Renju
 Renju is played on a 15×15 gridded board. The playing pieces, called stones, are played on the grid line intersections. | |
| Genres | Board game |
|---|---|
| Players | 2 |
| Setup time | Minimal |
| Playing time | Casual games: 5 to 30 minutes; tournament games: from 10 minutes (renju blitz) to 5 hours or longer. |
| Chance | None |
| Age range | 5+ |
| Skills | Tactics, strategy |
Renju (Japanese: 連珠) is the professional variant of Gomoku, a strategy board game originating in Japan from the Heian period. It was named Renju by Japanese journalist Ruikou Kuroiwa (黒岩涙香) on December 6, 1899 in a Japanese newspaper Yorozu chouhou (萬朝報). The game is played with black and white stones on a 15×15 gridded Go board.
Renju eliminates the "Perfect Win" situation in Gomoku by adding special conditions for the first player (Black).
Rules
Unlike Gomoku, Renju has a unique sequence of opening moves called an "opening rule".
An example of such opening rule (namely "RIF opening rule") follows.
- The first player places 2 black stones and 1 white stone on the board thus forming opening pattern.
- The second player now chooses whether to play black or white.
- White then places one more stone on the board.
- Black places 2 stones on the board.
- White removes one of the two black stones from the previous move.
- White places a white stone.
After this sequence is complete, Black and White continue to take turns to place their stones.
The Extra General Assembly of Renju International Federation in 2008 created 3 new sets of rules for openings that are to replace the above old sequence of moves[1]: Soosõrv, Taraguchi, and Yamaguchi. Also a rejection system for their use was approved. The General Assembly of Renju International Federation in 2009 certified Sakata opening rule as proposed by Russia. The General Assembly of Renju International Federation in 2011 certified modified opening rules such as Taraguchi-N and Soosõrv-N.
There are certain moves that Black is not allowed to make:
- Double three - Black cannot place a stone that builds two separate lines with three black stones in unbroken rows (i.e. rows not blocked by white stones).
- Double four - Black cannot place a stone that builds two separate lines with four black stones in a row.
- Overline - six or more black stones in a row.
Black can win the game only by placing five black stones in a row (vertically, horizontally or diagonally).
White can win by either:
- getting five (or more) white stones in a row
- forcing Black to make a forbidden move (see above).
World championships
World Championships in Renju have occurred every second year, since 1989.[1] Since 2009 the opening rule being played is Yamaguchi.
Previous World Championships have taken place in the following places:
| Title year | Hosting city, country | Champion | Opening rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Kyoto  Japan
|
Shigeru Nakamura
|
Swap opening rule |
| 1991 | Moscow  USSR
|
Shigeru Nakamura
|
Swap opening rule |
| 1993 | Arjeplog  Sweden
|
 Meritee Ando
|
Swap opening rule |
| 1995 | Tallinn Estonia
|
Norihiko Kawamura
|
Swap opening rule |
| 1997 | Saint Petersburg  Russia
|
Kazuto Hasegawa
|
RIF opening rule |
| 1999 | Beijing  China
|
Meritee Ando
|
RIF opening rule |
| 2001 | Kyoto Japan
|
Meritee Ando
|
RIF opening rule |
| 2003 | Kyoto Sweden
|
Tunnet Taimla
|
RIF opening rule |
| 2005 | Tallinn Estonia
|
Meritee Ando
|
RIF opening rule |
| 2007 | Tyumen Russia
|
Wu Di
|
RIF opening rule |
| 2009 | Pardubice  Czech Republic
|
Vladimir Sushkov
|
Yamaguchi opening rule |
| 2011 | Huskvarna Sweden
|
Cao Dong
|
Yamaguchi opening rule |
Team World championships
Team World Championships in Renju have occurred every second year, since 1996.[2] Since 2010 the opening rule being played is Yamaguchi. The results are following.
| Title year | Hosting city, country | Champion team |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Saint-Petersburg Russia
|
Russia (Ilyin D., Peskov S., Sinyov I., Nikonov K., Kozhin M.)
|
| 2000 | Tallinn Estonia
|
Russia (Sinyov I., Klimashin A., Sushkov V., Salnikov P., Kozhin M.)
|
| 2002 | Vadstena Sweden
|
Russia (Salnikov P., Klimashin A., Artemyev S., Skouridin A., Semyonov V.)
|
| 2004 | Tyumen Russia
|
Russia(Sushkov V., Klimashin A., Chingin K., Nikonov K., Sinyov I.)
|
| 2006 | Tallinn Estonia
|
Russia (Sushkov V., Chingin K., Artemyev S., Savrasova Yu., Vershinin P.)
|
| 2008 | Helsinki  Finland
|
Estonia (Taimla T., Oll A., Purk A., Soosorv A., Lents J.)
|
| 2010 | Tokyo Japan
|
China (Li Yi, Cao Dong, Yin Licheng, Xi Zhengyang)
|
| 2012 | Beijing China
|
? |
Renju World Championships via Correspondence
World Championships in Renju via Correspondence (by paper letters, later by e-mails) is being played every year since 1996 with an exception in 2009, 2010. Since 2011 the opening rule being played is Taraguchi. The results follows.
| Title year | Champion | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Reims, Aldis |  Latvia
|
| 1997 | Tarannikov Yuri | Russia
|
| 1998 | Fedorkin Oleg | Russia
|
| 1999 | Fedorkin Oleg | Russia
|
| 2000 | Reims, Aldis | Latvia
|
| 2001 | Nikonov Konstantin | Russia
|
| 2002 | Lunkin Vitaly | Russia
|
| 2003 | Chen Wei | China
|
| 2004 | Sun Chengmin | China
|
| 2005 | Barykin Victor | Russia
|
| 2006 | No gold awarded | Silver: Epifanov D., bronze: Barykin V.
|
| 2007 | Epifanov Dmitry | Russia
|
| 2008 | Zhang Jinyu | China
|
| 2011 | Balanova Jelena | Latvia
|
See also
Books
- Five-in-a-Row (Renju) For Beginners to Advanced Players ISBN 4-87187-301-3
References
External links
- Renju International Federation has complete rules and history of the game