Tactics

Tactics are the short-term plans and individual moves aimed at securing victory. Before considering (in) strategy, or long-term plans, players should have the grasp of tactics required to enable their games to last a long time. Each player must be aware of his/her threats - spaces on the board, which, if occupied, will result in that player completing four in a row - as well as the opponent's threats. Especially important are immediate threats, threats in spaces which are immediately playable.

Multiple Immediate Threats

There are many tactical traps awaiting the inexperienced player. The simplest one is illustrated here:

Position after 2. ... D3
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G
6								Move List
5								1. D1 D2 2. C1 D3 3. E1 F1 4. B1
4
3
2
1

White, by playing 3. E1, threatens to create four in a row with 4. B1 or 4. F1. Black should have moved 2. ... B1 or 2. ... E1. As it is, Black cannot block both threats, so White must win. This sort of double horizontal threat can be created on any board size with more than 4 columns.

White's trap fails on the 4x4 board
	A	B	C	D
4					Move List
3					1. C1 C2 2. B1 C3 3. D1 A1
2
1

For obvious reasons, a double vertical threat cannot be created, but diagonal ones are common, and should be watched out for. Here, Black sets up a position from which a victory at C5 or G1 is certain:

Position after 7. ... F2
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G
6								Move List
5								1. D1 D2 2. C1 B1 3. E1 F1 4. C2 C3 5. E2 E3 6. D3 D4 7. C4 F2 8. C5 G1
4
3
2
1

Again, the board must have at least 5 columns for this to happen.

Multiple threats at different angles can also be created, as in this game on White's 7th move:

Position after 7. D3
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G
6								Move List
5								1. B1 B2 2. D1 C1 3. C2 E1 4. D2 E2 5. C3 C4 6. E3 F1 7. D3 D4 8. E4
4
3
2
1

Stacked Threats

Somewhat more subtly, a player can win by creating two threats, one right above the other. In the next game, Black establishes threats at both E2 and E3. By stacking up the E column, Black is guaranteed to get one of those spots, and therefore win.

Position after 6. ... G2
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G
6								Move List
5								1. D1 D2 2. D3 D4 3. D5 F1 4. D6 F2 5. F3 G1 6. F4 G2 7. C1 E1 8. E2 E3
4
3
2
1

Occasionally, a vertical threat can feature in such a combination. White's 12. B2 in the next game sets up a possibility which Black should not ignore. Unless Black takes B3, White can, forcing Black to move B4, which lets White win at B5.

Position after 12. B2
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G
6								Move List
5								1. D1 D2 2. D3 D4 3. D5 D6 4. E1 F1 5. B1 C1 6. C2 C3 7. C4 C5 8. E2 F2 9. E3 E4 10. E5 F3 11. F4 F5 12. B2 E6 13. B3 B4 14. B5
4
3
2
1