How to Play & Rules
New here? A friendly guide to playing Tsume Shogi Arena
What is Tsume Shogi?
Tsume shogi is a shogi puzzle in which you checkmate the opponent's king with a series of continuous checks. The attacker keeps giving check while the defending king does its best to escape — reading out the mating sequence tests your focus and calculation. Tsume Shogi Arena uses practical tsume shogi (jissen tsume shogi), and you compete by solving these puzzles as quickly and accurately as possible.
Getting Started (4 easy steps)
1. Open the site
No app installation needed. Just open Tsume Shogi Arena in your browser on PC, smartphone, or tablet to get started.
2. Sign in
Sign in with a Google account, or start playing right away as a guest. You can even try it out as a guest first.
3. Choose a mode
Pick from four competitive modes — 1v1 Match, Battle Royale, Speed Battle, and Private Match — plus a Solo mode for taking your time on your own.
4. Solve and compete
Solve the practical tsume shogi puzzles quickly and accurately to compete on score. Battle players nationwide in real time.
Rules of Tsume Shogi Arena
- Because these are practical (jissen) puzzles, you don't necessarily have to mate in the fewest moves — any sequence that leads to checkmate is counted as correct.
- Playing a move that doesn't lead to mate (a non-mating move) is counted as incorrect.
- Moves that stretch the mate out much longer (for example, to 11 moves or more) may be counted as incorrect.
- The faster and more accurately you solve within the time limit, the higher your score and rating gains.
Ranks & Rating
An Elo rating that fluctuates with your results and a rank system from 10-kyu to 8-dan make your skill visible. Your rank is determined automatically by your rating, so improving through matches leads directly to promotion. You're matched with opponents of similar strength, so beginners can enjoy it with peace of mind.
Tips to Improve
- Start in Solo mode and practice reading carefully without time pressure. Solo mode has its own ranking, so you can compete on score nationwide.
- Memorizing common mating patterns speeds up your solving.
- In Speed Battle, reliably solving the easy puzzles you can see at a glance is the quickest path to a higher win rate.