The Horse Opening

What does the first move do?

The first move brings a horse into play and leaves the choice of cannon set-up for later. With 马二进三 (H2+3), the horse comes out from h0 to g2, where it guards the centre soldier on e3 and the advisor on f0.

Openings are roughly sorted by their first move into cannon, soldier, elephant and horse openings. A horse can open the game in two ways, and this is the more popular one; the other, the edge horse, is rarer. In the ECCO opening codes, the horse opening covers A40 to A45, and A42 is the horse opening that turns into an edge cannon against 卒7进1 (P7+1).

The board plays the horse move and Black's reply 马8进7 (H8+7). Its arrows mark three cannon moves without playing them: 炮八平五 (C8=5) to the centre file, 炮八平六 (C8=6) to the advisor's file and 炮二平一 (C2=1) to the edge. These are the central cannon, the advisor-corner cannon and the edge cannon, three forms the horse opening can later turn into.

The course line, move by move

The board below plays the line that the site's opening course teaches for the horse opening. Follow it to see how Red turns the opening into a central cannon and brings a chariot to an open file by its fifth move. The line starts with the opening's standard moves, which a computer engine continued, and the board shows the first twelve moves, six for each side.

Red's second move brings the cannon from b2 to the centre file, and the horse opening becomes a central cannon. Both sides then bring out their second horse. Red's chariot steps up to i1 and moves along rank 1 to d1, where it attacks the advisor on d9. Black pushes the soldiers on c6 and g6, and Red ends by pushing the centre soldier to e4.

Black's replies in the archive

The board below starts after 马二进三 (H2+3), a position that 1,331 games in the archive reached. Its arrows show Black's three most common replies, each with its share of those games. The first, 卒7进1 (P7+1), and the third, 马2进3 (H2+3), which brings out Black's right horse, are both standard answers to the horse move. All three cards below continue with 卒7进1 and differ in Red's second move: a central cannon, an advisor-corner cannon or a push of the soldier on c3.

A horse first, a cannon later

The plan of the horse opening is to bring a horse out early and choose the cannon set-up later. Besides the three cannon set-ups on the first board, the opening can also turn into a horizontal chariot with screen horses. Two of the archive's cards make the choice on Red's second move, one for the central cannon and one for the advisor-corner cannon, and the course line picks the central cannon at the same point. If you already play the central cannon, the course line is a natural way in, since it turns into one on Red's second move.

Two of the named lines that the horse opening can turn into are the horse against 卒7进1 (P7+1) and the horse with both sides' seventh soldiers advanced. In the archive, 卒7进1 is Black's most common reply to the horse move, and the third card shows the second of these lines.

The site teaches five opening principles: bring the chariots out early, do not move one piece again and again, do not grab soldiers, keep both wings balanced and keep the general safe. In the course line, Red brings the chariot out on its fourth move and moves it again on the fifth. Black moves a different piece with each of its six moves and brings out its chariot on the last of them, and no piece is captured.

Common mistakes

A common slip is to keep moving horses, cannons and soldiers while both chariots wait in their corners. The chariot is your strongest piece and has a long reach, but the corner is a poor point for it, and each move spent elsewhere keeps it out of the game a little longer. In the course line, Red's chariot steps up to i1 on Red's fourth move and reaches d1 on the fifth, where it attacks the advisor on d9.

Another is to grab the centre soldier because the cannon can reach it. From Red's second move on, the cannon on e2 attacks the soldier on e6, but the horse on g7 already guards that soldier, and after Black's next move the horse on c7 guards it too. If the cannon takes, a horse takes the cannon, and Red has given a cannon for one soldier. The course line leaves e6 alone and keeps the cannon aimed at it, later through the soldier on e4.

The last is to stay on the horse's side of the board. The first move develops Red's right wing, and if the next moves stay there too, the left wing falls behind, and a slower wing can come under attack. In the course line, Red's second move takes the left cannon to the centre and the third brings the left horse to c2, where it guards the soldiers on a3 and e3 and the advisor on d0.

The horse opening in the archive

Of the 29,164 games between human players in the archive, 1,331 begin with 马二进三 (H2+3) or its mirror, 马八进七 (H8+7). Red wins 33% of them and Black 27%, and 40% are drawn. Across the whole archive, Red wins 37% of the games and 36% are drawn, so you can compare the opening with the archive as a whole.

As Red, Lü Qin has the best score with the opening, 67.2% over 61 games, and as Black, Lü Qin faced it most often, in 22 games. The games last 44 moves on average. To practise, step through the course line in the opening course, then try the opening in a few games against the computer. The horse move will not win a game by itself, but it brings out a piece and keeps your cannon choice open.