The skewer
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Direct answer
A skewer attacks two enemy pieces standing on one line, with the more valuable one in front. When the front piece moves out of the way, the piece behind it falls. It is the mirror image of a pin, where the valuable piece is behind. Chariots skewer most often, because they are the pieces that attack along a whole open line.
Pin or skewer: which way round
Both tactics line up two enemy pieces against one attacker. The difference is only the order:
- Pin — the valuable piece is behind. The front piece dare not move, because moving it exposes what is behind. It is frozen. Pins →
- Skewer — the valuable piece is in front. It is attacked directly, so it must move, and moving it abandons the piece behind.
A skewer is usually the more forcing of the two, because a check cannot be declined. Put a chariot on the general’s file with a chariot behind the general, and the general must move — there is no choice to weigh.
Why the chariot does this and the horse cannot
A skewer needs a piece that attacks through a line, so that the same move threatens two squares on it. In xiangqi that is a short list:
- The chariot attacks along a whole rank or file. It is the natural skewering piece, and on a board this open there are many long clear lines.
- The cannon skewers oddly, because it needs exactly one screen. A cannon does not attack the first piece on a line at all — it attacks the second. So a cannon’s “skewer” is really a threat against the rear piece that the front piece is enabling, and the front piece moving away ends the threat rather than exposing it.
- The horse cannot skewer. Its move is not along a line, so there is no “behind”.
The closest Chinese term is 串打 (chuàn dǎ) — attacking two pieces standing on one line so that one is threatened directly and the other through it. Chinese writing does not split pin and skewer the way English does; both usually sit under 牵制 (qiānzhì), restraint.
Finding and avoiding them
To find one, look for two enemy pieces already on one line with nothing between them, then ask whether you can attack the front one. The general is the ideal front piece, because the reply is forced.
To avoid one, the habit worth building is noticing when your own general shares an open file or rank with a chariot of your own. That is the shape a skewer needs, and in xiangqi it comes up constantly — the general is stuck on three files, so anything of yours on those files is a candidate. Stepping the general one point sideways, before there is a threat, costs nothing.
Related questions
What is the difference between a pin and a skewer in xiangqi?
Which of the two lined-up pieces is more valuable. In a pin the valuable piece is behind, so the front piece is frozen. In a skewer it is in front, so it must move and abandon the piece behind it.
Is there a Chinese name for the skewer?
Not a one-to-one one. 串打 is the closest — attacking two pieces on a single line — and the broader term is 牵制, restraint, which covers pins as well. The pin/skewer split is an English distinction imported from chess.
Can a cannon skewer in xiangqi?
Only in a modified sense. A cannon attacks the second piece on a line, not the first, so the piece “in front” is the screen making the attack possible. If it moves away the attack stops, which is the reverse of how a skewer normally behaves.
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