Brielf Introduction by Felix Tan
The term "AXF Rules", in its narrow sense, is referring to a set of rules developed by the Asian Xiangqi Federation that serves to prevent endless repetition of moves in a xiangqi competition. The first draft of official rules & regulations for xiangqi competitions was discussed and approved at an Arbiters' Conference held in Macau in 1982. Representatives from all the AXF member units, led by the Chief Arbiter of AXF Mr Lee Chee Hoi(Hong Kong), spent 5 days to examine the draft in great details and make modifications to the rules where deemed appropriate. A booklet entitled "Rules and Regulations of Xiangqi Competitions" was published in December in the same year.
The contents of the booklet comprise four chapters as follows:
Chapter 1: The rudiments of xiangqi
Chapter 2: General regulations for xiangqi tournaments
Chapter 3: Management of xiangqi tournaments
Chapter 4: Rules of Xiangqi (rules governing repetitions)
For more than 2 decades, the "AXF rules" have been adopted and proven its merit in many international xiangqi competitions, including the World Championships. Two revisions have been made subsequently: One in June 1989 and the lastest one in March 2003. An English version of the 4th Chapter, the gems of the "AXF Rules", was published in 1996(Photo right). You may download the pdf version here.