Gomoku Strategy Guide
Learn immediate wins, blocking threats, open fours and reviewing your decisions in 15 × 15 freestyle Gomoku.
Hint
Before every move, check whether you can complete five immediately. If not, look for the opponent's next winning point and block it. Check horizontal, vertical and both diagonal directions.
Connect five stones in a line.
An open four is four consecutive stones of one color with both ends empty. Blocking one end leaves the other available for five. It is a strong threat, but first check whether the opponent can win immediately elsewhere.
Game review
Look for stones that support several directions together instead of extending only one line. Near the edge there are fewer directions to grow. After an AI game, review the move before a threat appeared and compare attack with defense. No single opening guarantees a win.
Freestyle Gomoku
Freestyle Gomoku: Either colour wins with five or more in a row. No forbidden moves. Basic Renju: Black opens in the centre; double-threes, double-fours and overlines are blocked. Black wins with exactly five, White with five or more. Tournament swap openings are not included.
Renju · Soosõrv-8 · Renju · RIF
Place one of the 26 openings, black–white–black; the other player chooses a color. White plays move four, Black offers non-symmetric fifth moves, then White selects one and plays move six. Soosõrv-8: after move four, White declares 1–8 fifth-move offers; the other player can swap again. RIF: exactly two fifth-move offers, with no second color swap after move four. These two Renju openings are currently unranked. Each move or choice has 50 seconds; full tournament regulations are not implemented.
Updated:2026-10-09