Edge template VII1a

Template VII-1a is a 7th row edge template with one stone.

This template has width 17, and its carrier has size 84, including the red stone. It was one of three templates that were discovered and verified by a collaborations of several users on the Hex Discord in October and November 2023. See Seventh row template problem for more information on the discovery of this template.

The template has also been verified by Bobson8 in the HexProver tool. The proof can be downloaded at VIItest2_1.hpf (shared by Bobson8 in the Hex Discord server on Jun 4, 2024) and viewed in HexProver. The VIItest2.hdg file is additionally required.

Defending the template

This template is too complex to be described in full, however, some of the possible lines include:

Blue's adjacent block may continue as follows (HexWorld):

Another continuation of the adjacent block, involving the tall variant of Tom's move (HexWorld):