Skip to content
Frosted Board

Puzzle #40: Four in a Row

  • DifficultyHard
  • To moveDark
  • TaskWin in 4
  • Main line7 half-moves

Dark to move after 20 discs, with 2 columns already full.

Connect four within 4 of your own moves. Exactly one column starts the win; any other lets the opponent off.

What the position is about

  • block first — The opponent has a threat of their own, and the winning plan has to deal with it on the way.
  • forcing sequence — The solution is a series of threats, each one leaving the defence a single answer.
  • horizontal four — The four that wins lies flat, along one row.

Finding the way in

In four-move wins, track which spaces become playable after each forced block; the final double threat often appears two rows above where you start.

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 d3. Played out against the stiffest resistance, the whole line goes: d3 d4 c3 d5 b2 d6 b3.

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.