Central Cannon, Horse-on-the-Head (中炮盘头马)

盘头马 relocates a horse to the square directly in front of Red's own general — trading tempo for a fast attack. A 20th-century refinement of Central Cannon theory, illustrated here with a real professional game.

The idea in one sentence

A horse on the central file in front of your own palace is hard to attack and supports the rook-and-cannon attack building behind it.

A real 2023 championship game

A real 2023 national league game: Red 赵玮 vs Black 王禹博, catalogued as C17 on dpxq.com — a real professional league match, covering the opening phase specifically.

Position after 8 moves in the 2023 championship game, showing the standard Central Cannon river-crossing rook development
Position after move 8 — standard Central Cannon development so far.

Moves 5-7: Red pushes the central pawn three times, trading it away by move 7 purely to open the center file.

Position right before Red's 14th move, with the horse about to jump to the head position highlighted
The horse about to jump
One move before the formation — the center file is already open from the earlier pawn trades.

Move 14, 马七进五 — the horse jumps into the "head" position, one square in front of Red's own general. This is the move the opening is named for.

The 盘头马 formation complete: Red horse on the head position directly in front of the general, with the jump path shown
The horse in the head position
盘头马 complete — the horse sits ahead of Red's own palace, protected, ready to support an attack in the center or either wing.

Why the head position works

Tucked in front of your own general, the horse is hard to threaten. From there it can jump to 卧槽 or 挂角 for a mating threat, or swing to reinforce either wing.

The full move list

Standard Chinese notation. All 50 half-moves verified against our engine and cross-checked against the primary dpxq.com record.

1. 炮二平五　马八进七
2. 马二进三　车九平八
3. 车一平二　卒七进一
4. 车二进六　马二进三
5. 兵五进一　卒三进一
6. 兵五进一　士四进五
7. 兵五进一　马三进五
8. 马八进七　炮二平五
9. 仕六进五　车一平二
10. 车九平八　炮八平九
11. 车二进三　马七退八
12. 炮五进五　象七进五
13. 炮八进六　马八进七
14. 马七进五　(盘头马 formed)　马五进六
15. 马三退一　炮九退一
16. 炮八退一　炮九进五
17. 兵三进一　马七进五
18. 相七进五　炮九平三
19. 车八进三　炮三平四
20. 兵三进一　卒三进一
21. 兵三平四　马五进三
22. 炮八进一　卒三进一
23. 车八进一　马三进二
24. 车八平四　马二进三
25. 帅五平六　车二进一

Being upfront: this game continued past move 25 and Black won. That's about the rest of the game, not the opening's soundness — professional players use 盘头马 regularly at the highest level.

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About this diagram

Decoded directly from the primary tournament record, replayed through the same engine that powers our playable board, with independently-regenerated notation cross-checked against the source.