How do I analyse my own xiangqi games?
These answers restate the rules implemented by our open-source engine, which follows the WXF laws for movement, checkmate and both repetition rulings: a side that forces a repetition by perpetual check or perpetual chase loses rather than drawing. The chase half has not been validated against the official casebook. Where an answer refers to a specific position, that position lives on the linked reference page, where the build verifies it before publishing.
Direct answer
Replay the game and find the move where the position turned — not the final blunder, the move before things became difficult. Form your own view of what should have happened there. Only then turn on an engine, and study the gap between your answer and its.
Why the order is not optional
An engine that gives you the answer before you have thought teaches nothing, because the learning is in the difference between your evaluation and the correct one. Without your evaluation there is no difference to examine, and you have replaced thinking with reading.
What to look for
Ask what you failed to look at. Almost always it is a piece you had stopped watching, or a threat you assumed was slow. Cannon lines and horse legs account for a disproportionate share — those are the two things worth checking mechanically.
Related questions
Should I analyse wins?
Occasionally, especially uncomfortable ones. Losses carry more information per game.
How many games should I analyse?
Roughly one for every two or three played.
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