What is the single most useful habit 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
Ask two questions before every move: what did my opponent's last move attack? and what does my intended move stop defending? That is the whole habit. Most mistakes at club level are not failures of calculation — they are failures to look, and these two questions are the looking.
The second question matters more here than in chess
Because of cannons. Your move can remove the screen holding your own threat together, or hand the opponent's cannon the screen it was missing. "What does this stop defending" includes "what lines does this open or close", and in xiangqi that is a much bigger category.
It is cheap
A few seconds a move. Compare that with the cost of losing a chariot to a cannon whose screen you supplied yourself, and the trade is obvious. After a few weeks it stops being conscious.
Related questions
Will this alone raise my rating?
More than any other single change, at beginner and club level.
Is there a third question?
"Can I bring another piece to their palace?" — but only after the first two.
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