Xiangqi Master: Chinese Chess

Xiangqi - Chinese chess - has a thousand years of published theory behind it and almost no way in. Most apps assume you already know how a cannon captures. This one starts before that.

Nine short lessons, in three chapters. The board and the river. Then every piece, one at a time, on a board with nothing else on it, so you can push a horse around and watch its leg get blocked. Then check, and how a game ends. Every lesson is played, not read.

LEARN THE MOVES

• 9 interactive lessons - the board, all seven pieces, check and mate
• Free movement boards: pick a piece up and see everywhere it can go
• The real rules, including the ones people skip: the elephant that cannot cross the river, the horse whose leg gets blocked, the cannon that needs a screen to capture, and the two Generals who may never face each other down an open file

PRACTISE ON REAL PROBLEMS

42 mate problems, rated 710 to 2160, sorted by depth: 20 mates in one, 16 in two, 6 in three. Every one is verified - the app checks each solution against its own rules engine before it ships, so no puzzle is broken and none has a second answer.

Stuck? There is a hint ladder, not a wall. The first rung names the idea - a sacrifice, a quiet move, a check. The second rings the piece to move. The third draws the move. Each rung costs rating and the puzzle still counts as solved, because a beginner who is stuck needs a way forward, not a lesson in persistence.

PLAY SOMETHING HONEST

Six opponents, from 700 to 2500 Elo. Not "Easy / Medium / Hard", and not a cartoon face standing in for a number - the strength each one plays at is printed on it, and it is a real rating.

You get a rating of your own. Beating a 1900 opponent is worth more than beating a 700 one, and the number moves accordingly. Take a move back and the game does not count - the rating measures your play, not your patience with the undo button.

Also on board: local two-player on one device, a clock (none, 5+2, 15+10), full game history, and step-by-step replay of anything you have played.

FIND OUT WHY YOU LOST

After a game against the engine, the review walks every move: an evaluation graph, your inaccuracies, mistakes and blunders, and - the part you actually learn from - what to have played instead, drawn on the board beside what you did play. Tap any move for the engine's line, or pick the position up and try it again from there.

READ THE MOVES LIKE A PLAYER

Traditional Chinese notation (炮二平五) alongside the coordinates, both at once by default. It is the fastest way to stop needing the coordinates, and the only way to open a xiangqi book and follow it. Turn either off when you no longer want it.

WHAT IT COSTS

Nothing, and there is nothing to unlock: every lesson, every puzzle, the review and the daily problem are there from the first launch. Advertising pays for it instead - a banner along the bottom of the screen, and one full-screen ad after a game finishes. That is the whole of it. Nothing appears over the board, nothing interrupts a move, and nothing makes you wait out a countdown before carrying on.

• No subscription and no paid tier - nothing is held back for one
• No daily puzzle limit, no lives, no energy, no timer to wait out
• No account and no sign-in
• The game needs no connection: the Fairy-Stockfish engine, the puzzles and the lessons all live on your phone. Only the ads go online.

There is a streak, and it is deliberately harmless: a day counts when you finish a lesson, a puzzle or a game - three ways to keep it - nothing will chase you about losing it, and there is no way to buy it back. One optional reminder a day, at an hour you pick, off until you ask for it.

MADE TO BE READ

Paper and ink rather than panels and glow, in light and dark. Pieces in traditional hanzi or western letters. The board is fully labelled for screen readers, so it can be played without being seen.