Tsume Shogi Mating Patterns and Core Techniques

Tsume shogi (checkmate problems) is really about building a library of mating shapes and the techniques that lead into them. Once you know the basic patterns, even an unfamiliar problem starts to look like 'a variation of something I have seen.' This article lays out the shapes worth memorizing first, and the techniques that keep recurring.

The basic mating shapes: gold mates

The most fundamental mate is delivered by a gold. If you can place a gold the king cannot capture onto a square that takes away its escapes, it is mate. The shape is named for where the gold sits relative to the king.

• Head gold (atama-kin): a gold directly in front of the king. The most basic mate and the classic one-move mate, when the king cannot run up or to the side.
• Belly gold (hara-kin): a gold beside the king, used when the king has no sideways escape.
• Bottom gold (shiri-kin): a gold below the king, used against a king on a low rank (such as the back rank).

You do not need a gold specifically — a silver, rook, bishop, or knight can also mate as long as two conditions hold: every one of the king's escape squares is covered, and the checking piece cannot be safely captured (it is defended, or capturing it is impossible). Drilling one-move mates until these shapes are instant is the right starting point.

Techniques that recur in tsume shogi

These are the core techniques that get you into a basic mating shape. From three-move mates onward, problems are usually combinations of them.

• Cutting off the escape: before delivering mate, cover the empty squares the king would flee to. Closing the exits first is the key idea.
• The escorting sacrifice (okuri no tesuji): deliberately sacrifice a piece to lure or drive the king onto a square where it can be mated. A move that looks wasteful is often the key.
• Sacrifice at the focal point: drop or place a piece on the square where several pieces' lines of control intersect, forcing the opponent's reply down to a single line.
• Discovered check and double check: moving one piece can unveil a check from the rook or bishop behind it (discovered check). If the piece that moved also gives check, that is a double check — the king must move, because neither interposing nor capturing can answer two checks at once. Double check is very strong in tsume.
• Removing your own obstructing piece: when one of your own pieces is in the way of the mate, sacrifice it or move it aside.

A rule trap: the pawn-drop mate (uchifuzume)

A recurring theme in tsume shogi is uchifuzume. Dropping a pawn from hand to give a check that is itself checkmate is illegal, so such a move can never be the answer. Checkmating by pushing a pawn already on the board (advancing it one square — tsukifuzume) is perfectly legal, as is mating with a promoted pawn. So 'a pawn drop would be mate, but it is not allowed' positions are common: the answer asks you to find another piece or another move order. When you feel stuck, first check whether the move you want is an illegal pawn-drop mate.

How to make the techniques your own

Techniques stick best when you learn them as knowledge and then solve until your hand finds them automatically. Solve the same mate length repeatedly, and when a mating shape appears, name it to yourself — 'that is the head-gold shape,' 'that is the escorting sacrifice.' On TsumeDojo you can practice by mate length and by theme, and the streak mode (one miss ends the run) is good for drilling the patterns under a little pressure.