Chinese Chess

How to play Chinese Chess / Xiangqi (two players, same screen)

This is pass-and-play Xiangqi for two people sharing one device. Red moves first, then take turns. There is no computer opponent and no internet needed. Pieces sit on the grid; the goal is to checkmate the enemy General.

Controls

• Tap/click a piece of the side to move. Its legal destinations appear as dots (empty points) or rings (captures).
• Tap/click a highlighted point to move there. Tap your own piece again, or elsewhere, to change or cancel the selection.
• New game resets the board.

How the pieces move

• General (將/帥) — one point orthogonally, but must stay inside its 3×3 palace.
• Advisor (士/仕) — one point diagonally, also confined to the palace.
• Elephant (象/相) — exactly two points diagonally and may not cross the river; it is blocked if the point it jumps over (its “eye”) is occupied.
• Horse (馬/傌) — one point orthogonally then one diagonally; it is blocked if the point beside it (its “leg”) is occupied.
• Chariot (車/俥) — any distance in a straight line, like a rook.
• Cannon (砲/炮) — moves like the chariot, but to capture it must jump exactly one piece (any colour) — the “screen” — and land on an enemy beyond it.
• Soldier (卒/兵) — one point forward. After crossing the river it may also move one point sideways, but never backward.

Special rules (all enforced)

• The flying general. The two Generals may never face each other directly along an open file — a move that would expose them to each other is illegal.
• Check and checkmate. If your General is attacked you are in check and must escape it. If the side to move has no legal move, that side loses — the game shows who won.

A little history

Xiangqi is one of the most popular board games in the world, played for centuries across China and beyond. It shares an ancient ancestor with international chess but has its own character: the river down the middle, the palaces that pen in the generals, and the cannon, whose jump-to-capture move has no equivalent in Western chess.

Frequently asked questions