The Rushed Centre Soldier

What does the early push do?

The system grows out of the central cannon (中炮, zhongpao), also called 当头炮 (dangtoupao), the opening whose first move is 炮二平五 (C2=5) or 炮八平五 (C8=5). A cannon on the fifth file threatens the opponent's soldier on that file and the palace behind it, which makes the central cannon an attacking way to open. It is also the opening that Red plays most often today.

The rushed centre soldier pushes Red's own centre soldier forward early without giving up the cannon's attack. Red plays 兵五进一 (P5+1) on its fourth move, once a horse and a chariot are out, and the soldier steps from e3 to e4. The cannon on e2 still attacks Black's soldier on e6, now through the soldier on e4. By then Black has both horses and a chariot out, and the horses guard e6 from c7 and g7.

The ECCO, a code list of xiangqi openings, has no single code for the system. Red's advance of the centre soldier, 红进中兵 (hong jin zhongbing), appears in the names of several codes in its class C, the central cannon against the screen horses (屏风马, pingfengma), among them C03, C04, C14 and C49.

The course line, move by move

The board below plays the line that the site's opening course teaches for the rushed centre soldier. It begins with the system's standard moves, and a computer engine continued it from there. You can step through its first twelve moves, six for each side, with a note on each.

Red pushes the centre soldier on its fourth move, then brings out the second horse and pushes the soldier on c3. Black answers with its cannons. One advances to h3 and attacks Red's soldier on c3, and after that soldier steps to c4, the other moves to a7 and attacks the soldier on a3.

The push is what opens the first of those attacks. With the soldier gone from e3, no piece stands between g3 and c3, so the cannon on h3 can use the soldier on g3 as its screen.

The opening course has two drills on these moves, and both go further than the twelve shown here. In one you play Red's moves, and in the other you defend against them as Black.

Lines from the archive

This section's board starts from the position of the third line below, after 兵五进一 (P5+1), with Red's chariot already across the river on h6. In the archive, 73 games reached this position. The arrows show Black's three most common replies there, each with its share of those games.

All three named lines end with the centre soldier's push from e3 to e4. What changes is what Red does before it. The first keeps Red's chariot on h0 and brings the second horse to c2, while in the second and third the chariot has already crossed the river to h6.

Choose the first line if you want the chariot to stay on your side of the river. If you like early pressure, try the second and third, where the chariot crosses to h6 and attacks Black's cannon and soldiers. As Black, play through all three, since each card ends on a position you will have to meet.

The five principles in this line

Five principles sum up good opening play: bring the chariots out early, do not move one piece again and again, do not grab soldiers, keep both wings in balance, and keep the general safe. They work as a checklist for any line, this one included.

In the course line Red spends two of its six moves on soldiers, the pushes to e4 and c4, and brings out one chariot, while the chariot on a0 stays at home. Black also brings out one chariot, and its other chariot stays on a9. No piece moves twice, no piece is captured, and both generals stay on their starting points, in line with the second, third and fifth principles.

The central cannon also has a known weak spot on Red's own side: the third or the seventh file of Red's bottom rank is easy to attack.

Common mistakes

As Red, do not cash in the cannon's attack too early. After the push, the cannon on e2 still attacks the soldier on e6, so taking it can look free. But both horses guard e6, from c7 and g7, and whichever one takes back, Red has given a cannon for a soldier. The capture also breaks the third principle: do not grab soldiers in the opening.

As Red, do not take the cannon on h3 with the chariot. When Black's cannon lands on h3, Red's chariot on h0 attacks it, and the capture looks like a free cannon. But Black's chariot on h9 guards it down the open h-file, and after it takes back, Red has given a chariot for a cannon. The threat that matters is the one to the soldier on c3, and the course line meets it by stepping that soldier to c4.

As Black, do not fall behind in the centre against the river-crossing chariot. In the third line, once Red's chariot reaches h6, it attacks the soldier on e6 together with the cannon on e2, and so far only the horse on g7 guards it. With two attackers against one guard, Red can win the soldier: the cannon takes it, and if the horse takes back, the chariot takes the horse. That is why Black plays 马2进3 (H2+3) at once and brings a second horse to c7.

How does it score in the archive?

In the archive's games with the rushed centre soldier, Red won 39%, 28% were drawn and Black won 33%. A game lasted 40 moves on average. For comparison, across all 29,164 human games in the archive, Red wins 37% and 36% end in a draw.

The players with the most games in the system are Liu Dahua, with 26 as Red, and Hu Ronghua, with 25 as Black.

At the end of this section you can replay one archive game with the system. When the course line feels familiar, try the push as Red in a few games against the computer. The early push will not win games by itself, but it keeps the central cannon working while the soldier moves up.