Im playing Ryan right now, he seems to have a crazy aggresive style too. Lets see how it goes
-
Comment -
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!Comment -
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!Last edited by JohnGalt2341; 08-09-20, 03:47 PM.Comment -
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 imoComment -
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?
Comment -
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.Comment -
If you did it before I cant remember. 5 beacuase it gives no extra movements to green.Comment -
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?Last edited by blankoblanco; 08-26-20, 05:03 AM.Comment -
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:
Last edited by JohnGalt2341; 08-26-20, 03:49 PM.Comment -
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.)
Comment -
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 elseComment -
3.5 seems fine. Purple is forced to make a move elsewhere.Comment -
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:
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.Comment -
Nice! Do you think you would've lost if Toptal caught that? A 2 move swing is bigComment -
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.Comment -
100 Point Hexversi Challenge
Any time you start a new ladder game, predict the exact final score and win 100 points.
Good luck!
Comment -
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?
Comment -
Daniel vs The-Chair-Man 50-40Comment -
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.Comment -
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.
Comment -
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 lolComment -
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.Comment -
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.
Last edited by JohnGalt2341; 09-17-20, 10:16 PM.Comment -
I went for 90 again. My closest so far.
If either of you guys ever gets 90 I'll throw 500 points your way.Comment -
Haha nice. You will have another shot when you play against me in the finals.Comment -
I'm playing Irontown in a Ladder game. I think this is my fastest Tap Out ever.
Comment -
Well payed SirComment -
So I was looking at blanko's current Ladder game with Toptal and there are 3 moves that I didn't like for Green. Those were, #11, 15, and 17. Other than those 3 moves I thought you were playing well. I'm too lazy to break it down now but if you have any specific questions about those moves let me know. Or else I'll probably break it down tomorrow.Comment -
Yeah, I'd definitely appreciate a breakdown on those moves as always (and what you would have done instead)
I've been playing a bit fast and loose lately. After advancing in a tournament I guess ladder games don't seem quite so important, but I'm also looking to put myself in situations I haven't been in before and see how it ends up working out. I want to win but also want to learn. Not to sound like I'm making excuses for my mistakes. In a lot of spots I have no clue what to do, and I have no doubt someone like Toptal is still much better at this game than I am and I've been fortunate to beat him twice
I've learned a ton from this thread but I can still definitely feel there are some key pieces of specific strategy that I'm missingComment -
I play pretty fast and loose myself so... I don't see anything wrong with that but I know it is difficult for many players to be able to identify a good or bad position by just looking at the board for a few seconds.
I think I should be able to explain the moves you made that I didn't like and where I would have moved instead, without posting pictures of the game itself but if you have any questions feel free to ask.
#11. The move you made here was just left of that upper Green piece. It wasn't exactly terrible but I would have definitely moved just right(and above) of that Green piece instead. This would have immediately opened up a very good move for you 3 spots right(and above) of the Center Piece. I also believe that it would have opened up other good moves for you in your next few moves as well. Usually, if you can rip right through the middle of your opponents pieces you are better off than if you just cut through them towards one side or the other. But as always, I know there are exceptions to the rule.
#15 I would have definitely taken that lone Purple piece just right, and 2 spots below the Center Piece. Take a look at that lower right wall. The way Purple has those 2 pieces hanging out near that lower right wall... that's a position that is not terribly easy to exploit if you don't know how to do it. But if you did it right I think you could have eventually gotten on Open 2 or balanced edge on that lower right wall and you would have gained at least 1 or 2 moves in the process. But you would have to set it up perfectly and likely have to be patient in order to get it. And the more the middle of the board fills up, the easier you will be able to see how you could get it. Positions like this are very difficult to explain but it's stuff like this that I believe gives me an edge over players like Toptal. Most players don't know how to exploit Toptals(or mine) subtle mistakes and because of this, they don't even realize we made a mistake to begin with.
#17 I would have moved to just left of where you moved. That way he wouldn't have been able to force you into an Unbalanced Edge and you could have grabbed an Open 2 on that lower right wall on your very next move.
Let me know if you have any questions.
And for Daniel, if you want me to review any of your games let me know. I'll try not to nitpick too much and I'll just try to point out the common mistakes and try to illustrate why they are bad.
Last edited by JohnGalt2341; 10-12-20, 12:40 PM.Comment
