Light to move on the 3 × 3 board. 16 of 24 lines are drawn, Dark has 0 boxes and Light 3.
6 boxes are still unclaimed. With best play you can take 4 of them, 2 more than the opponent gets, and exactly one line achieves that.
What the position is about
- sacrifice — A piece is given up on purpose: the forced capture pulls the opponent onto the square you need.
- split hand-out — Two boxes are offered so that they can only be taken one at a time, which keeps control.
- open a chain — The right line opens a chain for the opponent at the smallest cost.
- keep control — With best play you stay in control and collect more than half of what is left.
Finding the way in
Before taking anything, ask who will have to open the next chain. Two boxes given away now can buy every box later.
Take your time. There is no clock on the result, and a wrong move is simply taken back so you can look again.
Show the first move
Start with c1-c2. Played out against the stiffest resistance, the whole line goes: c1-c2 b1-c1 d1-d2 b3-c3 c2-c3 d2-d3 c3-c4 c4-d4.
Solve it and the next puzzle of the same game is one tap away. Your solved puzzles are ticked in the list, in this browser only.