Xiangqi is the chess of China and Vietnam. In Vietnam it is called cờ tướng, "the game of generals", and you will see it everywhere: on sidewalks, in parks, in cafes, on phones during a lunch break. Hundreds of millions of people know the rules, which makes it one of the most played board games on the planet.
The good news for a beginner is that the rules fit on a single page. You can learn them in an afternoon and play a real game the same evening. This guide walks through everything you need for that first game: the board, the pieces, how they move, what the goal is, and the few special rules that surprise newcomers.
If you already play international chess, many ideas will feel familiar, but several details are genuinely different. Read those parts slowly.
The board: nine files, ten ranks, one river
The xiangqi board has 9 vertical lines (files) and 10 horizontal lines (ranks). The pieces stand on the intersections of the lines, not inside the squares. That single difference changes how the board looks and how you count distances.
Across the middle of the board runs an empty band called the river. It splits the board into two halves, one for each side. Some pieces behave differently once they cross it, and one piece is not allowed to cross it at all.
On each side, in the middle of the back three ranks, there is a 3 × 3 area marked with an X. This is the palace. The general and its two advisors must stay inside it for the whole game.
The two sides are Red and Black. Red moves first. Each side starts with sixteen pieces:
- 1 general (King, K)
- 2 advisors (A)
- 2 elephants (E)
- 2 horses (H)
- 2 chariots (R)
- 2 cannons (C)
- 5 soldiers (P)
The goal of the game
As in chess, the goal is to checkmate the enemy general: attack it so that no legal move can save it. There is one important addition. In xiangqi, if it is your turn and you have no legal move at all, you lose — even if your general is not in check. There is no stalemate draw. More on endings in how a xiangqi game ends.
How the pieces move — a quick tour
Each piece gets its own article in the pieces section. Here is the short version you need to start playing.
General (帥 / 將)
The general moves one point orthogonally — forward, back, left or right — and never leaves the palace. It cannot move diagonally.
Advisors (仕 / 士)
Advisors move one point diagonally and also stay inside the palace. That means an advisor can only ever stand on five points: the four corners of the palace and its center.
Elephants (相 / 象)
Elephants move exactly two points diagonally, like jumping across the corner of a 2 × 2 box. They cannot cross the river, so they are purely defensive. If a piece sits on the point in the middle of that diagonal — the "elephant's eye" — the elephant is blocked in that direction.
Horses (傌 / 馬)
The horse moves one point straight, then one point diagonally outward. The result looks like a chess knight's L-shape, but with a catch: if a piece stands on the point directly next to the horse in the direction it wants to go, the horse cannot move that way. Players call this "hobbling the horse's leg".
Chariots (俥 / 車)
The chariot moves any number of points in a straight line, exactly like a rook in chess. It is the strongest piece on the board.
Cannons (炮 / 砲)
The cannon moves like a chariot, but it captures differently: it must jump over exactly one piece (of either color), called the screen, to capture the first enemy piece behind it. Without a screen it cannot capture at all.
Soldiers (兵 / 卒)
A soldier moves one point forward. After it crosses the river it may also move one point sideways. It never moves backward and it does not promote when it reaches the last rank.
The flying general rule
The two generals may never face each other on the same file with nothing between them. Any move that would create that situation is illegal. This sounds like a curiosity, but it is a real weapon: your own general can control a whole file from inside its palace and help deliver checkmate. It has its own page: the flying general rule.
Check, checkmate and the moves you may not make
A general under attack is in check, and the player must get out of check on that move: move the general, capture the attacker, or block the line. For a cannon, you can also remove the screen piece — or add a second piece between cannon and general, because a cannon cannot jump two pieces.
You may never make a move that leaves your own general in check, and you may never make a move that puts the two generals face to face.
Repetition: the rule that is different everywhere
In chess, repeating a position three times is a draw. In xiangqi, tournament rules forbid certain kinds of endless repetition. The best known: a player may not give perpetual check. If one side keeps checking and the other keeps escaping, the checking side must deviate or it loses. Chasing an unprotected piece forever is also usually forbidden.
The exact rules are long and differ between rule sets, so casual games often simply agree to call repetitive play a draw. This site's computer and online games treat a position repeated three times as a draw. Details are in perpetual check and chase rules.
What surprises chess players most
- Pieces live on points, not squares. Your eyes will look for squares at first. Give it ten games.
- No castling, no en passant, no promotion. A soldier on the last rank stays a soldier and can only move sideways.
- Stalemate is a loss, not a draw.
- The cannon. Nothing in chess works like it. It is weak with no screens around and very strong in the opening, when the board is crowded.
- The general is small. It cannot leave the palace, so attacks on it are about controlling a few points rather than chasing a king across the board.
Your first game: a simple plan
You do not need theory for your first game. Follow three habits:
- Bring out your chariots early. They are your strongest pieces and they start in the corners doing nothing.
- Before every move, check the horse's leg and the elephant's eye. Most illegal-move surprises for new players come from these two blocks.
- Look at every cannon on the board. Ask: what could it capture if one more piece stepped between? Cannon tricks win more beginner games than anything else.
The quickest way to learn is to play. The board on the home page lets you play the computer at four levels; the lowest one plays loosely on purpose so you can practice spotting free pieces. When you want a human opponent, play online.
A short word on names and notation
You will meet the same pieces under several names. English books say chariot or rook, horse or knight, elephant or minister, advisor or guard. Vietnamese players say Xe, Mã, Tượng, Sĩ, Pháo, Tốt and Tướng. The Chinese characters differ slightly between Red and Black for most pieces, which is why a red elephant and a black elephant look different even though they move the same way.
Moves are usually written in WXF notation, such as C2=5 (the cannon on file 2 moves sideways to file 5). It takes five minutes to learn — see reading xiangqi notation.
Frequently asked questions
Who moves first in xiangqi?
Red moves first. In many casual games players alternate colors between games, just as in chess.
Can the general leave the palace?
No. The general and both advisors must stay inside the 3 × 3 palace for the whole game.
Can a soldier become a stronger piece?
No. There is no promotion in xiangqi. A soldier that reaches the far rank stays a soldier and can only move sideways from there.
Is a draw common?
Draws happen, especially between strong players, but between beginners most games end in checkmate or with one side having no legal move.
What is the best way to learn the rules quickly?
Read this page once, then play several short games against the computer at the lowest level. The illegal moves will simply not be allowed, which teaches the horse's leg and the elephant's eye faster than any explanation.
