Tsume · 2026-08-26
Mate in 5.
The tsume for 2026-08-26: black to play and checkmate in 5 plies. Every move must be check; the defender holds every spare piece in hand.
Black to play. Mate in 5.Problem e8609d4a · tap a piece, then a square; drops from the hand below the board.
Tsume rules. Every one of your moves must be check. The defender has every piece not on the board in hand and plays the toughest defence. Any mate that works in the stated number of moves counts, not only the recorded one.
About this problem. Difficulty intermediate. Play it above, or read the answer below.
The solution
▲R-3d △K-4a ▲R-3b+ △K-5a ▲+R-5b
Read ▲ as black, △ as white; a move like G*5b is a drop, a plus sign a promotion.
What a tsume is
Tsume shogi (詰将棋) is the checkmate problem of shogi, and it is older than any chess problem tradition: collections were being published in the 1600s and the form has its own rules, composers and prizes. A problem gives you a position where black must checkmate white in a stated number of moves, and every black move must be check. White defends as stubbornly as possible, and has every piece not on the board in hand to defend with. That last rule is what makes the genre: the defender can interpose anything, so a mate must be airtight.
The problems here come from the app’s library. They are generated and checked by the same engine that plays the games, each one verified to have exactly one first move that works, and the app’s puzzle ladder starts from these.
How to solve one
- Count the escape squares first. Where can the king go now? Your first move has to take those away or give check in a way that leaves them useless.
- Look for the pattern. Most short tsume end in one of the seven named shapes: a gold on the head, a dragon one square away, a smothered mate. Ask which shape the pieces you have can make.
- Try the sacrifice. In a problem, unlike a game, giving away a piece is usually the point. A drop next to the king that must be taken drags the king where you want it.
- Read the defender’s best reply, not the one you hope for. The board here plays the toughest defence it can find, so a line that only works against a cooperative king will be sent back.
Why one a day
A single problem, the same for everyone, changes at midnight UTC. Solve it, share it, come back tomorrow. The app has the rest: a ladder from mate in one upward, mates taken from real games at your rating, spaced review of the ones you missed, and a puzzle rating that follows your account.
More than one a day.
The app has the ladder, mates from real games at your rating, and a puzzle rating that follows your account.