History
The first Gomoku World Championship was held in Kyoto, Japan in 1989. It was organized with the 1st Renju World Championship concurrently. At that time Renju International Federation brought a decision to organize gomoku and renju world championships in parallel, which takes place at the same time and place every second year in August.
There were 6 participants in the 1st Gomoku World Championship and the winner was Sergey Chernov from the U.S.S.R. The 2nd World Championship was held in Moscow, Russia in 1991. The parameters were similar to the previous WC, this time 8 players gathered and Yuriy Tarannikov from the U.S.S.R. became the eventual winner.
In the early 1990s RIF took a decision about stopping hosting Gomoku World Championship. Reasons are not fully known, they were supposed to focus on renju thereafter. Gomoku was getting unpopular mostly due to the lack of a balanced opening rule. The opening rule by RIF used on the first two World Championships was the so-caleld "pro" rule. It was known to be advantageous for the starting player that time, now it is widely known as black surewin. "Pro" rule could not be used for serious competitions anymore and since there was no alternative opening rule, official gomoku tournaments slowly started to fade away.
However, in 1993 and 1995 RIF still kept on organizing gomoku events. Gomoku competitions and renju world championship were held in parallel. These were open five-in-a-row tournaments, still the most prestigious international gomoku events of those times but the winner was not titled as an official world champion. In 1993 there were 60 participants and the eventual winner was Anders Henningson from Sweden. The '95 champion was Sergey Chernov from Russia.
The next big international gomoku tournament was organized 10 years later during the 9th Renju World Championship in Tallinn, Estonia. On the request of Alexandr Sarachin, the Estonian organizer staff decided to hold a so called World Championship Gomoku Tournament. It was still not an official world championship, but it was an important step towards the upcoming development. Although the time limit was quite short, the opening rule was "swap". Finally players all over the world could face a new alternative for opening rule. The winner of the tournament was Maxim Karasyov from Russia.
After this it was time for online development, the number and quality of online players were rising. The next milestone happened to be in Haapsalu, Estonia at the 2008 Youth World Championship in renju. Several young gomokuplayers from central Europe decided to join Renju YWC and they convinced organizers to make a gomoku tournament as well. This time swap2 opening rule was used - a new and the most balanced opening rule so far. Therefore the International Advanced Level Gomoku Tournament was held by RIF, which was the first prestigious international event with swap2 rule. Attila Demján from Hungary became the eventual champion.
Luckily the next renju world championship was held in Pardubice, Czech Republic. Ales Rybka, the main organizer and his staff always produced and supported gomoku events and the game itself, so the situation of gomoku was excellent in this country.
It was no question anymore to put back official Gomoku World Championship on track. Just like in 1989 and 1991, renju and gomoku world championships were held simultaneously. In the summer of 2009, the parameters of the 3rd official Gomoku World Championship were the following: swap2 opening rule, 80 minutes +30 seconds/move time limit and 8 players fighting in the final after passing the qualification.
The new world champion after 18 years pause was Artur Tamioła from Poland.
After this huge event the future seemed promising regarding gomoku world championships. Two years passed and we arrived to Huskvarna, Sweden. The 12th Renju WC and the 4th Gomoku WC were held there.
The system of gomoku world championships was improved in the past years thanks to the work of RIF Gomoku Committee. The time limit was increased to 135 min + 30 sec/move and instead of 8 players there were 12 fighting for the title in the final. Eventually Attila Demján from Hungary became the 4th gomoku world champion. He was the first one who became world champion without losing a simple match, in addition he set a new record as well by being the youngest world champion (22 years and 1 month).
RIF and Gomoku Committee agreed to continue organizing Gomoku World Championships in the future as well. It will be held every second year in August together with the Renju World Championship. The official rule is set to swap2 and the time limit in the final is 135 min + 30 sec/move.
