How to Play
The board: A rectangular grid of 9 vertical lines and 10 horizontal lines, creating 90 intersection points. Pieces sit on the intersections, not inside the squares. A blank strip in the middle — the “river” (河界) — divides the board into two halves. At each end, a 3×3 area marked with diagonal lines is the “palace” (九宫), where the general and advisors are confined.
The pieces: 32 pieces total, 16 per side. Both sides have the same seven types, differing only in names (Red vs. Black):
- General (帅/将) ×1 — the piece you must protect and checkmate
- Advisor (仕/士) ×2
- Elephant (相/象) ×2
- Chariot (车) ×2
- Horse (马) ×2
- Cannon (炮) ×2
- Soldier (兵/卒) ×5
The goal: Checkmate the opponent’s general — put it under attack with no legal way to escape. Red moves first, then players alternate.
How the pieces move:
- General: One point orthogonally, confined to the palace. The two generals may not face each other directly on an open file (“flying general” rule).
- Advisor: One point diagonally, confined to the palace.
- Elephant: Exactly two points diagonally (“moves in a 田 shape”), cannot cross the river, and is blocked if a piece sits on the midpoint of the diagonal (“blocked elephant eye”).
- Chariot: Any number of unobstructed points orthogonally — the most powerful piece.
- Horse: One point orthogonally then one point diagonally outward (“moves in a 日 shape”). It is blocked if a piece sits on the adjacent orthogonal point (“hobbled horse leg”).
- Cannon: Moves like the chariot when not capturing. To capture, it must jump over exactly one piece (the “screen”) and land on an enemy piece beyond it.
- Soldier: Moves one point forward only before crossing the river. After crossing, it may also move one point sideways, but never backward.
Basic strategy:
- Control the center files. Chariots and cannons on open central files exert pressure across the board.
- Coordinate cannon with a screen. A cannon needs a “cannon mount” to capture; pieces (yours or the opponent’s) near the enemy palace make dangerous screens.
- Watch the horse’s legs. Horses are strong in closed positions but easily hobbled by adjacent pieces.
- Protect the palace. Advisors and elephants are defensive; losing them exposes the general.
History and Origins
The name appears early, but the game was not yet what we play today. The term “xiangqi” (象棋) first appears in the Chu Ci (楚辞), a collection of poems from the Warring States period (around the 3rd century BCE), where it refers to a game called liubo (六博) — a dice-based board game with only twelve pieces, entirely different from modern xiangqi. The modern game evolved over many centuries from early Chinese board games, with the earliest archaeological evidence of a chess-like piece being a Han-Wei era ceramic piece inscribed with “chariot” (车), excavated in Chongqing.
The game took shape during the Tang and Song dynasties. A major transformation occurred in the Northern Song (960–1127), when the invention of gunpowder and the rise of artillery in warfare led to the addition of the cannon piece to the board. By the end of the Northern Song, the game had essentially reached its modern form: 32 pieces, a river dividing the board, and the generals confined to a palace.
The “Chu River and Han Border” reflects a historical war. The river on the board is traditionally labeled “楚河汉界” — the boundary between the Chu and Han regimes during the Chu-Han Contention (206–202 BCE), when Liu Bang and Xiang Yu divided the empire along a truce line. This naming reinforces the game’s military symbolism, though it was applied to the board long after the historical event.
Xiangqi spread and developed through the Ming and Qing dynasties. The game became widely popular among all social classes. The Ming dynasty produced important game records and manuals, including the Meng Ru Shen Ji (梦入神机), a collection of endgame positions whose surviving fragments were rescued from a merchant’s wrapping paper in 1949. The Qing dynasty saw further refinement of strategy and the flourishing of “pai ju” (排局), composed endgame problems.
Modern status. Xiangqi is played by hundreds of millions of people, primarily in China and among Chinese communities worldwide. It is recognized as a sport in China and has been an Asian Games medal event.
