Xiangqi Academy
Learn xiangqi, chess and caro
Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
One hundred and twenty-seven guided lessons, then four board games against an on-device AI or the person next to you. No accounts, no online matches.
Xiangqi Academy teaches you Chinese chess, then lets you play it.
THE ACADEMY: 127 GUIDED LESSONS
One hundred and twenty-seven lessons, starting from how a single piece moves and ending with technique that decides real games: the cannon that needs a screen to capture, the horse whose leg can be blocked, the elephant that cannot cross the river, and the mating patterns every player has to recognise. Each lesson sets up a position and asks you for the move, so you learn by playing rather than by reading. Some are two-move combinations where the engine answers your first move, and the endgame lessons hand you a won position and ask you to actually win it against the engine.
PUZZLES EVERY DAY
- A daily puzzle, the same for everyone, worked out on your device from the date.
- Past puzzles: the last 30 days, kept for practice.
- Speed Mates: as many mates in one as you can find in three minutes, with three lives. Your best run has its own leaderboard.
LEARN FROM YOUR OWN GAMES
When a xiangqi, chess or caro game ends, Review game lets the engine go through every move, mark the mistakes and blunders, and show the move it would have played, with a graph of who was better.
FOUR BOARD GAMES
- Xiangqi (Chinese chess): the full 9x10 board with river and palace, and all seven piece types.
- Co Up (flipped xiangqi): the same board, but every piece starts face down and shuffled. You find out what you own by moving it. Same rules, completely different game.
- Chess: castling, en passant and promotion to all four pieces.
- Caro (five in a row): the pen-and-paper classic, on a full grid.
PLAY HOW YOU LIKE
- Five AI levels for each game, all running on your device, so it works with no connection at all.
- Two players on one device: pass the phone, or sit face to face and turn the far side's pieces towards your opponent. No accounts needed.
- Undo, a full move list, draw offers against the AI, and legal-move hints you can switch off when you no longer want them.
NO SIGN-UP AND NO ONLINE MATCHES
There are no accounts and no online opponents: you play the AI on your device, or the person sitting next to you. The only things you create that leave your device are your two leaderboard entries: a display name and a country flag you choose yourself, plus how many of the lessons you have finished and your best Speed Mates score. You can delete them from Settings at any time. The app also serves ads and reports anonymous crash and gameplay data - the Privacy Policy lists exactly what.
Free, supported by ads. There are no in-app purchases of any kind.
Interface fully translated into 15 languages. The 127 Academy lessons are written in English and Vietnamese.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
- Speed Mates: solve as many mates in one as you can in three minutes, with its own leaderboard.
- Past puzzles: the last 30 daily puzzles, kept for practice.
- Review game: after a game, the engine marks your mistakes and shows the better move.
- 13 new Academy lessons, 127 in total: two-move combinations, and endgames you must win against the engine.
- Offer a draw against the AI, and a face-to-face mode for two players.
- New carved xiangqi pieces and a Staunton chess set. Xiangqi pieces now show Chinese characters by default; Vietnamese names and letters are in Settings.
- Hints are free whenever no ad can be shown, offline included, and you are always asked before an ad plays.
- Performance and stability improvements.
The developer, DUY ANH NGUYEN, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Used to Track You
The following data may be used to track you across apps and websites owned by other companies:
- Identifiers
Data Linked to You
The following data may be collected and linked to your identity:
- User Content
- Identifiers
- Usage Data
- Diagnostics
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- DUY ANH NGUYEN
- Size
- 72.6 MB
- Category
- Puzzle
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 15.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 15.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 15.0 or later. - iPod touch
Requires iOS 15.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 12.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Contains
Advertising
- Copyright
- © 2026 Dragonball Studio