Which endgames win and which draw
Each result is the grade Chinese endgame manuals give that kind of ending (the scale is below), shown on one position of that kind. In a tricky win (巧胜) the material normally draws and this position wins; in a hard win (难胜) the board shows the setup that holds. The full defence (士象全) is two advisors and two elephants. Soldiers are named by how far they have come: a bottom soldier (底兵) stands on the last rank, a low soldier (低兵) one rank short of it, and a high soldier (高兵) further back, where it can still come down on the palace. Each name in the table opens that position in the practice sets.
The manuals grade an ending on a six-step scale. The table uses four of the steps: a 必胜 or 必和 ending shows as 例胜 or 例和, which understates the result and never misstates it.
| Grade | What it claims |
|---|---|
| 必胜 (bì shèng) | Wins from any position with this material |
| 例胜 (lì shèng) | Wins with standard technique |
| 巧胜 (qiǎo shèng) | Normally a draw; wins only from particular positions |
| 难胜 (nán shèng) | Hard to win, which is not the same as a draw |
| 例和 (lì hé) | Draws with standard defensive technique |
| 必和 (bì hé) | Draws from any position |
Soldier endgames
| Material | Result | Key idea | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High soldier vs bare general | Win (例胜) | A soldier short of the last rank beats a bare general. The red general does half the work by holding a file the black general cannot cross. | |
| Bottom soldier vs bare general | Draw (例和) | On the last rank a soldier can only move sideways, and on its own it cannot force mate. | |
| High soldier vs one advisor | Draw (例和) | One advisor is enough to hold a single high soldier. | |
| High soldier vs one advisor, soldier in the palace | Tricky win (巧胜) | A high soldier against one advisor is normally a draw, but it wins when the soldier already stands in the palace and Red is to move. | |
| High and low soldier vs two advisors | Win (例胜) | A high and a low soldier together beat two advisors. | |
| Two high soldiers vs two advisors | Win (例胜) | Two advisors alone cannot hold two high soldiers. | |
| Two high soldiers vs two elephants | Win (例胜) | Two elephants alone cannot hold two high soldiers either. | |
| Two high soldiers vs advisor and elephant | Draw (例和) | The mixed pair holds where two advisors or two elephants lose: the advisor covers the palace, the elephant the approach. | |
| Two high soldiers vs cannon | Win (例胜) | A cannon with nothing to jump over cannot hold off two high soldiers. | |
| Three high soldiers vs horse and two advisors | Win (例胜) | Three high soldiers also beat a horse with two advisors. | |
| Three high soldiers vs cannon and two elephants | Win (例胜) | Three high soldiers also beat a cannon with two elephants. | |
| Three high soldiers vs full defence | Win (例胜) | Three high soldiers break the full defence, which a lone chariot cannot. |
Horse endgames
| Material | Result | Key idea | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horse vs one advisor | Win (例胜) | Against one elephant instead, the same horse only draws. | |
| Horse vs one elephant | Draw (例和) | A lone elephant holds against a horse: it can switch flanks faster than the horse can cut it off. | |
| Horse vs one elephant, elephant caught on one flank | Tricky win (巧胜) | With the elephant caught on one flank and Red to move, the horse cuts it off from the other side and wins. | |
| Horse vs crossed soldier | Draw (例和) | A black soldier across the river is enough to hold off a lone horse. | |
| Two horses vs full defence | Win (例胜) | Two horses beat the full defence; a chariot, worth more than both, does not. |
Cannon endgames
| Material | Result | Key idea | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cannon vs bare general | Draw (例和) | A cannon needs a piece to jump over before it can capture, so with nothing on the board to use it cannot mate. | |
| Cannon and advisor vs two advisors | Win (例胜) | With its own advisor as a screen, the cannon beats two advisors. | |
| Two cannons vs two elephants | Draw (例和) | Two cannons alone cannot break two elephants. | |
| Two cannons and advisor vs full defence | Win (例胜) | Add one advisor and the two cannons beat the full defence. | |
| Cannon and full defence vs full defence | Draw (例和) | A cannon backed by its own full defence still cannot break the full defence. |
Chariot endgames
| Material | Result | Key idea | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chariot vs defence missing one elephant | Win (例胜) | A chariot beats the defence once one elephant is missing. | |
| Chariot vs full defence | Draw (例和) | The strongest piece on the board cannot break the full defence on its own. | |
| Chariot vs full defence, elephants on the edge | Tricky win (巧胜) | The full defence draws only from a sound setup. With both elephants stranded on the edge, the chariot wins. | |
| Chariot vs horse and two advisors | Win (例胜) | With two elephants in place of the advisors, the horse can build a drawing fortress. | |
| Chariot vs horse and two elephants | Draw (例和) | The fortress: the horse on the elephant point in front of the general and the two elephants protecting each other. Held exactly like this, the chariot cannot get through. | |
| Chariot vs cannon and two advisors | Draw (例和) | A cannon and two advisors hold against a lone chariot. | |
| Chariot vs cannon and two advisors, advisors at home | Tricky win (巧胜) | With both advisors on the back rank and the cannon in front of the general, the chariot wins. | |
| Two chariots vs chariot and full defence | Draw (例和) | A chariot behind the full defence holds off two chariots. | |
| Chariot vs horse and cannon | Hard to win (难胜) | Black holds with the cannon directly behind its own general and the horse off every point one chariot move attacks. Move the cannon one point sideways and Red mates in 12. |
Horse and soldier, chariot and cannon
| Material | Result | Key idea | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Horse and soldier vs defence missing one elephant | Win (例胜) | Horse and soldier beat a defence that is missing one elephant. | |
| Horse and soldier vs full defence | Draw (例和) | Against the full defence the same horse and soldier only draw. The fourth defensive piece is the whole difference. | |
| Chariot and cannon vs chariot, Red chariot on the middle file | Win (例胜) | Chariot and cannon beat a lone chariot when the red chariot holds the middle file. | |
| Chariot and cannon vs chariot, Black chariot on the middle file | Draw (例和) | The black chariot holds the middle file level with the red chariot and cannon, low enough to guard the foot of the file, where the mate 海底捞月 is played. One rank higher and Red mates in 17. |
The results follow the Chinese Wikipedia list of standard results (象棋勝和定式), which cites 金启昌 and 杨典, 象棋残局胜和定式 (2008). Rows it does not grade follow English Wikipedia. The positions are ours, and every result was checked against the exact results of chessdb.cn, the Chinese chess cloud database, for that exact position.
Try one: horse against a lone elephant
A horse against a lone elephant is a draw as a rule: the elephant switches flanks faster than the horse can cut it off. In this position the elephant is stuck on one side and Red moves first, and that is enough. The tablebase gives Red mate in five moves. The first move decides it: find the point that keeps the elephant from getting back across.
One point can turn a draw into a win
In the first diagram the horse stands on the elephant point in front of the general and the two elephants protect each other, and the chariot cannot get through. In the second, the elephant from g6 stands on g10, and the chariot wins. It works the other way too: pull the three high soldiers back one rank and their win over the full defence is gone, because two of them now stand on points a black elephant can reach.
Set up your own endgame
Any position can be practised the same way. Set it up in the board editor, choose whether you are playing to mate or to hold the draw and which side you take, and press Play it out.
Look it up in the tablebase
For the exact result of a position, press Analysis board in the editor and open the Opening explorer under the board. Once few enough pieces are left, it shows the Tablebase: every legal move with its exact result from chessdb.cn, and how many moves to mate.
How far the tablebase reaches: chessdb.cn lists 8,705 xiangqi endgame tables, about 102 trillion positions in all (its table list, read 2026-10-07). Most have eight or nine pieces. Forty have twelve, and one has thirteen: three soldiers with a full defence against a full defence. Horse and cannon against a horse, both sides with a full defence, is also thirteen pieces and is in no table, which is why it is missing from the table above: the manuals grade it 例胜, and neither the database nor an engine search has confirmed it.