Play Xiangqi with Friends Online

How to Create and Join a Room

Getting started is simple. Click the large <strong>Create Room</strong> button above. A settings panel will appear where you can choose whether to play as Red (first move) or Black, and set your preferred time control — base minutes per player plus an optional per-move increment. Once you confirm, your room is created instantly and you'll be taken directly to the game board.

To join a friend's room, click <strong>Join Room</strong> and paste the room code they shared with you. The input accepts the full URL (e.g., <code>sachess.com/room/a1b2c3d4</code>) or just the eight-character room code. After joining, you'll automatically be assigned the remaining side and the game begins.

Once the game ends, head to the <a href="/xiangqi-ai-analysis/">AI analysis board</a> to review every move with Pikafish engine evaluation — see exactly where the game turned, which moves were brilliant, and which were mistakes.

• Room codes are normalized to eight lowercase hexadecimal characters.
• Your friend must join within 30 minutes, or the room expires.
• Frequent room creation may trigger a Cloudflare Turnstile verification.

Time Controls and Game Rules

Sachess rooms use <strong>Fischer increment</strong> time controls. Before creating a room, you choose a base time (how many minutes each player gets for the entire game) and an increment (seconds added to your clock after each move you make). For example, "10+3" means each player starts with 10 minutes and gains 3 seconds after every move.

The chess clock only counts down during your turn. When you make a move, your clock stops and your opponent's clock starts. The server validates piece movement, turn ownership, self-check, checkmate, and stalemate before accepting moves.

Want to sharpen your openings before your next match? Browse the <a href="/cloud-book/">cloud opening book</a> to study common xiangqi lines and counter-lines drawn from thousands of real games.

• Available base times: 3, 5, 10, 15, or 30 minutes.
• Increment options: 0 (no increment), 3, 5, or 10 seconds.
• If your clock runs out, you lose by timeout — regardless of board position.

Disconnection and Reconnection

If you lose your internet connection during a game, don't panic. Sachess automatically attempts to reconnect you — and your game continues right where it left off. Here is exactly how it works:

When either player disconnects, the server pauses the active chess clock and starts a <strong>60-second</strong> reconnection grace period. If the player reconnects in time, the clock resumes from the paused value. If the grace period expires, the disconnected player loses.

Your browser automatically tries to reconnect with increasing delays (2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 seconds) until the grace period is exhausted. The first retry normally restores a brief network interruption within a few seconds.

Reconnection uses a session code stored in your browser — it survives page refreshes but is lost if you close your tab entirely. If you intentionally leave (by clicking <strong>Leave</strong> in the game panel), that counts as an immediate resignation — your opponent wins.

• Disconnection grace period: 60 seconds.
• Up to 5 automatic reconnect attempts (2s → 4s → 8s → 16s → 32s).
• Session code survives page refresh but NOT tab close.
• Intentional leave = immediate forfeit.

Room Lifecycle and Expiration

Rooms in Sachess are temporary — designed for a single game session. Here are the rules for when a room is automatically cleaned up:

After creation: if no second player joins within <strong>30 minutes</strong>, the room is deleted. During active play, each player's configured chess clock determines timeout. After the game ends, a <strong>5-minute window</strong> allows players to accept a rematch in the same room. If both players disconnect after the game ends, cleanup accelerates to <strong>30 seconds</strong>.

Once a room is deleted, it cannot be recovered. A completed room can host rematches during its post-game window; after cleanup, create a new room code.

After the game, download the complete move record as a FEN list — then use the <a href="/xiangqi-fen-guide/">FEN guide</a> to understand how each position is encoded and how to import them into the analysis board for deeper review.

• 30-minute idle timeout if no second player joins.
• 5-minute post-game window for rematch.
• 30-second cleanup if both players disconnect after game end.
• Rematches reuse the room during the post-game window; deleted rooms cannot be recovered.

Fair Play — No AI Assistance in Multiplayer

Two-player rooms deliberately <strong>disable AI engine analysis</strong> during gameplay. The AI analysis toggle, engine evaluation bar, move suggestions, and cloud book lookups are all unavailable while you're in a room. This ensures a fair, human-vs-human experience — no outside help, no engine hints.

After the game ends, you can review the complete game record using the main <a href="/xiangqi-ai-analysis/">AI analysis board</a> with full Pikafish engine evaluation. Compare your moves against the engine's top suggestions, identify blunders, and see alternative lines you could have played.

Our engine is powered by <a href="/pikafish-online/">Pikafish</a>, the leading open-source xiangqi engine. For a deeper understanding of what engine scores mean in practical terms, check the <a href="/engine-score-guide/">engine score guide</a>. When you want a structured approach to reviewing your games, follow our <a href="/game-review-workflow/">game review workflow</a>.

• AI analysis is completely disabled during room gameplay.
• No engine evaluation, no move suggestions, no cloud book access.
• Full analysis tools available after the game on the main board.