprised to hear it was played in Tibet on a special board.

It can't be Dots (aka Kropki) because you need to mark any newly surrounded area by drawing a boundary line through all your dots that are part of the enclosing chain. This is important because boundary lines can't cross each other.

luigi wrote:I'm really intrigued by this. If I had to bet, I would say it's some variant of Fangqi, but we're going to need some Chinese-speaking person to nail it down.

you're right. but diffrent a lot.

The popular Tibetan chess "Jiu" in Aba area

The Tibetan chess popular in Aba, Sichuan is called "Jiu". Unlike "Mimang", which is favored by the aristocracy, "Jiu" is more popular. "Jiu" chess pieces are based on the environment in which the player is placed. They can be made of local materials, either stones, clods, or small sticks. There is no fixed or uniform shape and color, as long as the two sides are distinguished. Nowadays, Go chess pieces are mostly used, which are beautiful and generous. This may be the main reason why "jiu" can be widely spread in Tibetan areas. The "Jiu" chessboard is not customized, and several vertical and horizontal lines are often drawn anywhere. The specifications vary from person to person. There are 7-line grids, 8-line grids, 10-line grids, and 14-line grids.

Currently, Aba’s official Tibetan chess is a 14-line grid. Before the start, place a white and a black on the opposite corners of the center square of the chessboard, and then the white chess moves first to start the layout. In the layout stage, the two players take turns to place the stones and entangle each other to try to prevent the opponent from going into a square. After the chessboard is completely filled The layout has come to an end. Then first remove the first two pieces that were played on the opposite corners of the square. There are two gaps, and the battle begins. At this time, the black piece plays first, like a checker, jumping across the opponent's pieces and eating If you lose the opponent's blocker, you can follow the intersection step by step. Once your pawn becomes a square, you will win the opportunity to remove one of the opponent's pawns at will. In the end, whoever has more pawns will win.