500 point giveaway!

[blankoblanco]

I think I just have bad habits that are intrinsic to my nature i.e. trying to set up "traps", playing greedy. I should've just stuck to trying to maximize mobility for most of the game. I think I learned more from the game against Daniel than I did from any of the games in the tournament

John, at what point in the game do you start trying to actually work out all the possible lines rather than just playing on intuition? It basically felt like Daniel outplayed me to get 1 move of mobility ahead and then never made a mistake so I was doomed, because most of the corners were tied together and it came down to who was forced to give them away. But figuring out the one move discrepancy way ahead of time seems really complicated

My last move was a blunder in the sense that I was so focused on the right side corners that I totally overlooked that he opened the left corner for himself, but like I said before, I think it was checkmate. If I took any of the long horizontals, Daniel gets a right side corner and then the remaining corners + edges. Unless I'm overlooking something

[Daniel Espinosa]

Thanks a lot John! I had a lot of fun playing this, it is an interesting game.

Yeah in this last game I tried to be not aggresive at the beggining (which is why probably skydrive owned me hard). And then probably just had some luck.

[JohnGalt2341]

I think I just have bad habits that are intrinsic to my nature i.e. trying to set up "traps", playing greedy. I should've just stuck to trying to maximize mobility for most of the game. I think I learned more from the game against Daniel than I did from any of the games in the tournament

John, at what point in the game do you start trying to actually work out all the possible lines rather than just playing on intuition? It basically felt like Daniel outplayed me to get 1 move of mobility ahead and then never made a mistake so I was doomed, because most of the corners were tied together and it came down to who was forced to give them away. But figuring out the one move discrepancy way ahead of time seems really complicated

My last move was a blunder in the sense that I was so focused on the right side corners that I totally overlooked that he opened the left corner for himself, but like I said before, I think it was checkmate. If I took any of the long horizontals, Daniel gets a right side corner and then the remaining corners + edges. Unless I'm overlooking something

This is my only strategy and I virtually never stray from it. Even in very close games my #1 objective is almost always to run my opponent out of moves before he runs me out of moves.

Let's take a closer look at this by looking at my recent and very complex game with Toptal below. Btw, in my opinion not only is Toptal one of the best players in this tourney... he's also one of the best Hexversi players I've ever played. This game felt like a 5 round Championship MMA fight with lots of backs and forths, with every single round being close.

The X's below represent where Toptal(purple) can legally move. The O's represent where I(green) can move. Even at this late stage in the game... the score is still essentially meaningless.

My X's and O's are sloppy... but hopefully you can see that right now Purple has 5 different places he can move. And Green has 4 different legal places he can move. 2 of these spots are available to both of us. In my next two moves... I took these 2 spots so he couldn't take them. This made all the difference in the game. I'll post a few more board positions in the next few posts so you can see what happened.

[JohnGalt2341]

Now let's take a look at a few moves later.

Just 3 moves later... Purple now only has 1 legal move where as Green now has 3 legal moves. Notice... Green's score is actually LOWER now. I don't mind... because my position has improved. A person might falsely believe that Purple outplayed Green during this sequence just judging from the score... this is merely an illusion. His options have reduced from 5 to 1. Green still has 3.

[JohnGalt2341]

1 move later. Purple is now completely out of moves. When you run your opponent out of legal moves... it's akin to tapping someone out in an MMA fight. Green still has 3 legal moves.

There are only 4 spots left on the board... and Purple now has the lead!!!! Again... this is merely an illusion. Green is going to get 3 out of the 4 final moves of the game. This is HUGE!!!. I can't tell you how many close games I've won just like this one. The reason why I won them was because my opponent ran out of moves before I did.

[JohnGalt2341]

Below is what the final board looked like.


Having just one extra move in a game is often enough to win the game. Now... if you really clobber someone... you can tap them out(run them out of moves) much earlier. My style is not about winning quickly. If I run my opponent out of moves before move #30 it usually means that I clobbered them. Btw... when this happens... generally you will have SEVERAL different options where you can move... while your opponent has none. But I can't emphasize enough how important it is to be patient in this game.

In very close games when the board is mostly filled up... both you and your opponent will have very few options. If you want to know who is winning the game at any given time... just count how many legal places you can move compared to your opponent. It's not 100% accurate but it is a MUCH better indicator than the actual score. Even when it's very late in the game like the one above.

[JohnGalt2341]

In 2011 I issued a Hexversi challenge to SBR members. 500 points to beat me or 100 points if you can score at least 30 on me(3 people did this). Some of these guys got pretty good really quick. I nearly lost a couple of games in fact. Anyway... since I have a lot of time on my hands right now I was looking at some of these old games and I decided to make an SBR Hexversi Rankings.

1. Holden2341 1316-53-2
2. trevlyn1983 0-15
3. JediMindPicks 2-21
4. sbrdad 0-11
5. livingthedream 0-7
6. DanielEspinosa 4-3
7. blankoblanco 3-4
8. cincinnatikid513 2-5
9. ablefollow 0-2
10. ProPicker713 0-1
11. blackbeasst 0-3
12. MexicanStallion 0-1

Not sure what happened to most of these guys... I think some of them might still play poker.

[blankoblanco]

Thanks for all the insight John! Definitely confirms a lot of what I was thinking about the game

[Daniel Espinosa]

Nice strategy post! I defintely wasn't aware of the importance of running your opponent out of legal moves.

[JohnGalt2341]

I was going through some of the games of the division winners and one player I think I may have overlooked is Jon. He's really good. I think he could possibly be top 3. dmoresco is another player I think could do well. I think the 2nd round games are going to be a lot harder for me to predict because all the division winners are good. I think a lot of players have a pretty good chance of winning. A lot of these players have beaten me before and a lot of the others have come close. The 2nd round should be a lot of fun. In the next round I think I would be surprised if I don't see more upsets.

[JohnGalt2341]

I was looking at a game against a very good player named Andy who also went undefeated in his division.


Only 6 moves left in the game. It would appear that Purple is on his way to victory. But in the last 6 moves of the game Green will get 5 of them. Games like this are not uncommon for two good players. Purple resigned in this one but it would have been a 52-38 victory for green. It almost always comes down to who has more moves left at the end of the game.

[Daniel Espinosa]

Great! Jon is my horse!

[JohnGalt2341]

Thanks for all the insight John! Definitely confirms a lot of what I was thinking about the game

I just looked in on your game against Robert Sawyers. You are playing great so far. Robert Sawyers has over 450 Hexversi games under his belt but my money would be on you in this one. I think you'll learn a lot in this game as well.

I'm hoping you'll play at least a few other players in the Ladder after your current games. I think you could beat several of them already because you seem to understand the basic theory and many players never learn this. Most of these players are going to stay about the same in skill level simply because it's difficult to change their usual habits. And because Hexversi is so abstract it's very difficult for many players to figure out where they made mistakes. But you have the potential to be very good and possibly great because you haven't developed any bad habits yet. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress.

I'm hoping maybe Daniel will join the Ladder as well. I'm completely fascinated by new players. Especially ones that I can give a little bit of coaching to.

[JohnGalt2341]

25 Point Hexversi trivia question.

In the game below Green has 12 different options he can choose from. One of these choices is significantly better than the others. Choose the correct choice for 25 points. 1 guess per person. First correct guess wins. Hopefully you can read my sloppy numbers. It's easy to see the order of the numbers in case it's hard to read..

[JohnGalt2341]

Scratch #3. Green doesn't have a move there.

[blankoblanco]

2?

It looks to me like if green takes 2 purple will only have moves that give us a corner after. Could be wrong though

[JohnGalt2341]

2?

It looks to me like if green takes 2 purple will only have moves that give us a corner after. Could be wrong though

Nailed it! In this particular game Green had many paths to victory but move #2 was definitely the most efficient choice in this situation. In other games and situations similar to this one, making the correct choice will be the difference in whether or not you win or lose the game. Most players struggle with decisions like these especially when it's late in the game. This was a fairly high level move in my opinion. Nice work! You are a very "Apt Pupil". I have high hopes for you if you continue to play this game.



And the final board

[Daniel Espinosa]

Just joined the ladder!

[JohnGalt2341]

Just joined the ladder!

Nice! I can't see your games until move 5 or so but I see you challenged 2 players... who did you challenge?

Good luck!

[JohnGalt2341]

Nevermind... I found it. Chair Man and bodaciousbutterbean.. Chair Man is a good player, if you beat him I would be very impressed. bodaciousbutterbean is one of the few players that I've seen have some success with playing aggressively. She doesn't always play aggressively... but she often does. She's a good player but can be vulnerable to just about anyone because of her aggressive style that she often plays with. She beat FGYTPeti in a game in the first round of the current tourney and FGYTPeti is REALLY good. I'd be surprised if he doesn't make it to the finals.

Good luck in your games... both your opponents are very experienced and are very good. Even winning 1 out of the 2 with your limited experience would be very impressive.

[Daniel Espinosa]

Haha I did nice job picking my opponents! I hope I can win at least 1 so I can challenge you next!

[JohnGalt2341]

Haha I did nice job picking my opponents! I hope I can win at least 1 so I can challenge you next!

I'm down!

Just about everyone in the top 15 is pretty good right now. A win over any of them would be pretty impressive. If you have any general strategy questions let me know. My #1 advice to newer players is to just force yourself to be less aggressive.

[JohnGalt2341]

Haha I did nice job picking my opponents! I hope I can win at least 1 so I can challenge you next!

I just realized that Chair Man has never beaten me before. I was thinking of someone else. He's a good player though. He went 5-1 in the first round of the tourney and advanced to the next round. I'm really looking forward to the next round. Just waiting on 1 division to finish right now.

[blankoblanco]

Nailed it! In this particular game Green had many paths to victory but move #2 was definitely the most efficient choice in this situation. In other games and situations similar to this one, making the correct choice will be the difference in whether or not you win or lose the game. Most players struggle with decisions like these especially when it's late in the game. This was a fairly high level move in my opinion. Nice work! You are a very "Apt Pupil". I have high hopes for you if you continue to play this game.

Thanks! Second-guessed myself a bit because I'm always afraid that I've overlooked something

In this game against robert sawyers I've already disliked a couple of my plays after the fact and wished I could've seen into your brain to know what you would have done on key moves. I feel like I have a manageable position from here though, hopefully

[JohnGalt2341]

Thanks! Second-guessed myself a bit because I'm always afraid that I've overlooked something

In this game against robert sawyers I've already disliked a couple of my plays after the fact and wished I could've seen into your brain to know what you would have done on key moves. I feel like I have a manageable position from here though, hopefully

I just looked in on your game. You are playing well and I believe your positioning is superior right now but it's still fairly close. You've only made 2 bad moves in the game so far in my opinion. They weren't terrible... they just weren't very good.

The bad moves were #11 and #13. The reason why they were bad moves is because you could have gotten at least 3 moves out of each of these positions but instead you used up all those potential moves in just one move. AND, you created more options for your opponent than what he would have had, had you moved elsewhere.

Moves that you played perfectly in my opinion include moves #3, 9, 10, 12, 15. Your other moves were also very good... they just weren't where I would have moved but it doesn't necessarily mean that my choice was any better as I know that I definitely don't have perfect play. Just like in Chess... often times there are more than 1 correct choice at a given time. Other times there IS only one correct choice.

Move #10 was particularly impressive because it was a smart aggressive move. Knowing when to make smart aggressive plays is one of the hardest things that good players struggle with. After move #10 your positioning is beautiful. I would even say perfect. Your pieces are in a nice clump and for the most part they are inside of your opponents pieces which is a very good thing. If you think of the pieces on the board as an Island and Water... it's much better to be the island. You want to be in the middle of your opponents pieces. You want them to be the water.

If you count the number of options you had after move #10 you can see that you had 14 options. This is great! Your opponent on the other hand only had 3 options at this point. This is a game that I would be proud of after 10 moves regardless of the skill of the player. This was total domination at this point.

Move #11 and #13 hurt you but your positioning is still superior because of your great play in the first 10 moves. This is an interesting game. My money is still on you in this game.

[blankoblanco]

Move 11 was definitely one I regretted right after doing it. Move 13 I guess was because I wanted the piece there for the opportunity to force that corner later in the game, and I was afraid of letting him shut me out of that spot (and that whole diagonal) on his next move. Probably not rational and I should've just kept trying to maximize my available moves, but I think that's what was going through my head at the time

Thanks for the all input John, very interesting

[JohnGalt2341]

Just looked in on Daniels games... up to #7 vs Chair Man and Daniel is taking him to school! This is great! This looks like one of my games. I'm surprised Chair Man is playing so aggressively.

When someone is playing very aggressively you just have to make sure that you don't get eliminated(he takes all of your pieces). This can be difficult for new players and I think that's why many are reluctant to play a non-aggressive style. There are very easy ways to make sure that you don't get eliminated but it's difficult to explain. Generally, the best way is to just make sure that you keep a straight line of your pieces cut right down the middle of your opponents pieces. Just make sure that you have at least 2 pieces open, preferably in a straight line on opposite ends of each other.

You're also outplaying butterbean move #6... but that game is closer. She's good at playing aggressively but even a new player should be able to beat an aggressive style as long as you can keep from getting eliminated.

Btw, for blanko... I made my analysis in the post above after move #15. You'll probably be further along when you read it.

[blankoblanco]

Damn, Daniel's a beast, keep it up

[Daniel Espinosa]

I didnt even realize I was winning haha, I was just trying to play less aggresive than my previous matches

[JohnGalt2341]

25 Point Hexversi move question.

Which move below is best for Green? 1 guess per person, first correct answer wins.

[blankoblanco]

So purple's only move currently would be 19. If we took 18 then he'd have absolutely no moves and it passes back to us, but I think we'd much rather find a way to force the right corner

I believe the way to do that is take 19 ourselves, then purple's only 2 moves are adjacent to that and give us the corner and then we will begin to dominate the edges

[blankoblanco]

In other news, I suck at this game, I feel like I'm perpetually 1 move away. I thought I had my game vs sawyers worked out but there was something I overlooked. End-game puzzles are fun, if only I could position myself to get to them

edit: Actually I might have found a way... but I thought that a few times against Daniel and it never worked lol

[JohnGalt2341]

So purple's only move currently would be 19. If we took 18 then he'd have absolutely no moves and it passes back to us, but I think we'd much rather find a way to force the right corner

I believe the way to do that is take 19 ourselves, then purple's only 2 moves are adjacent to that and give us the corner and then we will begin to dominate the edges

Nice work! 19 is what I chose but after I posted the board I realized that 18 was equally as good. Purple actually has 2 options in the current state in post #170. He has 19 and he has the blank spot up and slightly left of 19. Had I moved to move 18 Purple would have no longer had spot 19 but he would have still had the other spot which would have given Green the corner as well making both choices essentially about as good. Below is after Green moved:

And the final board


I always take pride in holding a player to under 10 lol.... it's not easy to do. I try to get at least 30 even when I lose and usually I can but not always. Ryan beat me 74-0 once... brutal!

[JohnGalt2341]

In other news, I suck at this game, I feel like I'm perpetually 1 move away. I thought I had my game vs sawyers worked out but there was something I overlooked. End-game puzzles are fun, if only I could position myself to get to them

edit: Actually I might have found a way... but I thought that a few times against Daniel and it never worked lol

I looked in after move #23. Many of these positions are so different to me and I'm not used to seeing them. Because of the way I play I can usually force more familiar positions but these are really fun to look at. I know what I would do but... because of the unique positions it's very interesting and challenging. It may take you a while to run your opponent out of moves but I think you'll be able to do so. I like your chances anyhow.

[blankoblanco]

Nice work! 19 is what I chose but after I posted the board I realized that 18 was equally as good. Purple actually has 2 options in the current state in post #170. He has 19 and he has the blank spot up and slightly left of 19. Had I moved to move 18 Purple would have no longer had spot 19 but he would have still had the other spot which would have given Green the corner as well making both choices essentially about as good. Below is after Green moved:

And the final board


I always take pride in holding a player to under 10 lol.... it's not easy to do. I try to get at least 30 even when I lose and usually I can but not always. Ryan beat me 74-0 once... brutal!

Ah yes, I missed that move. But yeah, it completely works out either way, that's cool