# What is the strategy the winner must employ to ensure victory?

Tushar and Gaurav once won a competition and were given a single Dairy Milk Chocolate Bar as the first prize. Little kids as they were, they started fighting over sharing it. Finally they decided to play a game:

They lay down the Bar (which is a grid of squares) on the table. Gaurav said, "Since I am older than you, I shall have the first portion out." Tushar replied, "Then I give out the rule: you choose any square out of the grid, and all the chocolate that is above and to the right to it is yours. Then I'll choose another square and we'll carry on."

Both agreed that whoever ends up eating the last square (the bottom-left one) is a loser.

The question is, given a standard large Dairy Milk Bar (dimensions $5\times12$) can any of the kids devise a strategy to beat the other? Alternatively, can this be generalized for any $m\times n$ grid?

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Perhaps if you divide your text into paragraphs, it would be more readable. –  Martin Sleziak Dec 19 '11 at 7:01
@MartinSleziak In a moment :) –  Green Noob Dec 19 '11 at 7:05
This is the game "chomp" –  Henno Brandsma Dec 19 '11 at 7:08
To explore such games and their generalisations you could track down a copy of "Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays" by Berlekamp, Conway & Guy - Volume 2 of the first edition/Volume 3 (I believe) of the latest edition. –  Mark Bennet Dec 19 '11 at 7:09
@Henno Brandsma: Not quite chomp, there the last square is poisoned. In this game, first player can eat the whole bar, and say with a smile "I am the loser." –  André Nicolas Dec 19 '11 at 7:19