Elephant
相 (Red) / 象 (Black) · xiàng
The Elephant is a defender for life. It steps two points diagonally, it may never cross the river, and it exists to keep cannons and chariots away from your General. Players who dismiss it as a weak bishop tend to lose to attacks that a pair of Elephants would have absorbed without trouble.
Both two point diagonals available to the Elephant from its starting square.
How it moves
- Moves exactly two points diagonally, landing on the far corner of a two by two square.
- Blocked if any piece occupies the point in the middle of that path, which is called the elephant's eye.
- Never crosses the river, so it defends for the entire game.
- Has seven possible points on its own half of the board, and captures normally.
- Worth
- Roughly two soldiers, and the backbone of a defence against cannons
- Also called
- Minister, Bishop
The elephant's eye
The midpoint of the Elephant's path must be empty. Put anything there, your piece or theirs, and the move is illegal. That makes blocking an eye a real defensive and offensive move: an Elephant that cannot reach the point it was going to defend is the same as one that is not on the board.
Why two Elephants beat one twice over
A pair of Elephants can defend each other, so an attacker cannot simply trade one off for free. A lone Elephant has no partner to recapture with, and the hole it leaves is usually the exact square a cannon wants.
This is why strong players hesitate before moving an Elephant at all in the opening. The move is rarely urgent, and the structure it leaves behind lasts the whole game.
Using it in attack
Elephants cannot attack, but they can support. An Elephant covering a central point lets your own pieces stand there safely, and in endgames it shields a soldier advance on your own half of the board.
Common questions
- Can the Elephant cross the river in xiangqi?
- No. Elephants stay on their own side of the board for the whole game, which is what makes them purely defensive pieces.
- Why is my Elephant move illegal?
- Something is sitting on the point halfway along its diagonal. That midpoint is the elephant's eye, and any piece there blocks the move completely.
- Is the Elephant the same as a bishop?
- No. It jumps a fixed two points rather than sliding, it can be blocked, and it can never leave its own half.
Terms worth knowing
- Elephant象 / 相A defensive piece that moves exactly two points diagonally, cannot cross the river, and can be blocked by a piece sitting in the middle of its path.
- Elephant's eye象眼The midpoint of an Elephant's two step diagonal move; a piece standing there makes the move illegal.
- River楚河汉界The empty band across the middle of a xiangqi board that separates the two armies and changes what your pieces can do once they cross it.
- Cannon炮 / 砲A piece that moves like a chariot but can only capture by jumping exactly one piece, called the screen, on its way to the target.