Reading 7-Move and 9-Move Tsume Shogi Without Getting Lost
Hiroki Obara · Developer
You can solve 3-move problems, and most 5-move problems too. Then you move up to 7-move problems, and halfway through a line you lose track of where you are. Many people who keep solving tsume shogi hit this step at some point.
This post covers why reading breaks down at 7 and 9 moves, and how to read so that a long line stays in your head. The basic conventions of tsume shogi are in The Finer Rules of Tsume Shogi, and the link between problem length and playing strength is in Shogi Ranks and Tsume Length. Here I stick to how to read.
Why 7 moves suddenly feels harder
There are three reasons.
First, the position drifts far from the starting one. In a 3-move problem, you move two of your own pieces and one defending move in your head. In a 7-move problem, the attacker plays four moves and the defender three. Pieces get captured, captured pieces join your pieces in hand, and the king moves. By the time you think about move 7, you are looking at a position very different from the one on the board, and you are seeing it only in your head.
Second, the defender’s replies branch. If the defender has two replies at just one point, everything after that is two lines to read. When that happens two or three times in a line, the reading multiplies.
Third, interpositions. In tsume shogi, the defender can use every piece not on the board to block. In longer problems, you give check from a distance with a rook or bishop more often, and which piece the defender drops in between changes everything that follows.
A 3-move or 5-move problem is usually settled by one tesuji. From 7 moves on, two or three tesuji are chained together. That is a big difference.
Read in sections
If you try to read seven moves as one long line, it falls apart. One approach is splitting the line into sections.
First, ask: “Where do I need to bring the king so that it becomes a 3-move mate from there?” For example, if the king drops to the bottom rank, a gold-on-the-head mate comes into view. If it is pushed to the edge, a side gold might work. Picture that midway position first.
Then work out how to get there. Four moves from the start to the midway position, then three moves from there. Each section is shorter than a 5-move problem. It helps to think of it as linking short lines correctly, rather than reading one long line.
A 9-move problem just adds one more section. Picture two midway positions, and link them three moves at a time.
Work back from the mating shape
When you look for a midway target, it helps to start from the final mating shape.
The last move of a tsume shogi problem is often one of the basic shapes, such as gold on the head, side or tail. Ask which shape you could build with your pieces in hand and on the board. If you have a gold, you probably want a gold-on-the-head mate somewhere. Once you decide that, the moves that drive the king toward that shape become your candidates, and the order of reading falls into place. The basic shapes are in Basic Checkmate Shapes in Shogi.
The shogi saying “keep the gold for the finish” is a good guide here. Once you know which piece you want to finish with, you also know which pieces to give up along the way. I wrote about this in Basic Tsume Shogi Tesuji.
Say the moves in notation
The position in your head may go blurry because you are trying to hold the line only as a picture. So say each move in notation: “▲2三銀, △同玉, ▲3二角, △同玉”, one move at a time, out loud or in words in your head.
Putting it into words lets you check two things. One is how many moves you have read. The other is what you have in hand. Pieces in hand are easy to lose track of. It happens a lot that you plan to drop a gold on move 7, but you already used that gold on move 3. Each time you say the line, say your pieces in hand again too. How to read the notation is in How to Read Tsume Shogi Solutions.
Pick the defender’s most stubborn reply
Another reason long lines fall apart is choosing the defender’s replies to suit yourself. You read a line where the king captures and gets mated, feel relieved, and miss the move where the king runs.
In tsume shogi, the defender chooses the reply that lasts longest. So after each attacking move, list every reply and check the most annoying one first. Capturing, running, interposing. Where an interposition is possible, check that you can mate whichever piece is dropped.
You don’t have to read every reply to the same depth. Check the replies that lose quickly, and read the most stubborn one deeply. This cuts down how much you read.
When to move from 5 to 7
There is no set number of problems. One guide is how you solve, not how many.
When you can often read a 5-move problem from the first move to mate without setting it up on a board, and without hesitating, you are ready for 7 moves. If you still need to look back at the board partway through a 5-move problem, more practice holding lines at 5 moves will get you there faster.
If 7-move problems keep falling apart, go back to 5. Going back and forth is not a step backward. It is a normal way to progress.
When you feel like giving up
Longer problems take longer to solve. If you think for half an hour and get nowhere, it is easy to feel this isn’t for you.
Here are three things to try.
Set it up on a board. Reading only in your head is the goal, but early on with 7-move problems, it is fine to lay out the midway positions on a board or on paper. Afterward, read the whole line again in your head, and that is good practice.
Stop when your reading stops. When you are going round in circles, it is fine to look at the answer. How long to think before looking is in How Long Should You Think About a Tsume Shogi Problem.
One problem a day is enough. One long problem solved properly is real practice. At 7 moves, reading one problem correctly to the end matters more than doing many.
7-move and 9-move problems in Shogi365
Shogi365 is a tsume shogi app with four levels: Easy is 3-move mates, Medium 5-move, Hard 7-move and Expert 9-move, with 1,000 problems each.
Every problem has a single first move and no alternative mates. The defender can use every piece not on the board to block. The move count is the actual count including interpositions, and problems with futile interpositions that the attacker simply recaptures are not included, so every problem mates in the number of moves shown.
You can play any check, right or wrong, and the defender answers automatically with the reply that lasts longest. Moves that are not checks cannot be played. If you don’t mate within the move count, the attempt fails, and you have three retries. When your reading breaks down partway through a long line, you can watch the defender’s replies on the board and see where you went wrong.
A hint, used at any point in the line, lights up the piece and the square for the next correct move. You still make the move yourself. If you have read part of a 7-move line, one option is to use it once at the point where you got stuck, then read the rest again yourself. After solving, Review lets you step back and forward one move at a time, so you can say the line in notation again.
The Daily Challenge, one problem a day, is drawn from the 3-, 5- and 7-move problems, never 9-move. For 9-move problems, tap New Puzzle and choose Expert.
All problems are free to solve. The app shows ads, and a one-time Remove Ads purchase turns them off. How to use the app is in Getting Started with Shogi365.
