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Xiangqi

Chinese chess. The pieces stand on the intersections, a river crosses the middle, and the two generals may never look at each other down an open file. Be warned about one rule before you start: a player with no legal move LOSES, where chess would call it a draw.

Play Xiangqi Leaderboard

The board

  1. Nine files by ten ranks, and the pieces stand on the ninety INTERSECTIONS rather than in the squares.
  2. The river runs across the middle, between the fifth and sixth ranks. It stops the elephants and it changes what a soldier may do.
  3. Each side has a palace: a three by three area at its own end with two diagonals drawn across it. The general and its two advisors never leave it.
  4. Red moves first. On this site the seed decides which seat plays Red.

How the pieces move

  1. The general moves one point, straight, and only inside its own palace.
  2. An advisor moves one point diagonally, and only inside the palace. There are two, and they are the only pieces that can defend inside it.
  3. An elephant moves exactly two points diagonally and NEVER crosses the river, so each one only ever reaches seven points in the whole game.
  4. A horse moves one point straight and then one diagonally outward. If a piece of EITHER colour stands on the straight step, the horse is hobbled and cannot go that way.
  5. A chariot moves any distance in a straight line along a rank or a file, like a rook.
  6. A cannon moves like a chariot, but takes only by jumping EXACTLY ONE piece, of either colour, with nothing else between. It cannot take the piece next to it and it cannot jump two.
  7. A soldier moves one point forward. Once it has crossed the river it may also move sideways. It never moves backward and it NEVER promotes.

The three things a chess player will get wrong

  1. The cannon does not take the way it moves. It slides like a chariot to an empty point, but to TAKE it must jump exactly one piece. A cannon sitting next to your chariot is not attacking it.
  2. The elephant and the advisor never leave their own half and their own palace. They are defenders, and neither can ever touch the enemy general.
  3. A soldier never promotes and never retreats. A soldier that reaches the last rank can only shuffle sideways for the rest of the game.

The flying general

  1. The two generals may not face each other down a file with nothing between them.
  2. In practice that means you may not make a move that would create it: moving your last piece off the file between them is refused, exactly as moving into check is.
  3. It is also a weapon. An open file between the generals pins whatever is standing in it.

How a game is won, and the rule nobody believes

  1. Checkmate wins: the general is attacked and there is no legal move that answers it.
  2. A player with NO LEGAL MOVE AT ALL loses. In chess that is stalemate and a draw; here it is a loss, and it is the rule most visitors will not believe.
  3. A player may resign, and either player may offer a draw for the other to accept.

Repetition is judged, not counted

  1. Endlessly checking the same general is PERPETUAL CHECK, and the side giving the checks loses. It is not a draw.
  2. Endlessly chasing one unprotected piece is PERPETUAL CHASE, and the side doing the chasing loses. Generals and soldiers do not count as the piece being chased.
  3. If one side perpetually checks and the other perpetually chases, the side checking must stop or lose.
  4. If both sides persist and neither is in breach, the game is a draw.
  5. When a repetition decides a game, this site shows you the RULE NUMBER from the Asian Rules in the log, so you can look up the ruling you lost to.

The numbers this site chose

  1. The four limits below are this site following the Chinese Xiangqi Association tournament practice. They are an operational answer to games that will not end, and they are NOT part of the rules of xiangqi.
  2. A draw after 120 effective moves: moves that are checks, chases, or the replies to them do not count towards it.
  3. A draw after 30 moves with no capture and no soldier moved.
  4. A draw after 300 moves however the game is going.
  5. A repetition is looked at once it has gone round enough times to be a repetition rather than a coincidence.

Xiangqi is played by more people than any other board game on earth. If you know chess, read "The three things a chess player will get wrong" before your first game, and remember that having no move left loses.

Xiangqi terms

The river
The gap across the middle of the board. Elephants never cross it; a soldier that does gains the ability to move sideways.
The palace
The three by three area at each end with diagonals drawn across it. The general and its advisors never leave their own.
A screen
The single piece a cannon jumps over in order to take. Either colour will do, and there must be exactly one.
Hobbling
Blocking a horse by standing on the point it steps through on its way. A piece of either colour does it.
The elephant eye
The point an elephant passes through on its two-point diagonal. A piece there stops the move.
The flying general
The rule that the two generals may not see each other down an open file. Creating that position is refused.
Stalemate
Having no legal move. In xiangqi this LOSES the game. It is not a draw, whatever chess taught you.
Perpetual check
Checking for ever to avoid a loss. The side giving the checks is ruled to have lost.
ICCS and WXF
Two ways of writing a move. This site stores the coordinates (h2e2) and shows the traditional form (C2.5) beside them.

Playing it here

  • Against a person or the bot. The bot needs no account and starts at once. To play a person, be rated and keep your games, you need an account: an email address and a password.
  • At your own pace. Every move has a deadline you both see, from one minute to a week. A game can take an evening or it can take a fortnight.
  • Nothing to buy and nothing to win. No stakes, no prizes, no boosts, no undo. The only thing on offer is a place on a leaderboard, and only if you want one.
  • Every game can be checked. Anything decided by chance comes from the game's seed, and the seed is published the moment the game ends, so any finished game can be replayed and verified by anyone. See fair play.