Xiangqi · Strategy and opening plans
Supports AI practice, local two-player play and friend rooms. Friend games have no clock or rankings. Repetition and perpetual check use casual rules, not full tournament chasing adjudication.
Xiangqi · 0
2–2 players · Turn based; no clock
WANGO casual rules v1; traditional piece glyphs
Opening plans and decisions
Supports AI practice, local two-player play and friend rooms. Friend games have no clock or rankings. Repetition and perpetual check use casual rules, not full tournament chasing adjudication.
Supports AI practice, local two-player play and friend rooms. Friend games have no clock or rankings. Repetition and perpetual check use casual rules, not full tournament chasing adjudication.
Start here if you are new
Secure the general before material
The opponent gives check or opens the center
Compare moving the general, blocking and capturing the attacker; check that each option removes all attacks.
Capturing one attacker may leave another chariot or cannon attacking.
Defense costs a turn and may forgo a capture
With no immediate general threat, compare active attacks
Develop horses and chariots
Major pieces are crowded on the back rank
Give horses legal exits, open chariot lines and keep pieces supporting one another.
Coordinated pieces defend and switch attack directions more easily.
Advancing too early can leave a piece unsupported
Address immediate check or capture threats first
Recount screens after moving
You plan to move a piece on a cannon line
Count the intervening pieces before and after the move, checking cannon lines for both sides.
Only exactly one screen enables a capture; moving a piece may remove or create an attack.
Focusing on cannons may overlook horses and chariots
Scan all enemy attacks before committing
Details that are easy to miss
- Treating stalemate as a draw; here a side with no legal move loses.
- Overlooking a horse leg, elephant eye, cannon screen or facing generals.
WANGO casual rules v1; board face uses Traditional Chinese characters; the player count and duration on this page are shown according to this site's trial-play mode.
A decision example
Teaching position: the red cannon and black horse are on the same line, with only one red soldier between them, and the red side's general is safe.; The red soldier can serve as a cannon screen and is not limited to enemy pieces.. Red selects the cannon and clicks the black horse, assuming there are no other blockers and no check issues.; The red cannon jumps over one screen to capture the black horse, then it is Black's turn.
Can the cannon capture the chariot?
There must be exactly one screen, not zero or two.
How rules shape tradeoffs
Capturing one attacker may leave another chariot or cannon attacking.
Site hypothetical analysis: removing this constraint would remove the original waiting or resource cost for the same opportunity. This is not an official variant.