What is the elephant's eye in xiangqi?
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
The elephant's eye (象眼) is the point halfway along its two-step diagonal. Any piece standing there blocks the move, exactly as a horse's leg does. An elephant with a piece diagonally adjacent has lost that whole direction.
Blocking the eye deliberately
It is a real technique. Putting a soldier on an enemy elephant's eye can freeze a defender out of the point it needs to cover, and against a pair of elephants, blocking one eye is often what breaks the pair's mutual defence.
Do not block your own
Because your own pieces block too, a natural developing move can accidentally shut an elephant out of the defence. That matters most when you are about to need the elephant against a horse — check the eye before you decide you are defended.
Related questions
Does the river block the elephant as well?
Yes, absolutely and permanently. The eye rule is about the midpoint; the river rule is about which half of the board it may occupy at all.
How many points does an elephant reach?
Seven, all on its own half.
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