Chinese Chess Basics
This page describes the basic piece movement rules for Chinese Chess. For more topics, see the tutoral pages at www.geocities.com/yccheok/tutorial/menu.html.
This info is from the Qianhong built-in help manual. The diagrams use blue-green circles to show the possible moves for highlighted (yellow) pieces. While playing Qianhong, you can similarly see possible moves for any piece by clicking and holding the right mouse button over the piece.
Board and Pieces
In Xiangqi, pieces occupy line intersections, or "points", not the centers of the squares. The board features two opposing palaces and a river that separates them. These landmarks affect the movement of certain pieces.
General (King)
The general is like the king in chess; when he dies, the game is over. His moves are limited to single horizontal and vertical steps within the palace. It is illegal for the two generals to face each other without any other pieces in between them. (The diagram shows the black general's moves, including the attack on the red general.)
Guard (Advisor)
The general's guard. He moves diagonally within the palace, one step at a time.
Elephant (Minister, Bishop)
The elephant moves diagonally two steps at a time. It cannot cross the river, nor can it move past a piece that blocks its first step. (The red elephant in this diagram only has one legal move.)
Horse (Knight)
The horse is nearly identical to the knight in chess. It moves one step along a line, then one step diagonally. The exception is that it cannot move if a piece is blocking its first step.
Chariot (Rook)
The chariot is identical to the rook. It moves multiple steps at a time either horizontally or vertically.
Cannon
The cannon moves like the chariot with one exception: it can only attack by jumping over another piece (of either color).
Soldier (Pawn)
The soldier, or pawn, only moves one step at a time. It can only move forward before crossing the river. Once it has crossed the river, it can also move side to side. It does not attack diagonally like its counterpart in orthodox chess.
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