EaseXiangQi

Download on the App Store

 

Introduction

A Beautiful XiangQi App for iPhone, iPad, and Mac

EaseXiangQi is a native XiangQi (象棋, Chinese chess) app for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, built from one codebase and one Xcode target in SwiftUI.

The board is rendered in lite 3D — depth from a single consistent light source rather than from texture or a 3D engine. Pieces sit on the intersections of a warm bone lattice, lit from the same upper-leading source as everything else and given depth by their bevel ring. Move by tapping or dragging, with legal-move hints showing where a piece can go and a last-move trace keeping track of what just happened.

Every XiangQi rule is in: the flying-general rule, palace confinement, the horse leg-block, the elephant eye, cannon captures, soldier sideways after the river, perpetual-check adjudication, and stalemate as a loss. Play pass-and-play against a friend, or take on the computer opponent at one of four difficulty levels. The move history records each move in WXF notation, and every game is saved automatically — force-quit and relaunch picks up exactly where you left off.

 

 

Changelog

Version 1.0

First release!

Rules

  • Full XiangQi rules: all seven piece types with correct movement
  • Flying-general rule, palace confinement, horse leg-block, elephant eye
  • Cannon must jump exactly one piece to capture
  • Soldier gains a sideways step after crossing the river; never retreats
  • Stalemate is a loss, not a draw
  • Perpetual-check adjudication (長將): a side that checked on every move of a repeated cycle loses
  • Draw by 60-move rule and threefold repetition

Board

  • Warm bone / cinnabar palette, modern minimalist with lite 3D
  • Pieces lit from a single upper-leading source with contact and cast shadows
  • Move hints, last-move trace, and check pulse
  • Tap-to-move and drag-to-move
  • Traditional point marks at soldier and cannon starting squares

Game modes

  • Pass-and-play: two players on one device
  • Computer opponent at four difficulty levels — Gentle, Steady, Sharp, and Relentless

Move history & controls

  • Move list in WXF notation, scoresheet pairs (Red and Black side by side)
  • Undo and redo, new game, resign
  • Replay scrubber to step back and forward through the game record

Persistence

  • Autosave after every move; resume resumes the exact position

Design & accessibility

  • Modern minimalist with lite 3D: warm bone and cinnabar on all three platforms
  • Adaptive layouts: iPhone, iPad full-screen and Split View, macOS window
  • VoiceOver with spoken move announcements and a full accessibility grid over the board
  • Reduce Motion replaces travel with a cross-fade
  • Dynamic Type drives all chrome; piece glyphs are fixed size
  • Increase Contrast raises bevel ring and engraved-glyph intensity