Xiangqi Study: Chinese Chess

Chinese chess to play and to get better at, in one app with no ads, no account, and everything playable offline.

PLAY THE ENGINE
Nine levels, from first-timer to Chess Sage. The easy levels slip up like real people, so beginners get their wins too; the top levels never think longer than 3 seconds a move. An opening book built from real games keeps every game different. Ask for a hint, take a move back, play with a clock, play coached games that warn you before a blunder, and climb a ladder of nine masters.

LEARN FROM YOUR OWN GAMES
After each game the app reviews it for you: pieces given away, missed mates, tactics you did not see. The position before each mistake becomes a drill so you can find the right move yourself. Winning positions you failed to convert are kept for practice too.

KNOW WHAT TO PRACTISE TODAY
The Today card suggests a few minutes a day: positions due for review, your weakest skill, an endgame or opening, and a game at the right level. A placement test lets experienced players skip the basics. The Progress screen shows your tactics rating, win rate by level, and how your big mistakes per game come down.

SKILL TRAINING
708 positions across 16 skills: loose pieces, forks, discovered checks, Cannon tactics, pins and blocks, exchanges, escaping check without loss, mate in one, two and three, 20 named mating patterns, finding the best move. Tactics come from real games, mating-pattern drills are composed like those in classic mate books; all graded by the engine, ordered from easy to hard. Get a move wrong and the app explains why in that very position and shows the reply. Mastery means solving it alone twice, on two different days.

ENDGAMES, WINNING POSITIONS, OPENINGS
13 basic endgames played out against the engine, from a lone Chariot to Horse and Cannon holding a draw against a Chariot. 30 winning positions to practise converting. Opening training in 10 systems: step off the line and the app tells you whether your move loses something or is still playable, and every book move comes with a “why” line.

LEARN — 492 LESSONS
Sixteen sets: first steps, opening principles, middlegame, endgame, ten opening systems, the classical manuals, and international competition rules. Every endgame verdict was checked against the app's own engine. 39 interactive exercises, 45 practice positions, 15 puzzles.

HANDBOOK
Look up 105 terms, 20 named mating patterns with drills, an endgame table of wins and draws, an opening tree with 119 lines, rules and notation. All searchable; terms in lessons open with a tap.

OVER-THE-BOARD GAMES
Record a game played on a real board, or import one in Vietnamese notation, WXF or DhtmlXQ, and have it analysed like your own games. An analysis board to try moves and see the engine's assessment. Share games and position images.

PLAY SOMEONE NEARBY
Sitting next to a friend? Open Play Nearby on both phones on the same Wi-Fi, see each other in seconds and send an invite: pick your colour and a clock. Others nearby can watch live. Every game is saved to your history and can be analysed like games against the engine. Set your name and picture under Settings → Profile.

INTERNATIONAL RULES
World Xiangqi Federation rules (WXF 2018): no perpetual check or chase, a draw after 50 moves without a capture. The game warns you before you break a rule. Offer a draw or resign from within the game.

THIRTEEN LANGUAGES
English, Français, Deutsch, Italiano, Nederlands, Bahasa Indonesia, Tiếng Việt, 简体中文, 繁體中文, Русский, 日本語, ไทย, 한국어.

PRIVACY
No data collected, no ads, no sign-in. Your progress and games stay on your device, move to a new phone with iCloud Backup, or can be exported to a single file. The app goes to the internet in exactly one place: asking the App Store whether a newer version exists, at most once a day, sending nothing about you. Play Nearby uses only your local Wi-Fi network, never the internet, and only while you have it open.

For iPhone and iPad, in light and dark mode.