What is 掛角馬, the hanging corner horse mate?
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
掛角馬 ("hanging corner horse") is a named mating pattern where a horse stands on an upper corner of the enemy palace and checks the general in the middle of its back rank. It is mate when the defender cannot capture the horse, cannot put a piece on its leg, and has no safe point for the general, typically because its own advisors fill the back-rank corners and a second attacker covers the palace centre.
Why the corner square is the key to the pattern
From an upper palace corner a horse reaches the middle of the back rank, where the general usually stands. Its leg is the point between them on the edge of the palace, a point an advisor never stands on, so the defender's nearest pieces can rarely block it. The weak spot is the horse itself: an advisor on the palace centre, or any other piece guarding that corner, can capture it.
What usually sets the pattern up
The mate typically lands once the defender's escape squares are already limited, the back-rank corners by the defender's own advisors and the palace centre by a chariot, cannon or soldier, so the horse's check from the corner leaves the general nowhere to go. See checkmate patterns for how this fits alongside other named mates like 臥槽馬.
Related questions
Is this related to 臥槽馬?
They are different named horse mates using different squares: in 臥槽馬 the horse checks from just outside the side of the palace, in 掛角馬 from a corner of the palace itself. In both the horse gives the check while other pieces cover the general's escape points.
Does the horse need support to deliver this mate safely?
Usually yes, since an unsupported horse that delivers check can often simply be captured; the pattern normally appears alongside another attacker controlling the capture.
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