Horse endgames
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Direct answer
A horse gains strength as the board empties, because the pieces that block its leg disappear. A lone horse cannot force mate, but a horse with a soldier or with an advisor can. In an open endgame a horse is usually stronger than a cannon, which is the reverse of their value in the opening.
The horse overtakes the cannon
In the opening a cannon is worth slightly more than a horse. It attacks from a distance, it is hard to approach, and the board is full of screens for it to use. By the endgame the ranking has swapped, and for one reason: a cannon needs a screen to capture, and an empty board has none.
The same emptiness helps the horse. Every piece that leaves the board is one fewer piece that can block its leg, so the horse that was stumbling in the middlegame moves freely.
The practical rule that follows is simple. If you are heading for an endgame, trade your cannon for their horse rather than the other way round.
What a horse needs to win
- A partner. A horse alone cannot force mate. A horse with a soldier, or a horse with an advisor, can.
- Open legs. A horse is stopped by a piece on the point it steps through, not on the point it lands on. In the endgame the defender's own general is often the piece doing the blocking.
- Time. A horse takes three or four moves to cross the board. Count them before you trade into an endgame that depends on the horse arriving.
Defending against a horse
Defending is about the leg, always. A horse attacking a point can be switched off by putting anything on the point it steps through, and that includes your own general, which is the defender's most common tool in a bare endgame.
Elephants defend well against a horse because they sit on the points a horse wants to use, and because a horse cannot easily attack an elephant that is defended by a second elephant. A defender with two elephants and a horse to worry about is usually holding a draw.
Common mistakes
Trading horses when you are the one attacking
The attacker usually wants the horse, because it is the piece that covers escape points around a palace. Trade the cannon instead.
Ignoring the leg point
Every horse calculation in the endgame turns on which points are occupied. Check the leg before you count a horse move as available.
Racing a horse against a crossed soldier
A soldier that has crossed the river moves sideways as well as forward and is far faster than it looks. Count both races before choosing.
Related questions
Is a horse better than a cannon in xiangqi?
In the endgame, usually yes. A cannon weakens as pieces leave the board because it needs a screen to capture, while a horse strengthens because fewer pieces can block its leg.
Can a horse checkmate on its own?
No. A lone horse cannot force mate against a bare general. It needs a soldier, an advisor or another piece to cover the remaining points.
How do you stop a horse in xiangqi?
Block its leg, which is the point it steps through on the way. This is the rule that makes the xiangqi horse different from the chess knight: it never jumps. See how the horse moves.
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