In the opening position, cannons are usually considered stronger than horses. They have many possibilities to jump over other pieces. On the other hand, horses are easily blocked by the same pieces. When the pieces get fewer horses get more freedom and cannons lose their attacking power. In the final analysis, a cannon alone is a worthless attacking piece.

The attacking side needs one extra piece to force a checkmate. Let's take a look at an attack with a cannon and an advisor. All three Red pieces must cooperate.

• Drive the enemy king from the central file.
• Move your king to e3.
• Transfer the cannon and the advisor to the enemy king file, giving checkmate.

Interestingly, a cannon can not force a win with an elephant: