--- title: "Can a Cannon Capture a Piece on an Adjacent Point? ยท Xiangqi Master" description: "No. A cannon always needs exactly one screen between itself and its target, so the closest point it can ever capture on is two points away, never directly adjacent." url: https://xiangqimaster.com/blog/can-a-cannon-capture-a-piece-on-an-adjacent-point updated: 2026-09-23 source: Xiangqi Master (https://xiangqimaster.com) license: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) --- # Can a cannon ever capture a piece sitting on a point immediately next to it? These answers restate the rules implemented by our open-source engine, which follows the WXF laws and is regression-tested against the official 110-diagram repetition casebook. Where an answer refers to a specific position, that position lives on the linked reference page, where the build verifies it against the engine before publishing. > Direct answer > > **No, never.** Capturing requires exactly one screen between the cannon and its target, which means the nearest possible point a cannon can ever capture on is two steps away along its line, one point for the screen and one beyond it for the target. A piece standing directly next to a cannon is completely safe from that cannon, no matter how the rest of the board looks. ## Why this makes the cannon unique Every other capturing piece in xiangqi, the chariot, horse, soldier, advisor, elephant and general, can capture something standing immediately next to it under the right conditions. The cannon alone cannot; its entire capturing mechanism depends on distance, since without a screen in between there is nothing to jump. ## A practical use of this fact A piece that would be captured by an enemy chariot on a given line is sometimes completely safe from an enemy cannon on that same line, simply by sitting directly beside it with no screen available. This is a genuine, reliable way to neutralise a cannon's threat along one specific line without moving away from it at all. ## Related questions Can a cannon ever move to a point right next to an enemy piece, even if it can't capture it? Yes, ordinary movement along a clear line has no distance restriction; the two-point minimum only applies to captures. Does this mean adjacent squares are always safe from cannons generally? Only from that specific cannon on that specific line, a different cannon or a different line can still threaten the same point. ## Related xiangqi resources How the cannon moves Captures only by jumping exactly one screen How the chariot moves Like a rook, and the strongest piece on the board Cannon tactics Screens, batteries and discoveries ## Try it on a real board Reading an answer is one thing; playing it is another. Free, instant, and nothing to install.