A game of Renju begins on a checkered board with an odd number of lines of 15. The black chip holder always goes first, putting his chip at the point where the lines meet. Anyone who was able to build a chain of 5 chips in any direction, is considered the winner.

But for a player with black chips, there are some prohibitions, for example, 3×3 or 4×4 forks cannot be costted, as are rows of six or more stones. Also banned forks with multiplicity of 2 or more, as for the player with white chips, there is no prohibition for him.

During the game, you can skip a move if the player believes that there is no benefit from this. In the event that the opponent misses a move, the game is considered completed with a draw.

The game lasts until the logical conclusion: victory, draw, lack of space for installing stones. But as practice shows, the game lasts no more than a few dozen moves.

As for tournaments for professionals, there is a debut regulations, which gives equal chances to both parties.

Strategy and tactics of the game

Renju in theory is intersecting linear constructions that interact with each other, where the main interest is devoted to triples and fours. They are divided into covered or open. Open 3 turns into a quadruple with two options, covered by one, the same thing happens with fours. Any number of chips that are not able to become the next number, this number is not considered.

To win you need to build open 4 and 3, while not forgetting to interfere with the creation of similar constructions by the enemy.

Gomoku is related to the game Renju, as it is played on the same boards, but still there are some differences:

– there are no bans for players;

– long construction of chips does not lead to victory.

Simple rules led to the fact that Gomoku among fans is more popular.