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Frosted Board

Puzzle #10: Mill

  • DifficultyEasy
  • To moveLight
  • TaskMill in 2
  • Main line3 half-moves

Light to move, with 9 light and 9 dark men in the game. Not every man has been placed yet: Light still holds 4, Dark 4.

Your job is to close a mill in at most 2 of your own moves, and it has to work against every defence, including the opponent closing a mill of their own.

What the position is about

  • placement phase — The men are still being set down, so each move places a new piece on an empty point.
  • double threat — The key move creates two threats at once, and one reply cannot stop both.

Finding the way in

Look first for points where you already have two men on a line with the third point empty, then ask which of them the opponent can cover in one move.

Before you touch a piece, list every forcing move you have and every threat the opponent has; the answer is almost always on that short list.

Show the first move

Start with b4. Played out against the stiffest resistance, the whole line goes: b4 g7 b6xa7.

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.