How to play Xiangqi (Chinese chess)
- 1Xiangqi is played on the intersections of a board nine files wide and ten ranks deep, split down the middle by a river. Each side has a General, two Advisors, two Elephants, two Horses, two Chariots, two Cannons and five Soldiers. Red moves first.
- 2The General may never leave the 3×3 palace at its own end of the board, and moves exactly one point orthogonally within it. The Advisor is confined to the same palace and moves one point along its diagonal lines only.
- 3The Elephant moves exactly two points diagonally and is blocked if the midpoint — its "eye" — is occupied. It can never cross the river, so it only ever defends its own half of the board.
- 4The Horse moves one point orthogonally then one point diagonally outward, and is blocked if the orthogonal step is occupied — the same "hobbling the leg" rule as in Korean janggi.
- 5The Chariot (車) moves any distance in a straight line, exactly like a rook.
- 6The Cannon (炮) moves like a Chariot when it is not capturing, but to capture it must jump exactly one piece — of either colour, including another cannon — landing on the first piece beyond that screen.
- 7Soldiers (兵/卒) move one point straight forward only, until they cross the river. After crossing, they may also move one point sideways, but never backward.
- 8The two Generals may never face each other down a completely open file with nothing between them — the "flying general" rule. A move that would create this position is simply illegal, exactly like leaving your own General in check.
- 9You win by leaving the enemy General with no legal move at all. Unlike international chess there is no stalemate escape: if a side simply has no legal move, whether or not it is in check, that side loses.
Xiangqi strategy guide
The Chariot is the strongest piece on the board
An open file for a Chariot is worth fighting for from the opening. It attacks and defends from a distance in a way nothing else on this board can, and trading a Chariot for anything less than another Chariot is almost always a loss of material.
Cannons want a screen, not an open line
A Cannon is dangerous early, when the board is full of potential screens, and gets weaker as pieces are traded off. Look for a friendly Soldier or Horse sitting in front of a Cannon aimed at the enemy palace — that is usually the sharpest attack available.
Elephants and Advisors are your defence, not your attack
Neither piece can cross the river, so neither can ever take part in an assault on the enemy General. Their entire job is to guard your own palace and the elephant-eye points near it — do not trade them away carelessly just because they look passive.
A Soldier who has crossed the river is worth far more than one who has not
Before the river, a Soldier can only shuffle forward one square at a time and is easy to ignore. The moment it crosses, it gains sideways movement and becomes a genuine attacking piece, especially near the enemy palace. Push soldiers across early rather than leaving them at home.
Remember there is no stalemate
Players coming from international chess sometimes try to run the opponent out of moves as a drawing trick. In Xiangqi that is a losing idea for whoever runs dry — leaving your opponent with no legal move at all wins the game outright.
The history of Xiangqi
Xiangqi and Korean janggi share a common ancestor in the Indian game chaturanga, which reached China via Central Asia and had settled into something close to its modern form by the Song dynasty (960–1279 CE). It is by some measures the most widely played board game in the world today, with hundreds of millions of players across China and the Chinese diaspora.
The board’s central river is named after the Chu–Han Contention of the 3rd century BCE — the war between the rival kingdoms of Chu and Han that followed the collapse of the Qin dynasty. The same conflict gives Korean janggi its two side names, Cho (楚) and Han (漢), even though janggi itself has no river on its board.
Xiangqi diverged from janggi in several ways that make it the sharper, more attack-oriented game of the two: the river restricts Elephants and Soldiers, Soldiers cannot move sideways until they cross it, Cannons may freely jump or capture other cannons, and there is no passing move — a side that runs out of legal moves loses outright rather than surviving on a technicality.
Xiangqi FAQ
- How is Xiangqi different from Korean chess (janggi)?
- Xiangqi has a river that Elephants and Soldiers cannot cross, and Soldiers only gain sideways movement after crossing it. Cannons in Xiangqi may jump or capture other cannons, which janggi forbids. There is no passing move in Xiangqi, and a side with no legal move simply loses — janggi instead allows a pass, and treats facing generals as an immediate draw rather than an illegal position.
- What is the "flying general" rule?
- The two Generals may never end up facing each other down a completely open file. Any move that would create that position is illegal for the player making it — it is checked the same way as leaving your own General in check.
- Why can’t my Elephant cross the middle of the board?
- The Elephant is a purely defensive piece in Xiangqi and is not allowed to cross the river at all, regardless of whether the path is otherwise clear. It also cannot jump — if the point at its diagonal midpoint is occupied, it has no legal move in that direction.
- Can my Cannon capture another Cannon?
- Yes. Unlike janggi, Xiangqi places no restriction on a Cannon using another Cannon as its jumping screen, or on capturing an enemy Cannon that way.
- What happens if I simply have no legal move?
- You lose immediately, whether or not you were in check. There is no stalemate draw in Xiangqi — running your opponent out of moves is a winning plan, not a way to escape a bad position.