How do you write an advisor move in xiangqi notation?
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
Write the piece, its current file, advance or retreat, and the file it lands on: 仕四進五, or A4+5 in WXF letters, moves Red's advisor from file 4 up to the palace centre on file 5. Because the advisor moves only diagonally, it is never written with 平 (=), and the last number is always a file, never a distance.
Why the last number is a file
For pieces that move straight, chariot, cannon, soldier and general, an advance or retreat is followed by the number of points moved. For pieces that move diagonally or in an L, the advisor, elephant and horse, the last number is the destination file instead, because every such move changes file. The advisor follows the same convention as the elephant and the horse.
The four advisor moves
An advisor on a front or back corner of the palace can only go to the centre (file 5). An advisor on the centre can go to any of the four corners, on file 4 or file 6. So typical moves are 仕四進五 (A4+5), 仕六進五 (A6+5), 仕五退四 (A5-4) and 仕五進六 (A5+6). Black writes the same way from Black's side, using its own file numbers, which in Chinese books are shown as Arabic numerals: 士4進5.
When two advisors share a file
It can happen that both of a side's advisors stand on the same rib file, one on the front corner and one on the back. Then the file number no longer identifies the piece, and you write front or rear instead: 前仕 or 後仕, or +A and -A in WXF style. See two pieces on one file.
Related questions
Is 仕 or 士 correct?
Both: Red's advisor is often written 仕 and Black's 士. Many books use 士 for both.
What does 士角 mean?
The advisor's corner, the front corner points of the palace on the rib files.
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