Xiangqi Lesson 1: Pieces, Moves and Winning

In xiangqi, Red and Black take turns, and Red moves first. Red's leader is written 帥 and Black's 將: different characters, same role — the general. Guard your general and leave the enemy general no escape to win. You do not need to capture all the other pieces.

A move takes one piece from one intersection to another allowed intersection. If an enemy piece stands on the destination, remove it: that is a capture. You cannot capture your own pieces, and you move only one piece per turn.

The board has 9 vertical and 10 horizontal lines. Pieces stand on the intersections, not inside squares. The open band across the middle is the river. The 3×3 areas marked with diagonals at each end are the palaces; the general and advisors must stay inside their own palace.

This site labels intersections with letters a–i and numbers 1–10. With Red at the bottom, count across to file b and up to rank 3: the red cannon stands on b3. "b3 → e3" means sliding that cannon along the same line to the centre file. Traditional notation such as 炮二平五 is a different system covered in Lesson 2.

Each side starts with 16 pieces: one general, two each of advisors, elephants, chariots, horses and cannons, and five soldiers. Red and Black write some pieces with different characters, but they are the same piece types. Find each one on the starting board before reading the moves below.

General: one point along a line, inside the palace. Advisor: one point diagonally, inside the palace. Elephant: exactly two points diagonally and never across the river; any piece on the midpoint blocks it ("blocking the elephant's eye").

Chariot: any distance along a line, but it cannot jump over pieces. Horse: one point straight, then one point diagonally outward; a piece on that first point blocks the move ("hobbling the horse's leg"). Cannon: moves like a chariot, but to capture it must jump over exactly one piece of either colour — the "screen".

Soldier: one point forward before crossing the river; after crossing, one point forward or sideways. A soldier never moves backwards and never promotes. It captures the same way it moves.

A general under attack is in check. On your turn you must deal with it: move the general, capture the attacker, or block the line of attack. One special rule: the two generals may never face each other on the same file with nothing in between. Check this whenever you move a piece that stands between them.

Check with no legal reply is mate, and you lose. Unlike chess, having no legal move at all also loses, even without check. Long-running repeated checks or chases have their own adjudication rules; do not borrow chess's draw rules.

The red horse on b1 wants to reach a3 or c3. Both routes pass its "leg" on b2, and a red soldier stands there, so neither jump is possible yet.

Demo: push the soldier b2–b3, Black moves the general to f10, then the horse jumps b1–c3. The soldier is still nearby, but b3 is not on this move's leg, so it does not block.

The red elephant on c1 wants to reach e3, which requires the midpoint d2 to be empty. The red chariot on d2 blocks the elephant's eye, so the move is impossible.

Demo: chariot d2–d3, Black general e10–f10, then elephant c1–e3. Now both the midpoint and the destination are clear. The chariot on d3 is not on this diagonal.

The red cannon is on e3 and a black soldier on e7. Exactly one piece stands between them: the red soldier on e4. That soldier is the screen, so the cannon may jump over it and capture e7.

With no piece in between, or with two or more, the capture is not allowed. When not capturing, a cannon moves like a chariot and cannot jump over anything.

Before crossing the river a soldier moves one point forward only. After crossing it may move one point forward or sideways, but never back. On the enemy's last rank it can only move sideways and loses most of its value, so put crossed soldiers to work early.

Demo: Red's soldier e5–e6 crosses the river, Black's general steps aside, then the soldier moves sideways e6–d6. Why must the general move first? With both generals on the e-file, the soldier stepping away would leave them facing each other — a "flying general" — so that move would be illegal.

Choose Try the moves, then select each indicated piece and its destination. You play both sides so you can see how turns alternate. This is one teaching line; other legal openings are fine too.

After each move, look at the highlighted origin and destination before reading the next prompt. You can step back and retry or switch to watching the demo. Real games usually do not allow take-backs.