How to Start a Chinese Chess game
Rules and Steps to Get Started Playing Xiangqi
Xiangqi (Chinese Chess) is a two-player board game with red and black pieces on a board with a 9x10 grid, a palace, and a river to separate the 2 sides.
Step 1. Set up the board
The board has 9 vertical lines (files) and 10 horizontal (ranks). The back of the board has a palace 🏯 on each side, which looks like an “X” in a box. There’s also a river 🌊 in the middle that divides each opposing side at the start of the game. All pieces sit on the intersections, not inside the squares as they do in Chess.
Xiangqi pieces have the same positions on both sides of the board.
Starting on the back rank (A1-A9)… the General 👑 goes in the center (A5 red / J5 black) and put Chariots (rooks) 🏰 each edge of the board. Horses 🐴 go next to the chariot, then Elephants 🐘 go next to them. Advisors 🧐 are between the elephants and the general.
Cannons 💣 sit on the same rank as the top of the palace 🏯 (3 ranks from the bottom) and on the 2nd outer most files. Last, Soldiers ♟ are lined up from edge to edge on every other intersection.
Set up the board in a few, simple steps
Now you’ve learned how to set up your xiangqi board, and it looks like amazing! 🎉
Fully set up and ready to play xiangqi board with Chinese and international pieces
Step 2. Learn how the pieces move
Here’s what you need to know:
Xiangqi pieces move by traveling along the intersections
In the Palace 🏯, moving one position at a time:
General 👑 - forward, backward, and side-to-side
Advisor 🧐 - diagonal only
On the rest of the board… Soldiers ♟ also can only move one position at a time. Before the river, they can only move forward, but… 🌊Once they cross the river, they can forward and sideways!
Chariots (rooks) 🏰, Cannons 💣, Horses 🐴, and Elephants 🐘 have much more powerful moves, which you can read about, here:
Learn More:
Step 3. Understand the Basic Rules
The purpose of the game is to checkmate the opposing general.
The Beginning of the Game (Opening)
Red player moves first
During the Game
Generals cannot face each other
How the Game Ends
In Xiangqi, a forced stalemate is considered a checkmate of the player who can not make any legal move. There is some ambiguity on a concept called “perpetual check,” where one side uses repeated moves with one or more pieces to put the opposing general in check, which International Chess considers a draw. On Xiangqi.com, timed games count perpetual check as a checkmate. The player who runs out of time first will lose the game.
If you’re playing a timed game, each player has to make their move within 1, 2, 5, or 10 minutes. If you’re playing where moves are limited to 1 minute or 2 minutes, you can play a game that 5, 10, 20, 30, or 60 minutes long. If you’re with 5 minute move timers, games can be 10, 20, 30, or 60 minutes long. And, 10 minutes per move, games can only be 20, 30, or 60 minutes.