--- title: "What Is the Elephant's Eye (象眼) in Xiangqi? · Xiangqi Master" description: "The elephant's eye is the midpoint of its two-step diagonal. A piece there blocks the move, the same way a horse's leg is blocked." url: https://xiangqimaster.com/blog/what-is-the-elephant-eye updated: 2026-09-22 source: Xiangqi Master (https://xiangqimaster.com) license: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) --- # What is the elephant's eye in 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 > > 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. ## Related xiangqi resources How the elephant moves Two points diagonally, never crosses the river Advisors and elephants The defence that decides most endgames Xiangqi glossary Every term, with the Chinese and the WXF spelling ## Try it on a real board Reading an answer is one thing; playing it is another. Free, instant, and nothing to install.