rod03801: I think to force the white to move to the middle would then just shift the beter chance to black.

I also do not like the idea of at least one stone being placed in the middle (or past) to win - the board is not that big in the first place, so removing a couple of rows.

I still like the idea of making the walls "hot" - that is being able to capture opponenets pieces by using the wall as one of your "pieces"