A gold and a silver together are the wall of every castle, and a gold or silver in hand is the piece that finishes most attacks. The gold’s move is the one to know first: one step everywhere but diagonally back. The silver is its complement, forward and diagonally back but not sideways. Their techniques come from those two shapes.
The splitting silver割り打ちの銀 wariuchi no gin
What. A silver dropped diagonally behind two enemy pieces that stand on a rank with one empty square between them, attacking both.
Why. The silver attacks both with its two backward diagonals. A gold cannot move diagonally backwards and a rook never moves diagonally, so neither can take it, and only one of them can step away.
When. Two golds, or a rook and a gold, on one rank with an empty square between them, and the square behind that gap empty for the silver.
From a real game: S*4a, behind the rook on 5b and the gold on 3b, where neither can take it. White guards both with a silver on 4c, and Black still takes the rook for the silver.
The silver at the belly腹銀 hara-gin
What. A silver dropped on the square beside the king, protected from behind.
Why. From there it covers the square in front of the king and two of the squares behind it, which are the ones the king needs to escape. The king cannot take it, and the mate usually follows with a gold.
When. When the king is on the second rank and the square beside it can be guarded, often by your dragon or rook on the same file behind it. The proverb is “drop the silver at the king’s belly”.
From a real game. S*8b, beside the king on 9b and guarded by the knight on 7d. The king cannot take it, and it covers the king’s last free squares, 8a and 9c; it also attacks the rook on 7a, which it takes on Black’s second move after it.
The gold on the head頭金 atama-kin
What. A gold dropped on the square directly in front of the king, with a piece behind it so the king cannot take.
Why. The gold covers every square in front of and beside the king. If the squares behind are blocked or covered, it is mate; it ends more real games than any other move.
When. Whenever your pawn or another piece stands two squares in front of the king and the king’s back is against something. The full set of mating shapes is on the mating patterns page.
G*5b, backed by the pawn. Every square around the king is covered; it is mate.
The sending sacrifice送りの手筋 okuri no tesuji
What. A gold or silver dropped next to the king as a sacrifice, so that the capture moves the king onto the square where your mate works.
Why. You cannot move the enemy king. But you can make it move, by giving it a piece it must take. The square it lands on is chosen by you.
When. When the king is one square away from a shape you know, most often a dragon two squares away in a straight line. A worked example is on the mating patterns page.
The plover silver銀は千鳥に使え gin wa chidori ni tsukae
What. Using a silver on its diagonals, forward and back, zigzagging like a plover running on the beach, rather than straight ahead.
Why. A silver can step back only diagonally. After a diagonal step it can always return to the square it came from; after a straight step it cannot, so a silver that goes straight ahead has committed itself.
When. Whenever a silver is walking toward the fight. Straight ahead only when the square in front is where it must end up.
Lure the gold diagonally金は斜めに誘え kin wa naname ni sasoe
What. A technique against a defending gold: attack it so that its natural capture or retreat is a diagonal step forward, which is the direction it cannot come back from.
Why. A gold that has stepped diagonally forward cannot return by the same route, since the only moves it lacks are the two diagonal steps back. Lured one square out of the castle, it stays out.
When. When a gold is the key defender and a pawn or a knight can be offered to it on a forward diagonal.
See them in your own games.
The app’s review marks the moment a game turned and says what was better. Often the better move is one of these.