The shapes a checkmate takes.

A gold played to the square the king faces covers every square it could run to. This is the first mate anyone learns and the one that ends most real games.

Look for it whenever the king has a pawn or a piece of yours directly in front of it and nothing of its own beside it. The gold on the head takes the three squares in front of the king and the two beside it; the piece behind the gold keeps the king from taking it. In real games this is how most attacks end, often with a pawn on the head first (the “head pawn”) and the gold dropped on the square the pawn vacates.

The problem: mate in one.

Solution

▲G*2b

The same gold played from the side instead. It works when the king is already held against an edge or its own pieces.

The belly gold is the head gold turned sideways. A king on the edge, or with its own piece behind it, cannot use the squares the gold does not cover, so a gold beside the king does the work. It is the standard finish against a king that has run along the back rank.

The problem: mate in one.

Solution

▲G*8c

A gold dropped behind the king, cutting off the retreat. Rarer than the other two, and the one beginners overlook because they only look forward.

The gold from behind covers the squares the king would retreat to, and forward pieces cover the rest. It appears when the king has come forward, out of its castle, and its own men are still behind it; beginners miss it because they only look at the squares in front of the king.

The problem: mate in three.

Solution

▲B*7b △K-8b ▲G*8a

The dragon stands one square from the king in a straight line. Anything the defender puts between them is frozen where it stands, and the squares around the king stop being safe.

The dragon one square away is the most useful endgame shape in the game. Anything the defender drops between them is pinned to the king; the king cannot step toward the dragon; and the dragon covers every square on its own rank and file. With a single gold or silver in hand the mate usually follows. If you remember one shape from this page, remember this one.

The problem: mate in five.

Solution

▲S*2d △K-1d ▲S*1e △K-2e ▲+R-3e △K-1f ▲+R-2f

You give a piece next to the king knowing it must be taken. The capture drags the king one square toward your dragon, into the form the rest of the mate needs.

Sending, as in sending the king somewhere. You drop a piece next to the king that it has to take, and the capture puts the king on the square where the rest of the mate works, most often in line with a dragon. It looks like a sacrifice and is really a move that moves the king for you.

The problem: mate in three.

Solution

▲G*2b △Kx2b ▲+R-2c

A knight dropped on the square a defending gold faces. The gold is the one piece that cannot take straight ahead of itself, so the knight sits there untouchable.

A gold cannot move straight backward diagonally, and it also cannot capture a piece sitting directly in front of it: its forward move goes to that square, but a knight there is protected from the gold only in the sense that a knight jumps from behind. The point of the pattern is that the knight attacks the two squares behind the gold, where the king usually is, and the gold cannot answer it.

The problem: mate in three.

Solution

▲N*3c △K-3a ▲G*4a

The king is walled in by its own pieces and has nowhere to go. This is the one mating pattern that carries over cleanly from chess, so it is the fastest thing to teach a chess player.

The one mating pattern chess players know: the king cannot move because its own pieces surround it, so a single check with nothing to capture the checker is mate. In shogi it happens mostly in castles, where the generals that protected the king become its walls, and the piece that gives the mate is often a knight or a dropped pawn.

The problem: mate in one.

Solution

▲N*2c