FUN XIANGQI GUIDES
How to Move the Horse in Xiangqi (傌 / 馬)
By The Fun Xiangqi Team · Published · 3 min read
Video walkthrough coming soon
Steps
Find your horses
Each side has two horses: 傌 for Red, 馬 for Black (many sets use 馬 for both). They start on your back line, between each elephant and chariot.
Step one point along a line
Every horse move begins with one point straight forward, backward, left or right.
Then one point diagonally outward
From there the horse moves one more point diagonally, away from where it started. The end points match a chess knight's L-shape — up to eight of them.
Check the horse's leg
That first point is the horse's leg. If any piece, of either colour, stands on it, the horse can't move in that direction. The horse never jumps over pieces.
Capture by landing on a piece
The horse captures by ending its move on an enemy piece, as long as the leg on that path is empty.
The horse's eight points
In the open, a horse has up to eight points it can reach — the same pattern as a chess knight. Each one is made of two parts: one point straight, then one point diagonally outward.
c d e f g
7 . o . o .
6 o . . . o
5 . . H . .
4 o . . . o
3 . o . o .
H = horse on e5, o = the eight points it can move to. To reach d7 or f7, it first passes e6; to reach c6 or c4, it passes d5; to reach g6 or g4, it passes f5; and to reach d3 or f3, it passes e4. Those four points next to the horse are its legs.
The blocked leg
Here's the rule that makes the xiangqi horse different from a chess knight. Put any piece on one of the horse's legs and both moves through that leg disappear.
c d e f g
7 . x . x .
6 o . P . o
5 . . H . .
4 o . . . o
3 . o . o .
P = a piece of either colour on e6. The horse can no longer reach d7 or f7 (x), but its other six moves are untouched. In Vietnamese this is cản chân mã — "hobbling the horse's leg".
Because the leg is checked from the horse's own position, the rule isn't always symmetrical: a horse can attack a piece that can't attack it back — for example, an enemy horse whose own leg is blocked.
Common mistakes
- Jumping over the leg. The horse never jumps. If the leg is occupied, that direction is closed — full stop.
- Checking the wrong point. The leg is always the point directly next to the horse, in the direction it's heading, not the diagonal point.
- Crowding your own horses. Your own pieces block legs too. Early on, keep the points in front of your horses clear so they can come out.
- Thinking a horse at home is stuck. Even on its starting point, a horse still has two moves.
Quick questions
Is the xiangqi horse the same as a chess knight? The end points are the same L-shape, but the knight jumps and the horse doesn't. A blocked leg takes away two of its moves.
How much is a horse worth? Rough values put it at about 4 points — sources differ — and it tends to grow stronger in the endgame, when the board opens up and fewer legs get blocked.
Can the horse cross the river? Yes. The river doesn't affect the horse at all.
The horse follows naturally from how to move the elephant, the other piece that can be blocked mid-move. Next up is the strongest piece on the board: how to move the chariot. Or start a free game from the Fun Xiangqi home page.