Xiangqi vs chess
Xiangqi and chess are both two-player board games with checkmate as the goal. The boards, the pieces, and several core rules differ. This page compares them point by point.
Updated 10 September 2026
| Xiangqi | Chess | |
|---|---|---|
| Board | 9 files by 10 ranks, 90 points. Pieces sit on the points, not inside squares. | 8 by 8 squares, 64 squares total. Pieces sit inside the squares. |
| Pieces per side | 16 pieces: 1 general, 2 advisors, 2 elephants, 2 horses, 2 chariots, 2 cannons, 5 soldiers. | 16 pieces: 1 king, 1 queen, 2 rooks, 2 bishops, 2 knights, 8 pawns. |
| Movement | Pieces move between points on a grid of lines. | Pieces move between squares on a checkered grid. |
| The river | A river runs between rank 5 and rank 6. The river blocks the elephant and changes how the soldier moves. | Chess has no river or similar board division. |
| The palace | Each side has a 3 by 3 palace with marked diagonals. The general and advisors cannot leave it. | Chess has no palace. The king can move to any square it can legally reach. |
| Special pieces | The cannon jumps exactly one piece to capture. A piece on the midpoint blocks the elephant. | Chess has a bishop, which moves diagonally any distance, and a queen, which moves like a rook and bishop combined. |
| Castling, en passant, promotion | Xiangqi has none of these moves. | Chess has all three. |
| Check and stalemate | Check works as in chess. Stalemate is a loss for the player who cannot move. | Check works the same way. Stalemate is a draw. |
| Draws and repetition | Rules against perpetual check and perpetual chase can cost the offending side the game. | A player may claim a draw after a threefold repetition. Neither side is penalised. |
| Game-tree complexity | About 10^150 possible games. | About 10^123 possible games. |
Sources: the Xiangqi, Chess, and Shogi articles on Wikipedia.
Comparing difficulty
Xiangqi has a game-tree complexity of about 10^150. Chess has about 10^123, and shogi has about 10^226. These figures count possible games, not difficulty. A player's own experience with each game's pieces and rules matters far more.
Xiangqi vs shogi
Shogi is the Japanese chess variant. In shogi a captured piece can return to the board in the capturing player's colour. This rule is called a drop. Xiangqi has no drop rule, so a captured xiangqi piece leaves the game for good. The shogi board has 9 by 9 squares, and each side has 20 pieces.
Xiangqi vs go
Go is a different kind of board game, not a chess variant. Players place stones on the intersections of a 19 by 19 grid. The goal is to fence off more territory than the opponent, not to checkmate a general. Xiangqi and go share only the shape of a grid board.
Xiangqi vs janggi
Janggi is the Korean chess variant, and it came from xiangqi. The janggi board has no river. The janggi elephant moves one point orthogonally, then two points diagonally outward, so it can work on either half of the board. A janggi player with no legal move passes the turn instead of losing the game.
Questions and answers
Is xiangqi the same as chess?
Xiangqi and chess are related but different games. Both belong to the wider chess family, alongside shogi, janggi, and chaturanga. The board, the pieces, and several core rules differ. Checkmate is the shared goal in both.
Does xiangqi have castling?
Xiangqi has no castling move. The general stays inside its own palace for the whole game, and it moves one point at a time. Xiangqi also has no en passant capture and no promotion.
Why is stalemate a loss in xiangqi but a draw in chess?
A player with no legal move loses the game in xiangqi. Chess treats the same position as a draw. This rule difference is one of the clearest between the two games.
Which board has more pieces, xiangqi or chess?
Xiangqi and chess both use 16 pieces per side. Xiangqi's 16 pieces are 1 general, 2 advisors, 2 elephants, 2 horses, 2 chariots, 2 cannons, and 5 soldiers. Chess uses different piece types for the same total.