Pieces are set. Red moves first.
Play Chinese Chess
Sign in and you are matched with a real opponent at your rating in seconds. Games are played between verified accounts, so both sides know who they are sitting across from.
A rating that follows you
Every result moves an Elo you keep, on a leaderboard of real people.
Every game kept
Replay, analyse and share any board you have ever played here.
Verified opponents only
One account per person, so a report lands and a ban sticks.
Free, forever. We email a one-time code the first time you sign in on a device — here is why.
Play Chinese chess online, free
Against a real opponent. Quick match finds the closest rating that is waiting and starts the clock. Ratings here are Elo, updated after every rated game, and the pool runs around the clock — Xiangqi is played in every time zone, so the board is rarely empty.
Against a friend. Open a private table, choose the time control, and send the link. No app to install; whoever opens the link is sitting opposite you. How to play a friend →
Against the computer. Three levels, from one that lets you find your feet to one that will punish a loose cannon. The engine runs in your browser, so it answers instantly and works with no connection at all. Play the computer now →
Time controls
Xiangqi is sharper than chess and games end sooner, so the clocks are shorter than a chess player expects. Bullet at 1+0 is a knife fight; 5+3 blitz is the default and the most played here; 10+5 rapid gives you time to calculate a cannon sacrifice properly; and untimed is there for a game with a friend across a time zone. You pick per table, or take a quick match at the default.
What you get on the board
Real clocks
Server-side, so a lagging opponent cannot gain time and a reconnect cannot lose it.
Legal moves only
Blocked horses, blocked elephants and the flying-general rule are enforced by the engine — you cannot play an illegal move by accident.
Reconnect safe
The position lives on the server. Close the tab, come back, carry on.
Phone and desktop
Installable as an app; the board is the same size relative to the screen either way.
Coming from Western chess?
The same instincts, a different board. A live game is faster than chess and more direct: the opening is over in about six moves, because a cannon on the central file is already attacking from the starting position and a chariot reaches the enemy half in two. The board is bigger — 90 points against 64 squares — but it empties faster, and with no promotion and a king locked in a nine-point palace there is very little a defender can shuffle. That is why Chinese chess draws far less often than chess. These are the four habits that cost chess players their first games:
1.You leave the cannon file open
A cannon on the central file is aiming at your general through whatever happens to be in between. The moment you move the piece that was blocking it — often a horse you are developing — you are in check, or worse. Before every move, look down the two central files.
2.You develop a horse into a block
A Xiangqi horse can be stopped by putting a piece next to it, on the point it steps through. A knight that would have twelve squares in chess can have none here. Check what your horse can actually reach before you rely on it.
3.You count material like a chess player
A chariot is a rook and worth roughly two horses. A cannon is strong early, while the board is full of screens, and weak in an endgame that has emptied out — the opposite of a chess bishop. Advisors and elephants are almost worthless offensively and priceless as defence.
4.You try to save a lost game with perpetual check
In chess that is the standard escape. In Xiangqi it loses: a player who repeats a check forever is adjudicated the loser, and so is one who chases the same piece forever. Stalemate is a loss too. Draws are rare on purpose.
Notation, so you can read a game
Chinese chess notation names the piece, the file it stands on, and where it goes — “cannon 2 goes to 5” rather than a destination square. Files are numbered from each player's own right, so both sides count from their own side of the board. On this site the move list shows both the traditional form and a plain from–to form, so you can follow a game before you have learned to read it.
After the game
Every finished game is saved with its full move list, and the analysis board walks you back through it and shows where the evaluation turned. If you want to train rather than play, the puzzle set is engine-proved mates in one, two and three, and the openings guide names the line you were in when it went wrong. New to the game entirely? Start with how to play Xiangqi, or read what Xiangqi is first.
Common questions
Is Chinese chess online the same as Xiangqi?
Yes — Xiangqi (象棋) is the game's Chinese name and “Chinese chess” is the English one, so a Chinese chess site and a Xiangqi site are the same thing. This one is called XiangqiPlay for that reason.
Do I need an account to play Xiangqi online?
Yes, a free one. Every game on the site, against a person or the computer, is played from a verified account: a rating has to belong to somebody, and your game history, saved puzzles and friends have to survive a closed tab. Signing up takes about a minute.
Can two players share one game online?
Yes. Open a private table, pick the time control and send the link — the person who opens it plays the other side. Nothing to install, and no hunting for each other in a lobby.
Is it really free?
Yes. Every game, every puzzle and every feature on this site is free, with no download, no plugin and no time limit on a session. Xiangqi is a public game a thousand years older than any of us; charging admission to it would be strange.
Who will I be matched with?
Quick match pairs you with the closest available rating, so your first games settle quickly around your real strength. If you would rather choose, the lobby lists open tables with their time controls and you can take whichever suits you.
What happens if my connection drops mid-game?
The game is held on the server, not in your tab. Reopen the page and you are back in the same position with your clock where it was — refreshing, switching device or losing signal for a moment does not forfeit the game. The clock does keep running while you are away.
Can I play Xiangqi online on my phone?
Yes. The board scales to the screen, moves work by tap or drag, and the site can be installed as an app from your browser so it opens full-screen and works offline for puzzles and games against the computer.
I play chess. How long will Chinese chess take to learn?
About ten minutes for the rules and a few games for the instincts. Everything you know about tempo, initiative and calculation carries across; what does not is the geometry — a blockable horse, a cannon that needs a screen, and a king that never leaves its palace.