Shogi glossary
Dangling pawn (tarefu)
Japanese: 垂れ歩
In shogi, a dangling pawn (tarefu) is a pawn dropped one square short of where it wants to go. It attacks nothing yet, but next move it advances, often promoting to a tokin inside the enemy camp.
A pawn dropped one square short of its target, ready to advance or promote next move.
Why it works
A pawn dropped right next to an enemy piece can simply be captured, but a pawn dropped one square back is out of reach of the pieces it is aiming at. Golds and silvers defending on ranks a and b cannot step forward far enough to take a pawn on rank d, so the threat to promote stands.
Getting around pawn-drop mate
The dangling pawn is also the standard answer to uchifuzume. Dropping a pawn to give immediate mate is illegal, but pushing a pawn already on the board to mate is fine. So when a drop on the mating square would be illegal, drop the pawn one square further back and push it next move. If the opponent cannot stop that push, the quiet drop is a brinkmate.
How it differs from other pawn drops
Contact is the difference. A tapping pawn touches an enemy piece and forces a decision now, joining pawns keep colliding with an enemy pawn, and a dangling pawn touches nothing while it threatens to advance.
FAQ
Where should a dangling pawn be dropped?
On a file where you have no unpromoted pawn, because of nifu, and on a square the defender cannot easily attack. The best spots threaten to promote where the new tokin will hit the king's castle.
I don't do defense. Hope you brought a castle!
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