How to defend against threatmate — for success in shogi endgame
In the endgame of shogi, it is important not only to hunt down the opponent’s king but also to protect your king.
If the opponent’s king has two moves of breathing space, and the ally’s king is a threatmate, there are two ways to deal with the situation.
- Threatmate to escape Threatmate
- Delay the opponent’s attack
Threatmate to escape Threatmate
In certain situations, you can remove the threatmate and threaten the opponent’s king in one movement. This is the so-called “Threatmate to escape Threatmate”.
On this board, Gote aims to checkmate from △N*36, ▲K-18, and △G*28. However, Sente can remove the checkmate by taking the knight.
After this, Sente got knight, so in his next move, he can checkmate Gote’s king with ▲N*23. This is a “Threatmate to escape Threatmate” pattern.
Delay the opponent’s attack
“Threatmate to escape Threatmate” rarely appears in the game. On the other hand, a common method to get rid of a threatmate is simply defending.
On this board, Gote aims to checkmate from △N*36, ▲K-18, and △G*28.
Sente wants to play ▲+P-31 to attack, but Sente should remove the checkmate instead of its movement.
In this case, ▲P-46 is a good movement. As a shogi proverb, “Defend against major pieces by drawing them closer”. The meaning of this word is that if the bishop and rook are attacked from a distance, they are difficult to defend, but if the bishop and rook are close by, they are easy to defend.
Gote can take a pawn by playing △Bx46. Then, Sente plays ▲G-47. This movement prevents △N*36 and attacks the opponent’s bishop. After this, if Gote escapes a bishop, Sente wins by playing ▲+Px31.
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