Check
将军 · jiāng jūn
A direct attack on the enemy General, which the defender must answer immediately.
Check works as you would expect: the General is attacked, and the defender must capture the attacker, block the line or move the General. What is different in xiangqi is how easy it is to give, because cannons attack through screens and the flying general rule means an empty middle file can be check by itself.
That availability is also a trap. Checks that do not improve your position simply hand the defender free moves to improve theirs, and repeated checking with no progress is illegal under the perpetual check rule.
There is a useful test for whether a check is worth giving. Look at the position after the forced reply and ask if you would be happy to reach it with your opponent to move. If not, the check has helped them, not you.
In practice
Ask whether a check makes your next move better. If the answer is no, do not play it.
Related terms
- Checkmate将死A check the defender cannot answer, which ends the game immediately in the attacker's favour.
- Perpetual check长将Checking the same position over and over to force a repetition, which is not allowed: the player giving perpetual check must vary or lose.
- Flying General白脸将The rule that the two Generals may never face each other down an open file with no piece in between, which makes an empty middle file a weapon.
- General将 / 帅The piece you must protect and the piece your opponent must trap, confined to the nine points of its own palace.