Chinese Chess Rules: Pieces, Moves & Stalemate

Chinese Chess, or Xiangqi, is a two-player board game. Red moves first, then the players alternate moving one piece. You win by checkmating the opposing general, or when your opponent has no legal move on their turn (stalemate).

Is stalemate a draw in Chinese Chess?

No. Stalemate in Chinese Chess is a loss for the player who cannot move. It happens when it is your turn, your general is not in check and none of your pieces has a legal move; the Chinese term is 困毙 (kùn bì). A general with no safe square is not stalemate if another piece can still move, and checkmate is different because the general is already in check and no move removes the threat. In international chess the same no-move, no-check position is a draw under FIDE Article 5.2.1, so do not mix the two rules.

The board and seven types of pieces

Pieces sit on the intersections of nine vertical and ten horizontal lines. The river divides the two halves, and each side has a palace of three by three points. Each player has 16 pieces: one general, two each of advisors, elephants, horses, chariots and cannons, and five soldiers.

• General (帅 / 将): one point horizontally or vertically inside the palace. The two generals may never face each other along an open file.
• Advisor (仕 / 士): one point diagonally inside the palace.
• Elephant (相 / 象): two points diagonally, never across the river; it cannot move if the midpoint, or “eye,” is occupied.
• Horse (马 / 馬): an L shape, two points one way and one sideways. A piece on the adjacent “leg” point blocks that direction, even if the destination is empty.
• Chariot (车 / 車): any distance along a rank or file, without crossing another piece.
• Cannon (炮 / 砲): moves like a chariot when not capturing. To capture, it must jump exactly one piece of either colour (the screen); with zero or two pieces between, it cannot capture.
• Soldier (兵 / 卒): one point forward; after crossing the river it may also move one point sideways. It never moves backwards and does not promote at the far edge.

Check, draws and practice

When you are in check, your next move must remove the threat: move the general, capture the attacker or block. Your move must not leave your general attacked or facing the other general, so before every move ask: will my general still be safe afterwards? After 120 plies (60 full moves) without a capture the game is drawn; on threefold repetition, a side that alone checked on every move loses for perpetual check, otherwise it is a draw.

Open the Chinese Chess lobby in your browser to play the computer at Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced, or create a room for a human opponent; no download is needed. On BluffKing each move has 45 seconds and running out loses. The winner takes the game’s practice-chip stake, draws settle nothing and colours swap for the next game. Practice chips have no monetary value and cannot be purchased or redeemed. See the Chinese Chess rules and scoring for other ending conditions.