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Frosted Board

Puzzle #13: Mill

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

Light to move, with 8 light and 8 dark men in the game. Placement is over; from here on a turn means sliding one man to an adjacent free point.

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

  • sliding phase — Every man is on the board; a move is one step along a line to an empty neighbour.

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 a1-d1. Played out against the stiffest resistance, the whole line goes: a1-d1 d7-g7 d1-a1xg7.

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.