A clear xiangqi terms glossary covering pieces, the board, tactics, and Chinese and Vietnamese vocabulary every 象棋 and Cờ Tướng player should know.
Learning the essential xiangqi terms is the fastest way to read strategy guides, follow commentary, and talk shop with other players. Chinese chess (象棋), known in Vietnam as Cờ Tướng, carries centuries of vocabulary, and much of it is beautifully descriptive once you know the story behind each phrase.
This glossary groups the key terms into four parts: the pieces, the board, the rules and outcomes, and the tactical language you will hear most. We include the common Chinese and Vietnamese names so you can recognize them wherever you play. Keep this page handy as a reference during your first months at the board.
The Pieces and Their Names
Each side has seven types of piece. The General (将 jiàng for one side, 帅 shuài for the other; Tướng in Vietnamese) is the king you must protect; it moves one point orthogonally and never leaves its palace. The Advisor (士/仕; Sĩ) also stays in the palace, moving one point diagonally. The Elephant (象/相; Tượng) moves exactly two points diagonally and cannot cross the river.
The Horse (马/馬; Mã) is a knight that can be blocked mid-move. The Chariot (车/車; Xe) is the rook, the strongest attacker, sliding freely in straight lines. The Cannon (炮/砲; Pháo) slides like a Chariot but must leap a single screen piece to capture. The Soldier (兵/卒; Tốt or Binh) marches one point forward and gains a sideways step after crossing the river.
A useful shorthand: the character on the piece tells you the side. Red often uses 帅, 仕, 相, 傌, 俥, 炮, 兵, while Black uses 将, 士, 象, 马, 車, 砲, 卒. The moves are identical; only the writing differs.
Terms for the Board
The river (河界), sometimes lettered as the Chu River and Han Border (楚河汉界), is the blank horizontal band across the center that Elephants and unpromoted Soldiers cannot cross. It marks the border between the two kingdoms and is central to Xiangqi's geography.
The palace (九宫, jiǔgōng, literally nine palaces) is the 3-by-3 box marked with a diagonal cross where the General and Advisors are confined. A file is one of the nine vertical lines; a rank is one of the ten horizontal lines. Remember that pieces rest on the intersections of these lines, not inside squares.
Two blocking phrases are worth memorizing. The elephant's eye (象眼) is the midpoint of an Elephant's diagonal move; if a piece sits there, the Elephant cannot pass. Hobbling the horse's leg (蹩马腿) describes a piece placed directly beside a Horse, which blocks its leap. Both are core to Xiangqi tactics.
Rules, Checks, and Outcomes
Check (将军, jiāngjūn) means the General is under direct attack and must be defended immediately. Checkmate (将死) ends the game: the General is attacked and cannot escape. Unlike international chess, in Xiangqi a player who cannot make any legal move, known as stalemate (困毙), loses rather than draws.
The flying-general rule (对脸将, sometimes called facing generals) forbids the two Generals from sitting on the same open file with no piece between them. If you would expose your General to the enemy General along a clear file, that move is illegal, and this rule frequently decides sharp endgames.
You will also hear about perpetual check and perpetual chase. Endlessly checking or endlessly threatening the same piece to force a repetition is restricted under tournament rules, and the player doing it is usually required to vary or forfeit the claim to a draw.
Tactical and Strategic Language
The screen or mount (炮架) is the single piece a Cannon jumps over to capture; controlling screens is the heart of Cannon play. A central Cannon (中炮) is a classic aggressive opening where a Cannon is placed on the central file, aiming straight at the enemy palace.
Games divide into the opening (布局), the middlegame (中局), and the endgame (残局). Endgame study is especially prized in Xiangqi, and famous composed positions are collected and replayed for centuries. A tempo is a single unit of turn, and gaining tempo means making threats that force your opponent to respond rather than develop.
Two more you will meet often: a battery, stacking a Cannon behind a Chariot or behind another Cannon on the same file for combined force, and a discovered attack, moving one piece so that another delivers a threat. Recognizing these patterns by name makes them far easier to spot in your own games.
Put the Words Into Practice
Vocabulary sticks fastest when you use it. Play a few games on XiangqiPlay and try naming what happens as it unfolds: call out check, spot an elephant's eye, or announce when you build a battery on an open file. The terms will move from this page into your instincts within a handful of games.
Bookmark this glossary and return whenever a guide or a livestream uses a word you do not know. Then head to XiangqiPlay, put a central Cannon on the board, and watch the language of 象棋 come to life.