Double cannons
重炮 · chóng pào · stacked cannons
Two cannons on the same file, one behind the other, where the front cannon is the screen for the back one and checkmate follows.
Line two cannons up on the same file as the enemy General, with your own front cannon acting as the screen, and the rear cannon delivers a check that cannot be blocked by interposing, because any new piece on the file only adds another screen.
It is a brutal, simple pattern and it turns up constantly in club games, especially after the defender's Advisors have been forced to move.
Setting it up is a two move idea rather than a combination. Put one cannon on the file, bring the second behind it, and the whole time your opponent is being asked to find a defence that does not exist once the Advisors are gone.
In practice
If you have both cannons and an enemy palace short of defenders, look at stacking them before you look at anything else.
Related terms
- Cannon炮 / 砲A piece that moves like a chariot but can only capture by jumping exactly one piece, called the screen, on its way to the target.
- Hollow cannon空头炮A cannon on the middle file with nothing between it and the enemy General, which paralyses the defence and usually wins.
- Checkmate将死A check the defender cannot answer, which ends the game immediately in the attacker's favour.
- Advisor士 / 仕A short range defender that moves one point diagonally and never leaves the palace, protecting the General from cannons and chariots.