Editing Xiangqi (section)

==Modern play==
{{Euroxiangqi diagram
| tright
| European xiangqi board
|rd|hd|ed|ad|kd|ad|ed|hd|rd
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|  |cd|  |  |  |  |  |cd|  
|pd|  |pd|  |pd|  |pd|  |pd
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  
|pl|  |pl|  |pl|  |pl|  |pl
|  |cl|  |  |  |  |  |cl|  |
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 
|rl|hl|el|al|kl|al|el|hl|rl
|Initial arrangement of figures
|}}

===Tournaments and leagues===
Although xiangqi has its origin in Asia, there are xiangqi leagues and clubs all over the world. Each European nation generally has its own governing league; for example, in Britain, xiangqi is regulated by the United Kingdom Chinese Chess Association. Asian countries also have nationwide leagues, such as the Malaysia Chinese Chess Association.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

In addition, there are several international federations and tournaments. The [[Chinese Xiangqi Association]] hosts several tournaments every year, including the Yin Li and Ram Cup Tournaments.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessvariants.org/chinfaq.html#question21 |last1=Leary |first1=Stephen |last2=Bodlaender |first2=Hans |author-link2=Hans L. Bodlaender |title=rec.games.chinese-chess FAQ – 21 What are some of the top tournaments in the world? |publisher=[[The Chess Variant Pages]] |date=20 September 1996}}</ref> Other organizations include the Asian Xiangqi Federation<ref>[http://www.asianxiangqi.org/ Asian Xiangqi Federation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527070949/http://www.asianxiangqi.org/ |date=2005-05-27 }} homepage includes English translations of Asian tournament results, rules, etc.</ref> and a World Xiangqi Federation,<ref>[http://www.wxf.org/ World Xiangqi Federation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511180155/http://www.wxf.org/ |date=2016-05-11 }}. Wxf.org. Retrieved on 2011-10-01.</ref> which hosts tournaments and competitions bi-annually, with most limited to players from member nations.

There are Europeanized versions of boards (10 × 9) and figures of xiangqi.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.chessvariants.com/xiangqi.dir/xiangqiwest.html|title=A Western Xiangqi Board}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://sites.google.com/site/caroluschess/chess-and-game-variants/xiangqi|title = Xiangqi (Chinese chess) – Carolus Chess}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://blog.hartwork.org/posts/designer-wanted-western-pieces-for-chinese-chess/|title = Hartwork Blog · Designer wanted: Western pieces for Chinese chess}}</ref>

===Rankings===
The Asian Xiangqi Federation (AXF) and its corresponding member associations rank players in a format similar to the [[Elo rating system]] of chess. According to the XiangQi DataBase, the top-ranking female and male players in China, as of June 2012, were [[Tang Dan]] and Jiang Chuan, with ratings of 2529 and 2667, respectively.<ref>{{cite web|title=2012 First half(Female) Player Rating|url=http://www.01xq.com/xqplayer/xqrating.asp?y=2012&m=1&s=1|work=01xq.com – Event Game Player Opening|publisher=01xq.com|access-date=4 June 2012|author=Staff|date=June 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=2012 First half(Male) Player Rating|url=http://www.01xq.com/xqplayer/xqrating.asp|work=01xq.com – Events Game Player Opening|publisher=01xq.com|access-date=4 June 2012|author=Staff|date=June 2012}}</ref> Other strong players include Zhao GuanFang (female), [[Xu Yinchuan]] (male), Lu Qin (male), and Wang LinNa (female).{{Citation needed|date=December 2012}}

The Asian Xiangqi Federation also bestows the title of grandmaster to select individuals around the world who have excelled at xiangqi or made special contributions to the game. There are no specific criteria for becoming a grandmaster and there are only approximately 100 grandmasters as of 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|title=XiangQi Master Database|url=http://wxf.ca/xq/xqdb/xqdb_index.html|access-date=2021-01-22|website=wxf.ca}}</ref> The titles of grandmaster is bestowed by bodies such as the AXF and the Chinese Xiangqi Association (CXA).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessvariants.org/chinfaq.html#question22 |last1=Leary |first1=Stephen |last2=Bodlaender |first2=Hans |author-link2=Hans L. Bodlaender |title=rec.games.chinese-chess FAQ – 22 Who are some of the strongest players around the world? |website=[[The Chess Variant Pages]] |access-date=4 June 2012 |date=20 September 1996}}</ref>

===Computers===
The [[Game complexity|game-tree complexity]] of xiangqi is approximately 10<sup>150</sup>; in 2004 it was projected that a human top player would be defeated before 2010.<ref>Yen, Chen, Yang, Hsu, 2004, [http://www.csie.ndhu.edu.tw/~sjyen/Papers/2004CCC.pdf Computer Chinese Chess] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614111609/http://www.csie.ndhu.edu.tw/~sjyen/Papers/2004CCC.pdf |date=June 14, 2007 }}.</ref> Xiangqi is one of the more popular computer-versus-computer competitions at the [[Computer Olympiad]]s.<ref>Results of the Computer Olympiad competitions are found [[Computer Olympiad#Chinese chess|here]]</ref>

Computer programs for playing xiangqi show the same development trend as has occurred for international chess: they are usually console applications (called engines) which communicate their moves in text form through some standard protocol. For displaying the board graphically, they then rely on a separate [[graphical user interface]] (GUI). Through such standardization, many different engines can be used through the same GUI, which can also be used for automated play of different engines against each other. Popular protocols are UCI ([[Universal Chess Interface]]), UCCI (Universal Chinese Chess Interface), Qianhong (QH) protocol, and [[WinBoard]]/XBoard (WB) protocol (the latter two named after the GUIs that implemented them). There now exist many dozens of xiangqi engines supporting one or more of these protocols, including some commercial engines.{{Citation needed|date=December 2012}}