In 2026, drilling Xiangqi mates does not require a 30-minute middlegame first
Search “Xiangqi endgame” and you get book diagrams, app campaigns, or international-chess endgame lessons. The usual need is narrower: is this forced mate? Installing a client and entering a campaign is heavier than “the position is set; play the forcing line.”
MeTool Xiangqi endgames are scoped to that: Red to move, mate in one to three. A hundred-plus puzzles span three tabs. Mate-in-one includes teaching shapes; mate-in-two and mate-in-three come from tournament positions re-checked by this site’s rules engine. On multi-move drills, Black’s replies auto-play — you only need to keep the force. Scoring matches the Xiangqi vs-AI page. Show answer replays the full Red–Black line; Try vs hardest AI opens the same position on the vs-AI page.
What these mates are training
Missed mates are usually uncounted files, not forgotten openings.
Smothered palace: the General’s sides are blocked by its own Advisors. A rook or cannon taking one Advisor leaves no flight square.
Rank / platform cannon: slide the Cannon onto the General’s file with exactly one Pawn as the platform.
Flying general: capture the piece that blocked the file between the Generals.
Mate in two or three also requires that after your move, every Black reply still leaves a forced win in the remaining Red moves. The same shapes — and why Horse-behind-Cannon is not always mate — are in Horse-behind-Cannon, the hobbled Horse, and the Cannon platform.
How this differs from lobby “endgame campaigns”
Lobby apps often wrap puzzles in levels, hint items, and events. This page has no rating and no campaign: puzzles run in the browser, checking is local, and you can close the tab.
Use it to get “is this mate?” fluent, then play a full game on Xiangqi AI, or rebuild a book diagram in layout mode and play the engine from there.
How to use the set
Start on Mate in 1 — the habit is “count the file, then move.” Mate in 2 and 3 are still Red to move; Black replies auto-play. Each of your moves must stay forcing, or the board rewinds.
Tap a Red piece to see legal squares. Hints name the theme; Show answer autoplays the mating line and lets you scrub ply by ply. Do not try chess Knight jumps: if the Horse-block square is occupied, that move will not highlight.