--- title: "Is It Normal to Lose Every Game When You're New? ยท Xiangqi Master" description: "Completely normal. Almost everyone loses their first dozens of games, mostly to hung pieces and missed cannon threats, and both fade quickly with regular play." url: https://xiangqimaster.com/blog/is-it-normal-to-lose-every-game-when-youre-new-to-xiangqi updated: 2026-09-22 source: Xiangqi Master (https://xiangqimaster.com) license: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) --- # Is it normal to lose every game when you're new to xiangqi? 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 > > **Completely normal, and expected.** Almost every player loses most of their early games, and almost all of those losses come from the same two causes: **hanging a piece** and **missing a cannon threat**. Neither is a sign you are unsuited to the game; both fade quickly once you have played enough games to start noticing them before they cost you material. ## What actually helps at this stage Volume of games, not study. Playing the computer at its easiest level a dozen times teaches more in a weekend than a week of reading would, because [the cannon's screen rule](https://xiangqimaster.com/rules/how-the-cannon-moves) and [the horse's blocked leg](https://xiangqimaster.com/rules/how-the-horse-moves) are learned by being punished for missing them, not by reading a description of them. ## What losing badly does not mean It does not mean you should study openings to fix it. Opening theory has essentially no effect on a game decided by a hung piece on move nine. It also does not mean the game is too hard for you; the same learning curve applies to everyone, chess background or not. ## Related questions How many games before I stop losing constantly? Most players see a real improvement within a few dozen games, mainly by stopping the most common blunders. Should I feel bad about losing to the computer's easiest level early on? No. It is specifically there to be beaten as you learn, and losing to it a few times before winning consistently is completely ordinary. ## Related xiangqi resources Play the computer Four difficulty levels, no account needed Common mistakes The errors that decide most club games How to improve What to study, in what order ## Try it on a real board Reading an answer is one thing; playing it is another. Free, instant, and nothing to install.