Motion to the General Assembly of RIF

In Sweden Gomoku ,or five-in-a-row, “luffarschack” is very well known for many generations. Practically everyone knows how to play the simplest game where the only object is to make a line of five.

With these rules we also formed the Swedish National Federetion, “Svenska luffarschackförbundet” in 1958. Later as we learned about Renju and Pente we adopted these games within the Federation. We also found out about the sure win for black in totally free Gomoku, so we were happy to apply the new opening rule with the forbidden zone of 5 X 5 squares counting from the mid-square. We called this “the Russian rule” since this was first presented to us by Russian players. For 20 years we have held national competitions with this rule in Sweden, and we also have a yearly tournament where we compete for the title of Swedish Champion of “luffarschack”- with Russian rules.

Renju was introduced in Sweden also about 20 years ago, and it soon became the most popular game among the top-players. Of course we also have national competitions of Renju as well as a tournament to crown the Swedish champion.

However, we must confess that Renju is still very unknown to the vast majority of the Swedish people after 20 years of efforts of promoting the game. Therefore we have realized that the best way to attract new people to Renju is by arranging popular tournaments of Gomoku – of any kind. If you would ask the Swedish top-players almost everyone will tell you that they first started playing Gomoku.

Since many years the Swedish National board has a committee with the object to popularise the game, and among other efforts they have focused on school- competitions. As one example I could mention the city of Kumla with a population of 19 000 inhabitants. For the 4:th year in a row they still attract huge numbers of kids that engage in a Gomoku-tournament still using the “Russian rule”. This year no less than 438 children between 8 and 13 years are participating, and the newspapers keep writing about the club and the tournament. Thus attracting new members to the club.

This motion has two parts. The first one would like RIF to open up for International tournaments of Gomoku, preferably using the forbidden zone as described earlier. I would like these tournaments to qualify for international ranking. Whether these should be added to the existing ranking-list or form a completely new ranking-list I let the RIF decide

In the last couple of years there have been an explosion of Internet-sites where you can play games on-line or like sending e-mails. The two most important sites are probably www.playsite.com and www.itsyourturn.com On Playsite you can play free Gomoku and Renju on-line. On IYT you can play free Gomoku (on a 13 X 13 board for some reason) and “Pro Gomoku” ( on 15 X 15) which is exactly how we have played Gomoku with the forbidden zone. Actually this game-selection was added after request from Swedish players among them myself..

The most interesting thing about these sites is the number of players they reach every day. Of course they don’t just offer Gomoku and Renju, but it’s becoming increasingly popular. On IYT for instance they have 550 000 REGISTERED PLAYERS. This is an enormous potential for reaching out with more information about our games. They have already links to RIF´s homepage from Playsite as well as from IYT.

I brought this up before the Swedish National board and I was asked to write to IYT and ask about a possible tournament with a very high status, possibly a world championship, on their site. This correspondence is attached to the motion, and this is also the second part I would like to include in to my motion

Imagine the world-wide interest for Renju and Gomoku that could follow a tournament with such an audience. And as it has been in Sweden I am confident that a greater interest for Gomoku will eventually lead to more serious players who prefer Renju. Prepare to open up for dozens of new member-countries!

Kumla may 2001

Tomas Hagenfors