How does the general move in xiangqi?
Every position, move and legality claim on this page is verified programmatically against our open rules engine, which implements the WXF laws and is tested against the official 110-diagram repetition casebook.
Direct answer
The general moves one point at a time, straight up, down, left or right — never diagonally — and may never leave the nine-point palace. One extra rule governs it: the two generals may never face each other along an open file with no piece between them. Lose the general and you lose the game.
One point, orthogonally, inside the palace
The general is the piece the whole game is about, and it is nearly immobile: nine points to live on, one step at a time, and no diagonals. The advisors move diagonally and the general does not — a reversal of the western king, which does both.
Click the red general: one step at a time, inside the palace only.
Xiangqi position. Red: soldier e5, general e1. Black: general e9. Red to move.
The generals may never face each other
This is the rule that catches every new player, and it deserves its own page: if the two generals end up on the same file with nothing between them, that is illegal. In practice it means you may not make a move that opens the file between the generals — a piece pinned in that way cannot move at all, however safe it looks.
It cuts the other way too: it is a genuine attacking weapon. A general can defend a point on its own file from the other end of the board, and many mating patterns work only because the enemy general is prevented from stepping onto the open file.
The flying general rule, in full →
Common mistakes
Moving the general diagonally
It cannot. Orthogonal steps only — the diagonal cross drawn on the palace shows the advisors' paths, not the general's.
Opening the file between the generals
Illegal, and easy to do by accident when a piece between them looks free to move. Before moving anything on your general's file, check what is at the far end of it.
Related questions
Can the general leave the palace?
No. The general is confined to the nine points of the palace for the whole game.
Can the two generals ever face each other?
Never, with an empty file between them. Any move that would create that position is illegal, and the position itself cannot legally arise.
Is the general the same as a king in chess?
Similar in role, quite different in movement. The chess king moves one point in any of eight directions and roams the whole board; the xiangqi general moves orthogonally only and never leaves its palace.