"Tsumeshogi Hakubutsukan" is Strategic Puzzles Museum on the Internet. It contains lots of classic tsumeshogi masterpieces created in 19 century or before. All the problems there are available to replay on Katsuda Shogiban. I would like to introduce two masterpieces created by Kanju Ito(1719 - 1760) in that museum. The first one is #99 called "Kemuritsume" and the other is #100 called "Kotobuki" in Shogi Zukou published in 1755.
In #99, there are 39 pieces on the board at first. And almost all the pieces go away from the board as if the smoke goes away(Kemuri means smoke) and only three pieces will be left there in the end. In #100, the move length from the start to the end to solve it is in 611 moves which used to be the longest for two hundred years. I do not recommend you to try to solve them, Just enjoy replaying them. I'm sure you will be amazed at the talent of the creator.
I would like to introduce a good shogi site with replayable board(Kifu for Java) to readers. The site is called "Chidogi Gin No Senpo Zukan" which has currently 170 page contents with replayable board about various shogi openings written by Chidorigin. He will continue to add the contents further. Although it is written in Japanese, you can learn a lot replaying a specific opening on the replayable board there. I have made useful link to each page of the great contents for your convenience. Please give it a try the following my bookmark to use the Replayable Shogi Senpo encyclopedia. I recommendto see the linked page with setting your browser encode as Japanese before clicking.
The author of this site is a person who was born in Japan and he seems to live in US now. The site has pages about Pawn advantage, Value of pieces, Shogi Strategies, Tsumi & Hisshi and so on.
I started a new blog named "Shogi Kifu by Great Pairing". The first entry is the link collection of the games played by Kozo Masuda and Yasuharu Oyama.
Noburo Mori(7 dan, upgraded on April 1, 2007) is a professional shogi player and famous as a tsumeshogi creator as well. He publishes his own created tsumeshogi problems every day in the following blogs;
From No.684 onwards, replayable solution for the previous day's problem is available.
Adopting replayable board makes you approach these problems more easily. I am sure solving these problems every day will give you much improvement in your shogi strength.
Here is one advice. If you try to read through the tsume line but fails to solve it within 5 minutes, then replay the answer. It's no problem. Taking a time to try to solve tsume problems regularly is important. You do not have to stick to solve each problem by yourself. Even some professional players do the similar things. So don't hesitate to replay the answers without feeling ashamed.
The two links above was already introduced in the entry titled "Tsume problems to improve your endgame skill" on December 14 2006. You can refer to the article for other tsumeshogi resources in Japanese.
棋譜でーたべーす(Kifu database) is a useful website for shogi intermediate or dan players. However, the problem is that it is written in Japanese for Japanese readers. So I have started to a new blog to help you utilize it for the purpose of learning and/or appreciating the art of shogi. If you are interested, please visit the blog as below;
If you have some specific openings that I should pick up, please let me know through comment field of this entry, though I'll be concentrate on Gokigen Nakabisha(Central Rook) for a while except for newly added kifu updates.
Here is another example to show the importance of Rook Pawn exchange. In this case, Sente(black) will trade his Rook Pawn, too. Gote(white)'s moves are somewhat odd and not be the best again in order to clearly show the effect of Rook Pawn trade. However, if Gote is a novice and have knowledge of chess opening, he may play like this with the intention of trying to control the center field in the beginning. You can beat him easily learning this tip.
Suppose you are Sente player. You advance your Rook Pawn from 2g to 2e quickly. Gote's 2. P-5d is not a very bad move if he intents to transfer his Rook to the 5th file. However, the next 4. P-6d is a bad move. He should have played 4. P-3d instead of 4. P-6d. You are going to exchange your Rook Pawn by 5. P-2d.
Diagram 2
Line to Diagram 2 from 1 - 5.P-2d 6. Px2d 7.Rx2d 8. P-3d
You succeed in trading your Rook Pawn. You have a pawn in hand now. If Gote play 8. G-3b instead of 8. P-3d to prevent you from get your Rook promoted by R-2c+, then you can drop a Pawn in Hand on 2c to kill Gote's Bishop. It will be a big material advantage to gain a Bishop for a pawn. This is why Gote opens his Bishop diagonal line by 8. P-3d to save his Bihsop. What do you think the best next move is at the diagram 2? Rook promotion by R-2c+? or any other means?
Diagram 3
Line to Diagram 3 from 2 - 9.R-2h(!) 10. G-3b
Amazing Rook retreat
It's amazing that Rook retreat from 2d to 2h is the best move instead of 9. R-2c+. Yes, you can lead the position by such Rook Promotion. The possible variation after 9. P-2c+ is the following; 10.G-3b 11. +Rx3d 12. B-4d 13. +R-2e 14. S-2b. You gain a Pawn advantage with Rook promotion which is clearly good for you, but it is not satisfactory development from Diagram 2 and there is more tactful line to break through the 2nd file. Please look at Diagram 3 and think about the next move by using your Pawn in hand as a result of Rook Pawn trade just before. P*2c to threat to take Gote's Bishop? It's too direct. Let's see the best move using your Pawn in hand.
Diagram 4
Line to Diagram 4 from 3 - 11. P*2d(!)
Tarefu(Dangling Pawn)
The best move at the Diagram 3 is 11. P*2d. P*2d is called Tarefu(Dangling Pawn) and it is Tesuji(one or one set of standard tactical moves). Tarefu is dropping a pawn on a square where it can be got promoted without taking opponent's piece in the next move. As you know, Pawn will be empowered to the equivalent of Gold after promotion. Since Gold can move by one square to the six direction, Promoted Pawn(Tokin) becomes as six times strong as raw Pawn. Furthermore, if your Promoted Pawn is captured, it lessens the power of the equivalent of Gold and becomes back to just raw Pawn. Look at Diagram 3 4 again. Please think about how many pieces of both Sente and Gote can reach the square of 2c. Two pieces for Sente(Pawn on 2d and Rook on 2h) and one for Gote(Gold on 3b). This means you have numerical superiority by 2-1 on the square of 2c. You can break through the 2nd file with it. Let's see how it is happening.
Diagram 5
Line to Diagram 5 from 4 - 12. S-4b 13.P-2c+
Now you succeed in breaking through the 2nd file with Pawn promotion. Gote cannot help losing material.
Diagram 6
Line to Diagram 6 - 14. Gx2c 15. Rx2c+
Now you can get your Rook promoted gaining a Gold for a Pawn which is big material advantage thanks to Tarefu(Dangling Pawn) of P*2d. Please consider why you can drop a Pawn on 2d. It is because you have exchanged your Rook Pawn and have a pawn in hand. Rook Pawn exchange brings you a substantial power of breaking through the Rook file as you see above.
You can see an example of variation for Gote's King to be mated by clicking the arrow in the right direction under any of the diagrams.
If you are a chess player, you may know Rook in chess can not work immediately after the game starts. On the other hand, Rook in shogi can work instantly. This entry is to show you how to activate your Rook very quickly in the opening. Suppose you are Sente(Black) player In the diagram. You should advance your Rook Pawn from 2g to 2f as the first move. The intention of it is to exchange Rook Pawn on the square of 2d at the head of Gote(White)'s Bishop in a few moves. In shogi, the head of Bishop is much more vulnerable than that in chess since there are lot of lower-valued pieces than Bishop such as Pawn, Lance, Silver and Gold can move straightforward with capturing in shogi. On the other hand, no lower-valued piece than Bishop can move straightforward with capture in chess.
After your P-2f, Gote replies with P-9d. You advanced your Rook Pawn to 2e. Gote responds it with P-9e. (Gote's move looks somewhat peculiar. But this is for the purpose of showing you the effectiveness of Rook Pawn exchange clearly).
From the position in the diagram above, you can exchange your Rook Pawn.
P-2d Px2d Rx2d
Now you see Gote cannot prevent Sente from getting the Rook promoted or dropping a Pawn on 2c. So Gote moves like P8c-8d, then you can drop the pawn on 2c to kill Gote's bishop.
Please confirm Gote's Bishop cannot move anywhere. You already succeed in gaining big material advantage. Rook Pawn exchange is one of the fastest ways to win a game like this if Gote does not know appropriate defense. So why not giving it a try in your games?
Clicking the arrow in the right direction in the diagram, then you will find an example line for you to mate Gote's King.
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