Walter--

1) Gary's attitude towards IYT (which I fully share) is completely justified.

2) IYT's versions of pente are WRONG. PERIOD.

3) Pente was invented by Gary gabrel in 1977 (approximately) on a 19X19 board, and it is supposed to be played on a 19X19 board. PERIOD.

4) Your comment about pente being flawed because it has a rule restriction doesn't make sense. So what? That alone doesn't make it flawed, but NOT having the restriction DOES make it flawed.

you then say:

"As Keryo isn't Pente either. I believe Keryo was made up in response to the very thing you pointed out.... "First to move"'s big advantage in Pente"

Yes, Keryo pente is not pente-- It's KERYO PENTE! Just like extinction chess is not chess, it's extinction chess! does that make chess any less of a game? No!

You don't see anything wrong with playing on a 13X13 board? Players would run out of room! Keryo pente is a longer game than pente, because of the increased number of captures possible, and pente often goes towards or to the edge of the board.

Why has there been less study for Keryo-pente? Who knows? Pente has just been more popular. For one,m there is a database containing thousands and thousands of pente games, at www.pente.org, thanks to the great efforts of Dweebo (creator of Dweebo's stone games, which is where pente.org will take you).

One more note on IYT-- they have BLACK moving first. THat is just wrong, and it created confusion when players discuss a game or a position, because unlike chess, where everyone knows white moves first, when soemone says "I was black and foudn myself in this position...." no one is exactly sure what that means.

Getting back to my Keryo pente record at pente.org-- I think you missed the point entirely. You don't see a difference between 100% and 75%? THat is a big difference! I am willing to go on that site and guarantee a win as player 1 against almost anyone, but I would not make the same guarantee as player 2, because it is definitely tougher to win. My 12-4 record does not negate that fact.

you said the restriction for pente has not been successful. I disagree. Player 1 still wins more often, but so what? In almost all ga,es, player 1 probably wins more often.
in closing-- to respond to your last remark-- yes, by all means check out pente.org, it's a great site!