From: R J Hare FESTIVAL ED AC UK> Date: 21 jan 1993 Subject: tsume Here for your delectation is the first draft of what will (I hope) eventually become a file on the archive. It brings together information about tsume and the collected problems and solutions from Reijers first 7 weeks of posting tsume to the board. Roger Hare. ________________________ Tsume ----- Tsume are to Shogi what mating problems are to European chess - there are a few differences but it would not be stretching a point too far to describe tsume as 'shogi mating problems'. Tsume are an important part of Shogi, particularly if you can't find opponents very often - they allow you to 'practice' on your own. The rules for tsume are really quite simple - here they are: 1) The attacking side is always black, the defending side white 2) Black has only the pieces shown on the board, plus those in hand. White is deemed to have all other pieces available for dropping. 3) As Black is attacking, the black king is not shown on the board. 4) Black has first move, and all moves must be check. White may defend by moving the king, taking the checking piece, or interposing a piece, either by a normal move or a drop. 5) The 'best' move must always be made by each side. What this means is that black must always make the move which will lead to the shortest exchange, of moves before mating and white must make that move which delays the mate for as long as possible. 6) Moves are numbered in the Japanese fashion, ie: blacks first move is 1, whites first move is 2, etc. 7) Tsume are usually displayed as taking place at the 'upper right hand corner' of the board. Ascii Board representations are painful, so I won't bother with them here, but will present a problem in a standard notation which is described in more detail below. Black: +B3d, P2e In hand: R White: K1c, B2b, G1e, L1a That is, Black has a promoted bishop on 3d a pawn on 2e and a rook in hand. White has the king at 1c, a bishop at2b, a gold at 1e and a lance at 1a (and in hand all pieces not shown except for the black king). Here is the solution: R*1b Lx1b +B2d Set the problem up on your board and play through the solution. This should give you a little feel for what tsume are all about. Remember, every move by black must be a check. Now, here are a few more notes on tsume. They repeat (far more eloquently) much of what I have said above and were contributed by Reijer Grimbergen who has also been posting the tsume problems on the board. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- TSUME SHOGI Solving tsume shogi is a special skill that is neglected by a lot of Shogi players. This is unfortunate, since tsume shogi sharpens your endgame and because Shogi has drops, the endgame and especially mating the enemy king can turn a game completely around. Countless are the games I won starting from a bad position and I think I have my tsume shogi to thank for that. But even more important, solving tsume shogi is lots of fun. I love puzzles and that is exactly what tsume shogi is about. Some of my fellow players call me crazy but one of my greatest joys in Shogi is solving a very hard tsume problem after hours of puzzling, frustrated to the bone, but refusing to give up and look at the solution. Of course you don't have to get so obsessive about it, but tsume shogi is an essential part of studying the game. The rules of tsume shogi: Tsume shogi problems are given by means of a diagram, showing the position from which you have to mate the king by consecutive checks. You are always black and only the enemy (white) king is shown (since you are about to mate your opponent without giving him a chance to mate, your own king is not important - although there are some special kinds of tsume problems that have both kings on the board-) alongside the defending pieces and the pieces you can use to mate (both on the board and in hand). All pieces not shown are considered to be in your opponent's hand and can be dropped in defence. Often the number of moves is given in Japanese count (blacks first move counted as 1, white's answer as 2, blacks second move as 3, white's answer as 4 and so on) but this is not necessary. It is important to note that a useless defensive move (like dropping a piece between king and checking piece that can be taken without changing the mate) is not counted as a move. This is neither a design nor a qualification fault but a basic rule of tsume shogi (but be careful, in some of the more tricky problems dropping a piece can change the mate according to the piece dropped). How to solve tsume shogi problems: The basic idea is to solve tsume shogi problems without moving the pieces, just like in a game situation. Some players prefer to put the position on a board but I trained myself to solve the problem directly from the book or magazine so that tsume shogi is useful way of killing time in train, car or plane. Roughly said, problems with more moves are more difficult than problems with fewer moves. Although this is not always true , it is easy to find books working according this principal starting with simple problems and moving up to more difficult ones. As you solve them your Tsume Shogi skill progresses as you move through the book. I started tsume shogi with a book by Kato, containing 180 tsume problems (unfortunately this book is now out of print). At the start I had a very difficult time, but going through the book I was amazed at the beautiful themes used in tsume and I began to like it more and more. Shortly after finishing this book I became sho-dan, winning more than one game in a close endgame fight. Reijer Grimbergen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, here are the collected tsume which have been contributed so far by Reijer. I have been very naughty and separated them out into 3- 5- and 7- move problems. Tsume are not usually differentiated this way, but for a novice like myself, it certainly makes life easier if I know that I have a reasonable chance of solving a problem in less than a geological time span - I guess that might be true for other folks reading this file also: The notation is as usual, 1a is the square at the top right, 2a is the second square along the top row (rank) moving leftwards from 1a, etc. K=king, G=gold general, S=silver general, R=rook, B=bishop, N=knight, L=lance, P=pawn. x indicates capture, * a drop, a + at the end of a move means the piece concerned promotes on that move, an = that the piece does not promote (movinga piece without promoting is sometimes advantageous). A + preceding a piece means that the piece is already promoted. In the solutions, note that when X is used as a piece name in a drop, this means that *any* piece may be dropped at that point. 3 Move Problems 1. Black:+B3d, +B1c In hand: G@* White: K2a, +R3c, L1a@* 2. Black: R2b B1e In hand: G White: K1c, B4d, G2a 3. Black: R4d, +B4c, +P2a In hand: G White: K2c, G3c, S4b, L1b, P4a 4. Black: R2b, G3e, S3a, L2e In hand: None White: K3c, G4c, S1d, P4e 5. Black: R5c, +P6c, P4c In hand: G White: K4a, S5a 6. Black: +R4d, S1b, +P1a, P2d In hand: None White: K2b, +R3c, S1c, L3a 7. Black: B5b, S3c, S2b In hand: G White: K2c, R1d, P4b, P1b 8. Black: +R5b, +B3a, S1d, P4c In hand: None White: K3c, P5d, P4d, P3d, P2a 9. Black: +B4d, S4c, P1f In hand: G White: K2c, +B2a, L1d, P4a, P1c 10. Black: +R6c, +R5a, +P5b In hand: None White: K3b, B2c, G2d, P3d 11. Black: +R4b, +B4a, N2e In hand: None White: K2a, B1d, G3b, S4c, L1a 12. Black: +R4b, R3a, L1d, P2e In hand: None White: K2c, G2b, S4a, S3d 13. Black: R5b, B1c, S4b, S1b, P5c, P1d In hand: None White: K3b, N3a, P5d, P3c 5 Move Problems 1. Black: B3c, B3b, P2e In hand: 2S White: K1c, R2a, S2c, P1b 2. Black: R2e, N1c In hand: R, B White: K1b, B3d, S3b, S3e 3. Black: +B2a, B2b, S3a In hand: R White: K2c, G1d, S4b, L1a, P3d, P2d 4. Black: +B2a, +P3a, P2e, P1f In hand: R, B White: K2c, G3d, G3c, L1a, L3b, P1c 5. Black: +R6d, +B2a In hand: B White: K4b, S2c, S4a, P4c, P3d, P2d 6. Black: +R6b, +P6a, +P1c In hand: G White: K4a, B3c, P5c, P4c, P3b 7. Black: +R3a, B4d, N2f In hand: G White: K2d, +R2c, B4a, +P1f 8. Black: R1a, +B1e In hand: S, N White: K2b, B2a, S3b, L3a 9. Black: R3b, +B4b, B2b, S2f, +P1a In hand: None White: K1d, G2c, +P1f 10. Black: +B3g, +P3c, P1f In hand: R White: K2e, R2b, N3a, N1c, L3e 11. Black: +R4e, R3d, +P5a, P2f In hand: S White: K3b, N2a, L1a, P3c, P1c 12. Black: R4a, B2a, S1c, P4e In hand: S White: K2c, B1a, G3c, N2e, P1d 13. Black: +B4c, S4a, +P1b, P4d, P2e In hand: R White: K2c, R4b, B2d, L3a, P3d, P1d 14. Black: R2b, B1d, S3a, N1c In hand: G White: K3c, G1b, P4d, P2e (K1a G*2a; Kx1c G*1d) G*3c 7 Move Problems 1. Black: +R4d, R3a, P3b In hand: G, L White: K1a, B4b, N2a, P1c 2. Black: R1a, B3a, S5c In hand: B White: K3b, G4a, S2b, P3c, P2c 3. Black: +R4a, B4c, S3a, P3e, P2e, P1e In hand: None White: K2c, G3c 4. Black: N3e, P1f In hand: R, G, S White: K3b, L2a, +P2e, P3d, P2c 5. Black: +R2a, R1d, B1e, S4c In hand: None White: K2c, B2b, G3b, L3a, P1a 6. Black: B2d, P2g, P3e In hand: R, G White: K2c, R1e, L1a 7. Black: R3b, B3a, P2f In hand: 2G White: K2d, G4c, G4e, S1d, P1e 8. Black: B4b, G4d, N3d In hand: R, G White: K1c, G1d, S4a, N2a 9. Black: +B3b, L3e, L2f In hand: B, P White: K1c, G2c, G1b, P3c, P1e 10. Black: R2b, P3c In hand: G, S White: K1c, B4e, G3b, G1f 11. Black: B3d, +P4a, +P1c In hand: G, N White: K2a, B2b, N3a, P4c 12, Black: +R3d, B5c In hand: S, N White: K2b, B5d, N3c, L1a, P2c, P1b 13. Black: R3c, R4b, N4e In hand: G White: K2a, B2c, S4a, S2b, P1b 14. Black: B3c, +P2a In hand: R, B White: K2c, G5a, G3d, G4d, P5c, P4c Most, if not all of the above problems were initially published in 'Shogi Sekai' a publication of the NSR (Nihon Shogi Renmai). Thanks are due to them for permission to reproduce the problems in this form, here. Now, here are the solutions: 3 Move Problems 1. +B4c (X3b G*3a) +Rx4c G*2b 2. G*1b Gx1b R2d+ 3. +B3b Gx3b (Kx3b G*2b; K1c R1d) G*2d 4. G3d Gx3d (Kx3d R2d+) R4b+ 5. R5b+ Sx5b (K3a G*3b) G*4b 6. +R4b +Rx4b (X*3b or L3b then S2a+) P2c+ 7. G*3d Rx3d B4a+ 8. +R2b Px2b (Kx4c +R4b) +B4b 9. G*2b +Bx2b (K2d +B3d) +B3d 10. +R3c Kx3c +R4b 11. +B3a Gx3a (K1b N1c+) N3c= 12. R3c+ Gx3c (Kx1d +R2d) R1b+ 13. B2b+ Kx2b (K4c +Bx3c) S4a= 5 Move Problems 1. S*2b Rx2b B2d+ Sx2d S*1d 2. R*1a Kx1a B*3c Sx3c R2a+ 3. R*4c Sx4c (X*3c Bx3c+ Sx3c +B2b) B3c+ Kx3c +B2b 4. B*1b Lx1b (K1d R*1e) +B2b Kx2b R*2a 5. B*5c K3c B4d+ Px4d +R5c 6. +P5a K3a +R4b Kx4b (K2a G*1b) G*4a 7. G*2e K1c (Kx2e +R3e) G1d +Rx1d +R2b 8. S*1c Kx1a (Kx1c +B2d) +B3c Sx3c N*2c 9. +B2d Gx2d (Kx2d R3e+ K1d +R2e) B1c+ Kx1c R1b+ 10. R*2f K1d R2d Kx2d (or Rx2d) +B1e 11. S*2c Kx2c R2d Kx2d (K1b +R4b; K3b +R4a) +R2e 12. S*2d K3d (Gx2d R3c+ X*3c B1b+) R4c+ Gx4c B*1b+ 13. S3b= Rx3b (Kx1b +Bx3d K2b R*1b; Lx3b R*2b) +B3c Kx3c (Rx3c R*2b; Bx2c R*1c) R*4c 14. S4b= Kx2b (K4c G*5c K3d Rx2e+; K3d Rx2e+ K4c G*5c) B3b+ Kx3b (K1a G*2a; Kx1c G*1d) G*3c 7 Move Problems 1. G*2b Kx2b L*2c Kx2c Rx2a+ X*2b N*3e 2. B*2a Kx3a B3b+ Kx3b Rx4a+ Kx4a G*4b 3. +R3b Gx3b B3d+ K1c P1d Kx1d +B2d 4. R*1b L2b (K3c G*4c K2d R1e+; X*1b G*4c K3/4a S*4b) S*3c Kx3c G*4c K2d R1e+ 5. R1b+ Px1b +Rx3b K1d (Lx3b G*2d) +R2c Kx2c (Kx1e G*2f) G*2d 6. R*3c K1d (Kx2d R3d+ K2e G*2f; K1b/K2b G*2c K2a R3b+) B1c+ Lx1c G*2d Kx2d R3d+ 7. G*2c Kx2c (Sx2c G*2e) G*3c K2d (Gx3c B2b+ K2d/K3d Rx3c+) B1c+ Kx1c R2b+ 8. G*2c Kx2c B3c+ Nx3c R*2a K3b (or K1b) R2b+ 9. B*2d Gx2d (K1d +Bx2c Kx2c Lx3c+ K1d G*2e) P*1d Gx1d +Bx1d Kx1d G*2d 10. S*2d K1d (Kx2b Px3b+ Kx3b G*3c and mate) S1e K1c (Gx1e G*2d) G*1b Bx1b R2d+ 11. N*3c Bx3c (K3b G*4b; K1a +P1b) B1b+ K3b +B2c Nx2c G*3a 12. S*3a K1c (K2a +Rx2c; K3b B4b+ K2a +Rx2c) N*2e Nx2e S2b= Kx2b B3a+ 13. R3a+ Kx3a (Sx3a N3c= K1a G*2a) Rx2b+ Kx2b S*3c K1c G*2d 14. B*1d Kx1d (Kx3c R*2c K4b R2b+) R*1e K2c R1b+ Kx3c (Kx1b B2b+) +R3b If you want to see more tsume, there are some in the book 'Shogi for Beginners' by John Fairbairn (caution - I think there may be one or two misprints here!), and Reijer is posting tsume on a weekly basis on the list. That's all for now. If you have any comments on this file, please address them to the person responsible: Roger Hare ercn72 festival edinburgh ac uk