Boards and strategy
Xiangqi
Chinese chess on the river board: generals in their palaces, cannons that leap to capture, elephants that never cross the river. Five levels against a real engine.
- Levels
- Beginner, Casual, Club, Strong, Master
- Daily
- Beat Casual
- Scored by
- Win, draw or loss
- Today
- Daily puzzle
Setting up the board
Rules
- 1.Xiangqi, or Chinese chess, is played on the 90 points where the lines cross, not in the squares. A river divides the board in two. Red moves first.
- 2.General: one point at a time along the lines, and never out of the palace, the box of nine points marked with diagonals.
- 3.Advisor: one point diagonally, inside the palace. Elephant: exactly two points diagonally, never across the river, and blocked if the point in between is occupied.
- 4.Horse: one point straight, then one diagonally outwards. It is blocked if the point straight next to it is occupied.
- 5.Chariot: any distance along a line, like a rook in chess.
- 6.Cannon: moves like a chariot, but captures only by jumping over exactly one piece (of either side) to land on the piece it takes.
- 7.Soldier: one point forwards. Once across the river it may also move one point sideways. It never moves backwards and is never promoted.
- 8.The two generals may never face each other on the same file with nothing between them.
- 9.You win by checkmate. A player with no legal move also loses, even when not in check. Repeating a position by giving check every move (perpetual check) loses for the checking side; other repetitions are drawn here, as are sixty moves each without a capture.
How to play
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
| Click or tap a piece, then a point | Move the piece; dots mark the legal points |
| Arrow keys, then Enter or Space | Choose a point, pick up a piece and put it down |
| Escape | Cancel the selected piece |
| Pieces: Characters or Letters | Show the traditional characters or Western letters (K, A, E, H, R, C, P) |
| Take back | Undo your last move and the reply |
| Flip board | See the position from the other side |
- Beginner: Knows the moves, drops pieces to simple tactics
- Casual: Sees direct threats, little more
- Club: A sound player who sometimes slips
- Strong: Tactically sharp, hard to surprise
- Master: The engine at full strength in your browser
Strategy
- The central cannon opening, moving a cannon to the middle file, is the most popular first move: it eyes the enemy general straight away.
- Get your chariots out early. They are the strongest pieces and are wasted in the corners.
- Keep your horses' legs clear. A horse with a piece next to it may have no moves at all.
- A cannon needs a screen. Late in the game, with few pieces left, cannons lose much of their power while horses gain.
- Soldiers become dangerous once they cross the river, and two connected soldiers near the palace can decide an endgame.
- Use the rule that generals cannot face each other: your own general can pin the enemy general to its file.
Questions
- How is xiangqi different from chess?
- Pieces stand on the points, not in squares; the general is confined to its palace; the cannon captures by jumping; there is no castling and no promotion; and a player with no legal move loses rather than drawing.
- Can I see letters instead of Chinese characters?
- Yes. Under Pieces choose Letters to see K for general, A for advisor, E for elephant, H for horse, R for chariot, C for cannon and P for soldier. Red pieces always have a double ring, Black pieces a single one.
- Why did the engine page reload when I opened it?
- The engine thinks on several threads, and browsers allow that only after a full page load with special security settings. If you arrive from another page on the site, the page reloads once to turn them on.
- Does the computer run on a server?
- No. The engine downloads once when you start a game, about 1.7 MB, and then thinks on your own device. Nothing about your game is sent anywhere.
- How does the daily game work?
- Everyone plays the same level and colour each UTC day. Win it to extend your daily streak. Takebacks are off in the daily game.