Horse
马 / 马 · mǎ
A knight that moves one point straight then one diagonally, and which unlike a western knight can be blocked by a piece standing in its way.
The Horse steps one point orthogonally and then one point diagonally outward, reaching the same eight squares a knight would. The difference is enormous: if a piece occupies the orthogonal step, the Horse cannot go that way at all. It does not jump.
That single rule rewrites everything you know about knights. Horses are weak in crowded positions and strong in open ones, they can be trapped by a single well placed soldier, and blocking a horse's leg is a real move that strong players make on purpose.
In practice
Count a Horse's legal moves before you rely on it. A horse with two legal moves is a liability; the same horse three moves later, with the board opened up, can be your best piece.
Related terms
- Hobbling the horse's leg蹩马腿Blocking the orthogonal first step of a Horse's move, which makes that move illegal because a xiangqi Horse cannot jump.
- 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.
- Chariot车 / 車The strongest piece in xiangqi, moving any distance along a rank or file exactly like a rook, and the piece that decides most games.
- Horse in the trough卧槽马A horse planted next to the enemy palace where it checks the General and supports a mating attack from a chariot or cannon.