John Baker: I am not trying to imply that you might be using a program. I am saying that you are using a program. I am an experienced Othello player and I know something about this game. I don't usually boast, but I will make an exception for you. I have played more than 16000 games, I won Czech championship once, I have been to 3 world championships (and I ended up 12th last year) and I have analysed many games of world's best players like Hideshi Tamenori (6 times world champion), Ben Seeley (2 times world champion), Suekuni Makoto and others. These top players sometimes do play a perfect endgame, but generally it is rare. If you are so good, you should have no difficulty qualifying for the 2006 world championship in Japan. I will be glad to see you there and apologise for my accusation.

And yes, I have already screwed up a lot of games that were in my control. That's just what being a human means - making mistakes. Also making a mistake in the endgame doesn't necessarily mean to lose the game. You can be winning 44-20 and end up winning 34-30. That's normal and common.

I have met a lot of cheaters, a few of them even here on BK (as I am sure you know, you are not the only one here). I am not always completely sure if someone cheats or not. And it is not my habit to accuse him if I am not sure. But sometimes it is so clear that I can't resist. Especially if he is so cheeky to start a thread about strategies, trying to teach others. Cheaters are a big problem in Reversi on this server, that's why I didn't extend my membership and I am just finishing my games and not starting any new ones. I prefer real-time servers with a cheating detector. Would you believe that one cheater from BK agreed to play with me on such a server? He would switch to another program before his each move and was cheeky enough to say that it was his firewall :o) Funny.