[Daniel Espinosa]

Im playing Ryan right now, he seems to have a crazy aggresive style too. Lets see how it goes

[JohnGalt2341]

Im playing Ryan right now, he seems to have a crazy aggresive style too. Lets see how it goes

I just noticed. Interesting game so far. Looks like a good one!

And I see you got a really complex and interesting game going vs aragon was well.

[Daniel Espinosa]

Yeah against aragon I thought I had him for a moment but then he kinda surprised me with some good moves. I hope I can win!

[JohnGalt2341]

I know you guys sometimes struggle with the openings and I know I haven't been that much help because I often get outplayed in the openings myself. especially when I'm Green. Anyway... in my current game vs Hugolin in the Ladder where I am Green I believe I played rather well. I went through the game and on most of these moves there is definitively only one way it should be played IMO and those are the places that I moved. There is a couple of moves, where a couple of different choices could have worked but most of them were a very obvious choice to me and I think I played rather well. I got the tap out at move #14 which is incredibly fast but it wasn't even my intention. I was just making moves that I felt were rather obvious.

Anyway... I'm not sure if this link will work but I think this game could be a useful tool to learn on how to play an opening. Here's the link: https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...&u=0&t=0&gn=97

If you have any questions about any of the moves feel free to ask. If all the moves made sense to you then you're on your way!

[blankoblanco]

Wow, that is a quick tapout! What would you say was his biggest mistake?

Also, congrats to Daniel on beating aragon. That's a nice win. I've had my eye on that game in the later stages and you played it very well imo

[JohnGalt2341]

Wow, that is a quick tapout! What would you say was his biggest mistake?

Also, congrats to Daniel on beating aragon. That's a nice win. I've had my eye on that game in the later stages and you played it very well imo

He just played really poorly and I was somewhat fortunate how quickly it turned bad for him. Moves #4 and #5 were bad for him and #6 was also a waste.

[Daniel Espinosa]

I know you guys sometimes struggle with the openings and I know I haven't been that much help because I often get outplayed in the openings myself. especially when I'm Green. Anyway... in my current game vs Hugolin in the Ladder where I am Green I believe I played rather well. I went through the game and on most of these moves there is definitively only one way it should be played IMO and those are the places that I moved. There is a couple of moves, where a couple of different choices could have worked but most of them were a very obvious choice to me and I think I played rather well. I got the tap out at move #14 which is incredibly fast but it wasn't even my intention. I was just making moves that I felt were rather obvious.

Anyway... I'm not sure if this link will work but I think this game could be a useful tool to learn on how to play an opening. Here's the link: https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...&u=0&t=0&gn=97

If you have any questions about any of the moves feel free to ask. If all the moves made sense to you then you're on your way!

Sick owange! Hugolin outplayed me at the beggining the 3 times we played I think, so probably I should study how to do this!

[Daniel Espinosa]

Thanks! I hope we dont end up in the same group in the 2nd round becuase you have destroyed me hard lately!

Wow, that is a quick tapout! What would you say was his biggest mistake?

Also, congrats to Daniel on beating aragon. That's a nice win. I've had my eye on that game in the later stages and you played it very well imo

[JohnGalt2341]

25 Point Hexversi Challenge

I'm hoping the next round of the tourney will start within a week or so, so I figure we'll all probably be in some tight games in the next round. The game below is with a player that will be in the next round as well. This game is from 2017.

What's the best move for Purple?

[JohnGalt2341]

I can't remember if I did this one before?



Well... anyway... I like it, because it illustrates some things to think about during the endgame.

[Daniel Espinosa]

If you did it before I cant remember. 5 beacuase it gives no extra movements to green.

[blankoblanco]

If purple takes 5, green can then take 4 though

I'm looking at the top right because there's a triangle where we can get two moves to one

If we take 2 I think it works? After 2 if he takes the corner, we take 3, then I believe all of his moves have him forced to start giving up the edges?

[JohnGalt2341]

If purple takes 5, green can then take 4 though

I'm looking at the top right because there's a triangle where we can get two moves to one

If we take 2 I think it works? After 2 if he takes the corner, we take 3, then I believe all of his moves have him forced to start giving up the edges?

Exactly right!

When it gets late in a game like this you almost always want to be looking for a way to gain a move and hopefully finish off your opponent. An easy way to do this is often going first into a section of 3. Just make sure you are not giving up too much. Gaining 1 move is often enough to give up a corner for but if it's more than that you might want to reconsider.

In the game below, there are 3 separate sections and I consider the ones on the left and lower left to be a section of 4 because of how interconnected they are. So we have two sections of 4 and one section of 3 and one section of 2. You are almost always better off going first into Odd sections and going 2nd into Even sections. There are exceptions to the rule of course. But it usually comes down to getting the last move in the section. You should almost always be striving for this. By going to move #2 you turn every section into an Even section for him, meaning I will get the last move in all the remaining sections because he has to move into them first.


Here's how the game turned out if you are interested:
https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...1447&t=1&gn=97

[JohnGalt2341]

25 Point Hexversi Challenge

What's the best move for Green? (Edit, I accidentally skipped the spot between 3 and 4 by accident and I forgot to correct it. Let's just call it spot 3.5.)

[blankoblanco]

I looked at this one for a while. I think if we take 8 right now we can get a 2 move advantage. Purple can't currently move to 10 or the space left of it

If we take 8 and purple takes the spot to the right, we can complete that edge without flipping the other piece below which means we can also take 10 afterwards. 3-1 move advantage on that side. If we take 8 and purple ignores that side altogether we can follow up with 10. Then it's a 2-0 move advantage (and back to 3-1 after they take a space in between)

I hope that's right lol. Or at least as good of a move as it looks to me, might've missed something else

[Daniel Espinosa]

3.5 seems fine. Purple is forced to make a move elsewhere.

[JohnGalt2341]

I looked at this one for a while. I think if we take 8 right now we can get a 2 move advantage. Purple can't currently move to 10 or the space left of it

If we take 8 and purple takes the spot to the right, we can complete that edge without flipping the other piece below which means we can also take 10 afterwards. 3-1 move advantage on that side. If we take 8 and purple ignores that side altogether we can follow up with 10. Then it's a 2-0 move advantage (and back to 3-1 after they take a space in between)

I hope that's right lol. Or at least as good of a move as it looks to me, might've missed something else

Exactly right!

Full disclosure... this is my current Ladder game vs Toptal. I am Purple. I made a subtle mistake on my previous move and I didn't see my mistake until after I moved, and then I noticed #8 for Toptal. I thought for sure Toptal would catch my mistake and take the #8 spot. He didn't, he moved to #10 instead. Maybe he thought he could grab #8 on this next move? I'm not sure. It's too late for him now as I grabbed the spot just right of #8 as seen here:

https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...&u=0&t=0&gn=97

Daniels guess of #3.5 is a good move but Green has only One chance to take advantage of what a good move #8 is. If he waits, Purple can create a move just left of #10 and that would prevent Green from getting the Open 2.

I realize this can be a little confusing. But blanko's explanation is EXACTLY correct. When you are playing a really good player you want to always be looking for moves just like this one. I got away with a mistake because Toptal didn't realize what a good move #8 was, and now it's too late because that move is gone now.

Most of the top players(including myself) make subtle mistakes on the sides that can be exploited if you can find a way to do so. For players like me and Toptal, you usually only have a small window(usually only 1 chance) to exploit a subtle mistake that we made on the sides. If you miss your chance, it's likely that you won't even be aware of what you missed.

[blankoblanco]

Nice! Do you think you would've lost if Toptal caught that? A 2 move swing is big

[JohnGalt2341]

Nice! Do you think you would've lost if Toptal caught that? A 2 move swing is big

It's likely. I can usually outplay Toptal in games like these because he often makes moves that I wouldn't make on the sides but his corner play is really good. I think these next few moves are going to say a lot because... now he's being forced to move into areas where it's far easier to make a mistake. Had he caught my mistake and moved to number #8 it would be me that would be moving into his area, and it wouldn't be that I would be making a mistake but it would be that no matter where I moved I would likely be giving him a good move every time. These can be tough games to win. So yeah... that was a huge swing of luck for me that he didn't catch that.

[JohnGalt2341]

100 Point Hexversi Challenge

Any time you start a new ladder game, predict the exact final score and win 100 points.

Good luck!

[Daniel Espinosa]

Daniel vs Steve in NY 51-39
Daniel vs dmoresco 51-39

I lost a game against joook. I think I was winning the game but I made a mistake in move 36 (and again in move 38). He had less moves but all my options were terrible. What do you guys think?

https://www.itsyourturn.com/iyt.dll?...0003418743&t=3

[Daniel Espinosa]

Daniel vs The-Chair-Man 50-40

[JohnGalt2341]

Daniel vs Steve in NY 51-39
Daniel vs dmoresco 51-39

I lost a game against joook. I think I was winning the game but I made a mistake in move 36 (and again in move 38). He had less moves but all my options were terrible. What do you guys think?

https://www.itsyourturn.com/iyt.dll?...0003418743&t=3

Yeah, I agree all of your options were terrible. I was trying to find your big mistake towards the end but I couldn't really find anything. I thought you played well towards the end it was just unfortunate that there was really no way out in those last 8 moves or so. At least I couldn't find any. I had to go back to move #18 before I could find a move that you made that I found troubling.

About move #18, I would have definitely took those 2 Greens in that upper left section. In games like this, if you have options near your other pieces you are almost always better off just trying to stay in one section of the board as long as possible until you have to move into your saved sections.

[JohnGalt2341]

25 Point Hexversi Challenge

What's the best move for Purple? This one is subjective I suppose but I'll make my case afterward. You can ignore #15, and #16.

[Daniel Espinosa]

Yeah, I agree all of your options were terrible. I was trying to find your big mistake towards the end but I couldn't really find anything. I thought you played well towards the end it was just unfortunate that there was really no way out in those last 8 moves or so. At least I couldn't find any. I had to go back to move #18 before I could find a move that you made that I found troubling.

About move #18, I would have definitely took those 2 Greens in that upper left section. In games like this, if you have options near your other pieces you are almost always better off just trying to stay in one section of the board as long as possible until you have to move into your saved sections.

Ok I understand. I took it in move 21. I thought it would be pretty much the same thing?


3 seems like a good option in the Challenge. You gain one move there.

[blankoblanco]

No strong idea on this one. I think if I was in the game I'd take 1. A little too tired to offer any explanation on that, plus it's probably not the move lol

[JohnGalt2341]

Ok I understand. I took it in move 21. I thought it would be pretty much the same thing?


3 seems like a good option in the Challenge. You gain one move there.

No strong idea on this one. I think if I was in the game I'd take 1. A little too tired to offer any explanation on that, plus it's probably not the move lol

I'm going to wait to give an answer on this because this is one of your guys games and I want to wait until it's a little further along before i say anything.

But anyway, I just sort of realized that there is one thing that I do subconsciously that I never really thought about but is completely obvious to me now. It's something i don' t think I ever told you guys, but you guys already do it fairly well but I will try to illustrate it's importance here once the game is a little further along. I am hoping that this tip will help you guys a lot vs stronger players.

[JohnGalt2341]

So this is for the Challenge post from #549. It's a tourney game between blanko who is Purple and Toptal who is Green. In the game below I would definitely move to #10 for Purple. #14 would be acceptable but I didn't really like anything else. But I definitely would have moved to #10 and I'll attempt to explain why.

#10 takes out what I'll call a Key Piece or KPs. Generally, a KP is when one of your opponents pieces is touching several of your own pieces, usually 3 or more. You can see the KP4 marked in the game below. Right now that KP4 is the toughest dude in Greens gang. If you get a chance to take him out while flipping pieces in only 1 direction(this is usually important) you'll usually want to take it. And in this case you would be taking out a KP3 as well. If you ignore his KP4 it can become trapped inside your pieces making it up to a KP6, This is usually not good for you.


You can go through just about any of my games and in most of them I focus heavily on my opponents KP's. I should mention that I think I just recently consciously noticed how much I focus on these KP's in most of my games. But as in many of the Hexversi strategies there's always a lot of exceptions to the rule. But I think just being aware of your opponents KP's should be very useful for you guys

Let me know if you guys have any questions about the KPs. Btw, I was first going to call these Power Pieces or PP's but then when I read it over it sounded insanely perverted. I'm glad i made the change.