cannot move backward. In basic endgames, three soldiers starting on the 7th rank are approximately equal to a chariot: they can force a win against 2 advisors and 2 elephants, or a horse/cannon plus 2 elephants, while instead a chariot cannot, and a chariot cannot force a win against three soldiers on the 7th rank when well-defended. Notation There are several types of notation used to record xiangqi games. In each case the moves are numbered and written with the same general pattern. (first move) (first response) (second move) (second response) ... It is clearer but not required to write each move pair on a separate line. System 1 The book The Chess of China describes a move notation method in which the ranks of the board are numbered 1 to 10 from closest to farthest away, followed by a digit 1 to 9 for files from right to left. Both values are relative to the moving player. Moves are then indicated as follows: [piece name] ([former rank][former file])-[new rank][new file] Thus, the most common opening in the game would be written as: 炮 (32)–35 馬 (18)–37 System 2 A notation system partially described in A Manual of Chinese Chess and used by several computer software implementations describes moves in relative terms as follows: [single-letter piece abbreviation][former file][operator indicating direction of movement][new file, or in the case of purely vertical movement, number of ranks traversed] The file numbers are counted from each player's right to each player's left. In case there are two identical pieces in one file, symbols + (front) and – (rear) are used instead of former file number. Direction of movement is indicated via an operator symbol. A plus sign is used to indicate forward movement. A minus sign is used to indicate backward movement. A dot or period or equals sign is used to indicate horizontal or lateral movement. For a piece that moves diagonally (such as the horse or elephant), the plus or minus sign is used rather than the period. Thus, the most common opening in the game would be written as: C2.5 H8+7 According to World Xiangqi Federation (WXF) notations for tandem pawns case when there are (tandem pawns) >=3 in a file, there is no need to specify the P for pawn. Instead, the position of the pawn in the tandem line is used as the first integer (with the front most