What do the letters in WXF notation stand for?
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
Seven letters: K general (king), A advisor, E elephant, H horse, R chariot (rook), C cannon, P soldier (pawn). They map one-to-one onto the seven Chinese piece characters, and the rest of the notation is identical in structure to the Chinese system.
Why R and P rather than C and S
The letters borrow from English descriptive chess notation, where R is rook and P is pawn — which frees C for the cannon, the piece chess does not have. It is a compromise that keeps every letter distinct, at the cost of the chariot and soldier being named after their chess analogues.
The full grammar
H8+7 — horse on file 8 advances to file 7. R1=4 — chariot on file 1 traverses to file 4. P7+1 — soldier on file 7 advances one point. +C=5 — the front of two cannons on the same file traverses to file 5.
Related questions
Is K used even though there is no king?
Yes, for the general. It is a borrowing from chess notation rather than a translation.
Are these letters used in China?
Chinese sources use the characters. WXF letters are the international convention.
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