Five seven cannon xiangqi explained: why Red's second Cannon goes to file seven, the main line against Screen Horses, both sides' plans and early slips.
The Five Seven Cannon (五七炮, wǔ qī pào) is a Central Cannon system for Red. One Cannon goes to the middle file, file five, and the other moves to file seven, normally with the left Horse sent to the edge. Against the Screen Horses defense, that second Cannon is aimed at Black's right-hand Horse.
The numbers are simply files, counted from Red's own right-hand side, so 五七 means a Cannon on file five and a Cannon on file seven. Most Central Cannon systems are named this way. The Encyclopedia of Chinese Chess Openings (ECCO), the standard index of opening codes, gives the Five Seven Cannon against Screen Horses two full sections, C60 to C79, which tells you how much serious play has gone into it.
Below you will find the main line in Chinese notation and in plain words, the reason behind each early move, the plans for both sides, and the slips that lose games before the middlegame has started. A quick reminder on notation: each move names the piece, its file, the direction (进 forward, 退 back, 平 sideways) and the destination. Red writes files in Chinese numerals, Black in ordinary digits.
The main line, one move at a time
A common route is 1.炮二平五 马8进7 2.马二进三 车9平8 3.车一平二 马2进3 4.马八进九 卒7进1 5.炮八平七 车1平2 6.车九平八 炮8进4. The first three moves make the standard Central Cannon against Screen Horses position: Red's Cannon to the center, a Horse to support it and the right Chariot out to file two, while Black develops both Horses and the left Chariot.
In words, from move four: Red jumps the left Horse to the edge file and Black pushes the Soldier on its seventh file. Red slides the left Cannon one file across, from eight to seven. Black moves the right Chariot onto file two, Red brings its own left Chariot onto file eight, and Black pushes the left Cannon four points forward, over the river, onto Red's Soldier rank.
Move four is the first thing to understand. In many Central Cannon setups the left Horse develops with 马八进七, but here that point is exactly where the second Cannon wants to stand. We checked it with the site's rules engine: after 马八进七, the move 炮八平七 is simply illegal, because Red's own Horse is in the way. So the Horse goes to the edge and leaves file seven to the Cannon.
After 5.炮八平七 the Cannon sits behind Red's seventh-file Soldier. Further up the same file stand Black's third-file Soldier and, behind it, Black's right Horse. With Red's Soldier as the screen, the Cannon already has a legal capture of that Soldier. Black is not in trouble yet, but from this moment every Black move has to take the third file into account.
6.车九平八 gives Red two straight Chariots, one on each wing. Then 6...炮8进4 puts Black's left Cannon on Red's Soldier rank, right in front of Red's Chariot on file two. Red can take it, but Black's Chariot on the eighth file recaptures, and a Chariot for a Cannon is a poor trade. ECCO files this position as C64. Black's other main tries at move six, 6...炮2进4 (C66) and 6...炮2进2 (C65), use the right Cannon instead.
A well-studied continuation is 7.车八进六 炮2平1 8.车八平七 车2进2. Red's left Chariot crosses the river and lands on Black's Soldier rank. Black moves the right Cannon to the edge, which opens file two so that Black's Chariot now attacks Red's Chariot. Red sidesteps with a capture, taking the third-file Soldier, and from its new point the Chariot hits Black's right Horse directly. Black covers the Horse by lifting the Chariot two points.
What Red is playing for
The whole system is built around Black's right Horse. In the Screen Horses that Horse is one of the two pieces guarding Black's central Soldier, and in the position after move five it is doing exactly that job. Tie it down, push it forward or trade it off, and the central file starts to thin out. That is when the Cannon on file five comes back into the story.
Red's tools are the two straight Chariots and the seventh-file Soldier. Advancing that Soldier opens the file for the Cannon, and the Chariot on file eight adds weight on the same wing. Chinese writers describe the Five Seven Cannon as a steady, slow-building attack, an opening that keeps the first-move initiative without asking Red to take big risks.
The price is paid in the center. With the left Horse on the edge, only Red's right Horse guards Red's own central Soldier, and the engine confirms that the edge Horse does not reach that point at all. If Black can exchange or drive off the right Horse, Red's middle becomes thin very quickly, so keep it protected and do not trade it lightly.
How Black fights back
Black has two broad families of replies. In the first, Black pushes the seventh-file Soldier early, as in the main line, brings the right Chariot to file two and then picks a Cannon move to make Red's Chariots uncomfortable. ECCO groups these lines as C61 to C68.
The second family pushes the third-file Soldier instead and challenges Red on that wing straight away. A typical sequence is 1.炮二平五 马8进7 2.马二进三 车9平8 3.车一平二 马2进3 4.兵三进一 卒3进1 5.马八进九 卒1进1 6.炮八平七 马3进2 7.车九进一. Both sides push their third-file Soldiers. Black advances the edge Soldier, which keeps Red's edge Horse quiet and can later open a path for Black's right Chariot. Red's 6.炮八平七 then persuades Black's right Horse to jump forward to the river bank, and Red lifts the left Chariot one point so it can travel sideways and join the other wing.
Notice what 6...马3进2 costs. Before it, the right Horse guarded Black's central Soldier. On the river bank it no longer does, and the engine confirms that one guard has gone. Published analysis of this line describes Red's Cannon move in exactly those terms, as a way to drive the Horse forward and weaken Black's central defense. ECCO covers this family under C70 to C78.
Slips that lose games early
Red, developing on autopilot. 马八进七 is such a natural move that players make it without thinking, and then the seventh-file Cannon has nowhere to go. Decide on the Five Seven Cannon before move four, not after it.
Red, trading the right Horse cheaply. It is the only Horse guarding Red's central Soldier. Swap it for a Black piece that was doing little and Red's center is suddenly short of defenders.
Black, taking the blockade for granted. After 6...炮8进4 the Cannon on Red's Soldier rank is safe only because Black's Chariot stands behind it on the eighth file. If that Chariot leaves the file, Red's Chariot on file two can take the Cannon for nothing.
Black, letting the right Horse be pushed around for free. Each time it moves forward, check whether your central Soldier still has two defenders. Taking one of them away is the whole point of Red's setup.
Should you play it?
As Red, choose the Five Seven Cannon if you like long, controlled games where pressure builds slowly and the first-move edge is kept rather than gambled. It suits players who are comfortable using Chariots on both wings and who do not mind a position that stays complicated well into the middlegame.
As Black, you need an answer ready, because against Screen Horses this is one of Red's main systems. Learn one family well, either the seventh-file Soldier lines or the third-file Soldier lines, and understand why your right Horse matters before you memorize anything else.
You can play the main line from either side against the XiangqiPlay computer, which has eight levels from Easy to God and only needs a free account. Our opening guides at /xiangqi-openings cover the Screen Horses position this system grows out of.
XiangqiPlay Team
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