How to Play Renju (opens in new tab)

""" What you learned so far actually is not quite renju yet. The basic 5 in a row game is called gomoku. All the beginners start with learning gomoku at first, and after some time, they move on to renju. Renju is a bit more complex game, and there are more rules. While gomoku is just an easy family game, renju is a serious sport and there are even world championships in that game. Renju game was developed from from gomoku game by Japanese masters about 100 years ago. The reason why gomoku was not satisfying for players any more was the fact that the skillful first player (black) could always win the game. Additional rules had to be made to balance the game and give the white player more chance for resistance. The game with those balance rules is called RENJU. So, here are the three rules that make renju different from gomoku:

Black player is not allowed to make the 3x3 fork. Black player is not allowed to make the 4x4 fork. Black player is not allowed to make an overline (6 or more stones in a row). """

""" With the years of serious games and analyses by strong masters, it became evident that the forbidden moves alone are not sufficient enough to provide the balance in the game, black was still having the advantage. In order to give the best balance, there were developed some opening procedures that both players need to follow. Below is the list of those procedures.

The first player sets the opening pattern, consisting of two blacks and one white stone. The second player choose either black or white side. The player with white stones plays the 4th move. The player with black stone puts two choices of the 5th move on the board. The player with white stones removes one of the 5th moves, and plays the white stone - the 6th move """