‹ XIANGQI KNIGHT

How to Play Xiangqi (Chinese Chess)

A complete beginner's guide — board, pieces, rules and strategy · 10-minute read

Xiangqi (象棋), often called Chinese Chess, is one of the most played board games on Earth, with centuries of history and hundreds of millions of players. If you already know Western chess or checkers, you will pick up Xiangqi quickly — the goal is the same (trap the enemy king), but the pieces, the board and several clever rules give it a completely different flavor: fast, aggressive and highly tactical.

1. The Board

Xiangqi is played on a grid of 9 vertical lines and 10 horizontal lines. Unlike Western chess, pieces are placed and moved on the intersections, not inside squares. Two special features divide the battlefield:

The River — the open horizontal band in the middle, historically the boundary between the rival Chu and Han kingdoms. Some pieces gain or lose abilities when crossing it.
The Palaces — the 3×3 marked zones at each end. The General and his two Advisors may never leave the palace.

Each side starts with 16 pieces: one General, two Advisors, two Elephants, two Horses, two Chariots, two Cannons and five Soldiers, lined up on the first three ranks.

2. The Pieces and How They Move

Piece	Chinese	Movement
General (King)	帥 / 將	Moves one point orthogonally (up, down, left, right) and must stay inside the palace. May never face the enemy General directly on an open file (see Flying General rule).
Advisor	仕 / 士	Moves one point diagonally, and only within the palace. The General's bodyguards.
Elephant	相 / 象	Moves exactly two points diagonally (like "田", the character for field). Cannot cross the river. Blocked if any piece stands on the midpoint of its path ("blocking the elephant's eye").
Horse	馬 / 馬	Moves in an L-shape: one point straight, then one point diagonally. Unlike the Western knight, the horse can be blocked — if a piece stands on the straight leg of the L ("hobbling the horse's leg"), the move is illegal.
Chariot (Rook)	車 / 車	Moves and captures any distance orthogonally along an open line. The strongest piece on the board.
Cannon	炮 / 砲	Moves like the Chariot when not capturing. To capture, it must jump over exactly one piece (any color) standing between it and the target — the "cannon screen". This unique jumping capture is the most distinctive piece in Xiangqi.
Soldier (Pawn)	兵 / 卒	Moves one point forward. After crossing the river, it also gains sideways movement — but it never moves backward and never promotes.

💡 Memory aid: the Chinese characters themselves are the rules — 馬 (horse) walks 日 (sun, an L on a 2×3 grid), 象 (elephant) walks 田 (field, a diagonal cross on a 2×2 grid), 仕 (advisor) walks the palace diagonals.

3. Special Rules You Must Know

The Flying General — the two Generals may never be on the same file with no piece between them. This "facing generals" position is illegal; you cannot make a move that exposes it. It also means a General can "attack" along an open file, which is sometimes used to deliver checkmate.
Check and Checkmate — as in Western chess, a General under attack must be defended immediately. A player with no legal move to escape check loses. Unlike Western chess, stalemate (no legal moves) is a loss for the stalemated player, not a draw.
Perpetual check / perpetual chase is forbidden — you may not check (or chase a piece) endlessly. If one side attacks perpetually and the other does not, the perpetual attacker loses.
Soldiers never retreat — once past the river they are slower than they look, but a deep soldier anchoring the enemy palace is often the key to winning endgames.

4. Winning: Checkmate and Strategy Basics

You win by checkmating the enemy General — attacking it so that no move, block or capture can save it — or by leaving your opponent with no legal move at all. A basic mating idea: one Chariot can checkmate a bare General with the help of your own Advisors and Elephant. Because stalemating yourself is a loss, endgame technique matters enormously.

Three principles for beginners:

Develop the Chariots early. A Chariot stuck on its starting point in the opening is a wasted army.
Use the Cannon's jump. In the opening, the central Cannon threatening the enemy's central Soldier through a screen creates instant pressure — the classic "central cannon" opening.
Keep your palace intact. Every Advisor or Elephant you push out early is a shield your General loses; most beginner games are lost to sudden flank attacks on an open palace.

5. Practice: The Fastest Way to Improve

Xiangqi rewards pattern recognition, and the best training tool is the endgame puzzle — a small position where you must find the forced checkmate in a few moves. Solving them teaches you exactly how Chariots, Cannons and Soldiers cooperate in real attacks.

XIANGQI KNIGHT gives you everything you need in one free app:

♟ 332 endgame puzzles — from one-move mates to multi-move combinations, for both attack (Red) and defense (Black)
🤖 AI opponent with adjustable strength, perfect for your first games
🌍 Real-time online matches — play other players worldwide with a free account, earn points and rank up from K1 upward
📱 Works everywhere — no download needed in the browser, and installable as an app on phone and computer

▶ Play Xiangqi Free Now