Comparison
Janggi vs Xiangqi: Korean and Chinese Chess Compared
Updated October 6, 2026
Janggi and Xiangqi use the same cast of pieces: general, guards or advisors, elephants, horses, chariots, cannons and soldiers. A Xiangqi player will find Janggi familiar at first glance, but once you play, nearly every piece behaves differently. Here is the big picture in one table, followed by the points where players most often go wrong.
The differences at a glance
| Janggi | Xiangqi | |
|---|---|---|
| Board | 9×10, no river; the palaces have diagonal lines | 9×10 with a river in the middle; palace diagonals are used only by advisors |
| Moves first | Cho (bottom) | Red |
| General and guards or advisors | One step inside the palace, orthogonally or along the diagonals | General one step orthogonally; advisors one step diagonally only |
| Elephant | One straight step, then two diagonal steps; can go anywhere on the board | Two points diagonally; cannot cross the river |
| Cannon (rules on this site) | Moves like a chariot when not capturing; captures by jumping exactly one non-cannon piece and cannot capture cannons | Moves like a chariot when not capturing; captures by jumping exactly one piece of any kind |
| Soldiers | Move forward or sideways from the start | Move sideways only after crossing the river |
| No legal move, not in check | Never happens: you may pass whenever you are not in check | Loss (stalemate counts as a defeat) |
| Generals facing each other | Not restricted on this site | Not allowed |
| Draws (on this site) | 200 half-moves in a row without a capture | 120 half-moves in a row without a capture; perpetual check and chase have their own rulings |
Four points where players go wrong
- The cannon: on this site the cannon moves like a Xiangqi cannon when not capturing, but the piece it jumps over to capture may not be a cannon, and it can never capture an enemy cannon. Inside the palace it can also jump diagonally from a corner to the opposite corner over the piece in the centre. Note that traditional Janggi requires the cannon to jump a piece even when it is just moving; this site uses the simplified rule described here.
- The elephant goes further: a Janggi elephant moves one step straight and then two steps diagonally in the same direction, and both points it passes through must be empty. With no river to stop it, it is an attacking piece rather than the purely defensive elephant of Xiangqi.
- Palace diagonals: the general and guards may step along the palace diagonals, and inside the palace the chariot can move diagonally from a corner to the centre or straight through to the opposite corner. In Xiangqi only the advisors use the diagonals.
- Passing: as long as you are not in check, either player may skip their move and hand the turn over. That is why Janggi has no stalemate, and you cannot win by leaving your opponent without a move.
Coming from Xiangqi
The horse moves and gets blocked exactly as in Xiangqi, and the chariot’s straight moves are the same, so both carry over directly. What takes adjusting is the elephant and the cannon: the elephant moves and attacks differently, and the cannon always needs a screen that is not another cannon. This site also uses one fixed standard setup: from each corner inwards the back row reads chariot, elephant, horse, guard, so elephant and horse swap places compared with Xiangqi and opening plans change too.
Play both on this site
Janggi and Xiangqi both start right in your browser here, with AI games, ranked matchmaking, friend invites, spectating and replays. Janggi has a pass button on the page; Xiangqi treats stalemate as a loss, and perpetual check or chase may lose.