500 point giveaway!

[Daniel Espinosa]

Thanks guys! Yeah GL me! I tjink I made some silly mistakes against Joshua and therefore lost the game.

What is your record against Toptal John?

[JohnGalt2341]

Thanks guys! Yeah GL me! I tjink I made some silly mistakes against Joshua and therefore lost the game.

What is your record against Toptal John?

16-4. I would be shocked if I could keep up this percentage though. Anything over 50% vs Toptal in any of the Reversi games is something to be proud of.

[blankoblanco]

Is there a simple way to find your record vs a specific player on IYT? Or did you have to just look through a bunch of games and tally it up?

Does Toptal have the best win % against you for anyone you've played 10+ against? I'm also curious about your record vs Ryan

[JohnGalt2341]

Is there a simple way to find your record vs a specific player on IYT? Or did you have to just look through a bunch of games and tally it up?

Does Toptal have the best win % against you for anyone you've played 10+ against? I'm also curious about your record vs Ryan

You have to look through the games. I usually just go the players page and look at their losses and then hit Ctrl F and type in my name and see how many hits there are. And then I do the same on my losses pages.

My nephew(Eddie) is 6-16 vs me and Ryan is 2-17 against me. These records feel about right to me. My nephew is 1-1 vs Ryan and that also feels about right to me. I think I struggle more with my nephew than most players because his style is so similar to mine. My nephew has never played Toptal before but if/when they play each other I would definitely give Toptal the edge. If they played 10 times I would expect Toptal to win 6 or 7 of them.

There's a player named Phil that I played years ago that has a record of 5-7 vs me and another named Mach3 that is 4-6 against me. I think those 2 players have the best record against me with at least 10 games. There's a player I played named SAN years ago that went 3-0 against me and a player named JohnnyBGood that went 3-1 against me. These are the only 2 players with winning records against me and I would say they are the 2 best players I ever played. JBG was a chatty player and he told me he competed in live Othello tournaments in various cities. He was trying to recruit me to some of these tourney's but I told him I wasn't very good at Othello... at least not at that level. I wish I could have played him more in Hexversi though because the games he beat me were really close and I think I would have a better record vs him had we played more games. But with SAN... that guy was crazy good. I'm not sure if I could ever beat him... of course I haven't played him now in more than a decade. I wish I could have played him more too.

[JohnGalt2341]

100 point Hexversi challenge

Round 3 of the tourney is finally about to start!

Below are the final 5 and their record so far for this tourney and my predictions for how they will finish in this final round.

1. Holden2341 9-1
2. Eddie 11-1
3. Jon 12-0
4. aragon 7-3
5. dmoresco 10-2

In order to win the 100 points you just need to predict the correct order of the division and you can't use my exact order. When there is a tie between players IYT will list who comes first in the alphabet first. So... when making your prediction you may need to consider this if you think there will be a tie between players. I will use the order IYT uses when the games are all over. If your order matches IYT's order you'll win the 100 points.

Btw, I threw blanko 100 points for picking dmoresco correctly in the last round.

This round should be a lot of fun! Most of these players have never played each other before so I'm really looking forward to seeing how this turns out. I wish FGY and Toptal could have been in the finals... but I guess they'll have to wait until next time. And maybe next time... you guys will be in the finals as well!

[Daniel Espinosa]

GL in the finals! I thought tournaments ran each month automatically. Does somebody have to set it up and organize it?

My predictions:

1. Holden2341 9-1
2. Eddie 11-1
3. Jon 12-0
4. dmoresco 10-2
5. aragon

[blankoblanco]

GL!

1. Holden
2. Jon
3. Eddie
4. dmoresco
5. aragon

And thanks for the points!

[JohnGalt2341]

GL in the finals! I thought tournaments ran each month automatically. Does somebody have to set it up and organize it?

My predictions:

1. Holden2341 9-1
2. Eddie 11-1
3. Jon 12-0
4. dmoresco 10-2
5. aragon

Thanks. When there used to be more players at IYT there were Hexversi tournaments every week for a while but now it's just easier to organize a tournament. You can get more people this way. Before this tourney started bodaciousbutterbean sent me a message saying she's trying to get a Hexversi tournament going and asked for my help. So I sent a message to a bunch of Reversi players and asked them to sign up. When this tourney is over I plan to organize another one. I'm hoping you guys will join and hopefully we can recruit some new players as well. I think you guys have a pretty good chance of at least getting to the 2nd round in the next tourney and possibly further. blanko has wins over both aragon and dmoresco and both players are in the finals. Impressive!

[JohnGalt2341]

I just looked in on blanko's game vs Josh move #20. This is a really interesting game. Really strange position. I wanted to look at a few moves you made that I wouldn't advise. They weren't terrible, they were just very risky. This is the part of playing the sides that is the most difficult to explain. That's lucky for me I suppose

It was move #7 and move #15. You always have to be careful when playing the spots 2 over from the corner because these types of moves can be exploited most of the time, as seen in Purple's move #13. Sure Purple has an unbalanced edge now but it's not so bad because it can only be exploited from one angle. And Purple got the last 2 moves in the exchange.

Move #15 was risky for the same reason. It hasn't exactly been exploited yet but no matter how Green plays that it almost certainly is not going to be good for Green.

I want to talk about move #17 as well but I want to wait until the game is a little further along because I don't want to interfere with the game. Understanding this part of the game is why my record is what it is, so don't feel bad if you don't quite get it. I think it might be the only advantage I have over many players. It's really easy to make mistakes on moves like this but if you know how to play moves like this correctly you'll win a ton of more games. Below is what the board looked like before move #17. I'll tell you what I would have done and why once your game is a little further along.

[blankoblanco]

Yes, I'd love some insight once the game is further along. I think on move 17 I should have moved where Joshua moved instead, that was my first instinct when I looked at it again. I can't say I can really explain why though. I think I just wanted to make a move that denied a space available to him but I chose the wrong one

I seem to be drawn to those spots 2 away from the corner. I guess I just haven't played enough players who are particularly good at exploiting it? Would also appreciate more explanation about this. Does it simply have to do with creating unbalanced edges?

Some of my moves are definitely lack of deeper understanding but I also think I'm experiencing some Hexversi burnout lol. This is also why I haven't been challenging players. I've been making a lot of hasty moves from sheer impatience. My game against butterbean, I felt completely lost and was just sort of doing whatever I felt like without analyzing too much. Despite having the inside track for most of the game, I think my mid-game mistakes (one in particular) might have given her a winning position that she failed to capitalize on. I could also be totally wrong about that

It must be a bit funny to see someone as clueless as I am be currently undefeated on the ladder. This is basically how good you would be with only half your brain, John. Just in case you were worried about anybody taking the crown from you

[JohnGalt2341]

Yes, I'd love some insight once the game is further along. I think on move 17 I should have moved where Joshua moved instead, that was my first instinct when I looked at it again. I can't say I can really explain why though. I think I just wanted to make a move that denied a space available to him but I chose the wrong one

I seem to be drawn to those spots 2 away from the corner. I guess I just haven't played enough players who are particularly good at exploiting it? Would also appreciate more explanation about this. Does it simply have to do with creating unbalanced edges?

Some of my moves are definitely lack of deeper understanding but I also think I'm experiencing some Hexversi burnout lol. This is also why I haven't been challenging players. I've been making a lot of hasty moves from sheer impatience. My game against butterbean, I felt completely lost and was just sort of doing whatever I felt like without analyzing too much. Despite having the inside track for most of the game, I think my mid-game mistakes (one in particular) might have given her a winning position that she failed to capitalize on. I could also be totally wrong about that

It must be a bit funny to see someone as clueless as I am be currently undefeated on the ladder. This is basically how good you would be with only half your brain, John. Just in case you were worried about anybody taking the crown from you

Exactly right. As you know, much of my style involves creating and exploiting unbalanced edges. When you move to a spot that is 2 from the corner it usually makes you vulnerable to getting an unbalanced edge. There are 4 common ways a side can be played before a corner is taken. The unbalanced edge is generally the least desirable of the 4. The other 3 are: #1 You get 4 spots on the side, this is usually good. #2 You get the spots next to either corner(Open 2) and have the 2 middle spots empty, this is usually good. And lastly, there is the Closed 2, which means you have the center 2 spots and the spots on either side are empty. This is my 2nd least favorite although I do play this on occasion in certain situations but you have to be really careful when trying to get the Closed 2.

Whenever you grab a spot that is 2 away from the corner you will normally want to grab the spot right next to it(the other spot in the middle) as fast as you can so you don't get forced into an unbalanced edge. Had you moved in spot 4 you could have grabbed spot X on your next move unless he took spot 3. But if he took spot 3 it wouldn't matter because he would be giving up spot 5 and you should be able to get both of them eventually.

I see you did end up getting spot X but you sacrificed at least 1 extra move in the process. To answer your question... Yes... it's mostly about the unbalanced edges. Sometimes I see players grab that 2nd spot and the other player could easily exploit it and turn it into an unbalanced edge but they don't. This happens A LOT. Most players don't know how to exploit these types of positions. There are some players that I beat over and over again because they make these types of mistakes. I highly doubt that they have any idea what they are doing wrong. But it's mostly these types of plays that I am beating them with.

I hope that helps a little at least... I have to get going now... .but if you have any specific questions or if I didn't answer your question feel free to ask.

[blankoblanco]

Yeah, you're absolutely right, move 17 was a definite screw up. I'm lucky he still let me get spot x, right? Shouldn't he have taken it himself?

The closed 2 on the bottom edge and upper-right both feel pretty good to me in the game vs Joshua, since it shuts off both of his moves on either side. Could you explain why you don't like the closed 2 that much? If it will give too much relevant strategy away for the current game then feel free to wait

[JohnGalt2341]

Yeah, you're absolutely right, move 17 was a definite screw up. I'm lucky he still let me get spot x, right? Shouldn't he have taken it himself?

The closed 2 on the bottom edge and upper-right both feel pretty good to me in the game vs Joshua, since it shuts off both of his moves on either side. Could you explain why you don't like the closed 2 that much? If it will give too much relevant strategy away for the current game then feel free to wait

The main reason is because they can usually be turned into an unbalanced edge. But there are times when you won't have to worry about that and a Closed 2 is acceptable. But the other reason I don't particularly like the Closed 2 is because it creates a potential extra move for your opponent. This is sort of difficult to explain as I don't have a good example of this in recent games but I'll try anyway. When you have a Closed 2... if it's late in a game and your opponent offers you a corner in a spot next to the Closed 2 he can wedge in and gain a move. He won't be able to get the other corner from it and it usually puts him in a fairly dangerous position.... but he'll still gain a move. This is often enough to win close games. If I remember correctly.... Marinella is always trying to get the Closed 2's and I exploit it every single time. She would be a really great player if she stopped going for the Closed 2's. I'll look through a couple of my games with her later and if I can find a good example of this I'll post it.

I must be clear though... I'm not necessarily against the Closed 2's. But... I wouldn't advise to ever attempt to get the Closed 2 unless you are 100% certain that you can get it, and if your other options are worse. What I see a lot from players is they attempt to get a Closed 2 and they just leave it open to be exploited. If I don't exploit it immediately they can grab the Closed 2. But if I exploit it immediately I will give them an unbalanced edge. This is what happened in your game. Joshua had several chances to exploit your move but he didn't.

Anyway... your game vs Josh is really interesting, I hope you can pull this one out. Congrats on beating butterbean and going 15-0!

Daniel has a good game going vs Toptal. He's being outplayed slightly but... not to worry... Toptal usually outplays me early as well. This would be a hell of a win for Daniel. So far in 2020 Toptal has only lost legitimately to one player. I see Daniel is playing aragon now as well.... this should be a good one!

[Daniel Espinosa]

Yes I felt that too, that I was being outplayed so far but was hoping that not by much.

[JohnGalt2341]

Yeah, you're absolutely right, move 17 was a definite screw up. I'm lucky he still let me get spot x, right? Shouldn't he have taken it himself?

The closed 2 on the bottom edge and upper-right both feel pretty good to me in the game vs Joshua, since it shuts off both of his moves on either side. Could you explain why you don't like the closed 2 that much? If it will give too much relevant strategy away for the current game then feel free to wait

I see you beat Joshua. Nice work!! 16-0... very impressive! I see you have a good game going vs Gulin...

[blankoblanco]

Thanks. Yeah, I'm pretty sure Gulin's got me beat unless I'm missing something. We'll see

He definitely outplayed me, and there was a move I tried to save that may have cost me the game, because I was pretty sure he wouldn't counter it and he did

I think I might have to attempt some kind of corner sacrifice but I don't know if it works out

[blankoblanco]

Daniel's game against Toptal looks pretty interesting so far. I assume green would be considered to be ahead currently, definitely has the mobility, but there could still be opportunities to outplay on the sides

[blankoblanco]

Thanks. Yeah, I'm pretty sure Gulin's got me beat unless I'm missing something. We'll see

Okay, I should stop making these predictions probably, since I'm super clueless!

Somehow I seemingly cannot spot my own winning positions and end up winning anyway. Or, more likely, isn't it because my opponents keep throwing the games from winning positions?? I really thought this was another game I should've lost, from move 20something

It's a little bit baffling to me because I know I'm making so many mistakes and still feel kinda clueless in the early game, it's ridiculous that I'm not losing games

[Daniel Espinosa]

I think Im getting owned hard by toptal .

Lets see if I can recover.

[JohnGalt2341]

Okay, I should stop making these predictions probably, since I'm super clueless!

Somehow I seemingly cannot spot my own winning positions and end up winning anyway. Or, more likely, isn't it because my opponents keep throwing the games from winning positions?? I really thought this was another game I should've lost, from move 20something

It's a little bit baffling to me because I know I'm making so many mistakes and still feel kinda clueless in the early game, it's ridiculous that I'm not losing games

Probably a little bit of both. When I first started playing Hexversi I felt exactly the same way and it still happens to me all the time. I kept on thinking that my record was sort of a fluke and I figured it would eventually come down to 80 to 85% win percentage overall, but it never did. Most players weaknesses are my biggest strengths... which is playing the sides and the endgame as you know.

In the first round of this current tourney I was definitely losing 2 of my games vs 2 different players. I was fortunate that they made mistakes and I capitalized. In the finals right now... in one of my games vs Jon I was definitely being outplayed IMO. But... he made a mistake and now I think I might win it. This happens to me in quite a few of my games. And I'm usually still pretty surprised that I came back and won.

One thing I've noticed a lot in my games is the more I play someone it seems like the more tentative they become which makes them easier for me to beat. When Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson I think one of the key factors was that he fought him with confidence. Scared fighters always got destroyed by Tyson but the ones that weren't afraid of him tended to do much better. When I lose games... it's often because a player made a really bold/daring move. You and Daniel are not afraid to make sacrifices like many players are... this alone should give you a decent advantage over most players... especially towards the end of a game.

I often hear the expression in sports... and particularly MMA where a commentator will say about a person or a team... "He/They always seem to find a way to win." I feel like that's the way I am in Hexversi... and it looks like you are too. Let's hope we can both keep it up!

[blankoblanco]

It's definitely cool to be winning when I know I still have so much to improve on

I've been looking in on your games a bit and thought Jon seemed to be playing pretty well before. Nice job with those unbalanced edges though

[JohnGalt2341]

I just looked in on your games. Daniel has a good one going with aragon and Freddo is playing surprisingly well vs blanko... I just realized Freddo is 1-42 in the ladder... will he be the one to take down the 17-0 blanko?? This would be a huge upset!

[JohnGalt2341]

I just looked in on your games. Daniel has a good one going with aragon and Freddo is playing surprisingly well vs blanko... I just realized Freddo is 1-42 in the ladder... will he be the one to take down the 17-0 blanko?? This would be a huge upset!

Never mind, Freddo showed why he's 1-42 with move #17.

[blankoblanco]

Never mind, Freddo showed why he's 1-42 with move #17.

Haha yes. Funnily enough I felt he was outplaying me before, I made a couple dumb moves

[blankoblanco]

Congrats John, looks like you've got your tournament win locked up! WP. Winning a tournament vs that many players is an awesome feat

It looks like Eddie ended up timing out on most of his games? That's disappointing since that match up vs you seemed like the most compelling one. I hope everything's alright with him

A little anti-climactic but I think we all expected Holden2341 to reign supreme from the outset

[JohnGalt2341]

Congrats John, looks like you've got your tournament win locked up! WP. Winning a tournament vs that many players is an awesome feat

It looks like Eddie ended up timing out on most of his games? That's disappointing since that match up vs you seemed like the most compelling one. I hope everything's alright with him

A little anti-climactic but I think we all expected Holden2341 to reign supreme from the outset

Thanks a bunch! I was really disappointed that my nephew timed out his games. I think he probably would have won all of the rest of his games but in his games against me I think he was in trouble. He's notorious for timing out so... I'm not that surprised.

I plan to organize another Hexversi tournament within the next week or so. I'm hoping your guys will join. I should be able to get another 50+ people to join, hopefully. I think you guys would do really well now. aragon played well in the finals and I think they are going to get 2nd. And I know you guys can compete at the same level as aragon so... perhaps you guys could make it that far as well. Granted... aragon would have been eliminated had FGY not timed out 2 games and in round 1 aragon went 3-1 in a fairly easy division. But they played well enough in the finals to get 2nd(I think).

[JohnGalt2341]

25 Point Hexversi Challenge

What's the best move for Purple? (2 good ones here I think... which did I pick?)

[JohnGalt2341]

25 Point Hexversi Challenge

What's the best move for Green? (There are a few good moves here... which one did I pick?)

[JohnGalt2341]

I just noticed that Daniel is still(move 32) hanging in there vs Toptal. It looks as if Toptal is going to be one move short of what he's trying to do and he's going to have to move in that upper left quadrant. This should be bad news for Toptal... I don't know if Daniel has enough experience to be able to pull this one off but I definitively think it's possible. Nice work on this one Daniel! Even if you lose... this was some nice scrappy play here to keep yourself in it. Your side-play definitely needs some work but you're hanging in there with one of the best just like you did with me. I don't think that's a fluke. But the unbalanced edges might cost you in this one. I admittedly didn't think this one was going to be this close. Had you played a couple of the sides better I think you probably would have won... and you might still win!

[blankoblanco]

I couldn't find the move for purple after looking for a minute or so but I'm super tired, may give it another look tomorrow

For green, I'll go with 13. Should be at least a move advantage. If he takes corner we have the wedge into the other corner, otherwise we can balance the edge. Just not sure if there's something better

[blankoblanco]

Welp, tried some different stuff in the early game vs. butterbean and compleeeetely screwed myself. Like, seems legitimately unrecoverable. Looking like an unceremonious ending to the streak but lesson learned

[JohnGalt2341]

Welp, tried some different stuff in the early game vs. butterbean and compleeeetely screwed myself. Like, seems legitimately unrecoverable. Looking like an unceremonious ending to the streak but lesson learned

BB has a very unorthodox style that is often hard to deal with. She's beat me twice over the years and she's got a win over FGY which is impressive. Yeah... this is a tough one that's going to be hard to come back from. I'm pretty sure I have some losses like this and I know I've nearly lost a lot of games like this one.

A mistake that stands out for me is move #8. The spot you took you should have waited for Purple to take that spot so you could force them into an unbalanced edge. This is a HUGE part of my strategy and almost nobody plays these types of situations correctly on both ends. Purple never should have taken that spot on the upper side because they had far better moves to choose from. So... I consider that a mistake on Purple's behalf and I would wait to make them pay for it. BB and quite a few others can get away with playing the sides like she did most of the time but she's going to struggle vs people that will make her pay for her mistake.

There are certain moves that you have to attack immediately and there are others where you must wait for your opponent to move first. This is the part of playing the sides correctly that is so difficult to teach. But almost all of it usually comes down to trying to either create or avoid an unbalanced edge.

On move #9 you should have moved to the spot just lower and right of where you moved. This would have left Purple without a very good move. Also, your move made it so Purple had 2 pieces inside of yours. It's usually a good idea to avoid letting your opponent trap pieces inside of yours if possible. Other than that you played well but not waiting for Purple to move into that spot on the upper side is probably going to cost you the game. On that move I would have taken the 3 Purples on the upper left in a straight line and left the one Purple just under where I would have moved.

This is a tough game to stay undefeated... so many things to learn.... and I'm still learning.

[JohnGalt2341]

I'm going for 90-0!

I'm pretty sure I've never won a game 90-0. When Hexversi was new if you ran your opponent out of moves your opponent didn't have use it's turn just to pass. It would pass automatically. So this means if your opponent didn't have any moves for several moves you could just move several times in a row. You didn't have to wait for your opponent to pass it's turn. But now you have to wait for your opponent just to pass. Because of this, when your opponent has to pass it slows down the game. So normally I will give my opponent moves on purpose as to not slow down the game. However, if I chose to play it to maximize my piece count I think I could get in the high 80's in some of these games.

I'm playing Freddo right now in the ladder. I'm going to try to really clobber him in this game. I'm shooting for 90-0 but I think this is going to be really hard to do. I'm nearly certain I will get 80 in this one... I'd set the Over/Under at about 84.5. Hopefully Freddo won't mind... he's a member so... he doesn't have to worry about wasting his moves. Hopefully he won't resign. What do you think?

I'm Green btw. How many people on SBR would think that Green's getting destroyed here?

[blankoblanco]

But he has 6 times as many points as you! You're getting clobbered! Give up!

Yeah, that is a hell of a position you've got there. I don't doubt you'll get 80+. Not sure if I would since I still have a lot to learn about maximizing pieces in certain situations, and when I know the game is won I'll often not really try

Freddo let me finish a 72-17 game against him so my guess is he won't resign. 90-0 would be quite amazing

I was wondering how the hell Freddo was even rank 11 but apparently it's because butterbean timed out on move 3 in a game

[JohnGalt2341]

Welp, tried some different stuff in the early game vs. butterbean and compleeeetely screwed myself. Like, seems legitimately unrecoverable. Looking like an unceremonious ending to the streak but lesson learned

Looks like you're not finished just yet! Another unique and interesting game...