Renju

Opening rules

Unlike Gomoku, Renju has a unique sequence of opening moves called an "opening rule". There are several certified opening rules. The list of requirements for new opening rules as approved by the RIF General Assembly in 2003 was:^[1]

I. Traditions

• The basic Renju rules must be kept.
• The opening stage must not exceed 5 moves.
• All 26 canonical openings must be possible and only 26 canonical openings can be possible.
• All present realistic variants must be possible.
• The moves located very closely near the edges of a board during the opening stage are not preferable.

II. Simplicity and attraction

• New rules must be simple to study.
• New rules must be simple to play for beginners. The situation when in significant part of cases a beginner will have the lost position already after the first 5 moves is not good.
• The rules must be systematic and attractive.

III. Creativity

• The number of possible creative variants must be significantly greater than now. These variants must be achieved under the optimal strategy of both players.
• The chances of sides to win must be practically equal.
• The situation when during the opening stage the player who make a move does not interested in the forming of equal and creative position is not preferable. (Example: indirect 2nd move in previous opening rules).
• The rules must give the chance for both players to avoid the position after the opening stage well known for the opponent.
• The knowledge of theory and deep own analyses must give an advantage but the player with a good imagination must have chances against this.

An example of such opening rule (namely "RIF opening rule") follows.

1. The first player places 2 black stones and 1 white stone on the board thus forming opening pattern.
2. The second player now chooses whether to play black or white.
3. White then places one more stone on the board.
4. Black places 2 stones on the board.
5. White removes one of the two black stones from the previous move.
6. White places a white stone.

After this sequence is complete, Black and White continue to take turns to place their stones.

The Extra General Assembly of Renju International Federation in 2008 created three new sets of rules for openings that are to replace the above old sequence of moves:^[2] Soosõrv, Taraguchi, and Yamaguchi. Also a rejection system for their use was approved. The General Assembly of Renju International Federation in 2009 certified Sakata opening rule as proposed by Russia. The General Assembly of Renju International Federation in 2011 certified modified opening rules such as Taraguchi-N and Soosõrv-N.

Disallowed moves

There are certain moves that Black is not allowed to make:

• Double three – Black cannot place a stone that builds two separate lines with three black stones in unbroken rows (i.e. rows not blocked by white stones).
• Double four – Black cannot place a stone that builds two separate lines with four black stones in a row.
• Overline – six or more black stones in a row.

Winning

Black can win the game only by placing five black stones in a row (vertically, horizontally or diagonally).^[3]

White can win by either:

• getting five (or more) white stones in a row
• forcing Black to make a forbidden move (see above).

Members

The Renju International Federation was founded in 1988 by 3 founder members: Japan, Soviet Union and Sweden. Up to 2017, there have been 20 members in the Renju International Federation. The list of members follows.^[4]

Member	Year of joining	Status
Japan	1988	Founder Member
Russia	1988	Founder Member[lower-alpha 1]
Sweden	1988	Founder Member
Canada	2003	Member
China	1996	Member
Macau, China	2015	Member
Chinese Taipei	1999	Member
Czech Republic	2003	Member
Estonia	1988	Member
Finland	2003	Member
Greece	2016	Member
South Korea	2001	Member
Poland	2009	Member
Turkey	2015	Member
Uzbekistan	1999	Member
Armenia	1988	Idle
Azerbaijan	1988	Idle
Belarus	1988	Idle
Latvia	1988	Idle
Ukraine	1988	Idle

Individual World Championships

World Championships in Renju have occurred every second year, since 1989.^[5] The opening rule was Yamaguchi from 2009 to 2015, and has been changed to Soosõrv-8 since 2017.

The results of previous World Championships are following:

Title year	Hosting city, country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Opening rule
1989	Kyoto, Japan	Shigeru Nakamura	Hideki Nara	Toshio Nishimura	Swap
1991	Moscow, Soviet Union	Shigeru Nakamura	Makoto Yamaguchi	Aldis Reims	Swap
1993	Arjeplog, Sweden	Ando Meritee	Hideki Nara	Aldis Reims	Swap
1995	Tallinn, Estonia	Norihiko Kawamura	Ando Meritee	Dmitry Ilyin	Swap
1997	Saint Petersburg, Russia	Kazuto Hasegawa	Ando Meritee	Takashi Sagara	RIF
1999	Beijing, China	Ando Meritee	Igor Sinyov	Stefan Karlsson	RIF
2001	Kyoto, Japan	Ando Meritee	Vladimir Sushkov	Igor Sinyov	RIF
2003	Vadstena, Sweden	Tunnet Taimla	Vladimir Sushkov	Ando Meritee	RIF
2005	Tallinn, Estonia	Ando Meritee	Vladimir Sushkov	Konstantin Chingin	RIF
2007	Tyumen, Russia	Wu Di	Konstantin Chingin	Yusui Yamaguchi	RIF
2009	Pardubice, Czech Republic	Vladimir Sushkov	Tunnet Taimla	Cao Dong	Yamaguchi
2011	Huskvarna, Sweden	Cao Dong	Lin Huang-Yu	Huang Jinxian	Yamaguchi
2013	Tallinn, Estonia	Tunnet Taimla	Yuuki Oosumi	Vladimir Sushkov	Yamaguchi
2015	Suzdal, Russia	Qi Guan	Lin Huang-Yu	Lan Zhiren	Yamaguchi
2017	Taipei, Chinese Taipei	Vladimir Sushkov	Zhu Jianfeng	Lin Shu-Hsuan	Soosõrv-8

Women World Championships

The Women World Championships started in 1997 and are played every second year, at the same time and place with the World Championships.^[6] The results are following:

Title year	Hosting city, country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Opening rule
1997	Saint Petersburg, Russia	Irina Metreveli	Natalya Vasilyeva	Yelena Lebedeva	RIF
1999	Beijing, China	Yulia Savrasova	Irina Metreveli	Yelena Lebedeva	RIF
2001	Kyoto, Japan	Yulia Savrasova	Irina Metreveli	Hsu Wen-Ching	RIF
2003	Vadstena, Sweden	Yulia Savrasova	Yang Hsiao-Yu	Irina Metreveli	RIF
2005	Tallinn, Estonia	Oxana Sorokina	Irina Metreveli	Maris Tuvikene	RIF
2007	Tyumen, Russia	Tatyana Krayeva	Oxana Sorokina	Irina Metreveli	RIF
2009	Pardubice, Czech Republic	Yulia Savrasova	Yao Jinrui	Hu Xi	Yamaguchi
2011	Huskvarna, Sweden	Kazumi Arai	Irina Metreveli	Anastasja Oborina	Yamaguchi
2013	Tallinn, Estonia	Irina Metreveli	Kira Lashko	Olga Kurdina	Yamaguchi
2015	Suzdal, Russia	Kira Lashko	Wang Qingqing	Irina Metreveli	Yamaguchi
2017	Taipei, Chinese Taipei	Chien Yung-Hsuan	Wang Qingqing	Liu Xun	Soosõrv-8

Team World Championships

Team World Championships in Renju have occurred every second year, since 1996.^[7] Since 2010 the opening rule being played is Yamaguchi. The results are following.

Title year	Hosting city, country	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1996	Saint Petersburg, Russia	Russia Dmitry Ilyin Stepan Peskov Igor Sinyov Konstantin Nikonov Mikhail Kozhin	Estonia Ando Meritee Ants Soosõrv Margus Tuvikene Marek Kolk	Latvia Aldis Reims Arnis Veidemanis Nerses Grigorian Eduard Voskanian
1998[lower-alpha 1]	Yerevan, Armenia	Armenia Albert Poghosyan Armen Stepanyan Mher Manukyan Hovhannes Gevorkyan Mher Dumanyan Alexej Kobzev  Sweden Stefan Karlsson Peter Jonsson Anders Bertilsson Bengt Asplund		-
2000	Tallinn, Estonia	Russia-1 Igor Sinyov Alexandr Klimashin Vladimir Sushkov Pavel Salnikov Mikhail Kozhin	Sweden Stefan Karlsson Rickard Johannesson Joachim Gaulitz Tord Andersson	Japan Kazuto Hasegawa Hideki Nara Yoshimi Hayakawa Hirouji Sakamoto
2002	Vadstena, Sweden	Russia-1 Pavel Salnikov Alexandr Klimashin Sergey Artemyev Alexey Skuridin Vladimir Semyonov	Estonia Ants Soosõrv Tunnet Taimla Johann Lents Timo Ilu Maris Tuvikene	Sweden-1 Stefan Karlsson Peter Gardstrom Goran Holgersson Linus Hermansson Joachim Gaulitz
2004	Tyumen, Russia	Russia-1 Vladimir Sushkov Alexandr Klimashin Konstantin Chingin Konstantin Nikonov Igor Sinyov	Estonia Ando Meritee Tunnet Taimla Ants Soosõrv Timo Ilu Irene Karlsson	Russia-2 Pavel Salnikov Pavel Makarov Sergey Artemyev Vladimir Semyonov Mikhail Kozhin
2006	Tallinn, Estonia	Russia-1 Vladimir Sushkov Konstantin Chingin Sergey Artemyev Yulia Savrasova Pavel Vershinin	Estonia-1 Ando Meritee Tunnet Taimla Ants Soosõrv Aivo Oll Johann Lents	China Chen Wei Wu Hao Zhu Jianfeng Ge Lingfeng
2008	Helsinki, Finland	Estonia Tunnet Taimla Aivo Oll Andry Purk Ants Soosõrv Johann Lents	Russia-1 Vladimir Sushkov Egor Serdyukov Konstantin Chingin Yulia Savrasova Alexandr Kadulin	China Cao Dong Wu Di Wu Hao Chen Wei
2010	Tokyo, Japan	China Li Yi Cao Dong Yin Licheng Xi Zhenyang	Estonia-1 Tunnet Taimla Aivo Oll Andry Purk Ants Soosõrv	Japan-1 Shigeru Nakamura Kazuto Hasegawa Hiroshi Okabe Yusui Yamaguchi Norihiko Kawamura Taizan Isobe
2012	Beijing, China	Japan Yuuki Oosumi Shigeru Nakamura Takahiro Kudomi Kazumasa Tamura Hiroshi Okabe Tomoharu Nakayama	China-1 Cao Dong Zhu Jianfeng He Qifa Lu Hai	China-2 Yang Yanxi Chen Jing Qi Guan Chen Wei
2014	Taipei, Chinese Taipei	Estonia Tunnet Taimla Martin Hõbemägi Ants Soosõrv Johann Lents Ando Meritee	Chinese Taipei-1 Lin Shu-Hsuan Lin Huang-Yu Chen Ko-Han Yang Yu-Hsiung Lin Shih-Pin Cheng Chih-Liang	Japan-1 Shigeru Nakamura Yoshihiro Iio Nobuhiro Fukui Ayako Tada Yuuki Oosumi Kazumasa Tamura
2016	Tallinn, Estonia	Estonia-1 Aivo Oll Tunnet Taimla Martin Hõbemägi Renee Pajuste Johann Lents	China Qi Guan Lan Zhiren Zhu Jianfeng Chen Xin Liu Yang	Russia-1 Oleg Fedorkin Vladimir Sushkov Pavel Salnikov Konstantin Nikonov Dmitry Epifanov Maxim Karasyov
2018	Saint Petersburg, Russia	China Yang Yanxi Zhu Jianfeng Cao Dong Liu Yang Lan Zhiren	Japan Tomoharu Nakayama Yudai Fujita Yoshihiro Iio Jun Koyama Hiroshi Okabe Maiko Fujita	Russia-2 Vladimir Sushkov Pavel Salnikov Mikhail Kozhin Denis Kachaev Maxim Karasyov Sergey Artemyev

Renju World Championships via Correspondence

World Championships in Renju via Correspondence were held in 1982 to 1993 (by paper letters, later by e-mails), and now are played every year since 1996 with an exception in 2009, 2010 and 2016. Since 2014 the opening rule being played is Soosõrv-N.

The results from 1982 to 1993 are in the following.

Title year	Champion	Country
1982	Vladimir Sapronov	Soviet Union
1984	Alexandr Nosovsky	Soviet Union
1985	Alexandr Nosovsky	Soviet Union
1991	Albert Poghosyan	Soviet Union
1993	Albert Poghosyan	Armenia

The results since 1996 are in the following.

Title year	Champion	Runner-up	Third
1996	Aldis Reims	Linas Laibinis	Igor Sinyov
1997	Yuriy Tarannikov	Aldis Reims	Stefan Karlsson
1998	Oleg Fedorkin	Aldis Reims	Kazuto Hasegawa
1999	Oleg Fedorkin	Alexander Nosovsky	Konstantin Nikonov
2000	Aldis Reims	Evgeniy Bobkov	Konstantin Nikonov
2001	Konstantin Nikonov	Zhang Jinyu	Vitaly Lunkin
2002	Vitaly Lunkin	Zhang Jinyu	Vladimir Dvoeglazov
2003	Chen Wei	Sergey Filippov	Oleg Klimachev
2004	Sun Chengmin	Alexey Potapov	Chen Wei
2005	Victor Barykin	Zhang Jinyu	Lu Wenzhe
2006	No gold awarded	Dmitry Epifanov	Victor Barykin
2007	Dmitry Epifanov	Zhang Jinyu	Anatoly Ustimov
2008	Zhang Jinyu	Jelena Balanova	Alexey Potapov
2011	Jelena Balanova	Aivo Oll	Alexey Potapov
2012	Alexey Potapov	Jelena Balanova	Aivo Oll
2013	Vladimir Sushkov	Alexey Potapov	Viktor Balabhai
2014	Vladimir Sushkov	Evgeniy Bobkov	Oleg Fedorkin
2015[8]	Konstantin Nikonov	Oleg Fedorkin	Pavel Makarov
2017[9]	Hao Tianyi	Qi Bo	Dmitry Epifanov