The board and starting position
The janggi board has 9 vertical and 10 horizontal lines, and pieces sit on the intersections rather than inside squares. Each side has a palace in the middle of its back area: a 3×3 zone marked with an X of diagonal lines. One side is Cho (usually green or blue) and the other is Han (red), and Cho always moves first.
Each player has 16 pieces: one general, two guards (also called advisors), two chariots, two cannons, two horses, two elephants and five soldiers. Chariots stand on the corners of the back line, horses and elephants next to them, and guards on the lower corners of the palace. Unlike a chess king, the general starts in the center of the palace, one line up from the back. Cannons sit on the third line just inside the chariots, and five soldiers stand on the fourth line with a gap between each.
The goal is to put the enemy general in check with no escape, which Korean players call oetongsu, the janggi equivalent of checkmate. The general is never actually captured; the game ends when it cannot get out of check.
How each piece moves
The first job for any beginner is learning seven movement patterns. The biggest differences from chess are that horses and elephants can be blocked on their way, and cannons must always jump over exactly one piece.
- General: moves one step along the lines, but only inside the palace. On a palace diagonal it can also step diagonally.
- Guard: moves exactly like the general, one step along palace lines, and can never leave the palace.
- Chariot: moves any distance horizontally or vertically if the path is clear, and inside a palace it can also slide along the diagonals. It is the strongest piece in janggi.
- Cannon: moves horizontally or vertically, but it must jump over exactly one piece to move or capture. A cannon can never jump over or capture another cannon.
- Horse: one step orthogonally, then one step diagonally outward. If the first point is occupied, the horse is blocked and cannot make that move.
- Elephant: one step orthogonally, then two steps diagonally in the same outward direction. If any point along the way is occupied, the move is blocked.
- Soldier: moves one step forward or sideways and can never retreat. Inside the enemy palace it can also move forward along the diagonals.
Palace diagonals and the cannon rule
The diagonal lines in the palace are real paths, not decoration. Generals and guards step along them, chariots can travel from one palace corner to the opposite corner in one move, and a soldier that reaches the enemy palace can use them to advance diagonally. That's why a single soldier near the enemy palace can be surprisingly dangerous.
The cannon is where most beginners slip up. Whether moving or capturing, it must jump over exactly one piece, called the screen, and the screen can belong to either side. The screen cannot be a cannon, and a cannon can never capture an enemy cannon. At the start of the game there are usually no screens in front of the cannons, so they often can't move at all until other pieces create one.
Inside a palace a cannon can also use the diagonals, but only by jumping over a non-cannon piece standing on the center point. The flip side is useful for defense: when an enemy cannon aims at your general, removing the screen or adding a second piece between them stops the check.
Choosing your horse and elephant setup
Before the game, each player decides where their horses and elephants stand on each wing. This choice shapes how your pieces develop and how solid your palace defense feels.
The inner-elephant setup, called wonangma in Korean, places pieces as chariot, horse, elephant, guard on both sides, with the elephants next to the palace. It's symmetrical, easy to understand and the most common default. The outer-elephant setup, yangguima, uses chariot, elephant, horse, guard on both sides, so the horses sit near the palace and join the center quickly while the elephants come out from the edge.
The left- and right-elephant setups, called guima, put the elephant on the outside on only one wing. This asymmetry suits players who want one flank solid and the other aimed at attack, but it rewards knowing what each side is meant to do. A good plan is to learn the paths with the inner-elephant setup first and then experiment with the others.
Opening priorities: your first ten moves
In the opening, rushing a chariot forward is rarely the best idea. It's more important to open paths for your pieces and create screens for your cannons. The order below isn't a fixed book line, just a set of priorities that keeps beginners from collapsing early.
- Step 1: move the soldier in front of a horse one step sideways so the horse is no longer blocked.
- Step 2: bring the horse up to support the center; it can now also serve as a screen for your cannon.
- Step 3: reposition a cannon toward the center or in front of the palace to aim at the enemy general and chariots, checking that its screen can't be captured easily.
- Step 4: once soldiers and horses have opened lines, bring a chariot onto an open file or rank where it can pressure several targets.
- Step 5: don't strip away the central soldier and both guards at the same time, and block any line where an enemy cannon aims at your general.
Common beginner mistakes
Even when you know the rules, a few mistakes show up again and again. Missing a blocked horse or forgetting about a cannon's screen can cost a major piece in a single move.
- Planning a horse or elephant move without checking whether the path is blocked
- Moving one of your own pieces that was acting as a screen, which suddenly exposes your general or chariot to an enemy cannon
- Sending a chariot deep into enemy territory too early, where horses and cannons can trap it
- Moving both guards and the central soldier while attacking, leaving the palace empty
- Giving check after check without first taking away the general's escape points
Checkmate, bikjang and passing
Oetongsu, or checkmate, happens when a general in check cannot move to safety, capture the checking piece or block it. Because the general can never leave the palace, the basic idea is to cover its escape points one by one with chariots, horses and cannons. Two chariots squeezing the palace lines, or a cannon and chariot working together on the same line, are classic mating patterns.
Bikjang is the situation where the two generals face each other on the same file with nothing in between. On Playfulo, if bikjang can't be resolved the game is drawn, so a player who is losing may aim for it on purpose. When you're winning, get into the habit of keeping a piece between the generals.
Janggi also has a pass, known as hansu swim. On Playfulo it happens automatically when a player isn't in check but has no legal move. Two passes in a row, or the same position appearing three times, ends the game in a draw.
Practice janggi on Playfulo
On Playfulo you can play janggi against an AI in your browser with no sign-up, and choose inner, outer, left or right elephant setups before each game. Start on easy and follow the opening priorities above, checking every move for blocked horses and cannon screens. When you tap a piece, its legal intersections are highlighted, which makes learning the movement rules much easier.
To play with a friend, create a room and share the invite link. After joining, each player picks their own setup and presses ready, and each move has a 60-second limit.