Renju

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Game situation at Renju

Renju ( Japanese 連珠 or 聯 珠 , German 'pearls on row') is a variant of the strategy game Five in a Row , in which the advantage of the attractive is compensated. It is played with Go stones on a 15 × 15 intersection board. The name of the game means "gemstones lining up".

regulate

Profit

  • Black (the attractive) wins by placing five stones in a row.
  • White wins by having five stones in a row or by black making a prohibited move.

opening

The following procedure is required for opening:

  1. The first player places two black and one white stones on an intersection.
  2. The second player now chooses the color black or white
  3. White places another stone on the board
  4. Black places two stones on the board, from which White removes one.
  5. White places a stone on the board

After this opening phase, black and white each play a stone alternately.

Prohibited trains

It is forbidden for Black to play in such a way that

  • two rows of three emerge at once that are not blocked by white stones,
  • two uninterrupted, unblocked rows of four arise at once or
  • a long row (6 black stones or more) is created.

history

A forerunner of the game - five in a row - made its way from China via Korea to Japan in the 8th century. He was called Wuziqi in China , Gomoku narabe ( 五 目 並 べ ), Kakugo or Kyogo in Japan . This game became a popular pastime in the 17th century and still lives on in Japan as a simple game for women and children.

The modern Renju developed from 1899, when the editor of the daily newspaper Yorozu Chōhō , Kuroiwa Ruikō, who is better known by his pseudonym Takayama Goroku , began to promote the game particularly. In 1906 the Tōkyō Renjusha ( 東京 連珠 社 , German ' Tokioter Renju-Gesellschaft') was founded and skill levels based on the model of the Go game were introduced. The Japanese players tightened the rules - initially it was forbidden for both players to form two open rows of three. Further rule changes were made in 1912, 1916 and 1918. In 1936, Takagi Rakuzan, the third Japanese national champion, replaced the Go board used up until then with the smaller Renju board. The rules that apply today (2005) were established in 1966.

Modern Renju is promoted in Japan by the Nihon Renjusha ( 日本 連珠 社 , German, Japanese Renju Society), organizes tournaments and employs a few dozen professional masters. Important tournaments in Japan are the Nihon-Zen-Meijin-Sen , the Shin'ei-Sen and the Suizei-Sen . The Japanese Renju magazine Renju Sekai (German 'Renju World') is also very influential . Many Japanese daily newspapers publish Renju problems in the sports section.

In 1977 a Russian student met Renju in Japan and wrote an article about it in a Russian newspaper, which led to a gamer scene in Russia. Swedish players from Svenska Luffarschackforbundet (founded 1958) got to know the Russian Renju players in the 1980s and adopted the official rules.

The Renju International Federation (RIF) was founded in Sweden in 1988 and has held world championships on a regular basis ever since.

Renju associations exist locally in Armenia, Azerbaijan, China, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Taiwan, Czech Republic, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Belarus, the USA (California), South Korea and Japan.

The strongest Renju players are currently from Estonia, Russia, Japan, China and Sweden.

See also

Web links