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Encyclopedia > Gomoku

Gomoku, go-moku, gobang, and go (Japanese: 五目並べ, gomoku narabe, "line up five"), or in English connect five, is an abstract strategy board game. It is traditionally played with go pieces (black and white stones) on a go board (19x19 intersections); however, because once placed, pieces are not moved or removed from the board, gomoku may also be played as a Paper and pencil game. An abstract strategy game is a board game with perfect information, no chance, and (usually) two players. ... A board game is a game played with counters or pieces that are placed on, removed from, or moved across a board (a premarked surface, usually specific to that game). ... Go is a strategic board game for two players. ... Paper and pencil games are games that can be played solely with pencil and paper. ...


Black plays first, and players alternate in placing a stone of their color on an empty intersection. The winner is the first player to get an unbroken row of five stones horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.


Gomoku is known in Korean by its cognate omok (오목) and in Chinese as "五子棋" (Pinyin: wǔzǐqí), and in Vietnamese as "Cờ carô". Pinyin, more formally called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Pinyin: ), is the most common variant of Standard Mandarin romanization system in use. ...

Contents

Example game

Moves 1-21 of a game of gomoku

This game on the 15×15 board is adapted from the paper "Go-Moku and Threat-Space Search".[1] Moves 1-21 of a sample game of gomoku. ...


The opening moves show clearly black's advantage. An open row of three (one that is not blocked by an opponent's stone at either end) has to be blocked immediately, or countered with a threat elsewhere on the board. If not blocked or countered, the open row of three will be extended to an open row of four, which threatens to win in two ways. White has to block open rows of three at moves 10, 14, 16 and 20, but black only has to do so at move 9.


Move 20 is a blunder for white (it should have been played next to black 19). Black can now force a win against any defence by white, starting with move 21.



Moves 22-39 of first variation

There are two forcing sequences for black, depending on whether white 22 is played next to black 15 or black 21. The diagram on the right shows the first sequence. All the moves for white are forced. Such long forcing sequences are typical in gomoku, and expert players can read out forcing sequences of 20 to 40 moves rapidly and accurately. Moves 22-39 of second variation of sample game of gomoku. ...



Moves 22-37 of second variation

The diagram on the right shows the second forcing sequence. This diagram shows why white 20 was a blunder; if it had been next to black 19 (at the position of move 32 in this diagram) then black 31 would not be a threat and so the forcing sequence would fail. Moves 22-37 of first variation of sample game of gomoku. ...




Variations and opening rules

Black was long known to have a big advantage, even before L. Victor Allis proved that black could force a win (see below). So a number of variations are played with extra rules that aimed to reduce black's advantage. L. Victor Allis is a Dutch computer expert who works to find better ways of developing artificial intelligence. ...

  • Free-style gomoku is the basic game as described above.
  • Standard gomoku requires a row of exactly five stones for a win: rows of six or more, called overlines, do not count.
  • The rule of three and three bans a move that simultaneously forms two open rows of three stones (rows not blocked by an opponent's stone at either end).
  • Gomoku+(also called Caro, popular among Vietnamese) the winner must have an unbroken row of five stones and this row must not be blocked at either end. This rule makes Gomoku more flexible and provides more power for White to defend.
  • The rule of four and four bans a move that simultaneously forms two rows of four stones (open or not).
  • The Little Golem game server has a "forbidden zone" where black cannot play his second move.

These restrictions are often applied only to black.

  • Renju is played on a 15×15 board, with the rules of three and three, four and four, and overlines applied to black only. There are special rules for the opening.
  • Ninuki-renju or Wu is a variant which adds capturing to the game; it was published in the USA in a slightly simplified form under the name Pente.
  • m,n,k-games are a generalization of gomoku to a board with m×n intersections, and k in a row needed to win.
  • Connect(m,n,k,p,q) games are another generalization of gomoku to a board with m×n intersections, k in a row needed to win, p stones for each player to place, and q stones for the first player to place for the first move only. Among these games, Connect(m,n,6,2,1) is the most interesting one, and is called Connect6.

The only fair opening rule currently is swap2 based on swap from Renju and first seen on kurnik.org. The first player places 3 stones (2 black 1 white, if black goes first) on the board, the second player has the choice to take black/white or place 2 more stones to change the shape and let the first player choose color. Renju or Lianzhu (Chinese/Japanese: 連珠) is the professional variant of Gomoku, a board game originated from China. ... Pente is a board game created in 1978 by Gary Gabrel. ... An m,n,k-game is an abstract board game in which two players take turns in placing a stone of their color on an m×n board, the winner being the player who first gets k stones of their own color in a row, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. ... In computational complexity theory, a generalized game is a game that has been generalized so that it can be played on a board of any size. ... In computational complexity theory, a generalized game is a game that has been generalized so that it can be played on a board of any size. ... Connect6 (Chinese: 六子棋; Pinyin: liùzǐqí; Japanese: 六目並べ; Korean: 육목) introduced by Professor I-Chen Wu at Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, is a fair and highly complex game. ...


Analysis

Computer search by L. Victor Allis has shown that on a 15×15 board, black wins with perfect play.[2] This applies regardless of whether overlines are considered as wins, but it assumes that the rule of three and three is not used. It seems very likely that black wins on larger boards too. In any size of a board, freestyle gomoku is an m,n,k-game, and it is known that the second player does not win. With perfect play, either the first player wins or the result is a draw. L. Victor Allis is a Dutch computer expert who works to find better ways of developing artificial intelligence. ... In game theory, perfect play is the behavior or strategy of a player which leads to the best possible outcome for that player, and if there are multiple options with the same outcome perfect play is usually considered the fastest method for getting a good result, or the slowest time... An m,n,k-game is an abstract board game in which two players take turns in placing a stone of their color on an m×n board, the winner being the player who first gets k stones of their own color in a row, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. ...


Generalized gomoku is PSPACE-complete.[3] In computational complexity theory, a generalized game is a game that has been generalized so that it can be played on a board of any size. ... In complexity theory, PSPACE-complete is a complexity class. ...


References

  1. ^ L. Victor Allis, H. J. van den Herik, M. P. H. Huntjens. Go-Moku and Threat-Space Search.
  2. ^ L. Victor Allis (1994). Searching for Solutions in Games and Artificial Intelligence. Ph.D. thesis, University of Limburg, The Netherlands. ISBN 9090074880. 
  3. ^ Stefan Reisch (1980). "Gobang ist PSPACE-vollständig (Gomoku is PSPACE-complete)". Acta Informatica 13: 5966. 

L. Victor Allis is a Dutch computer expert who works to find better ways of developing artificial intelligence. ... L. Victor Allis is a Dutch computer expert who works to find better ways of developing artificial intelligence. ...

See also

Irensei (Japanese: 囲連星) is an abstract strategy board game. ... A two-player game can be solved on several levels. ... Connect6 (Chinese: 六子棋; Pinyin: liùzǐqí; Japanese: 六目並べ; Korean: 육목) introduced by Professor I-Chen Wu at Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, is a fair and highly complex game. ... Pente is a board game created in 1978 by Gary Gabrel. ...

External links

Internet servers


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Gomoku - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (782 words)
Gomoku is known in Korean by its cognate omok (오목) and in Chinese as "五子棋" (Pinyin: wǔzǐqí).
Connect(m,n,k,p,q) games are another generalization of gomoku to a board with m×n intersections, k in a row needed to win, p stones for each player to place, and q stones for the first player to place for the first move only.
Stefan Reisch, Gobang ist PSPACE-vollständig (Gomoku is PSPACE-complete).
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