To understand and love Chinese Xiangqi chess for a person with a European mentality is not an easy matter. In general, it’s very difficult to penetrate the beauty and elegance of this system. And if we perceive the harmony of ordinary, classical chess in our childhood and we don’t need any further explanations.
Here everything, at first sight, causes rejection: flat pieces instead of usual volumetric pieces, and river, and the rule of palaces, and an alien system of placing pieces in crossroads of a grid instead of squares. And, of course, hieroglyphics.
Other little things are also important, but these are the ones that annoy us the most. I, for example, couldn’t appreciate xiangqi until I bought a playable set. However, I really got interested when I found some good programs to play on Android:
Chinese Chess, Xiangqi
The first program I want to talk about is Chinese Chess, Xiangqi. It’s a very cool application for playing Xiangqi on your Android device.
What’s particularly nice is that the program has a nice endgame section. It contains lots of xiangqi endgames. The program plays very fast, responds to moves almost instantly, and plays quite strongly. There is also an opportunity to take a turn back.
A clear, pleasant graphic design – the board, the pieces, the background, the menu. Nice classic calligraphy on the pieces. Very well done color scheme and background music. Also enjoys the challenges. There are many problems to solve, there are different levels of difficulty.
In general, this program is the best of those programs that are currently on the Market. Moreover, it is free. Nothing irritating, the game looks authentically Chinese. I recommend it to all fans of the game of Xiangchi.
Downloads: 500000 +
Customers rating: 
(4.7 / 5)
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Chinese Chess, Xiangqi
Chinese Chess, Xiangqi is a fascinating board game for Android, where you will play Chinese chess. This strategy board game can be played simultaneously by two players on the same device.
The game is a battle between two armies, where the main goal of the opponent is to capture the opponent’s general. Move the pieces across the field and move not along the squares, but the lines placing them at the intersection of those.
You must get to the general faster than the opponent and capture him while taking into account the terrain where some rivers and palaces limit the movement of some units.
Downloads: 100000 +
Customers rating: 
(4 / 5)
Chinese Chess – from beginner to master
Chinese Chess is a great board game where you will play Chinese chess. This game will please you with excellent graphics, unique features, and a smart computer.
The difficulty of the game will range from simple, which is suitable even for a child, to the most difficult, where you can challenge the best and strongest opponent.
Think carefully about your every move, and if you are in doubt, you can always undo a move. Achieve excellent results and climb higher and higher in the leaderboard.
The advantages of the game:
- Play with a computer;
- Endgame puzzles for beginners and experts;
- Multiple endgame levels;
- Hinting and undoing your moves;
- You can replay the game or save it;
- Pleasant background music.
Downloads: 100000 +
Customers rating: 
(4.5 / 5)
Chinese Chess
The developers offer you the ancient Chinese logic game Xiangqi. To put it simply, it is, in fact, Chinese chess. With chess, the similarity is that all the pieces can move by special rules.
The goal is to put a checkmate to your opponent. In total, there are 32 pieces. The playing field is 9×10 lines. The peculiarity is that the pieces are not placed on the squares. They will stand at the intersection of the lines. There are horizontal and vertical lines.
Here, as in classical chess, you need concentration, the maximum concentration. This creation helps to develop logical thinking and strategy, so the benefits of the project are obvious.
There is paid content. Ads, unfortunately, are also present. There is a landscape, as well as a portrait mode. Also among the features of the game are the ability to chat, communicate with your opponent, and enjoy the gameplay in online mode.
Enjoy not only the excellent game but also the comfortable gameplay.
Downloads: 100000 +
Customers rating: 
(3.9 / 5)
暗棋2
The game 暗棋2 from the developer Xidea Creator (it wasn’t easy to find it, because the name is in Chinese, and it was, as usual, found by accident). A simple but very funny ancient Chinese game played with pieces of Xiangqi on half of an ordinary Chinese chessboard.
In the beginning, all pieces are turned upside down and placed in random order into squares (exactly into squares!) on one half of the board – there are exactly 32 of them (“river” doesn’t count), then players choose which color to play and begin to open one piece after another.
Chips in Xiangqi are the same color, only their markings differ, that’s why it’s impossible to guess beforehand which piece will be revealed – one’s own or the enemy’s.
The right of the first move is played according to the scheme “Rock – Scissors – Paper”, then players move in turns. In one turn a player can open a new piece or move an already open piece. All pieces move only one adjacent square vertically or horizontally.
This is the second version of the program, it’s entirely in Chinese, but it has better graphics, plus you can choose the design of the front and back of the pieces.
If hieroglyphics bothers you, there’s also the first version, where the menu and options are in English, but it looks less presentable. The logo is the same, but without the number 2:
Downloads: 1000000 +
Customers rating: 
(3.3 / 5)
Chinese Dark Chess
Chinese Dark Chess is the so-called Chinese Dark Chess game or Banqi. A social game is usually played for entertainment rather than serious competition.
The game is played on a board of 4×8 grid, which is half the size of a traditional Chinese chess board Xiangqi. Therefore, this game is also called Semi-chess. It uses the same pieces as in Xiangqi.
You can choose to play against artificial intelligence or play with a partner on the same Android smartphone. You can also choose the design of the pieces.
Downloads: 1000000 +
Customers rating: 
(3.6 / 5)
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Cờ Tướng Khó Nhất
This fascinating puzzle for a long time will attract your attention and engage the mind and wit in solving very difficult problems.
The overall interface of the application, all menus, and dialogues are in English. In addition, the interface is in Chinese and Vietnamese. The general mechanics and sequence of operations are based on the classical rules of Chinese chess. The game will not allow the gamer to relax.
Here you need to constantly think and work out the methods and strategy of your move. With five different levels of difficulty, each user can individually select the strength of his opponent.
Depending on the decision taken, you can adjust your last move by canceling and correcting the final action. This feature will significantly reduce the already high level of complexity. The game is free and at the end of the round, you can view all the personal statistics.
Animation of movement and interaction of pieces allows you to feel at the real table.
The advantages of chess include:
- Pleasant appearance;
- Different degree of difficulty;
- Free and the lack of advertising.
Downloads: 1000000 +
Customers rating: 
(4.4 / 5)
I want to say right away: if you want to find a good Xiangqi game, it’s better not to download the adapted ones – European or American ones. It’s not that they’re terrible but just uninteresting.
They are almost always devoid of any national, ethnic Oriental flavor and are in any case cut out to play with adapted, European pictograms.
I’d recommend starting with native Chinese pictograms right away – the first few days you’ll suffering confusing cannon with elephant, and horse with a chariot, but you’ll soon adapt and be able to distinguish freely all pieces even upside down (which is necessary when playing in real life, but not so important when playing with a computer – there all pieces are oriented upside-down relative to you).
In general, if you want to learn an authentic eastern game – download programs by Asian programmers. Even if it’s kitsch, it will be Asian kitsch. And they usually play very decently.
