📝 Improvement Columns
Strategy and study tips for the games on TsumeDojo — how to practice, what to focus on, and how to keep improving.
📡 RSSTsume Shogi
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2026-06-29
Stuck on a Tsume Shogi Problem? How to Use Hints, Solutions, and Review
Not being able to solve a tsume shogi problem is normal — the point is to learn from the ones you miss. Here is how to turn a problem you are stuck on into your best study material with TsumeDojo's multi-stage hints, solution view, and spaced-repetition review.
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2026-06-17
Tsume Shogi Glossary: Key Terms Explained — Tsumero, Hisshi, Interposition, and More
A beginner-friendly glossary of the terms that come up most in tsume shogi and the shogi endgame — tsumero, hisshi, interposition, uchifuzume, and more. Knowing what they mean makes problem commentary far easier to follow.
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2026-06-17
Finding the Key Move in Tsume Shogi: Tries, Red Herrings, and Variations
A tsume shogi problem has one correct first move (the key). Plenty of checks look like they mate but fail — 'tries'. How to reject the tries, find the key, and read the defender's variations to the best defense.
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2026-06-16
Uchifuzume in Tsume Shogi: Why Dropping a Pawn for Mate Is Illegal — and How to Work Around It
Delivering checkmate by dropping a pawn from hand is illegal in shogi (uchifuzume); pushing a board pawn to mate is fine. Here's how to spot uchifuzume, work around it, and even use it as a defensive resource.
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2026-06-16
Tsume Shogi for Chess Players: A Familiar Puzzle, with Three Twists
If you enjoy 'mate in N' chess puzzles, tsume shogi will feel instantly familiar — find the forced checkmate. Here's what's the same, the three twists that make shogi addictive (drops, promotion, and the pawn-drop rule), and how to start.
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2026-06-16
Interposition (Aigoma) in Tsume Shogi: Middle Interpositions vs. Wasteful Blocks
A piece placed between the king and a distant checking piece is an interposition (aigoma). Here's how to tell a key 'middle interposition' (nakaai) from a 'wasteful block' (mudaai) you can ignore — and how to read them out.
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2026-06-15
How Tsume Shogi Works: The Rules and Conventions of Shogi Mate Problems
New to tsume shogi? Here are the conventions that make mate problems work — every attacking move is a check, the defender always plays the best defense, and why the defender holds all the remaining pieces in hand.
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2026-06-15
Tsume Shogi Mating Patterns and Core Techniques
From the basic gold mates to escape-cutting, the escorting sacrifice, double check, and the pawn-drop-mate rule — the recurring patterns that show up in tsume shogi, with clear explanations.
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2026-06-15
Shogi Endgame: Mate Threats, Brinkmate (Hisshi), and the Mating Attack
Turn the mates you drill in tsume shogi into real-game wins: mate threats (tsumero), brinkmate (hisshi), the mating attack (yose), and counting the race.
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2026-06-14
Tsume Shogi for Beginners: How to Solve Shogi Mate Problems
What tsume shogi is, why it builds endgame strength, which problem length to start from, and how to make daily practice stick.
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2026-06-14
Shogi Improvement Roadmap: From Beginner to 1-Dan
A stage-by-stage plan for improving at shogi — what to prioritize from absolute beginner up to 1-dan, and how tsume (mate) practice fits in.
Tsume Othello
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2026-06-22
Othello (Reversi) Glossary — Corners, Stable Discs, Mobility, Parity and the Key Endgame Terms
A beginner-friendly glossary of the words that come up most in Othello (Reversi): corners, X-squares, stable discs, mobility, frontier discs, and parity. Knowing them makes the puzzles and explanations much easier to follow.
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2026-06-17
Othello Midgame Strategy: Frontier Discs, Internal Moves, and Mobility
Othello isn't decided only by corners and the endgame — the midgame in between matters too. How to keep your own mobility by minimizing frontier discs: internal moves (nakawari) and open-degree.
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2026-06-15
Othello (Reversi) Intermediate: X-Squares, C-Squares, Stable Discs, and Parity
Once you know corners and mobility, the next step is not handing your opponent a corner — X-squares and C-squares — plus stable discs that never flip, and the parity (even theory) that decides close endgames.
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2026-06-14
Othello (Reversi) Strategy: Why Flipping the Most Discs Loses
The greedy move is usually the wrong one. What actually wins at Othello: corners, mobility, parity, and reading the endgame to the last square.
Gomoku / Renju VCF
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2026-06-22
Gomoku & Renju Glossary — Fours, Open Fours, the Four-Three, VCF, and the Forbidden Moves
A beginner-friendly glossary of the words that come up most in gomoku and renju: three, four, open four, four-three, VCF (continuous fours), and the forbidden moves (double-three, double-four, overline). Knowing them makes the VCF puzzles and explanations much easier to follow.
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2026-06-17
Renju Forbidden Moves: Double-Three, Double-Four, and Overline (and Why Only Black)
The biggest difference between free gomoku and Renju is the forbidden moves. In Renju, only Black may not play a double-three, double-four, or overline. The three rules, why they apply to Black alone, and the 'making five wins' exception.
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2026-06-16
How to Defend at Gomoku: Block the Four, Deny the Double Threat
Gomoku isn't won by attacking alone. A priority-ordered guide to defense: blocking fours, stopping an open three before it becomes an open four, denying double threats (four-three, double-three, double-four), counter-attacking, and Renju defense.
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2026-06-15
How to Win at Gomoku (Five in a Row): Threes, Fours, and the Four-Three
The basics that win free-style gomoku: forcing with threes and fours, the unstoppable open four and four-three, watching the opponent's threats, and how Renju differs.
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2026-06-14
Gomoku & Renju VCF: Winning with a Continuous Four-Chase
VCF (Victory by Continuous Fours) is a forced win — every move makes a four, your opponent must block, and you chain fours into five. How to read it, plus Renju's forbidden moves.
What Would You Discard?
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2026-06-17
Mahjong Glossary: Tenpai, Shanten, Waits, Tile Efficiency, and More
A beginner-friendly glossary of the riichi mahjong terms that come up most in "what to discard" problems — tenpai, shanten, ukeire, wait shapes, and more. Knowing what they mean makes problems and commentary far easier to follow.
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2026-06-17
When to Call in Riichi Mahjong: Open Melds, Yaku, Speed, and Defense
What-to-discard trains the closed hand, but in real games the decision to call (pon/chi) or stay closed also decides games. The big pitfall (you still need a yaku), when to call, when not to, and kuisagari.
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2026-06-16
What to Discard: Choosing Your Wait — Good Shapes vs. Bad Shapes
Efficiency gets you to tenpai; wait selection decides WHICH tenpai. Good vs bad wait shapes, counting your live tiles, aiming for a good-shape tenpai, tegawari, and why pinfu needs a two-sided wait.
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2026-06-16
Riichi Mahjong Defense: Push or Fold, and How to Find Safe Tiles
Efficiency gets you to tenpai, but you also win by NOT dealing in. A guide to push/fold, full folding (betaori), and finding safe tiles — genbutsu, suji, and the wall (no-chance).
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2026-06-15
What to Discard: Five-Block Theory and Spotting Useless Tiles
Before you count tile acceptance, decide which blocks to keep — the five-block framework. Block strength order and the discard order for isolated tiles.
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2026-06-14
Riichi Mahjong Efficiency: The Basics of "What to Discard"
How to think about nani-kiru (what-to-discard) problems: shanten, tile acceptance (ukeire), and why pure efficiency is the right default for beginners.
Tsumego
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2026-06-17
The Ladder (Shicho) in Go: How to Read Whether It Captures
The ladder is the first essential reading skill in Go. Chasing a stone in a zig-zag of ataris captures it — but only if nothing breaks the ladder. How to read a ladder to the edge, spot a ladder breaker, and why a broken ladder is a disaster.
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2026-06-17
Go and Tsumego Glossary: Life and Death, Seki, Ko, Atari, and More
A beginner-friendly glossary of the go and tsumego terms that come up most — life and death, eyes, seki, ko, atari, ladders, and more. Knowing what they mean makes problems and commentary far easier to follow.
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2026-06-16
Tsumego for Beginners: Start with Capturing Problems
New to Go? Capturing problems — take the marked stones — are the gentlest way to start building reading, the skill that improves your game fastest. Here's what they are, why they work, and how to begin.
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2026-06-14
Go Capturing Problems: How to Train Your Reading
Capturing problems are the most direct way to build reading in Go — counting liberties, winning capturing races, and finding the killing move.
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2026-06-14
Basic Capturing Techniques in Go: Ladder, Net, and Snapback
The three techniques that show up most in capture problems — ladder (shicho), net (geta), and snapback (uttegaeshi): how each works and how to tell them apart.