Tesuji · 金銀の手筋
The generals defend by standing still and attack by stepping into squares nobody else can hold. Their techniques are about where they land.
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.
What. A silver dropped diagonally behind two enemy pieces that stand one square apart on a rank, attacking both.
Why. The silver’s two forward diagonals make it a fork piece from below. Neither piece can defend the other, and a silver is cheap enough to risk.
When. A rook and a gold, or two golds, side by side with a gap between them on the second rank. The rook is usually the one that has to run, and the gold falls.
What. A silver dropped on the square beside the king, protected from behind.
Why. From there it covers the squares diagonally in front of and behind the king, 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 with your dragon or rook on the same file behind the drop square. The proverb is “drop the silver at the king’s belly”.
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.
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.
What. Moving a silver forward on one diagonal and then the other, zigzagging like a plover running on the beach.
Why. A silver cannot step sideways, so a silver that goes straight ahead has committed itself. One that zigzags advances just as fast and keeps a retreat square on both sides.
When. Whenever a silver is walking toward the fight. Straight ahead only when the square in front is where it must end up.
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 its one move it lacks is the diagonal step 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.
The app’s review marks the moment a game turned and says what was better. Often the better move is one of these.