Five Six Cannon in Xiangqi: Plans, Lines and Pitfalls

The main line against Screen Horses

A standard route, coded C53 in ECCO, 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.炮八平六 车1平2 6.车九平八 炮2进4.

In words: the first three moves produce the familiar Central Cannon against Screen Horses position. Red jumps the left Horse to the edge and Black pushes the seventh-file Soldier. Red slides the left Cannon two files across to file six. Black brings the right Chariot onto file two, Red answers with its own left Chariot onto file eight, and Black sends the right Cannon four points across the river onto Red's Soldier rank.

Why file six? The Cannon there stands beside Red's palace, where it covers the front corner and is close enough to drop back into defense. It also looks straight up the sixth file. In the main-line position that file is empty all the way to Black's Advisor, so the Cannon has nothing to capture yet, because a Cannon needs exactly one piece to jump. The moment a Black piece stops on that file, though, it becomes a screen, and whatever stands behind it is under fire. Yang's book asks the reader to watch how the sixth-file Cannon works with the straight Chariots, and that is the heart of the system.

The left Horse also gets a choice that the Five Seven Cannon does not allow. Because file seven is still free, Red can play 马八进七 as well as 马八进九, and ECCO lists both. One detail is worth noticing: with the Cannon on file six, a Horse on the seventh file cannot yet jump to the central Soldier's point, because the Cannon is standing on that Horse's leg.

Black's 6...炮2进4 is a blockade. The Cannon now stands in front of Red's Chariot on file eight, and Black's Chariot on file two guards it from behind, so 车八进三 would give a Chariot for a Cannon. Red has to work around it rather than through it.

A sharper version sends Red's right Chariot over the river first: 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.车二进六 卒7进1 5.炮八平六 车1平2, coded C55. Here Red combines the Chariot crossing the river with the palace-corner Cannon.

Against the Reverse Palace Horse

ECCO gives the Five Six Cannon its own section against the Reverse Palace Horse (反宫马), alongside a separate one for the Five Seven Cannon. A typical start is 1.炮二平五 马2进3 2.马二进三 炮8平6 3.车一平二 马8进7 4.炮八平六 车1平2 5.马八进七, coded B42.

In words: Black develops the right Horse, moves the left Cannon to its own palace corner on Black's sixth file, and then brings out the left Horse, so the Cannon sits between the two Horses. Red puts its second Cannon on its own palace corner, Black develops the right Chariot to file two, and Red jumps the left Horse toward the center rather than to the edge.

Yang Guanlin's line and the Soldier hunt

Yang's analysis begins from an older Black setup with the third-file Soldier pushed: 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3进1 5.炮八平六 炮8进2 6.兵七进一 卒3进1 7.车二进四 象3进5 8.车二平七. Red offers the seventh-file Soldier and Black takes it. Red's right Chariot rises to its own river bank, Black lifts an Elephant, and the Chariot slides across to take that Soldier back. It is a small example of what Yang meant by picking up Soldiers with the straight Chariots.

His notes keep returning to one detail: whether Red's third-file Soldier has already advanced. In the position after 8.车二平七, with Red's seventh-file Soldier gone, a Black Cannon that lands on Red's Soldier rank with 炮2进4 would hit that third-file Soldier, jumping over Red's central Soldier to do it. Once Red has played 兵三进一, that Soldier is off the rank and out of the Cannon's reach. The engine adds a useful warning, though: the Cannon then simply looks further along the rank, at Red's edge Soldier. With an enemy Cannon on your Soldier rank, always check which Soldier has become the next target.

Plans for both sides

Red's plan is patient. Get both Chariots onto open files, keep the sixth-file Cannon flexible and look for loose Soldiers. The Cannon can advance up its file to strike once a Black piece gives it a screen there, step forward to block an enemy Horse's path, or fall back to guard the palace.

Black's best chances come from activity on the wing the Cannon left. With Red's second Cannon on six rather than seven, Black's right Horse is under less direct pressure than it is against the Five Seven Cannon. That frees Black to use the right Cannon actively, as 6...炮2进4 does, and to contest the Chariot files early.

Pitfalls

Copying the wrong homework. Yang's warning bears repeating: a Black player who meets the Five Six Cannon with exactly the moves prepared against the Five Seven Cannon can walk into trouble, because the second Cannon covers different points.

Grabbing the blockading Cannon. After 6...炮2进4, the capture 车八进三 looks like it wins a piece. Black's Chariot on file two recaptures, and Red has given a Chariot for a Cannon.

Forgetting the third-file Soldier. As Yang's line shows, once Red's seventh-file Soldier has been exchanged, an unadvanced third-file Soldier can be picked off along Red's Soldier rank by a Black Cannon.

Stopping a piece on the sixth file. For Black, any piece that lands on Red's sixth file in front of the Cannon becomes its screen. Before you put a Horse or Chariot there, look at what stands behind it.

Is it for you?

Play the Five Six Cannon as Red if you like solid, flexible positions where the game is decided in the middlegame and endgame rather than in a forced opening race. It is also a good second system for players who already know the Five Seven Cannon, since many plans carry over, as long as you remember where the differences are.

As Black, treat it with respect but not fear. It develops slowly, which gives you time, and the best use of that time is getting your right Cannon and Chariot into play.

Set up the main line against the XiangqiPlay computer at any of its eight levels, from Easy to God, and play it from both sides with a free account. Our guide to the Palcorner Cannon at /xiangqi-openings shows the same palace-corner idea used as a first move.