The Pointing Finger

What does the first move do?

With 兵三进一 (P3+1), the soldier on g3 steps forward to g4, and Red waits to see Black's plan. Apart from the central cannon, this push on the third or seventh file is one of Red's common first moves. The ECCO opening codes give it a class of its own, class E, while the other openings that do not start with the central cannon share class A. Codes E00 to E39 cover the pointing finger itself, and E40 to E48 the mutual pawn opening.

The push also clears the way for a horse. A horse on g2 jumps to f4 or h4 through g3, the point the soldier has now left. The board plays the first move, then 炮8平7 (C8=7), Black's most common reply in the archive, and Red's horse move 马二进三 (H2+3). Its two lines show where the horse on g2 can now go.

Black's reply on the board is the soldier-bottom cannon (卒底炮, zudipao), also known as 一声雷 (yishenglei). It is an attacking reply: the cannon on g7 attacks the soldier on g4, with Black's own soldier on g6 as its screen.

The course line, move by move

The board below plays the line that the site's opening course teaches for the pointing finger. It starts with the opening's standard moves, and a computer engine continued it from there; the board shows its first twelve moves, six for each side. The course plays the line on the left wing, starting with 兵七进一 (P7+1). This page mirrors the same moves onto the right wing so that they match the archive's cards and boards further down.

Black answers with the soldier-bottom cannon, and Red brings the left cannon to the centre file. After six moves, three for each side, the line has played the four moves of the first card below, with a horse out on each side as well. Both sides then bring a chariot to the b-file, and Red's horse goes from g2 to f4 through the point that the first move cleared. The line ends with Black's chariot on h9 attacking Red's cannon on h2 down the open h-file.

How does Black reply?

Black can answer the soldier move in several ways. The board below starts after 兵三进一 (P3+1), a position that 6,218 games in the archive reached, and its arrows show Black's three most common replies with their shares. All three have names: 炮8平7 (C8=7) is the soldier-bottom cannon, 卒3进1 (P3+1) turns the game into the mutual pawn opening (对兵局, duibingju), and 马2进3 (H2+3) gives the advanced soldier against the horse (挺兵对起马, tingbing dui qima).

Under the board you will find the archive's four named lines. The first two continue the soldier-bottom cannon, the third answers the soldier move with a central cannon, and the fourth is the mutual pawn opening.

Waiting for Black's plan

The idea behind the opening is waiting. Red advances a soldier and keeps its own plan back until Black has shown one, a little like throwing a stone to test the way. The pointing finger is a slow attack, and players like it because it is flexible and can grow into many kinds of set-up. Openings of this kind are also less bound by theory than the central cannon openings.

Black's reply tells you what kind of game Black wants. The returned central cannon and the soldier-bottom cannon are attacking replies: the first ignores the advanced soldier and goes for Red's centre soldier, and the second attacks the advanced soldier itself. The mutual pawn opening is fairly solid, and 象7进5 (E7+5) is very solid; it leads to the pointing finger against the flying elephant. The golden hook cannon (金钩炮, jingoupao), 炮2平7 (C2=7), is one of the rarer replies.

If you play Black and like a sharp game, the two attacking replies go after Red's soldiers at once. If you prefer a steadier game, the mutual pawn opening or 象7进5 (E7+5) keeps the position solid. As Red, learn the course line first: it meets the soldier-bottom cannon, Black's most common reply in the archive.

Five general principles apply to any opening: 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. The course line follows the first three closely, and the next section shows what goes wrong in this opening when a player ignores them.

Common mistakes

Some players push the same soldier again, as if the first move had started a soldier attack. The soldier on g4 has already done its job: it cleared g3, the point a horse on g2 must pass through to reach f4 or h4. Each extra soldier move keeps your horses and chariots at home a move longer. In the course line, Red's only piece to move twice is that horse, and Black moves a different piece with each of its six moves.

Another mistake is to leave the chariots in their corners. In the course line, each side brings out a chariot on its fifth move: Red's goes to b0 and attacks Black's cannon on b7, and Black's comes to b9 to guard it. Black's other chariot then uses the h-file, which its cannon and horse have left open, to attack Red's cannon on h2. A chariot that stays at home does none of this work, and the open files go to your opponent.

The third mistake is grabbing soldiers. They come under attack early in this opening: Black's cannon on g7 attacks the soldier on g4 from the second move, and Red's horse on f4 attacks the soldiers on e6 and g6. Even so, nobody takes anything in the course line's first twelve moves, and each side spends its moves on bringing out pieces. A soldier taken this early costs a move that your horses and chariots needed.

The pointing finger in the archive

Of the 29,164 games between human players in the archive, 6,218 open with the pointing finger, on either wing. Red wins 41% of them and Black 22%, and 36% are drawn. Across the whole archive, Red wins 37% of the games and 36% are drawn. Among the games with a known year, the pointing finger opened 16%, 24% and 24% in the three periods that the table below lists.

As Red, Xu Yinchuan has the best score with the opening, 75.6% over 135 games, and Lü Qin played it most often, in 181 games. As Black, Xu Yinchuan has the best score against it, 65.2% over 82 games, and Lü Qin faced it most often, in 160 games. The games last 44 moves on average.

To learn the opening, play the course line in the site's opening course until you know what each move is for, then try it in games against the computer. The opening will not win games by itself, but it lets you see Black's plan first.