Tsume problems usually present a situation that might occur in a shogi game (although unrealistic artistic tsume shogi exists), and the solver must find out how to achieve checkmate.
(The related term tsumero 詰めろ refers to the slightly different concept of "threatmate".
They assume that the player is in brinkmate and that they will lose unless they can force a mate sequence with a check on every move.
The situation simulates real shogi games in which the endgame is essentially a mutual mating race.
Note that the concept of stalemate as in western chess does not exist in shogi as it essentially does not occur.
Another type is the tsugi no itte 'best next move' problem, which is non-checkmate problem of which the goal is to find the next best move/s that will give you an advantage, which may be encompass the endgame close to checkmate but may also include opening and middlegame strategies.)
Tsume problems can be used to fulfill one of two tasks: to train in shogi strategy or to be created as a work of art.
Many shogi players for centuries have created tsume problems with long and deliberate mating lines as artwork.
A gold dropped directly in front of the king is 頭金 atamakin ("head-gold").
[b] A silver protected by a pawn, lance or rook cannot attack the side squares (62, 42) leaving two escape routes for the king unless there is a knight behind the defender.
It is common in shogi to sacrifice pieces – that is, attacking with the expectation that the attacking piece will be immediately captured – in order to check the king forcing the king to move to a checkmateable position.
The same applies to fleeing to across rank 1 (...K-81, B-82+) or attempting to drop a defending piece between the king and the bishop (...G*82, Bx82+).
Like the famous Scholar's mate in western chess, shogi has a well-known early mate sequence related to the joseki for Cheerful Central Rook vs Static Rook games.
For instance, if Black is playing Cheerful Central Rook, then if White deviates from the jouseki and blunders by creating a wall with either of their silvers (S-62 or S-42), then Black will give a double check with their rook and promoted bishop rendering an 11-move mate as follows:[7][8] Similar variants of this sequence are also possible.
In the current configuration, the gold is stacked on top of the right silver creating a wall blocking White's king from fleeing rightward past the central file.
Although moving the left gold up does resolve Black's check, this allows Black's promoted bishop to simply retreat to its original place, escaping material loss (although White can capture the retreating bishop with 3.
Instead, the only good moves here are for the king or the left silver to capture the promoted bishop (3...Kx42 or 3...Sx42).