Board game

Janggi (Korean Chess)

9×10 · Cho first · Korea Janggi Association rules · mate

Janggi (Korean Chess) guide

What is this game?

Playfulo Janggi is Korean chess on a 9×10 point board. Checkmate the opponent's general (oetong). Play against AI or a friend with no sign-up.

We follow Korea Janggi Association movement: Cho (green) moves first, cannons must jump exactly one piece, and palace diagonal lines are used. Win/loss play (checkmate, bikjang, repetition, pass) — not tournament point scoring.

The default setup is inner elephants (wonyangma). In AI and friend games you can also pick left, right, or outer elephants. In friend matches each side chooses their own setup, then both ready up to start. Easy, normal, and hard plus friend invites are available.

How to play

Cho moves first. Checkmate (oetong) the opponent's general to win. The general is never captured.

Chariot: moves like a rook. Horse: one point straight, then one diagonal; blocked if the first point is occupied. Elephant: one point straight, then two diagonal; blocked by any piece in its path. Soldiers move forward or sideways, never back. The general and guards stay in the palace, one point at a time.
A cannon must jump exactly one piece to move or capture, and cannot jump or capture another cannon. Chariots and cannons may also follow palace diagonals.
If the two generals face each other on an open file (bikjang) and the side to move cannot break it, the game is a draw.
If you have no legal move and are not in check, you pass (hansu-swim). Two passes in a row, or threefold repetition, are draws.

Controls

Select a piece to display legal intersections, then select a destination to move.
Choose a starting formation before an AI game. During check, only moves that save the general are enabled.
Join friend games by invite link and move within the turn timer; a player with no legal move takes a pass.

Strategy tips

Develop horses and elephants without emptying the center and palace defense at the same time.
A cannon always needs a screen, so the position of the screening piece changes both attack and defense.
A chariot is strongest on an open line but can be trapped deep in enemy territory; restrict escape squares before repeating checks.

Difficulty differences

Easy randomly chooses from a lower-rated candidate pool and can miss an immediate mate. Normal searches one ply, while Hard searches two plies for checks, exchanges, and palace safety.

Common beginner mistakes

Emptying the palace while chasing with chariot/cannon invites counterattacks.
Spending soldiers too fast leaves a weak midgame — advance line by line.
Blocking elephant/horse paths leaves them stranded — open routes first.

Janggi diagram — the cannon jumps one piece and takes the chariot

Cho's cannon has a Han pawn in front of it and a Han chariot beyond that pawn. A cannon cannot land on the piece it jumps. It lands on an empty point past that piece, or captures the piece there. Each difficulty played this position 30 times.

Start

Cannon, the pawn it must jump, and the chariot

On one file: Cho cannon, Han pawn, Han chariot. The pawn is the single screen. The chariot is the next piece, so it can be captured. Another piece stands between the generals, so they do not face each other.

Same cannon: the illegal square and the move that was played

The left board is where the engine landed. The right board is the square the rules forbid. Cannon practice starts by treating the screen and the landing square as different points.

All three, 30/30

Cannon takes the chariot

It jumped exactly one piece, the pawn, and captured the chariot. A cannon cannot jump another cannon, and it cannot capture a cannon.

Illegal

Stopping on the pawn

That point is the screen. It is not in the cannon's move list, so Playfulo does not highlight it as a destination.

What Playfulo's janggi AI did on this position

Cho to move, 30 calls each. All three difficulties agreed, so the gap is search depth, not this capture.

EasyTook the chariot in all 30 trials. Normally Easy scores only the position after its own move and ignores the reply. The window is 60 points, sometimes 250. If mate is one move away, Easy plays it only about half the time.
NormalThe same cannon capture in all 30 trials. Like Easy it searches one ply, scoring only the position after its own move, but the window is a tight 10 points. A mate in one is always played.
HardThe same move in all 30 trials. Two plies, window of 10. A cannon that would be recaptured is filtered here. This chariot could not be recaptured at once, so Easy and Hard agreed.

11 Oct 2026: Playfulo's janggi AI, 30 calls per difficulty. All three took the chariot with the cannon. Easy seeing only about half of one-move mates is the rate in the engine.

FAQ

What janggi rules are used here?

Cho moves first on a 9×10 board. Checkmate wins. Cannons must jump one piece and cannot capture cannons. Bikjang, consecutive passes, and threefold repetition are draws. Playfulo follows Korea Janggi Association movement in win/loss play.

Can I play janggi with a friend?

Yes. Create a room and share the invite link. The host plays Cho (first). After joining, each side picks their elephant setup and readies up to start. Setup and each move have a 60-second limit; if setup time runs out, the game starts with the current setups. The winner of a game plays Cho next.

How is janggi (Korean chess) different from chess and xiangqi?

Janggi is the traditional Korean board game that branched off from xiangqi (Chinese chess). Pieces sit on the 9×10 intersections and the general never leaves its palace. Unlike xiangqi there is no river, elephants move farther, and a cannon must jump a piece even to move. Compared with Western chess there is no queen and no promotion, and a player may pass. Our janggi vs chess guide compares them in detail.

Can I replay a janggi game move by move?

Yes. After the game, tap 'Replay game' to review your janggi (Korean chess) game from the first move. Each move's squares are highlighted, and you can step back and forward, jump to the start or end, autoplay, or drag the move slider. Replay works in both AI and friend games.

What do I look at first when my cannon is blocked?

A cannon moves or captures only by jumping over exactly one piece. A cannon cannot jump another cannon. If the screen is blocked, place one friendly piece in the gap or move the piece that is in the way. Palace diagonals change how the general, guards, and cannon move, so count the pieces in the gateway before you aim a cannon into the palace.