Cross the river, screen your cannons, and corner the enemy General in this classic game of Chinese Chess.
Xiangqi, or Chinese Chess, is played on the intersections of a 9-file by 10-rank board split by a central river. The aim is to checkmate the opposing General. Each piece moves along the painted lines, with several rules unique to the game.
Xiangqi — Chinese Chess — took its familiar form in China during the Song dynasty, about a thousand years ago, growing out of older Chinese games and the broad family of chess-like games that arose across the medieval world. Its character is its own: the pieces sit on the line intersections, a central river divides the two armies, the General is penned inside a palace, and the cannon — a piece that fits the age of gunpowder — captures only by leaping a screen. Today it is one of the most-played board games on Earth.
Xiangqi is one of the most widely played board games in the world, a chess-family duel of rivers, palaces, and screened cannons. This is an original, free browser version with three computer levels, hot-seat, and online play — no download or sign-up.