This is xiangqi rebuilt for a touchscreen. The board is 9 files by 10 ranks — 90 crossings — with 16 pieces a side, and red moves first and is always you. Play is two taps: touch one of your pieces and every point it can legally reach lights up, then touch one of them to move there. A point you cannot reach tells you exactly why — the horse is hobbled, the elephant's eye is blocked, a cannon needs one screen — instead of a blank refusal. The built-in AI has three tiers; a tier changes how far ahead it looks, and switching before your first move applies at once; after that it only affects the next game, never the strength of the one you are in. For mating practice there is an endgame mode: 12 forced-check problems that get harder by piece count and by length.

A folding plastic board opening flat, pieces rattling in the box, and the rhyme everyone can recite: the horse goes in an L, the elephant in a diamond. Stone tables outside, a drawer at school, one game with a grandparent on a visit — a minute to learn and a whole evening to think about. This is that board in a browser, with the same traditional characters and the same four on the river, except now it takes two taps to move.

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【纸】 Pen, paper and the desk drawer · 全程 →

1. 01

   The board is already there when the page opens — no start button and no sign-up. Red is the near half and the first move is yours.

2. 02

   Tap one of your pieces. Empty points it can reach show a diamond pip, pieces it can take get a square ring, and the piece you picked up wears a jade ring.

3. 03

   Tap a lit point to move there. Amber corner marks stay on the square you came from and the square you landed on until your next action, so you can always see your last move.

4. 04

   Tapping a point you cannot reach costs nothing: the piece nudges, the status line names the reason for that kind of piece, and the move count does not change. Pick another point.

5. 05

   Moving a piece somewhere it can be taken for free asks once before it goes, and you can cancel. A move already played can be taken back — one take-back rewinds two moves and hands the turn back to you.

6. 06

   Switching to endgame mode asks first if a game is running, then opens a fresh problem straight away. A difficulty change before your first move applies at once; once the game is under way it waits for the next one.

7. 07

   Every control is one tap deep — modes, tiers, take-back, resign, pause, rules, settings, sound and reduced flashing. On a keyboard, space picks a piece, arrows walk the targets and enter plays the move; on a touchscreen tapping is all there is, with no dragging and no long press.

Xiangqi strategy starts with seeing the cannons. A cannon captures over exactly one screen, so a threat can arrive along a line you had read as empty. Before committing a move, ask who defends the square you are moving to — that is the habit the risky-move confirmation is there to build. With horses, check the block first: your own piece sitting on the long side of the L simply removes those targets from the list. The key move in the summary is your own biggest swing, measured at the instant your piece lands and without the opponent's reply, so it always points at something you can do differently. Endgame mode demands a check every single move, and one quiet move restarts the level — which is exactly the drill for finishing the calculation before touching a piece.

How do you play Chinese chess on a phone?

Moving in xiangqi takes two taps: touch one of your pieces so its legal points light up, then touch one of them. There is no dragging and no long press, and a press that slides off before you lift never plays a move — so a mis-tap is recoverable by just sliding away.

What does it mean that the horse is blocked in xiangqi?

The horse moves in an L, and if a piece sits on the long side of that L the move is off — that is the block. The elephant travels two points diagonally and is stopped by a piece on the centre of the diagonal. Blocked directions simply never light up, and tapping one says so.

How does the cannon capture in Chinese chess?

A cannon moves along empty lines exactly like a chariot, but to capture there must be exactly one piece between it and its target. Nothing in between will not do, and neither will two. It is also the easiest threat to miss: their cannon may be aiming through a piece of yours.

What is the flying general rule in Chinese chess?

The two generals may never end up on the same file with nothing between them, so a move that clears the last piece off that file is rejected — the board will not let you play into it. Read the other way round, it is a weapon: a general facing an empty file at the enemy general can capture it outright.

Is perpetual check allowed in xiangqi?

No. Checking every move until the same position turns up a third time is a loss for the side giving check, not the draw it would be in international chess. Only perpetual check is judged here, not perpetual chasing; a quiet stretch is handled separately, where 120 moves without a capture is drawn.

Can I change the difficulty, and does the AI get stronger mid-game?

The built-in AI has three tiers, and the tier decides how far ahead it looks and whether it makes the kind of small mistake a person makes. A tier change before your first move applies at once; after that it applies to the next game only: the strength of a game under way never shifts, and it does not quietly ramp up when you win or ease off when you lose.

Can you take back a move in xiangqi here?

Yes. One take-back rewinds two moves — yours and the reply — and the turn comes back to you. While the opponent is thinking the key is greyed out, because half a move has no position to rewind to; once it has played, you can take back again.

Is stalemate a draw in Chinese chess?

No, it is a loss. A side with no legal move loses whether or not its general is under attack — checkmate loses and stalemate loses. This is the biggest difference from international chess, where stalemate is drawn, so it catches out players coming from that game.

What is endgame mode and how is it different from a normal game?

Endgame mode is 12 forced-check problems: red must give check on every single move and mate within the stated number of moves. One quiet move fails the level immediately and it reopens with one tap. Stars go by how many moves you used, and the shortest line earns three. Switching mode starts a fresh game, so it asks first if one is in progress.