p.boxed.
  Chinese chess, with different pieces behaving
  differently than orthodox chess.

p.
  Pieces stand on intersections rather than squares: this is purely aesthetic,
  and doesn't affect movements' descriptions.

figure
  img.img-center(src="/variants/Xiangqi/Boards.png")
  figcaption
    | Xiangqi boards borrowed from 
    a(href="https://www.pychess.org/variant/xiangqi") pychess-variants
    | . Chinese pieces on the right, international ones on the left.

p.
  The central area between rows 5 and 6 is called the "river".
  It affects some pieces behavior.

p.
  Only the rooks behave exactly as in standard chess.
  All other pieces are quite different:
ul
  li.
    The King moves orthogonaly by one square, and cannot leave the "palace"
    consisting of the nine intersections of the grey rectangles
    on the diagram above.
  li.
    The pieces surrounding the king are Advisors: they move by one square
    at a time, diagonally only. They are also restricted to the palace.
  li.
    The pawns ("Soldiers") move - and capture - by going up one intersection.
    After they reach the second half of the board, they can then also move
    (and capture) by one square lateraly.
  li.
    The Elephant moves by two intersections diagonally. It cannot jump over
    obstacles: the midpoint intersection should be vacant.
    The elephants cannot cross the river.
  li.
    The knights ("Horses") also cannot jump over obstacles, although they
    appear to move as in orthodox chess. They make an orthogonal step first,
    and then a diagonal step so that they are at a regular "knight distance"
    from the initial intersection.
    However, the square after first step must be empty.
  li.
    The Cannons move like a rook but capture by jumping first over an
    obstacle (friendly or enemy). After such a jump the cannon can only
    capture (no normal moves).

figure.diagram-container
  .diagram.diag12
    img(src="/variants/Xiangqi/ElephantDiagram.png")
  .diagram.diag22
    img(src="/variants/Xiangqi/HorseDiagram.png")
  figcaption
    | Elephant and Horse moves illustrated, from 
    a(href="https://www.pychess.org/variant/xiangqi") pychess-variants
    | .

h3 More information

p
  | Many resources are available online: just search with keywords Xiangqi
  | or Chinese chess. You can play it on 
  a(href="https://www.pychess.org") pychess-variants
  | , against humans or a (basic) bot.