How do you win at Janggi?
You win by checkmating the enemy general: putting it in check so that no move can get it out. Cho (green) moves first, then the two sides take turns moving one piece at a time.
Janggi is the traditional chess of Korea. The board has 10 horizontal and 9 vertical lines, and pieces stand on the points where lines cross, not inside squares. Each side has a palace, the 3 by 3 area marked with an X at the middle of its back rows. The general and its two guards can never leave the palace. A move that leaves your own general in check is not allowed.
House rules on this site: if a player has no legal move and is not in check, the game is a draw. If the game reaches 200 moves in total, it is decided on material points, and Han, who moves second, gets a 1.5 point bonus. This site does not use the bikjang rule (facing generals) or passing, so the generals may face each other on an open file and play simply goes on.
How do the Janggi pieces move?
Each side has 16 pieces: 1 general, 2 chariots, 2 cannons, 2 horses, 2 elephants, 2 guards and 5 soldiers. The chariot, which slides any distance in a straight line, is the strongest.
| Piece | How it moves | Points |
|---|---|---|
| General (Gung, 楚 or 漢) | One step along the lines inside its palace, including the palace diagonals | None |
| Guard (Sa, 士) | Same as the general: one step, palace only | 3 |
| Chariot (Cha, 車) | Any distance in a straight line, like a chess rook. Also along the palace diagonals | 13 |
| Cannon (Po, 包) | Must jump exactly one piece along a line to move or capture. Cannot jump or capture another cannon | 7 |
| Horse (Ma, 馬) | One step straight, then one step diagonally outward. Blocked if the first point is occupied | 5 |
| Elephant (Sang, 象) | One step straight, then two steps diagonally. Blocked if either point on the way is occupied | 3 |
| Soldier (Jol 卒, Byeong 兵) | One step forward or sideways, never back. Inside the enemy palace it may also step diagonally forward | 2 |
Unlike the chess knight, the Janggi horse and elephant can be blocked. If a piece sits on the first point of their path, they cannot go that way. Koreans call this blocked point the "myeok".
How does the cannon move in Janggi?
The cannon always has to jump over exactly one piece along a straight line. After the jump it can stop on any empty point or capture the first enemy piece it meets.
The piece it jumps over, called the screen, can be yours or your opponent's, but it can never be a cannon, and a cannon can never capture a cannon. With no screen, the cannon cannot move at all, so it is strongest early in the game when the board is crowded. Inside a palace it can also jump diagonally from one corner, over a piece on the center point, to the opposite corner. A cannon check can be answered by moving the general, by moving the screen away, or by putting a second piece in between.
What is the horse and elephant setup?
Before the game starts, each player chooses one of four ways to place the horses and elephants on the four back row points between the chariots and the guards. On this site you pick it in Settings.
| Setup | Back row, from your left |
|---|---|
| E-H-E-H (default) | Chariot, Elephant, Horse, Guard · Guard, Elephant, Horse, Chariot |
| H-E-H-E | Chariot, Horse, Elephant, Guard · Guard, Horse, Elephant, Chariot |
| H-E-E-H | Chariot, Horse, Elephant, Guard · Guard, Elephant, Horse, Chariot |
| E-H-H-E | Chariot, Elephant, Horse, Guard · Guard, Horse, Elephant, Chariot |
The setup changes which paths the horses and elephants have in the first few moves, so each one leads to a different opening. In Korean the four are written 상마상마, 마상마상, 마상상마 and 상마마상 (sang is elephant, ma is horse). When you play the computer you choose only your own setup. The computer picks its setup at random each game and the hint line tells you which one it chose.
What is the difference between Janggi and Chinese chess (Xiangqi)?
The boards look alike, but Janggi has no river, the cannon must jump even to move, and the elephant moves farther and can go anywhere. Compared with Western chess, Janggi is played on points, the general stays in its palace, and soldiers never promote.
- Cannon: in Xiangqi the cannon moves like a chariot and jumps only to capture. In Janggi it must jump to move as well, and cannons cannot jump or capture each other.
- Elephant and soldier: the Xiangqi elephant moves two points diagonally and cannot cross the river. The Janggi elephant moves one straight and two diagonal and can go anywhere. Xiangqi soldiers move sideways only after crossing the river, while Janggi soldiers can move sideways from the start.
- General and setup: the Xiangqi general moves only straight, while the Janggi general also uses the palace diagonals. Xiangqi has one fixed setup, Janggi lets each side pick one of four.
- Western chess: chess uses 64 squares, the king can walk anywhere, and pawns promote on the last rank. A Janggi soldier that reaches the end stays a soldier.
Tips for Janggi beginners
- Protect your chariots. Worth 13 points, they are your strongest pieces. Trading one for a horse or elephant early is a big loss.
- Use cannons while the board is full. They need screens, so they lose power late in the game. Avoid giving the enemy cannon an easy piece to jump over.
- Check the blocking points. A horse or elephant cannot pass an occupied first point. Placing a piece in front of an enemy horse can freeze it.
- Keep soldiers side by side. Soldiers capture sideways, so two soldiers next to each other guard each other.
- Aim at the palace diagonals. Chariots and cannons can travel along them, and most checkmates come from attacking a palace corner and the center together.
- In check, look at all three answers. Move the general, block the line, or capture the checking piece, and pick the one that costs you least.
How do I set the computer's rank and odds?
If you are new, start at 18 or 15 kyu and move up one step once you start winning. If a higher rank is too strong, play an odds game where the computer starts without its chariot or cannon.
The computer has seven ranks: 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3 and 1 kyu. Higher ranks read further ahead, and lower ranks deliberately mix in weaker moves. In computer vs computer tests each rank beats the ones below it, but the labels are rough strength guides, not official ranks.
Odds games are the traditional way to balance players of different strength in Janggi: the stronger side removes pieces before the game. Here the computer can play without a cannon, a horse, a chariot, or a chariot and a cannon. Minus cannon is the smallest gap and minus chariot and cannon the largest.
At 1 kyu the computer looks as many moves ahead as it can within its thinking time and plays out every capture sequence to the end. If you are new to Janggi, start at a low rank and get comfortable with the chariot and cannon first.
How to play on this site
- Select a piece: tap or click one of your pieces. It gets a yellow outline, empty points it can reach show a blue dot, and enemy pieces it can capture get a red outline.
- Move: tap a dot or a red outline to move there. Tap another of your pieces to switch.
- Markers: the last move is shown with an orange outline and a dashed circle. A general in check glows red and the status line says "Check!".
- Undo: against the computer, Undo takes back the computer's move and yours together. In 2 player mode it takes back one move.
- Board direction: against the computer your side is always at the bottom. In 2 player mode Cho is at the bottom and Han at the top.