Endgame basics

What decides an ending?

Xiangqi has no promotion, so an ending turns on forcing checkmate or stalemate, much like a chess ending without pawns. Stalemate, in which a player who is not in check has no legal move, is a loss for that player. Most known draws therefore come from fortresses, defensive set-ups that the attacker cannot break, and only a few from a lack of material.

The chess idea of the opposition does not exist in xiangqi, because the two generals cannot come close enough to each other. Its role passes to the rule that the generals may not face each other on an open file, which lets one general restrict the other. The soldier ending below shows this rule at work.

If you are ahead, do not trade pieces lightly once little material is left, because defending gets easier as attacking pieces leave the board. Chess works the other way: there, the side ahead in material almost always gains from trades. It follows that an ending is itself a known win if an exchange can turn it into one, and that exchange is the trade to look for.

Under the Asian rules, the side that leaves its opponent with no legal move wins, and a side that gives perpetual check, with one piece or with several, loses in all circumstances. Under the Chinese Xiangqi Association's rules of 2020, a player also loses when checkmated, when left with no legal move (困毙, kunbi), or when giving perpetual check while the other side does not. The same rules declare a draw when the position is so simple that neither side can win, and when sixty moves by each side pass without a capture, although an event may lower that number.

Soldier endings

A soldier wins easily against a bare general, as long as it has not reached the opponent's back rank. With any one defensive piece on the other side, an advisor or an elephant, the ending is a draw, although soldier against advisor needs careful defence. Soldiers that have reached the opponent's back rank only draw against a bare general, however many there are, for lack of material. On the board below, the soldier does all its work from rank 8 and never steps onto Black's back rank.

Two unadvanced soldiers, still on the first two ranks past the river, win against two advisors, two elephants, or a bare horse or cannon. They generally draw against one advisor and one elephant, or against a horse or a cannon with one defensive piece. Three unadvanced soldiers win against all four defensive pieces (士象全, shixiangquan), against a horse with two advisors or two elephants, and against a cannon with two elephants.

Zugzwang, a position in which having to move is a disadvantage, is a central theme in winning simple endgames, and it appears almost only in them. The board shows an example that Red wins whichever side is to move.

Red's first aim is to bring the general to the centre file, and it begins with a waiting move, d1d0, which puts Black in zugzwang. Black's general cannot go to d8, where it would face Red's general on the open d-file, or to f8, which the soldier covers. Stepping up to e9 loses at once to the soldier's step to f8, so the general steps down to e7.

The soldier then walks along rank 8 from g8 to d8 while Black's general moves between e7 and f7. Red's general reaches the centre file at e0, where a line marks the open file, and Black's general has to climb to f8. The soldier checks from e8 and drives the general into the corner at f9, although stepping to f7 instead would lose as well. After Red's waiting move e0e1, the soldier covers both points the general could use, e9 and f8, and Black has no legal move, which loses.

Cannon endings

A bare cannon, or a cannon with elephants, cannot win against a bare general, because it does not have enough material. With no other attacking piece, the cannon needs defensive pieces as its screens. An advisor helps most, since it can be a screen on any of the three middle files, while an elephant can be one only on the centre file. If you expect a cannon ending, keep your advisors.

A cannon with one advisor wins against two advisors or against a single elephant. Even with all four defensive pieces, though, a cannon only draws against two elephants, against one advisor and one elephant, against a soldier and an advisor, or against any minor piece (a horse or a cannon). It needs at least one extra soldier to win against all four defensive pieces. A bare cannon with a soldier on its sixth rank, the first rank past the river, wins against any two defensive pieces.

On the board, Red has a cannon on f0 and an advisor on e1, and Black's general on f9 can still step to e9 or f8. The advisor then steps from e1 to f2, where it becomes the screen for the cannon's check along the f-file, and the same move opens the e-file for Red's general. The cannon now covers f8 and Red's general covers e9, so the check from f0 is mate. The advisor's step is Red's only mating move in the position.

Chariot endings

A single chariot generally cannot win against all four defensive pieces, but it wins by force against three or fewer. When you defend against a lone chariot, every advisor and elephant counts: lose one of them, and the chariot can force the win.

Against a minor piece with two defensive pieces, the chariot wins when those two are one advisor and one elephant, or when the defence is a horse with two advisors. A horse with two elephants can draw, but only from one particular fortress. A minor piece with three defensive pieces draws against the chariot, and so do two minor pieces without any, although they need good defensive positions.

A chariot and a cannon cannot win against a bare chariot, as long as the defending chariot holds the centre file, but with any extra defensive piece on the attacking side they win. With two advisors of their own, they win against a chariot and two elephants, while with all four defensive pieces on each side the ending is a draw. These results will not play an ending for you, but they tell you which endings to steer for when you trade.