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Nine Men Hall

From the problem cellar

Six men's morris problem #524

HardDark · win in 2

Setting up the board…

Dark plays now and must win the whole game in at most 2 turns of its own.

The task

To move
Dark
Difficulty
Hard
Goal
win in 2

All men are on the board and the game is in the movement phase: Light has 3, Dark has 6. A hard problem: not a mill but the whole game, usually by leaving the opponent with two men or without a move.

What to look for

  • Movement phase: men only step to neighbouring points, so check which of them are actually free.

How the answer is checked

There is exactly one first move that forces the result; any other first move allows the defence to escape. Moves that keep the forced result are accepted later in the line, and a move that loses it is taken back with a short note.

Show the key move

The key move is a1-a3. The main line runs: a1-a3 · e5-c5 · c1-a1xc5.