Moreover, elephants are not allowed to cross the river, they must stay on their half of the board. In other words, each guard has only 5 possible positions within the palace area.Įlephants can move exactly two spaces diagonally and they cannot cross occupied points. If it is not possible, the player loses the game.Ī guard moves one space diagonally and just like a king, it may never leave its palace. If a king is being attacked (is in check), the corresponding player must cancel the check immediately. As in standard Chess, a king is not allowed to make a move to a position which is being attacked by an enemy piece. Cannons have a special rule which will be clarified below.Ī king moves one space vertically or horizontally, it cannot move diagonally. The object of the game is to checkmate or stalemate the opponent's king.Īll pieces in Xiangqi (except the cannon) use the same rules for both moving and capturing enemy pieces. The small squares containing diagonal lines are called red and black palace, and the thick horizontal line in the middle of the board is named 'river'. The starting position is shown on the following picture: Each player starts the game with these pieces: 1 king (or general), 2 guards (or advisors), 2 elephants (or bishops), 2 knights (or horses), 2 rooks (or chariots), 2 cannons and 5 pawns (or soldiers).

Unlike at western Chess, the pieces are placed on line intersections, not squares. Xiangqi is played on rectangular 9x10 board. It is believed that both Xiangqi and classic western Chess had been developed from the original Indian game of Chanturanga. Xiangqi, or Chinese Chess, is a very popular game in Asian countries.

Chess pieces and name