This is a traditional chinese game featuring a war between two armies. Each player takes a color, black or red; and the goal is to checkmate the other general (stalemate is a win too! )
The pieces are played on intersections instead of inside squares, on a board of 90 points (9 files, 10 ranks)
More features of the board include the river which divides the board in half ( this is more of an aesthetic choice than something that actually submerges pieces making them fall in)
The words 楚河 漢界 (chǔ hé, hàn jiè) are written across the river, which write "river of chu, boundary of han" referencing the canal that the chu han contention was fought across.
There is usually a little mark that looks like this 💢 below where the cannons & soldiers start as a visual aid to set up the pieces more easily
Each player's general resides in a palace , which is a 3x3 box in the center of each players camp. Even though emperors live in palaces not generals, the game was probably set this way in the past to appease actual emperors.
There are seven different types of pieces!
Chariots (車 jū): Chariots move any amount of spaces horizontally or vertically, they are identical to rooks. Each player starts with two, one in each corner. In a world suited for them, they are much stronger. So if you love rooks play chinese chess
Horses (马 mǎ): The pictograph even looks like a horse. They start right next to the chariots and move just like chess knights, except they can be blocked. If a piece is right next to the horse (directly above, below, left, or right) then the two possible jumps in that direction are blocked. If that piece moves out of the way it can create discoveries
Cannons (炮 páo): They're those two lone pieces on the third rank for each player. They move exactly like chariots but take differently; in the direction they'd naturally move, they leap over the first piece in that direction (called a cannon mount, stand, etc.) and capture next piece in line. You can't capture your own pieces
Elephants (相) or (象) xiàng: Next to the horses are elephants, they move two spaces diagonally per move and can't cross the river, limiting them to only seven points on the board. If there is a piece in between the jump then it blocks the elephant from moving that direction.
For chess players, this is a defensive piece used to protect your general , like the three pawns in front of your castled king. Elephants can connect with each other to defend, but that connection can be severed by placing a piece in between. Pieces are also sometimes sacrificed for them in an attack
Advisors (士 shì ): These two pieces closest to the general are guards for the palace. They can only move one space diagonally across the diagonal lines inside the palace and can't exit the palace, leaving each only 5 possible points on the board. They are another pair of defensive pieces that can link up to help protect the general.
So connecting them leaves an escape square for your general to the left or right, in other words, a place to bring the general out to attack (which I will explain in a moment)
Unlike how elephants can be separated, advisors cannot, but imagine if you there were no other pieces on the board except one enemy cannon with your advisors & general, if you linked them, the cannon could come down to your back rank and use them to deliver a smothered mate. But if an elephant was present that check would just be a pin, so both are important to defend your general. Think of advisors & elephants as king safety instead of just material
General (將 jiāng) for black, or (帥 shuài) for red: This is your king at the very center of the palace, it can only move left, right, up, or down one space and cannot move diagonally or leave the palace.
The general has one special ability which is, if the generals are facing across the board with no intervening pieces, whoever's turn it is, they can take their general & move it all the way across the board and checkmate the opposing general. So basically they are rooks to each other but act normal around every other piece.
Soldier (兵 bīng) for red, ( 卒 zú ) for black: They are the five pieces for each side closest to the river. The soldiers move & capture the same way. They can only move one step forward before crossing the river. When they cross it, they can move forwards and side to side too.
Soldiers don't promote to anything once they reach the end. They are just stuck there moving side to side, so don't move them there. unless there are pieces down there you can take.
Instead coordinate with your other three major pieces , horses, cannons and chariots to attack at once. Place them right inside the enemy's palace and use them as a sacrifice to break open their formation before charging in. Since they can move side to side, you can adjust them across the ranks for as many moves as you want instead of just charging straight down
That's all the pieces!
So stalemating and checkmating are both wins, since you can take the general
perpetual checks for a draw don't exist, you can't check your opponent forever and have to make a different move eventually.
I guess chess solved the problem of players checking forever by making three-fold repetitions a draw, (symbolizing that player went on to check their opponent forever and the game never ended) and chinese chess made it so the player causing the repetitions has to make a different move.
In casual play it's kinda like, checking forever is the same as waiting forever on your turn, you eventually have to do something. I guess you can still do it , it will just annoy the opponent if you go on for way too long. Just like how take-backs and resetting positions are okay
In official tournaments perpetually checking 6 times in a row is a loss for the player producing those checks, but only when it causes the same position to keep repeating itself.
That way, you can go for 4 checks to repeat the position each move to gain time, then play your actual move, and keep doing it to farm the timer. (If you went for 5 checks you wouldn't be able to go back to your current position for free without a 6th check)
Perpetual chasing is the same, you can't threaten an unguarded piece 6 times in a row forcing the position to repeat itself (in tournament play)
If each player only threatens to secure a better position with a three fold repetition, or attacks a guarded piece of equal value or less and creates a repetition through it then the game is a draw
Lack of material in endgames or agreed draws are also two other ways to draw
I covered all the game's basic ideas !
So philidor said "pawns are the soul of chess" the soul of Xiangqi is speed, in the opening you develop your pieces fast (horses, cannons, and especially chariots)
The endgames are as if all the subtlety from the opening and middlegame that you might've missed becomes one different game entirely. Soldiers really matter in the endgame, but one tempo was more important than any soldier in the opening (except maybe the central soldier)
Don't forget, the general is a fighting piece! Use it to join the attack if you are brave
If you have the chariot and general on the same file, you can extend your chariot into the opponent's palace and take out an advisor or give checks since it's protected (the other general taking your chariot will place them on the same file, allowing you to capture the opposing general)
If your central file is cleared out completely and the opposing general is on the left or right, your own general takes that entire file from your opponent
Developing your horses to the edge is okay! A main idea of horses in the opening is the create a path for each horse into the game. Usually by lifting the soldier above the developed horse to unblock it & open up a path into the game, at the same time blocking in the opponent's horse if it develops to the same file.
The reason side horses are often okay is because unlike in chess where c3 or f3 is the immediate best place for a knight usually where it can control the center, the horse in xiangqi isn't a big part of the game until it takes another huge leap or two into the opponent's position (since the board is longer)
developing your horses towards the center is usually a place where it's most likely to become active, but towards the edge an elephant protects it and that space is available for a cannon instead
(An exception is if the opponent's opening is a central cannon, the most principled way to develop is to have both horses guarding that central pawn. The central cannon is a direct approach to the game where your opponent immediately exerts pressure on you)
When no other factors are considered except the development of that horse ( not considering the horse's safety, or development of other pieces, which pawns have been pushed ) developing a horse towards the center is always better since it controls the most squares
The board is symmetrical, so each first move has it's equivalent and mirrored counterpart
Traditionally red moves first, but you can go make either color move first.
Four move checkmate idea - If red plays the central cannon and black doesn't guard the soldier or place a piece between the opposing cannon & their own general, then red will capture the soldier on the following turn and their cannon will stare at your general with no pieces in between. So you might see this and think, there are no pieces in between for the cannon to use, it's harmless right? But if you examine closely, you see that no matter which piece you bring to the central file, whether it be either elephant or advisor, or your own cannon, the enemy cannon uses it to produce a check and so you're unable to place anything on that column, even if you really want to. So the enemy then brings their other cannon to the same file in two moves and checkmates you, one cannon jumps over the other to attack your general; you can't block or move away so it's checkmate!
