How to Choose Your First Tsume Shogi Book: Move Count, Number of Problems, Explanations
Hiroki Obara · Developer
Tsume shogi, shogi mating problems, has a long tradition of small problem books. In Japan a bookshop’s shogi shelf is mostly made of them, and the covers carry big numbers like “1-move”, “3-move” and “5-move”. Most of these books are in Japanese. Even so, the diagrams can be read with very little Japanese: the board is the same everywhere, and you only need the numerals and the names of the pieces.
This post is not a list of recommended titles. It is about what to look at when you pick one up, or when you browse the preview pages of an online shop. I compared books with apps and websites in Shogi365 vs other ways to solve tsume shogi, so here I stay with how to choose between books.
1. Move count: decide this first
Almost every tsume shogi book is organised by move count. A whole book of 3-move problems, a whole book of 5-move problems, and so on. The move count is usually on the cover or in the title.
The move count matters a great deal. A book at the wrong level will not hold you, however good it is otherwise. Too easy and it gets boring. Too hard and you stop at the first problem.
A rough guide:
- You have just learned how the pieces move: 1-move problems. This is practice at seeing a check that is already mate.
- You can mostly see 1-move mates: 3-move problems.
- You can get through a 3-move book with little trouble: 5-move problems.
If you are unsure, choose the level below. An easy book is finished quickly, and finishing a book is itself what carries you to the next one. Whether to start with 1-move or 3-move problems is in Should You Start with 1-Move Tsume?.
2. Number of problems: can you finish it?
Books at the same move count hold different numbers of problems. More problems can look like better value, but for the first book another question is whether you will reach the end.
Tsume shogi works partly by repetition. When you solve a whole book from start to finish, you begin to notice the same techniques coming back. A book left halfway gives you half of that. Decide how many problems you will solve a day, divide the number of problems by it, and you know how many days the book will take. For a first book, something you can finish in about a month is one guide.
3. Depth of explanations: what it says when you are wrong
This is where books differ most.
A book with thin explanations gives only the solution: the moves in order, with a line or two of comment. A book with thick explanations also shows the first move you are tempted to play and why it does not mate.
For the first book, there is a case for thick explanations. What you learn most from tsume shogi is not the solution itself but why the other moves fail. If your move was different from the answer and the book does not say what was wrong with it, you will think of the same move the next time you see the shape.
If you can preview the book, look at the answer pages, not the problem pages. That is where you can tell whether the explanations make sense to you.
4. Format and diagrams: where you will solve
Some tsume books fit in a pocket and some are large. A small book suits a train or a waiting room. A large one suits a desk, with a board beside it. Neither is right in itself. It depends on where you will solve.
The diagrams are worth checking too. How many problems are on a page, whether the board is big enough, whether the pieces in hand are easy to read. Many small books put one problem on a page with the answer on the back, so you turn the page to check. If the answer is on the same spread, your eye may catch it by accident. It is worth seeing where the answers are printed.
5. Game-like problems or composed problems
Some tsume problems look like positions from real games: a broken castle, attacking pieces where they would really be. Others are composed as works of art, often with few pieces on the board and surprising sacrifices or elegant lines.
If your goal is to get better at endgames, one option is to start with a book of game-like problems. The beauty of composed problems is said to be easier to enjoy once you know a few techniques. The cover or the foreword usually tells you which kind a book is.
The second book
After the first book, there are two ways to go: another book at the same move count, or one step up.
One guide is how many problems you solved on your own. If you solved nearly all of them, go up a step. If you solved about half, do another book at the same level. Different authors bring slightly different shapes, so you meet the same techniques from another angle.
There is a third option: solve the first book again from the beginning. You may remember some answers the second time, and that is fine. Seeing a shape and knowing the move straight away is one of the things tsume shogi is meant to give you.
Books and apps
A book makes you read the line in your head without moving any pieces. You have to picture the position after the second and third moves yourself. That is exactly the reading you need in a game.
An app lets you play the move you thought of and see how the king escapes. In a book, you only find out where the king went after a wrong move if the explanation tells you.
If you use both, one way is to read in the book and then set up the shapes you did not understand in an app or on a board. Why tsume shogi makes you stronger is in Does Tsume Shogi Make You Stronger?, and the finer rules are in Tsume shogi detailed rules.
When you want to check on the board
Shogi365 is a tsume shogi app with 1,000 puzzles each of 3-, 5-, 7- and 9-move tsume. Any check can be played, right or wrong, and the defender replies automatically, so you can see on the board what happens after a wrong move, which a book cannot show. If there is no mate within the move count, it is a failure, and you can retry up to three times. After solving, Review lets you step through the line one move at a time. It also suits people who have finished their 3-move or 5-move books and are looking for more problems. All puzzles are free, and a one-time purchase removes the ads.
