6x6 is good

rod03801: good close game thanks rod

BrainKing04: Will you play a game of 8x8 with me?

how about a game of 6x6 John?

BrainKing04: I prefer 8x8, but I will play a game of 6x6 with you.

John Baker: I like 6x6. Rod just showed me how it was played. I would recomend playing him if you want a good challenge

BrainKing04: Cool. I've played it a few times, but never really got into it. I guess I'll have to learn the ins and outs of it.

I created a tournament for the game of Reversi 8x8, for the enthusiasts
of the version "Othello, i.e. with the first four moves played in
diagonal.
Example : 1.e4 d4 2.d5 e5
Limit of registration: October 18
If you are interested, register you at
http://brainking.com/fr/Tournaments?trg=11704&tri=63235&trnst=0

what would be a "powerful few" ? anyone like to explain this in a bit more detail ?

in 6x6 i think its best (to a certain degree) to try to maintain the center 4 squares .. in 8x8 i am always in the dark in the first few moves of the game

Hrqls: That was the phrase I used to describe the strategy which I find to work best for me. In a nutshell, it means allowing your opponent to dominate the board, while keeping your own pieces to a minimum. Once roughly 50% of the board is filled, you can severely limit your opponents options for moves because there are so few of your pieces to "convert" or "trap". The best example is a game in which my opponent has taken all the side spaces, but has left 4 empty spaces in a corner. If I can form a diagonal line with a piece in the space diagonal to the corner, and my opponent's only available moves are the two spaces adjacent to the corner, I will get the corner... And of course everything else will follow. If you look through my game history, I use this strategy in almost every game and it has done quite well for me. :-)
Invite me to a game for a firsthand lesson in it. I'll explain my moves as we go.
John Baker

John Baker: sent 2 invitations
i use the tactic of limiting your opponents available moves in 6x6 .. and sometimes try to use it in the second half of 8x8 .. but i cant find a way to use it in the first half of 8x8

Hrqls: You're right, it's a lot easier in the second half. The first half is more about setting up for the second half. I try to keep a few internal pieces, while tempting my opponent to take the rest. Once they get a piece on a side, I'll "encourage" them to take the rest of it (except for the corners, of course). Although, every once in a while, I get a game where it's to my advantage to give them 1 or more corners. I'll do it if it means I get an entire side and the adjacent corner. Now I feel like I'm rambling. I'm looking forward to our games. I'll try to explain my moves as best I can.
Would anyone else in this board be interested in keeping track and following along?
John Baker

John Baker: Yes please. :-)

John Baker: on another site i have most of the sides .... and will soon have a corner .. i am not sure if i will though :)

does it make a difference which pieces are the powerful few ? are the center 4 the most powerful ? or doesnt it matter much ?

i remember playing a game on here where my opponent went only to the lower left corner giving me less and less options .. and win by a grand total :)

Hrqls: Yes, I suppose it doesn't matter much where the "few" are located. After using the strategy for a while you'll get a feel for where might be a good place to establish them in each game you play. Even when I play the same opponent over and over, I end up using different approaches each time, depending on how it shapes up.
Btw, let's make one game open standard (diagonal) and the other non-standard. It'll give those watching examples of each.

gborland: Here are the two games:
http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1119548
http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1119549

John Baker: Thanks :-)

John Baker: I'm also interested. but observers don't see the game comments, so could you please make them available (when the games are finished). And, in order to correlate the comments with the games, please always add the move number (the system adds the time, but it can't be correlated to moves later on).

Luke Skywalker: Since this board doesn't get that much use otherwise, I'll make the comments here and I'll try to remember to reference move numbers and which game I'm speaking of.

all: argh! spectators :)
(Just kidding :))

1 diagonal start and 1 straight start is ok with me .. i dont think there is much of a difference though .. but maybe i am missing something as there is a tournament right now in which the participants have to start diagonal

(in 6x6 it doesnt make a difference after the first next move has been made, or it must be the only possible different move which is quite bad i think :))

btw sorry in advance for my slow playing .. new function at work (project leader, managment, instead of software engineer) .. takes quite some time .. and i somehow ended up joining far too many bg tournaments once again :)

but i will try my best to move as fast as possible and still be able to think my moves through :)

The games have reached the point where it starts to be worthwile to watch.
http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1119548 This one is the standard or diagonal start. All moves available to Hrqls at this point (for move 3) are the same. It doesn't matter where he moves; my response will be the same. The next half dozen moves will probably follow standard published openings. I'll say something if we deviate.
http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1119549 This one is the non-standard or straight start. I chose my starting move (move 3) simply because I find it easier to dominate by going diagonal, therefore I went straight, in hopes that Hrqls will take the diagonal and end up dominating (for now). ;-) I haven't had much luck finding published openings for this start, but the same concepts apply here as in the diagonal start.

John Baker: *nod* the start in this way always seems to be the same in the diagonal start

in the straight start i went with the tactic of getting as many 'inner pieces' as possible without creating a frontier (as was explained to me before in a reversi fellowship) .. if i cant find an inner piece i will usually go for a corner stone of the inner sqaure (for example C6) .. which is usually what i end up doing in the diagonal start .. i dont know if thats good though .. it just feels right .. but i try not to build that inner corner into a frontier

Hello,

I created a new Reversi Tournament for all players.
This tournament is addressed to the players who can play at least a
move per day.

Limit of registration: October 28

If you are interested, register you at
http://brainking.com/fr/Tournaments?trg=11934&tri=64780&trnst=0


Greetings

jolat

Standard: http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1119548 Still following "normal" opening procedures. Nothing worth noting yet, unless someone else sees something I'm neglecting.

Straight: http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1119549 Hrqls is trying to minimize his pieces already. I haven't really thought about it yet. I'm just trying to make moves that don't capture too many at a time and give Hrqls plenty of opportunity to capture mine.

To those of you who are following along, I'm sorry the games are taking so long to get underway. Hopefully they'll speed up as we go. :-)

John Baker

John Baker: sorry for the slow speed ... completely my fault .. i will see if i can speed it up a bit .. i am finishing some backgammon games lately .. so i should have some more time :)

(plus: as john limits my choices i will move faster as well :))

i am always in the dark in the earlier stage of the 8x8 games ... the real action is too far away yet for me to know if what i am doing now will be good or bad :)

For those who would like to see another great example of my strategy at work, check out this game: http://brainking.com/en/ArchivedGame?g=1159134&i=5
The link takes you to the beginning of the game (standard opening), and you can click through the moves and see how it goes. I'd be willing to answer any questions about specific moves if you have them.
Props to nobody24 for providing such a great teaching tool. Thank you!
John Baker

For anyone who enjoys a face paced tourney.. Please.. I wish to offer it to those who will play continuously.. not just one turn a day ..

°°·.,,.·°¤`'¤¸`°´`°«*Scarlets Springtime Follies*»¸.¤°´`°'¤¸¤´¤°·.,,.·°°

February 11th-12th Cambridge International (EGP)
http://www.britishothello.org.uk/cambridgeinternational.html

March 4th-5th Barcelona International (EGP)
http://www.reversies.net

March 25th-26th Amsterdam (Hoorn) International (EGP)

It seems my effort to show some examples of strategies in the previously mentioned games isn't working as efficiently as I had hoped. At this rate, the games will take the next 6 months to complete. Are people still interested in watching a couple of games as they progress, and reading my commentary on the moves? If so, is there anyone who would like to play a couple of games that we would discuss on this board and hopefully learn from? I think I could learn something from the experience as well and it might be fun. :-)
Anyone?
John Baker

John Baker: I'll give it a go if you like?

gborland: Sounds good. Would anyone be interested in watching and discussing the games? I'd hate to end up talking to the air. :-P
I know gborland and these games will go much faster.

John Baker: The only caveat is you'll have to let me win at least one game, as I'll be sacrificing my BKR for the greater good. ;)

gborland: Why don't you play unrated games?

John Baker: I'd enjoy watching them and reading your comments! But I don't know if i can participate in a discussion :)

Mr. Shumway: I was just joking. I'm happy to play rated games. :)

gborland: sorry

Mr. Shumway: Actually, you had a good point. Since we'll be discussing the games as they are played, we'll be flirting with a violation of rules. I read somewhere that you're not supposed to discuss games in progress, since such discussions can give aid to one player. It might just be the safer route to play unrated games. Besides, I'm not doing this for the ratings. So anyway, let's get this underway. I'll make the invitations in a moment.

I sent the invitations. I'm black in one and white in the other. I also chose to make the games uncounted. I hope this doesn't make them invisible to other players. I don't think it will.
One of us will post links to the games once they're started. Let's start one with the standard (diagonal) opening and the other with the non-standard (parallel) opening.
Sound good?

John Baker: Yes, that sound great :D
And making games not counting doesn't make them invisible, you have to do that explicitly. So it's perfect like it is now!

The games have begun!

The non-traditional opening is here: http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1414141 (what are the odds of getting that game number lol)

The traditional opening is here: http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1414142

We are in our first opening moves now, so any comments or questions (directed at either player) are now welcome.

John Baker

Non-traditional: http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1414141

I never play this kind of opening, so I'm playing by feel right from the start. Move 3 was a bit of a guess; I just predicted JB's available moves and decided that the move I made was the "least worst".

I'm interested in reading the comments, but I'm unable to follow in "real time". Please annotate your comments with move numbers, so that it is possible to follow the discussion later.

Luke Skywalker: What... You don't want to compare the timestamps on our posts to the timestamps on the moves? lol -jk Yeah, we'll refer to move numbers so others can look back and follow along.
John Baker

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1414141
The non-traditional game isn't following any popular move sequence [anymore] that I know of. At this point (move 6), it's just a matter of setting up for later, the process for which changes with every move my opponent makes. I'll be trying to keep a minimum number of pieces on the board, so as to gain the advantage of the "powerful few." I'm assuming my worthy opponent will now be trying to do the same... should be interesting. :-)

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1414142
This game is following a popular move sequence for the time being. We're on move 5, and soon we will get to the point where our game becomes unique from any other reversi game ever played.

John Baker: Well, I do all sorts of funny things and would be happy to compare timestamps, unfortunately they are only available for the last move.

Luke Skywalker: Oh... I didn't realize that. That is a bummer. But don't worry, we'll note the moves for everyone. :-P
JB

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1414142
Move 8. JB has just played B5, and I'm starting to feel less confident now that we're playing out towards the edges. I'm wondering about A6, but then that leaves me quite exposed along row 4.

F6 would be a seriously bad move. The only real alternative looks like D7: split him up the middle. :)

Watch the game to see which move I go for.

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1414141
Move 10.

I think F6 is a bit of a weak point for me. If we start playing in rows 1 and 2, I risk flipping the whole of column F leaving me in dire straits.

Although JB has more pieces than me at the moment, his are less exposed along the top and bottom.

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1414142

Move 20.

This is getting really interesting. JB has conceded two X-squares, but has much better mobility and is forcing me into some unfavourable moves. I think I will shortly have to concede a corner.

gborland: gborland, you are providing an excellent narrative! I'm trying to think of something to add, but you are summarizing the game very well. Does anybody have any questions about the games? Are there specific moves you'd like gborland or I to explain? We both had our own rational behind almost every move, so please don't hesitate to inquire about it if you are curious.
:-)
John Baker

http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1414141
http://brainking.com/en/ShowGame?g=1414142

Both games are now over. As expected, I won both games with scores of 64-0.

;)