Xiangqi

Overview

Chinese chess. Played on the intersections of a 9×10 grid, with a river across the middle and a palace at each end that the general may never leave.

Checked against the World Xiangqi Federation's World Xiangqi Rules (2018), Chapter 1. The WXF calls the general the King and the soldier the Pawn; this page uses the more common English names and gives both.

1. The board

Nine files by ten ranks, and pieces sit on the points, not in the squares.

Two features define it:

• The river runs horizontally across the centre and restricts certain pieces.
• The palace is a 3×3 area at each end, marked with diagonals. The general and advisors may never leave it.

2. The pieces

Piece	Movement
General or King (將/帥)	One point orthogonally, within the palace only
Advisor (士)	One point diagonally, within the palace only
Elephant (象)	Exactly two points diagonally. Cannot cross the river. Blocked if the midpoint is occupied
Horse (馬)	One orthogonal then one diagonal. Blocked if the orthogonal step is occupied — unlike a chess knight, it cannot jump
Chariot (車)	Any distance orthogonally. Equivalent to a rook
Cannon (砲)	Moves like a chariot, but captures only by jumping exactly one piece
Soldier or Pawn (兵/卒)	One point forward. After crossing the river, may also move sideways — never backward

3. The cannon

The most distinctive piece in the game. It moves freely along ranks and files like a rook, but to capture it must leap over exactly one intervening piece — of either colour — and land on the target.

A cannon with nothing to jump cannot capture at all.

4. The flying general rule

The two generals may never face each other along an open file with no pieces between them.

A move creating that alignment is illegal. In effect the generals attack each other along the file, which produces elegant endgame tactics.

5. The horse is blockable

Unlike a chess knight, the horse does not jump. If the orthogonal square it must step through is occupied, the move is illegal.

Blocking a horse's leg is a standard defensive technique.

6. Who moves first

Red moves first (WXF 4.1), then the players alternate.

7. Winning and drawing

A player loses when (WXF 3.1):

• their King is checkmated;
• they are stalemated, with no legal move. Unlike chess, this is a loss, not a draw;
• they leave their King in check or expose it, the WXF's "committing suicide";
• they keep repeating prohibited moves after being warned by the arbiter.

Perpetual check. If one player checks perpetually while the other chases perpetually, the player giving the perpetual check must change moves or lose (3.1.H). More generally, if only one player keeps making prohibited moves, that player must change or lose (3.1.I). What counts as a prohibited "chase" is set out in the WXF's detailed rules, which are long and not summarised here.

The game is drawn (3.2) when neither side can win, by agreement, when the position repeats four times with neither side breaking the rules and neither willing to vary, when both sides make the same kind of illegal repetition, or after 50 moves by each player without a capture.

8. Touch-move

In WXF competition, a player who touches one of their own pieces must move it, and a player who touches an enemy piece must capture it if they can (4.2).

Commonly argued

• Pieces sit on the intersections, not in the squares.
• The generals cannot face each other down an open file.
• The horse can be blocked. It does not jump.
• Elephants cannot cross the river, so they are purely defensive.
• Soldiers gain sideways movement after crossing, never backward.
• Stalemate is a loss, not a draw.
• Red moves first.