Can I play xiangqi with a friend over a video call without using an online platform?
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, with a physical board on each side and a shared video call, calling out moves as you make them. It works well for a casual game between friends who each own a set, though a dedicated online platform is more reliable if you want an accurate record, clocks, or protection against a move being misheard or a piece being nudged out of place.
What makes this work in practice
Both boards need to be set up identically and stay visible on camera, and moves are easiest to communicate using notation rather than describing a piece and a direction in words, which gets ambiguous quickly. Agreeing on WXF notation in advance removes most of the confusion.
Where it tends to go wrong
A piece nudged slightly out of position on one board and not the other can desynchronise the game without either player noticing immediately, and there is no automatic check for illegal moves the way a digital board provides. For anything beyond a casual game between friends who trust each other's setup, an actual online platform removes these risks entirely.
Related questions
Is this a good way to teach someone remotely?
Reasonably, though a shared digital board where both people see the exact same state is considerably easier for a beginner than reconciling two physical boards over video.
Should we still use notation if neither of us is very familiar with it?
A simplified system, agreeing on plain descriptions like "horse to the third point on the fourth file", works too; the goal is just avoiding ambiguity, not correctness for its own sake.
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