Tsume Shogi Puzzle 9: Mate in 1

Mate in 1 Theme: Horse head mate

Black to move and mate in 1. Black has no pieces in hand. Every attacking move must give check, and the defender always plays the toughest reply. Find the one move that leaves the king no answer.

Solve it on the board above and the explanation appears automatically. If you are stuck, the Show solution button plays the line through, or open the spoiler below.

Reveal the solution

Black: +B-5b (6c5b)

Step the horse to 5b. A horse next to the king covers all eight surrounding squares, and the pawn on 5c stops the king from capturing it.

Keep practicing

Puzzle 9 of the mate-in-3 set raises the difficulty.
All 20 puzzles in one place.
New to checkmate problems? The tsume shogi guide explains the rules and conventions.