Gomoku Practice: Find the Winning Move
Ten positions from real gomoku patterns. Some ask you to finish five yourself, some ask you to block a threat before it finishes, and one asks you to judge a position that is already lost. Click a point on the board to answer; the solution is revealed with the reasoning behind it.
Attack
Fours with one end blocked, open fours, and a diagonal finish.
Defense
Block horizontal, diagonal, and split fours at the completing point.
Tactics
Create a double threat, and know when to take your own win first.
Black to move. White has blocked the left end of your four. Find the move that wins.
Coordinates: files A–I left to right, rows 1–9 bottom to top. Green rings mark the solution after you answer.
How these exercises are verified
Every position on this page runs on the same exact-five engine as the browser game: a line of exactly five wins, and a line of six or more does not. The accepted answers are not hand-written — they are computed by replaying the position through that engine and collecting every point that satisfies the stated goal, then stored with the exercise. An automated test re-runs that check on every build, so a wrong solution cannot ship.
That also means the exercises teach this site's house rule, not formal Renju: there are no forbidden moves, no swap procedure, and no opening restrictions here. For the tournament ruleset, read the casual vs formal Renju comparison.
What to do with each answer
- Replay the position on the full board. Open the game in two-player mode and rebuild the stones. Playing the sequence yourself builds the scanning habit faster than reading the answer.
- Say the check out loud. Before every move: do I have an immediate five? Does my opponent? That two-question habit solves most beginner losses.
- Transfer to a full game. The patterns here appear in every game on a 9×9 or 15×15 board. When one shows up in your own game, you will recognize it in seconds.
New to the game? Start with how to play, then beginner strategy. Teaching someone else? The kids guide uses the same small boards.
Reviewed 2026-10-24. 10 exercises, each verified against the site's exact-five engine by an automated test. If you find a position where the engine and the explanation disagree, the contact page explains how to report it.