Bull Horn Chess Illustration

Bull Horn Chess: An Illustrated Guide to the 11 Points

The black ox breaks through from the tip of the horn, while two white farmers guard the door. By understanding the connection first, you know where you can go next.

The board and opening positions

Bull Horn Chess has 11 win-on discards and 19 connected lines. Pieces can only move along the drawn line to adjacent empty points; they cannot cross points, jump stones, or move to areas without connecting lines.

Bull Horn Chess 11 points and initial positions White Farmer is at points 1 and 2, Black Bull is at point 11, and the other points are empty. 1234567891011
Start: White Farmer is at gates 1 and 2, Black Bull is at Ox Horn Point 11; Black Bull goes first.

How to determine adjacent points

Only when there is a continuous line between two points are they considered adjacent. For example, point 11 connects points 9 and 10 respectively, so at the start of the game, Black Bull can only choose one direction. Even if the two points appear close on the screen, as long as there is no line connecting in the middle, you cannot walk directly across them.

  • Only one piece is moved per turn.
  • The target points must be adjacent and must be empty.
  • Both the Black Bull and the White Farmer can walk along the connecting line in any direction, and the White Farmer can also step back.
  • There is only one cow; when it's the ox's turn, the game selects it by default; When picking a farmer, one farmer is selected by default.

How will both sides win?

Black Bull's goal: Rush to the door

The black bull breaks out from the tip of Horn 11 to the left; as long as it reaches gate 1 or 2, the black bull wins immediately. The ox should try to keep more than two forward routes to avoid being surrounded by two farmers.

Bai Nongfu's goal: to block the ox back to Jiaojian

The two farmers must look out for each other, gradually reducing the black bull's movement points. Push the black bull to the tip of the bull's horns and completely block it; the white farmer wins. If either side has no legal move when it's their turn, that side loses.

A place that's easy to get wrong

  1. Pieces do not move in the order of point numbers, but move along the lines on the board.
  2. You cannot skip the middle point, nor stand at the same point as another piece.
  3. White Farmer is not limited to advancing toward the ox horn; current rules allow backward movement.