Bagh-Chal Strategy: Both Sides

Each side plays a different game: goats build a wall, tigers look for gaps in it. Rules first? See how to play.

Goats

• Safe squares. A goat can only be jumped if the point directly beyond it is empty. Edge points next to a corner tiger are safe only while the square behind is filled; start placements on the edges away from the tigers.
• Pairs and lines. Two goats in a row along a line protect each other: there is no empty landing point. Build chains, not scattered singles.
• Count the diagonals. Only even points (where row + column is even) have diagonal lines. A goat on an odd point cannot be jumped diagonally; use these points as anchors.
• Shrink the tigers' space. Place to cut tigers off from open areas. A tiger in a corner with its three neighbours filled, and the points beyond them filled too, is trapped for good.
• Don't rush the movement phase. Once all twenty are placed, every move opens a point behind it. Move goats from the back of a block, never from the front line.

Tigers

• Stay mobile and apart. Tigers that are bunched together get trapped together. Head for the centre early: the centre point has eight lines.
• Threaten two at once. A tiger next to two goats with empty points behind both forces the goat player to leave one.
• Trade tempo for captures. You need five goats. The goats need all your moves. Each capture also opens a hole in their wall, so one capture often leads to another.
• Watch the fifth goat. When the goats have placed about fifteen, the net is closing: take any capture on offer rather than waiting for a better one.

The computer

Hard searches four plies with mobility and capture threats in its evaluation and gives the hints. Normal searches two plies. Easy picks at random, though its goats avoid an immediate capture when they can.

Last updated 2026-10-21