Tsumero vs Hisshi: The Endgame Words to Learn After Tsume Shogi
Hiroki Obara · Developer
Once you are used to tsume shogi, you start to notice two words in game commentary: tsumero and hisshi. Both are endgame terms, and both are used for moves that are not checks. Tsume shogi is a puzzle where you mate with checks only, so these two ideas sit just outside it.
In Does Tsume Shogi Make You Stronger? I listed them briefly as things tsume shogi does not train. In this post I explain the difference using one position.
What the words mean
The Japanese encyclopedia Nipponica, in its entry on shogi terms (in Japanese), describes hisshi as giving a tsumero that the king has no way to defend against, where tsumero means a state in which the opponent’s king will be mated next turn.
That explanation contains the whole relationship between the two words.
- Tsumero: a state where, if the opponent does nothing, there is a mate on your next turn. In other words, you are telling the opponent, “defend, or you get mated.”
- Hisshi: a tsumero that cannot be stopped, however the opponent defends.
So every hisshi is a tsumero, but not every tsumero is a hisshi. A tsumero can be lifted by the right defence. A hisshi cannot.
How they connect to tsume shogi
In tsume shogi you mate with a series of checks. Every move by the attacker is a check.
Tsumero and hisshi come one step before that. You play a move that is not a check, and set up a position where a tsume problem exists on your next turn. Because the opponent is not in check, they are free to choose any move, not just a king move: dropping a piece to guard an escape square, or capturing one of your attackers. Whether the mate survives all of that is what separates tsumero from hisshi.
It can help to think of a tsumero as “a position where a tsume problem will be set on the next move.” To play a tsumero, you need to see the tsume problem that follows the opponent’s defence. That is why being able to solve tsume shogi is the foundation for finding tsumero and hisshi.
Comparing in one position
Here is the example. Squares are written the Japanese way: 2一 means file 2, rank 1, and rank 1 is the defender’s back rank. Following the convention of hisshi problems, the attacker’s king is ignored, and the defender holds in hand every piece not on the board or in the attacker’s hand.
Position: Defender’s king on 2一. Attacker’s bishop on 2二. Attacker has two golds in hand. Attacker to move.
There is no mate by a series of checks here. The bishop sits right in front of the king, but nothing protects it. So we look at moves that are not checks.
A tsumero: gold to 3三
First, drop a gold on 3三. It is not a check.
The gold on 3三 protects the bishop on 2二 and covers 3二. The bishop’s diagonals cover 1一 and 3一. The only square the king can move to is 1二.
If the defender now does nothing, a gold drop on 1一 is mate. The gold on 1一 is protected by the bishop, so the king cannot take it. 1二 is covered by that gold, and 3二 by the gold on 3三. So gold to 3三 is a tsumero.
But it is not hisshi. The defender can drop any piece on 1一 and stop the gold drop there. Dropping a rook on the 1-file to guard 1一 also works. A tsumero is lifted as soon as there is even one defence.
A hisshi: gold to 2三
Next, drop the gold on 2三 instead. This is not a check either.
The gold on 2三 protects the bishop and covers 1二 and 3二. The bishop covers 1一 and 3一. 2二 is occupied by the bishop, and since the gold protects it, the king cannot take it. The king cannot move at all.
Next turn, a gold drop on any of 1一, 3一, 1二 or 3二 is mate. Each of those golds is protected by the bishop or by the other gold, so the king cannot capture it. There are four mating squares, and the defender cannot guard all of them in one move. After every move the defender can make, there is a mate in one. That is hisshi.
The only difference between gold to 3三 and gold to 2三 is where one gold goes. Even so, leaving the king one escape square or closing all of them decides whether a defence exists. Turning a tsumero into a hisshi means removing the opponent’s defences one by one.
Tsumero in real games
In a real game you have a king too. A player facing a tsumero can defend, but can also counterattack by giving check. A check must be answered, so the player who set up the tsumero can end up mated while replying to those checks.
So in the endgame it matters just as much to ask “is there a tsumero on my king?” as “is there one on my opponent’s?” When the opponent’s move is not a check, it is easy to relax. But a quiet move is very often the preparation for mate next turn. When your opponent plays a move that is not a check, check once whether it has created a mate against your king. That alone can cut down the losses where you are mated without noticing.
How to practise
For hisshi, there are problem books in a format called hisshi problems. As in tsume shogi, a position is shown, and you look for the move that gives hisshi, including moves that are not checks. Once you are used to tsume shogi, they are one possible next step.
Shogi365 is a tsume shogi app with 1,000 puzzles each of 3-, 5-, 7- and 9-move tsume. Moves that are not checks cannot be played, so it is not a tool for practising tsumero or hisshi. What it does train is the part that comes after a tsumero: reading the mate that follows. Any check can be played, right or wrong, and the defender replies automatically. After solving, Review lets you step through the line one move at a time.
The mating shapes are in Basic Checkmate Shapes in Shogi, and the rules of tsume shogi are in Tsume Shogi for Beginners.
