Beginners
A five-step routine to use before every xiangqi move: read the opponent's threat, look for checks and captures, check legs, eyes and screens, then a final safet
For Chess Players
The cannon moves like a rook but captures by jumping over exactly one piece. How it works, why it is so strong early, and the counting habit that tames it.
Checkmate Patterns
Advisors and elephants protect the general, yet in many xiangqi mates they are what traps it. The smothered patterns and how to avoid building your own cage.
Checkmate Patterns
A chariot next to the enemy general, a central cannon and your own general guarding the file combine into one of xiangqi's most elegant mates.
Checkmate Patterns
How the chariot and the horse combine to checkmate a general inside its palace, why the palace-corner horse is so deadly, and how to set the pattern up in your
Xiangqi Rules
Why the two generals in xiangqi may never face each other on an open file, which moves this makes illegal, and how strong players turn the rule into a weapon.
Checkmate Patterns
The rule that generals may never face each other turns your general into an attacker. The mates and no-move wins that use it, and how to defend against them.
Beginners
A practical four-week xiangqi plan for 20 minutes a day: rules and blocks, basic mates, opening habits, tactics with horses and cannons, and your first online g
Checkmate Patterns
Two cannons stacked on the centre file can mate a general that still has every advisor and elephant. How the pattern works, why blocking fails, how to build it.
For Chess Players
Forks, pins, skewers and discovered attacks all exist in xiangqi, but the horse leg, the cannon screen and the flying general reshape every one. A guide for che
The Pieces
The cannon (Pháo) moves like a chariot but captures by jumping one screen. How it works, why it shines early, and how to defend against cannon attacks.
Checkmate Patterns
A horse on the enemy general's file with a cannon behind it gives a check that cannot be escaped. The pattern Vietnamese players call Mã hậu Pháo, and how to re