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Dangle Pawns Guide

Basics of the Dangling Pawn

What is a Dangling Pawn?​

This is a tesuji where you drop a Pawn on the 4th, 3rd, or 2nd rank to make a Tokin on the next move. Dropping a Pawn to make a Tokin on the next move is a Dangling Pawn.

Why is the Dangling Pawn So Strong?​

In Shogi, creating a Tokin gives you a huge advantage. It's like having a Gold suddenly added to your side. Therefore, the idea behind the Dangling Pawn is: "If we can make a Tokin from a simple Pawn, that's a great advantage, right?"

Examples of Use​

Let's look at a concrete example on the board.

We dangle a Pawn on the 4th rank. The opponent cannot prevent us from making a Tokin on the next move. Because of this, the opponent's Rook has to flee, but we still succeed in creating a Tokin.

Then, we can use the newly created Tokin to capture the opponent's pieces.

Other patterns can also be seen.

In the initial position, we only have a Pawn, and it seems like there are no moves to play. This is exactly the kind of situation where you use a Dangling Pawn. By dangling the Pawn, we aim to create a Tokin and exchange it for the opponent's Gold.

When you can't see any moves at all, just dangling a Pawn can often allow you to capture the opponent's Gold or Silver. If you find yourself with nothing to do in the endgame, creating a Tokin with a Dangling Pawn will usually bring good results.

Now, let's look at the next board state.

This time too, since we have a Pawn, let's just dangle a Pawn for now. The opponent has no way to prevent this. As a result, a Tokin was created, and we successfully exchanged it for a Gold. If you are stuck in the endgame, let's make a Dangling Pawn!! For kyu-level players, this is almost always a good move.

Summary​

  • A "Dangling Pawn" is placing a Pawn at a position where it will become a Tokin on the next move.
  • If you have nothing to do in the endgame, let's create a Dangling Pawn for now!!

While dangling pawns are highly effective, there are times when they shouldn’t be used. In the next article, let's look closer at when you should avoid using this tactic.