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Nine Men Hall

From the problem cellar

Twelve men's morris problem #505

EasyLight · mill in 2

Setting up the board…

Light plays now and needs a closed mill in no more than 2 turns of its own.

The task

To move
Light
Difficulty
Easy
Goal
mill in 2

All men are on the board and the game is in the movement phase: Light has 7, Dark has 11. An easy one: the mill comes on your second turn, so look for a move that makes two threats or forces a reply you can use.

What to look for

  • Movement phase: men only step to neighbouring points, so check which of them are actually free.
  • Two threats at once: one move should leave two mills, lines or captures that cannot both be stopped.

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 d1-a1. The main line runs: d1-a1 · g1-d1 · b4-a4xg4.