The Board & the River
📋 What it is
Xiangqi is played on the LINE intersections of a 9×10 grid split across the middle by a "river".
🗣️ Coach says
Chinese chess has its own map: pieces sit on the crossings of a 9-by-10 grid, and a "river" runs across the centre. Some pieces change what they can do once they cross it. Learn the river and the two "palaces" and the board makes sense.
🧠 Memory hook
Play on the crossings. The river cuts the board in half and changes some pieces.
😂 Giggle
Why did the Xiangqi General never leave home?
Because it must stay inside its palace at all times!
😲 Whoa!
Xiangqi is one of the world's most-played board games — hundreds of millions of players — and its "river" is often labelled with characters meaning a famous ancient boundary between two warring kingdoms.
✅ Quick check: Where do pieces sit in Xiangqi — on the squares or on the line crossings?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
On the line intersections (crossings) of the 9×10 grid, like Go — not inside the squares like Western chess.
Xiangqi is played on intersections, and the river divides the board.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Draw the 9×10 grid with a river across the middle and mark the two 3×3 "palaces". Note the crossings.