See the given image carefully. What you have to do is move the blue checkers in the position of the black checkers and vice versa. You are only allowed to move the checker to an adjacent empty space. Do it in the least possible moves.
John went to meet his friend Jacob, but when he was about to reach the main gate, John notices that Jacob had a mighty dog who was fastened to the tree. The chain is long enough that it allows the dog to reach the main gate.
How can the John reach the main gate?
This is a game of Tic-Tac-Toe which you all might have played innumerable times. Here, we are playing with the black and white markers instead. Also, there is a bit change to the rules. The changed rules allow you to play just three times. After the three markers are put by each of the players, you can only slide your marker into an empty square that shares a common wall with the square that the marker is leaving. You can refer to the figure given. If this is the position of the game, the white's next move would be from 6 to 3. Now, whatever the black one does, the white one will move his marker from 5 to 2 and he will have a three in a row. What you have to decide is if both of the players are using a perfect strategy, will the white player (who plays first) always win? Or it will be the black one who will win always? Or every game will be a draw?
Find out the missing number in the picture attached:
