Twenty-six short lessons take you from your very first move to your first checkmates. Every lesson is played on a real board: the coach sets a small goal, you move the pieces, and you know straight away whether you got it right. Free, in your browser, with nothing to install and no account to create.
The 26 lessons
Chapter 1 · Game basics
Welcome
Meet the board, your pieces and the goal of the game: trapping the enemy general.
Chariot
Learn to move the chariot, the most powerful piece in the game.
Learn the fork: one move, two targets, material won.
The pin
The pin freezes an enemy piece where it stands: learn to punish it.
The skewer
Learn the skewer: push the general aside and win the piece hiding behind him.
The discovered check
Learn the discovered check: one move, two attacks at once.
Horse mates
Learn the horse mates, xiangqi's most famous finishes.
Cannon mates
Learn the cannon mates, including the famous cannon behind the horse.
Chariot mates
Learn the chariot mates: cross your chariots' lines and trap the general.
How the lessons work
Each lesson takes a few minutes and is split into short steps. The coach explains one idea, sets up a position and asks for the move that shows you understood it: the horse's two-step move, a capture with the cannon, a way out of check. A wrong move costs nothing: you simply try again, often with the coach explaining why it failed, and a hint can always show you where to look. The lessons unlock in order, because each one builds on the ones before it; if you already know the basics, you can jump straight to the first lesson of the next chapter.
Who are these lessons for?
Complete beginners first: you need no prior knowledge, not even of Western chess. The first chapter starts with the board, the two camps and the goal of the game, then introduces the seven pieces one by one — the river with the soldier, the palace with the general — before check, checkmate and the special rules. Children can follow it on their own, one short lesson at a time. If you already play chess, it is also the quickest way to learn what works differently here: the cannon must jump to capture, the horse can be blocked, and the two generals may never face each other.
Beyond the basics
The second chapter already brings real play: capturing well, the value of the pieces, saving a piece under attack, opening principles and a first opening, then the classic tactics — the fork, the pin, the skewer, the discovered check — and the checkmates of the horse, the cannon and the chariot. After that, the best teacher is practice: play the computer at your level, solve puzzles that drill the same checkmating patterns, and take on other players. Your progress is saved in your browser and synced to your account when you sign in.
