Can your own general take part in an attack?
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
Yes, and forgetting it is one of the most common ways to fail to convert a won endgame. Because the two generals may never face each other on a clear file, your general denies the enemy general the whole file it stands on. That is a free attacker that costs no moves to keep.
When to bring it up
As soon as the enemy pieces are gone. It is completely safe once nothing can attack it, and several basic mates do not work without it — a lone chariot mates a bare general precisely because your general holds the file the enemy would otherwise escape to.
It is frequently the difference between a mate and a sixty-move draw.
The limit
It can only ever move within the palace, so its "attack" is the file it occupies and nothing more. And it must not step onto a file where the enemy general already faces it with a clear line, since that move would be illegal.
Related questions
Is it safe to advance the general?
Once the opponent has no pieces that can reach it, yes, completely.
Does this work in the middlegame?
Rarely — there are usually pieces on the file. It is an endgame technique.
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