Do xiangqi pieces sit on the squares or on the lines?
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
On the intersections — the points where the lines cross — not inside the squares. That gives 90 playable points on a board that looks at first like a grid of 72 squares. It is the same convention as go and janggi, and it is what makes the river possible.
Retraining the eye
A chess player's instinct is to read the spaces. Here you read the crossings, including the ones on the outer edge, which are real points. The most common early confusion is miscounting a chariot's line by one.
A few games fixes it permanently.
Why the river needs it
The river is a gap between two ranks. If pieces stood inside squares, that gap would have to be a row of squares and pieces would have to stop in it. Because pieces stand on lines, they simply step across from the 5th rank to the 6th in one normal move.
Related questions
How many points are on the board?
90 — nine files by ten ranks.
Are the edge points playable?
Yes. The outermost files and ranks are ordinary lines and the points on them are ordinary points.
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