传承千年的智慧
Play Chinese Chess Online: Free Xiangqi
Experience the Ancient Art of Xiangqi
Xiangqi is the Chinese chess game played by more people than any other board game on earth. Play online against a real opponent in seconds or take on the computer, learn the rules from scratch, sharpen your tactics on daily puzzles and climb the ranks, free and right in your browser.
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A time control for every mood
From one-minute bullet brawls to thoughtful classical battles. Pick your pace and jump straight into a game.
Sharpen your tactics every day
Today's position is live on the board, and one Red move delivers immediate checkmate. A fresh, engine-verified puzzle rotates in every day.
It's a forced mate in one. Look for the single Red move the defence cannot answer. Checks first: which piece can reach the Black General?
The live global rankings
Real players, real Elo, updated after every rated game. 14 ranked so far; three rated games puts you on the board.
| Rank | Player | Win % | Streak | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | johhnyyred @johhnyyred · from Australia | 80% | 4 game winning streak | 1294 |
| 2 | Mike @mike · from Canada | 90% | no streak | 1283 |
| 3 | Elton Y @eltony · from Canada | 86% | no streak | 1264 |
| 4 | Khoi Tran @khoitran · from Canada | 67% | no streak | 1216 |
| 5 | YANHERN @yanhern · from China | 56% | 2 game winning streak | 1207 |
| 6 | Chung Teck chye @chungteckchye · from Singapore | 60% | no streak | 1200 |
| 7 | David K @davidk · from — | 60% | 3 game winning streak | 1199 |
| 8 | Dickson Woo @dicksonwoo · from Afghanistan | 44% | no streak | 1193 |
Two thousand years, one board
Xiangqi was old before chess reached Europe. The scroll below unrolls the game’s history the way a handscroll is meant to be read, a section at a time.
- 起起源
Ancient origins
The earliest ancestors of Xiangqi appear in the Warring States period: a game of two armies on a board, played long before the pieces took the names they carry now. The word 象棋 itself is older than the modern game.
- 唐唐
The Tang board takes shape
Under the Tang, 寶應象棋 is played on a board of squares. The chariot, horse and general are already recognisable; the river and the palace that define the modern game are still to come.
- 宋宋
The river and the cannon
The Song dynasty gives Xiangqi its final form: pieces move on the intersections rather than in the squares, the river divides the board, and the cannon, a piece with no equivalent in any Western game, arrives with gunpowder itself.
- 明明清
The age of the manuals
Ming and Qing masters write the classics still studied today, 橘中秘 and 梅花譜, recording openings, endgames and the fierce central-cannon attacks that remain main lines six centuries later.
- 近近代
A national game
Xiangqi becomes the most played board game in China. National championships begin in 1956, the rules are codified, and 楊官璘 and 胡榮華 turn opening theory into a discipline.
- 今今日
The hall has no walls
Engines calculate deeper than any master, and a board in Guangzhou meets one in Hanoi or Toronto in seconds. The pieces, and the river between the two palaces, are unchanged.
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Everything you need to know
Xiangqi (象棋) is Chinese Chess, a two-player strategy game that's been played for well over a thousand years and remains one of the most popular board games on earth. You play across a 9×10 grid split by a river, each side commanding a General, Advisors, Elephants, Horses, Chariots, Cannons and Soldiers, and you win by trapping the enemy General with no way out. If you already know Western chess you'll pick it up quickly, but the cannon, the river and the palace give it a rhythm all its own.
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