Play Xiangqi Online Free

About Xiangqi

Xiangqi — Chinese chess — is the most played chess variant on Earth. Two armies clash across a board split by a river, generals stay locked inside their palaces, and cannons capture by leaping over a screen piece. The result is a faster, more explosive game than Western chess, with open lines and early attacks from the very first moves.

This board enforces the full traditional rule set: palace and river restrictions, the elephant's blocked eye, the horse's hobbled leg, cannon screens, and the flying-general rule are all checked automatically. Train against four AI levels, share the screen with a friend, or open an online room and play across the internet with a single invite link. Undo and hints are there whenever you need them.

How to play Xiangqi

Red moves first. Pieces sit on intersections, and the goal is to checkmate the enemy general inside its palace.

1. The general stays inside the 3×3 palace and moves one point orthogonally. The two generals may never face each other on an open file — this 'flying general' rule is enforced.
2. Advisors stay in the palace moving one point diagonally; elephants move exactly two points diagonally, cannot cross the river, and are blocked if the midpoint is occupied.
3. Horses move one point straight then one diagonal, and are blocked if the adjacent straight point is occupied. Chariots slide like rooks — they are the strongest pieces.
4. Cannons move like chariots but capture differently: they must jump over exactly one piece (the screen) to take the piece beyond it.
5. Soldiers push one point forward; after crossing the river they can also move sideways. Checkmate or stalemate the enemy general to win.

Xiangqi strategy tips

• Develop chariots early to open files — a chariot on an open file dominates the board just like a rook in chess.
• Cannons love company from a distance: park one behind a screen aimed at the enemy palace and threats appear everywhere.
• Keep at least one advisor and elephant home for defense; a bare palace collapses to a single chariot-cannon battery.
• Push the central soldier with care — it opens lines for your cannon but also exposes your own palace.
• Watch the horse's leg: a well-placed pawn can paralyze an enemy horse for the whole midgame.

Xiangqi FAQ

How is xiangqi different from Western chess?

Pieces sit on intersections instead of squares, generals are confined to a palace, elephants cannot cross the river, and the cannon — which captures by jumping a screen piece — has no Western equivalent. Games tend to open faster and turn tactical earlier than chess.

Do I need to know the Chinese characters on the pieces?

It helps but is not required — both sides mirror each other, so once you learn the seven piece types you can read the board by position and color. The board also highlights every legal move for a selected piece, which makes learning the movement rules quick.

What is the flying-general rule?

The two generals may never stand on the same file with nothing between them — as if they could 'fly' across and capture each other. The board enforces this automatically, and strong players use it as a mating weapon by clearing the file at the right moment.

Can I play xiangqi online with a friend here?

Yes. Open a room from this page and send the invite link; your friend joins the same live board from any browser with moves syncing in real time. No account or download is needed.

Is there an easier way in for chess players?

Start on the easy AI and lean on your chess instincts for chariots (rooks) and horses (knights); the new pieces to internalize are the cannon and the palace rules. Undo is one tap away, so experiments are cheap.

Where do the xiangqi piece designs come from?

The red and black piece SVGs come from the open-source pychess-variants project on GitHub and are used unmodified under GNU AGPL-3.0. The board grid is drawn in our interface code; the About and Terms pages credit the piece artwork.

Games like Xiangqi

ChessThe Western sibling — slower burn, deep opening theory.ShogiJapanese chess where captures come back as drops.Animal ChessThe kid-friendly jungle cousin with traps and rivers.