Ninuki Renju
The Japanese game Ninuki Renju ( Japanese 二 抜 き 連珠 , dt. "Remove two and line up pearls") comes from a Korean variant of Omok (Japanese Gomoku ) and is therefore also Chosen Gomoku ( 朝鮮 五 目 , "Korean Gomoku ") called. The game was developed by the Go pro Katsukiyo Kubomatsu (Renju 8th Dan ; 1894–1941) in the early 1920s (probably 1921). From 1923 to 1940 there was a separate association in the Osaka area, the Ninuki Renjusha ( Eng . "Ninuki Renju Society"). The strongest players were Y. Murashima and Kizan Kubomatsu, who was also a strong Renju master (9th Dan). After the Second World War, Ninuki Renju was slowly forgotten.
Ninuki Renju is mentioned in 1951 by the Japanese Nobel Prize laureate Yasunari Kawabata in the novel Meijin (German translation: The Master of Go ). Historical games from 1927 and a problem from the famous Renju master Goro Sakata (8th Dan) from 1969 have come down to us.
In Germany, the Dresden go pioneer Bruno Rüger and the Hamburg go master Reinhard Spode (2nd Dan) have made a particular contribution to spreading the game . Since 2000 Ninuki Renju (with slightly different rules) has been a discipline at the Hanover eventing tournament .
In the USA, there is a simplified variant of Ninuki Renju called pente . Although it was very popular in the 1980s, it is rarely played today.
Rules of the game
The following rules of the game come from a long correspondence between the cultural scientist R. Gering and Koichi Kobayashi, a friend of Goro Sakata, in 2003. In Europe and the USA, different rules are sometimes played with.
Ninuki Renju is played in Japan on a board that consists of 15 by 15 intersections. The use of the modern Renju board is also evidenced by Sakata's problem. The larger Go board (19 × 19) was only used in the early days of the game. One player places black pieces, the other white pieces.
Black begins, as is common in Japanese board games. The first stone is placed on the center of the board ( tengen , German " Pole Star"). Then the players take turns placing a stone on any free point.
However, it is forbidden to form several open rows of three at once, unless (1) this prevents the opponent from getting a row of five on the next move, or (2) it becomes a stone from one that has just been created Line of five beaten.
Opposing stone pairs are captured by being enclosed horizontally, vertically or diagonally by your own stones at both ends. The stones struck are removed from the board. However, if a player himself places his stones in such a way that pairs included by the opponent arise, these are not captured.
The winner is whoever is the first to build an uninterrupted horizontal, vertical or diagonal row of exactly five of his own stones that cannot be destroyed by the opponent in the next move (" perfect five ") or catches five opposing pairs of stones (i.e. 10 stones). An excess length , six or more stones in a row, is allowed according to Japanese informants, but is considered neutral.
A game ends in a draw, (1) if neither player can form a row of five and therefore the players forego further moves or, (2) if a stone is knocked from an excess length so that a row of five is created, but at the same time the Opponent has caught five pairs with it.
Quote
The master enlivened the evening with challenges in Shogi and Ninuki Renju. He lost repeatedly to Onoda in the Ninuki, also known as Korean Gomoku. He seemed to be filled with admiration.
Yasunari Kawabata in the novel Meijin (1951).
literature
- Anonymous. A game in Ninuki-Renju from 1927 in Japan. In: Pente Newsletter , December 1982.
- RC Bell: Discovering Old Board Games . Shire Publications, Ltd., New York (USA) 1973, pp. 59-61.
- Kawabata Yasunari: The Master of Go . Alfred A. Knopf, New York 1973.
- Bruno Rüger: It's your turn: 42 games at the table . VEB Friedrich Hofmeister, Leipzig 1962, pp. 47-50.