Xiangqi Opening Names: A Bilingual Glossary with Pinyin

How xiangqi opening names are built

Most names are short phrases made from a few building blocks. A piece: 炮 pào (cannon), 马 (馬) mǎ (horse), 相 xiàng (elephant), 车 (車) jū (chariot). An action: 飞 (飛) fēi (fly), 起 qǐ (raise), 过 (過) guò (cross). A place: 中 zhōng (center), 宫 (宮) gōng (palace), 河 hé (river), 士角 shì jiǎo (the advisor's corner). Red's first-move systems often end in 局 jú, meaning a game or setup. Direction words appear too: 左 zuǒ (left) and 右 yòu (right), as in 左中炮 zuǒ zhōng pào, a Central Cannon made with Red's left-hand cannon.

Other names are images. 屏风马 compares two horses to the panels of a folding screen, 三步虎 is a tiger that pounces in three steps, and 仙人指路 pictures an immortal pointing the way. A third group uses file numbers: in 五七炮 wǔ qī pào the numbers are the files of Red's two cannons, counted from Red's right-hand side.

Full opening titles often join both sides with 对 (對) duì, meaning versus, so 中炮对屏风马 zhōng pào duì píngfēng mǎ is simply Central Cannon against Screen Horses. Chinese move notation follows the same logic: 炮二平五 means the cannon on file two moves across (平 píng) to file five, while 进 (進) jìn means advance and 退 tuì means retreat. Red's files are written with Chinese numerals and Black's with Arabic digits.

Red's cannon openings

Central Cannon, 中炮 zhōng pào, Vietnamese Pháo đầu. Red moves a cannon to the central file, usually 炮二平五 (C2=5 in English notation), aiming straight at Black's central Soldier and palace. It is the most direct and most studied first move in the game, and most of Black's named defenses exist to meet it.

Cross-Palace Cannon, 过宫炮 (過宮炮) guò gōng pào, Vietnamese Quá cung pháo. Red slides a cannon all the way across the front of its own palace to the advisor file on the far side, for example 炮二平六. The idea is to sidestep central theory and build play on the wing the cannon now covers.

Advisor-Corner Cannon, 士角炮 shì jiǎo pào, Vietnamese Sĩ giác pháo, sometimes called the Palcorner Cannon in English. Red moves a cannon to the advisor file on its own side, such as 炮二平四, where it sits at the corner of the palace. It is flexible and often transposes into other systems.

Central Cannon systems and chariot names

Once the Central Cannon is in place, Red's setup is often named by where the second cannon goes. In 五七炮 wǔ qī pào it moves to file seven, in 五八炮 wǔ bā pào it stays at home on file eight, and in 五六炮 wǔ liù pào it goes to file six, the advisor corner. Each name reads as file five plus the second cannon's file, counted from Red's side.

Chariot names follow the same descriptive pattern. 过河车 (過河車) guò hé jū, Chariot Crosses the River, describes Red sending a chariot over the river early, usually 车二进六, to press on Black's position. It is best known from the classic Central Cannon against Screen Horses battles.

巡河车 (巡河車) xún hé jū, the River-Patrol Chariot, describes a chariot placed on its own riverbank, usually 车二进四, where it guards the river and can swing to either wing. Seeing the difference between the two in your own games is a good test of whether the names have stuck.

Two more chariot words turn up constantly in opening titles. 直车 (直車) zhí jū, the Straight Chariot, is a chariot that comes out along an open file, while 横车 (橫車) héng jū, the Horizontal Chariot, is lifted one point so it can travel sideways along a rank. Both appear in titles such as 顺炮直车对横车, Same Direction Cannons with Straight Chariot against Horizontal Chariot.

Black's answers to the Central Cannon

Screen Horses, 屏风马 (屏風馬) píngfēng mǎ, Vietnamese Bình phong mã. Black develops both horses toward the center, typically 马2进3 and 马8进7, so they guard the central Soldier like the panels of a folding screen. It is the classic, solid reply.

Reverse Palace Horse, 反宫马 (反宮馬) fǎn gōng mǎ, Vietnamese Phản cung mã. Black develops both horses but places one cannon on the corner of the palace, in front of an Advisor, a setup that aims for counterattack rather than pure defense.

Single Raised Horse, 单提马 (單提馬) dān tí mǎ. One horse develops toward the center while the other goes to the edge file. It is less symmetrical than the Screen Horses and keeps the middle of Black's camp less crowded.

Three-Step Tiger, 三步虎 sān bù hǔ. Black develops a horse, moves a cannon to the edge, and slides a chariot onto the file the cannon vacated, getting a chariot active within the first few moves.

Cannon against cannon

Same Direction Cannons, 顺炮 (順炮) shùn pào, Vietnamese Thuận pháo. Black answers the Central Cannon with a central cannon of its own taken from the same side of the board, so 炮二平五 is met by 炮8平5 and, seen on a diagram, both cannons travel in the same direction. The result is sharp and symmetrical.

Opposite Direction Cannons, 列炮 liè pào, Vietnamese Nghịch pháo. Black also puts a cannon in the center but brings it from the other side, so 炮二平五 is met by 炮2平5 and the two cannons move toward the center in opposite directions. Both sides aim at each other's central Soldier from the first move, and the position is combative from the start.

Quiet first moves: elephant, pawn and horse

Elephant Opening, 飞相局 (飛相局) fēi xiàng jú, Vietnamese Phi tượng cục. Red's first move puts an elephant on the central point in front of the palace, 相三进五 or 相七进五. It is solid and flexible, keeping options open instead of committing a cannon.

Pawn Opening, 仙人指路 xiānrén zhǐ lù, literally Immortal Points the Way, Vietnamese Tiên nhân chỉ lộ. Red advances the third or seventh Soldier one point, 兵三进一 or 兵七进一, opening a path for a horse and probing Black's intentions before choosing a plan.

Horse Opening, 起马局 (起馬局) qǐ mǎ jú, Vietnamese Khởi mã cục. Red develops a horse first, 马二进三 or 马八进七, a quiet move that can transpose into many other systems.

Grouped by first move, then, Red's main choices are the cannon openings (Central Cannon, Cross-Palace Cannon, Advisor-Corner Cannon), the elephant opening, the pawn opening, and the horse opening. Most of Black's names describe how it meets them.

Tips for reading opening names

English names are not standardized. You will see Screen Horse and Screen Horses, Palcorner Cannon and Advisor-Corner Cannon, Pawn Opening and Immortal Points the Way. The Chinese characters are the stable reference, so when two sources seem to disagree, compare the characters rather than the translations.

Names also describe setups more than exact move orders. A game can reach the Screen Horses or the Three-Step Tiger by more than one route, and a position may be filed under different names depending on which moves came first. Learn the shape each name describes, and you will recognize it however it arises.

Vietnamese names deserve the same care. Many are Sino-Vietnamese readings of the Chinese characters, such as Thuận pháo for 顺炮, Bình phong mã for 屏风马, and Phi tượng cục for 飞相局. Not all of them are, though. The Central Cannon is Pháo đầu, literally the head cannon, and 列炮 is Nghịch pháo, built on a word meaning opposite or reverse, so a direct character-by-character reading will not always give you the name Vietnamese players actually use.

Practice on XiangqiPlay

Names stick best when you connect them to positions. The opening guides section on XiangqiPlay walks through the main systems in this glossary, including the Central Cannon, the Screen Horses, the Same and Opposite Direction Cannons, and the Elephant, Pawn and Horse Openings, with the moves shown on the board.

Then try them in real games. Play the computer at beginner, intermediate, or advanced level, or invite a friend, and name each opening as it appears. Playing on XiangqiPlay requires a free account. When you want to sharpen your finishing, the free puzzle library of 5,000 engine-proven mate puzzles shows how the pieces these openings develop go on to deliver checkmate.