[JohnGalt2341]

John, since you've been teaching unbalanced edge concepts again lately to help jackpot, I've been thinking about something I wanted to ask you

https://www.itsyourturn.com/iyt.dll?...18716&t=1&gn=0

For reference, the above game. I'm curious about purple move #6, d3. This is the sort of move I'm very used to doing as it usually seems to work out for me against the majority of opponents. My reasoning is that, because I don't have a piece in e3, I can do this and even if I end up making an unbalanced edge, the opponent doesn't have a guaranteed wedge spot to take advantage of it. However, what I've noticed playing against you is that you seem to always exploit me in some way when I try this

What I'm wondering: is that move by me an objective mistake and Toptal just failed to take advantage of it (as well as most other players)? Not necessarily right away but on a later move? And if you look at later moves, can you see a clear point where you would've been able to exploit me taking that edge? Or any other insight you could give about this sort of move would be useful

Yeah, that move is perfectly okay and it is a correct way to play a side. In theory it could be exploited I suppose but it is very difficult most of the time. If I was Green in this situation playing against you, I would have shared the side with you at some point and played b5 just as Toptal did on move #19. Also, when you played f3 for move #9, now you are potentially inviting Green to play e3 which they played on #11, which will give you the opportunity to play e2, which you played on #16.

So... you played everything correctly. Playing these center 2 hexes in the middle are tricky because you have to make sure you are either getting a Closed 2 or you have to the opportunity to balance out your edge or be willing to share the side. Both you and Daniel play the sides remarkably well, especially considering how little I explained to the 2 of you compared to how much I explained to my brother, and both of you guys are still better than my brother.

Also... one more thing... I'm sure you already know this but... when sharing sides of this sort like on the Southern side of this game after Green has played #19, now there is a potential Wedge spot at c4 for BOTH players. Now both players can sacrifice a corner and Wedge so... you just have to be careful of that OR you can use it to your advantage.

Feel free to keep asking questions of this sort.



Here's a link to the game after move #19 for reference.

https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...8716&t=1&gn=97

[jackpot269]

I just looked at blankos game above to try and get and understanding of what he was asking, then went back thru all the excellent notes, you have put in here. I think im getting a little better understanding but then after a few moves Ill see I made a bad move. The edges are tough I got to do better there.

[blankoblanco]

Thanks John. Follow up question about a game against you: https://www.itsyourturn.com/iyt.dll?...18716&t=1&gn=0

So here I did c4 on 13, again because I don't have a piece in c5. In this case, is it a mistake because of the pieces I have on the left? You played b6 later which was not a move I was thinking about. I honestly can't tell if it's even one of the reasons I lost or not. We ended up trading corners, but I had too many pieces on the outside so it seemed pretty doomed from there

[JohnGalt2341]

Thanks John. Follow up question about a game against you: https://www.itsyourturn.com/iyt.dll?...18716&t=1&gn=0

So here I did c4 on 13, again because I don't have a piece in c5. In this case, is it a mistake because of the pieces I have on the left? You played b6 later which was not a move I was thinking about. I honestly can't tell if it's even one of the reasons I lost or not. We ended up trading corners, but I had too many pieces on the outside so it seemed pretty doomed from there

Yeah, these can get really tricky. I don't like c4 here for this specific situation but sometimes you can get away with similar looking ones. A lot of it comes down to if you can balance out your edge or if it can possibly be exploited. You sort of have to think it through. But the main thing is, once there is that gap, it becomes really dangerous so... you have to be really careful.

These Othello players will play into the X-hexes like I did in move #15 in this game no sweat, they don't mess around... so... you have to be really careful because they will call you out on stuff like this. I would have played c5 if I was Purple for move #13.

[blankoblanco]

Yeah, these can get really tricky. I don't like c4 here for this specific situation but sometimes you can get away with similar looking ones. A lot of it comes down to if you can balance out your edge or if it can possibly be exploited. You sort of have to think it through. But the main thing is, once there is that gap, it becomes really dangerous so... you have to be really careful.

These Othello players will play into the X-hexes like I did in move #15 in this game no sweat, they don't mess around... so... you have to be really careful because they will call you out on stuff like this. I would have played c5 if I was Purple for move #13.

c5 instead of c4 definitely makes sense. I just didn't realize how c4 was exploitable at the time. Yeah, I'll have to watch out for those crafty x-hex plays, I'm not used to expecting them in that situation because most of my opponents won't do it (or they'll only do it if it's practically forced). Or they're Freddo and do it for absolutely no reason

Edit: One last quick question about the same game against you I linked above:

Do you have any thoughts about 6. k3 for purple? Just that sort of first edge move in general. To me it seems fine as long as I don't screw it up after you play i6, but I'm wondering if there's something bad or exploitable about this in the long run I'm not seeing? Or the position is just too underdeveloped to even say? If that's the case np, I only want to make sure I'm not missing something obvious. Thanks again for the answers

[JohnGalt2341]

c5 instead of c4 definitely makes sense. I just didn't realize how c4 was exploitable at the time. Yeah, I'll have to watch out for those crafty x-hex plays, I'm not used to expecting them in that situation because most of my opponents won't do it (or they'll only do it if it's practically forced). Or they're Freddo and do it for absolutely no reason

Edit: One last quick question about the same game against you I linked above:

Do you have any thoughts about 6. k3 for purple? Just that sort of first edge move in general. To me it seems fine as long as I don't screw it up after you play i6, but I'm wondering if there's something bad or exploitable about this in the long run I'm not seeing? Or the position is just too underdeveloped to even say? If that's the case np, I only want to make sure I'm not missing something obvious. Thanks again for the answers

Yeah, I would say that's a good move. For me, the general rule that I usually go by is, I don't play the middle 2 hexes first unless I plan on getting a Closed 2 or sharing the side. I would say that you play the Closed 2's as well as anyone playing the game right now. It can get tricky though because if you can't get that Closed 2, then you can sometimes get forced into/or tricked into an unbalanced edge or tricked into losing tempo. And often times it's hard to tell if you will be able to get the Closed 2 or not. This is the issue that you will likely have to deal with in the next round.

[JohnGalt2341]

I just looked at blankos game above to try and get and understanding of what he was asking, then went back thru all the excellent notes, you have put in here. I think im getting a little better understanding but then after a few moves Ill see I made a bad move. The edges are tough I got to do better there.

I wanted to point out a couple of things in our game. You played great early on! Your first real mistake didn't come until move #19 as seen in the image below. You played j5 here. A couple of things here, when you played j5, you are flipping 3 outside pieces. We want to avoid flipping outside pieces at all costs. Anytime you are flipping outside pieces it ALMOST ALWAYS means you are making a bad move. Because when you are flipping outside pieces it means you are creating a bunch of new moves for your opponent. Our only objective is to run our opponent down to ZERO Available Options(AO).

Your best moves are usually to Flip Inside Pieces. Preferably, Flipping Inside Pieces Entirely... aka FIPE's. This means that, none of the pieces that you would be flipping are exposed. An example of this is b7 in the image below. If you played b7 below instead, you would be Flipping an Inside Piece Entirely. Make sense? I marked k2 as well because k2 is also a very good move, because whenever you have an opportunity to share a side with an opponent, you should. You don't have to do it immediately. But if the side CAN BE SHARED, then you should share it. So, if your opponent plays a side before you, and you see that the side CAN BE SHARED, just like in the image below, then you should share it. Sometimes you may have to EARN the move there first.



Okay so... here's the 2nd image below. Here is 1 move later. You played a9 here. Again, b7 is still your best move as it is a FIPE(Flipping Inside Pieces Entirely). But your main problem here is how you played the side. By playing a9, you are allowing your opponent to "run you up on the wall" by playing a8 and then "finishing with the sweep" at b7. This stuff is fairly advanced, so... don't worry if you don't understand this stuff just yet. It took my brother several months to understand this stuff. It's just a matter of repetition.



So... after you didn't take the SW side and you didn't share the NE side, after that you were pretty much screwed. These are VERY common mistakes that most players make over and over again. Once you become aware of them it should help you quite a bit. Playing the sides correctly is really the hardest part of this game because it's so tricky and almost nobody gets it right 100% of the time. I hope this helps a little anyway. Let me know if you have any questions.

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

Edit: Also... some of this stuff is terribly difficult to explain. So... don't feel bad if you don't get it this time and you make the same mistakes several times over again. It took my brother MONTHS to get some of this stuff right. I can already tell you are learning faster than he did.

[jackpot269]

Well That helps more than a little, I can see why those are the better moves. Thanks for all your help I know it takes time to to look at games and make these notes!! Also for teaching me this game and the web site !! Its a great find

I wish I had got on board last year !!

[JohnGalt2341]

Well That helps more than a little, I can see why those are the better moves. Thanks for all your help I know it takes time to to look at games and make these notes!! Also for teaching me this game and the web site !! Its a great find

I wish I had got on board last year !!

No problem. I really enjoy helping new players, especially if they show an interest in the game. The fact that you bought a membership motivates me to help you more. Also, there's a ton of stuff that I never really got too specific with blanko and Daniel compared to how much I showed my brother, so maybe I'll be able to show them a few things as well. But they picked up the game MUCH faster than my brother did. Also, I'm really hoping if more players join in the future that I will just be able to cut and paste some of the stuff I'm showing you now, and be able to show them the same stuff then.

[JohnGalt2341]

Congrats to blanko for sweeping Section #3!

Section #3: completed
Player's Name	Score	Games com pleted	Avg score per game cmpltd
blankoblanco (winner)	12	6	2.00
§Ryan	8	6	1.33
Angela Malkowski	4	6	0.67
§Joshua	0	6	0.00

This was really one of the tougher Sections in Round 1 IMO. Every single player in this Section has at least 1 Win over Toptal. This is the only Section in the Tournament that can make that claim, aside from the 2 players in Section #9 of course. Joshua went 5-0-1 in Round 1 of the last Tourney and nearly beat me in a game in Round 2. He's no slouch for sure, but this Section was rough! Angela also a good player that has beat Toptal, RCCH, and Ryan as well. Well done here blanko! I threw 100 points your way to post #75 for the shutout.



Round 1 is wrapping up here... 2 Sections left to go...

[jackpot269]

Congrats to blanko for sweeping Section #3!

Section #3: completed
Player's Name	Score	Games com pleted	Avg score per game cmpltd
blankoblanco (winner)	12	6	2.00
§Ryan	8	6	1.33
Angela Malkowski	4	6	0.67
§Joshua	0	6	0.00

This was really one of the tougher Sections in Round 1 IMO. Every single player in this Section has at least 1 Win over Toptal. This is the only Section in the Tournament that can make that claim, aside from the 2 players in Section #9 of course. Joshua went 5-0-1 in Round 1 of the last Tourney and nearly beat me in a game in Round 2. He's no slouch for sure, but this Section was rough! Angela also a good player that has beat Toptal, RCCH, and Ryan as well. Well done here blanko! I threw 100 points your way to post #75 for the shutout.



Round 1 is wrapping up here... 2 Sections left to go...

Great job Blanko Congrats!!

[JohnGalt2341]

Jackpot, I want to point out something in your game vs DonJuan. This is for move #14. You played c4 here. This is not the correct way to play a side. When we play a side, we don't want to have this long gangly stretch of pieces. We want the piece to be right next to the side on most occasions. And we want to make sure that if we are the first player to put a piece on the side, that we are not touching one of our own pieces when we are doing so(that's not what happened here. I will explain this to you later if you make this mistake. Most players get this wrong a lot).

But we can't have this long gangly line of pieces. It has to be short, the piece has to be right next to the side on almost every occasion or else it can be exploited most of the time. You most definitely should have played i2 here. See how i2 is a FIPE(Flipping Inside Pieces Entirely). What this means is, it means that all the pieces that you are flipping are completely unexposed. So, these are the kinds of moves we want to look for. If you find a FIPE, you should take it because there is a VERY good chance that it is your best move.




Okay so.... in the next image is after your move. Now look at all of your newly exposed pieces. Those notations are all potential moves for your opponent. If you play FIPE's all the time, you have a MUCH better chance of running your opponent down to ZERO Available Options.



So... moral of the story is... everything we do is about Options. We want to keep our options High and our opponents options Low. Playing FIPE's or FIP's is a very simple way of doing this. And once you learn correct side-play, you'll be on your way. Also... try to avoid flipping outside pieces as much as you possibly can. It ALMOST ALWAYS means you are making a bad move.

[Daniel Espinosa]

Wow beating Ryan is not easy, congrats blanko!

Congrats to blanko for sweeping Section #3!

Section #3: completed
Player's Name	Score	Games com pleted	Avg score per game cmpltd
blankoblanco (winner)	12	6	2.00
§Ryan	8	6	1.33
Angela Malkowski	4	6	0.67
§Joshua	0	6	0.00

This was really one of the tougher Sections in Round 1 IMO. Every single player in this Section has at least 1 Win over Toptal. This is the only Section in the Tournament that can make that claim, aside from the 2 players in Section #9 of course. Joshua went 5-0-1 in Round 1 of the last Tourney and nearly beat me in a game in Round 2. He's no slouch for sure, but this Section was rough! Angela also a good player that has beat Toptal, RCCH, and Ryan as well. Well done here blanko! I threw 100 points your way to post #75 for the shutout.



Round 1 is wrapping up here... 2 Sections left to go...

[blankoblanco]

Thanks guys! And thanks for the points John. Didn't want to let you down after you had the faith in me to pick me over Ryan. I didn't even pick myself

I just hope I can put some points on the board in the second round, it's gonna be crazy tough

[JohnGalt2341]

Jackpot, I want to point out something in our current game. First off, don't worry that you are making these types of rookie mistakes. These are very common rookie mistakes. It takes a while until you can learn how to read the board properly. My brother was making these same types of mistakes for several MONTHS before he stopped making them. And he still makes some of them even now.

Move #14 in the image below. k5 and k2 are known as C-hexes and b6 is known as an X-hex. These are all hexes that are next to corners. You have to be VERY careful when playing these hexes because they touch the corners and once a corner is captured it cannot be flipped. C-hexes can be played, but NOT if they are right next to one of your opponents pieces, because then your opponent is going to get a corner. You played k2 here and I took the Eastern corner. You would have been far better off playing either c10, c9, or c5. I don't recommend playing any of the 6 X-hexes until you get more experience. Save the X-hexes until you have absolutely no where else to move, until you get a little more experience and then I will show you how to play X-hexes to your advantage.



One of the hardest things to learn about Hexversi is, there are a lot of exceptions to all the "rules" that I am trying to teach you. And I do apologize for that. So... you will hear a lot of stuff that will sound paradoxical and probably contradictory. A lot of that stuff you will learn over time. I'm mostly just trying to not let you form any bad habits right out of the gate.

Also... as far as FIPE's and FIP's go... you have probably noticed that in our games you rarely see these types of moves. This is true, and it can be frustrating when you don't see them. But if you do see them in your other games, most of the time they are either VERY good moves, or they are your BEST move. I hope this helps a little.

[jackpot269]

Man thanks, all your help is welcomed I hate that it takes so much of your time when I make these same mistakes, in the example above I was trying to avoid leaving an empty space in playing c10 c9 or b5 and played the C-hex after I played It, I thought(knew) it was the wrong move. Ive been trying to play inside if possible, and break up my opponents chips when possible You do a great job of leaving few or no options for your opponent. My mind set, and im working on it, has been leaving me options instead of limiting my opponents. I get to thinking im doing better when playing other people( and winning a couple) then play you and I see how much work I need. Thanks again

[JohnGalt2341]

Man thanks, all your help is welcomed I hate that it takes so much of your time when I make these same mistakes, in the example above I was trying to avoid leaving an empty space in playing c10 c9 or b5 and played the C-hex after I played It, I thought(knew) it was the wrong move. Ive been trying to play inside if possible, and break up my opponents chips when possible You do a great job of leaving few or no options for your opponent. My mind set, and im working on it, has been leaving me options instead of limiting my opponents. I get to thinking im doing better when playing other people( and winning a couple) then play you and I see how much work I need. Thanks again

No problem, one of the things I am learning with teaching my brother is... trying to teach him what takes precedent. And what priorities are the most important in a given situation. I've been playing this game since 2007 and so... I have a better understanding of the timing of everything and the order in which to do things. My brother has a REALLY REALLY hard time with this. And it's really difficult to teach.

Hopefully once you get a dozen wins or so under your belt by playing the players that I recommend you challenge in the Ladder in post #32, you will build a bit of confidence and get a better feel for how everything works. And if you can figure out WHY it works, that's even better because then when you are in an unfamiliar situation, you can come up with a solution on your own.

[jackpot269]

No problem, one of the things I am learning with teaching my brother is... trying to teach him what takes precedent. And what priorities are the most important in a given situation. I've been playing this game since 2007 and so... I have a better understanding of the timing of everything and the order in which to do things. My brother has a REALLY REALLY hard time with this. And it's really difficult to teach.

Hopefully once you get a dozen wins or so under your belt by playing the players that I recommend you challenge in the Ladder in post #32, you will build a bit of confidence and get a better feel for how everything works. And if you can figure out WHY it works, that's even better because then when you are in an unfamiliar situation, you can come up with a solution on your own.

[JohnGalt2341]

Jackpot, I want to point out a very common side-play mistake that players make in your game against DonJuan. Don't worry if this doesn't make sense to you right away. Most players don't EVER figure this out. You'll get this eventually. Look in the image below. You played j7 here. This is not the correct way to play a side. The reason for this is because it allows your opponents to eventually play i8(I call this "running you up on the wall/side". This will force you to protect the NE corner, so you will be forced to play h9 after your opponent plays i8. And after you play h9, if your opponent is smart, they will play h8(I call this "finishing with the Sweep"). This is where your opponent will Gain Tempo. And now you will have to move again.

But what's worse is, now you will have an Unbalanced Edge(UE) on the North side of the board. So, there is going to be an empty space at that g10 spot. So, what this means is, it means if you get the NW corner, your opponent can now Wedge in at that g10 spot and get their own corner at k6(the NE corner). And now what's worse is, now your opponent can WORK FROM that NE corner. Make sense?



So... what we want to look for when we are playing a side is... we don't want to have 2 pieces exposed like h8 and i8 are in the image above after you made your move, because it allows our opponent to "Run you up on the wall, and finish with a sweep". h1 is a perfectly acceptable way to play a side in the image above and so is j1 if you would have had a move there because you can't be forced into a UE, at least not one that can't be balanced back out later. This is difficult to explain so don't worry if you make this mistake a few more times. It took my brother at least 6 months I think to get this right.

Also, d3 would have been a very good move for you here because it would have given you a Closed 2 on that bottom side. A Closed 2 means that you have control of a side by having the 2 pieces in the middle and the pieces on both sides of you are empty. Closed 2's are an acceptable way to play a side. The other acceptable ways are, Full 4/balanced edge, Open 2, and sharing a side is also acceptable. b7 would have also been a very good move here because you are flipping a lot of inside pieces. h8 would have also been a very good move for you here.

When we play a side, we want it to be clean. We want to make sure that we can't be forced into an Unbalanced Edge. OR, we have to make sure that we can balance our edge back out if we do so. Side-play gets very tricky. Just try to keep everything really tight and clean.

I recommend going through some of my games and looking at my side-play and if you have any questions feel free to ask. I hope this helps a little anyhow.


https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...1847&t=1&gn=97

Edit... Green missed their opportunity to play i8, but you still ended up with a UE and lost that NE corner because of it.

[jackpot269]

Jackpot, I want to point out a very common side-play mistake that players make in your game against DonJuan. Don't worry if this doesn't make sense to you right away. Most players don't EVER figure this out. You'll get this eventually. Look in the image below. You played j7 here. This is not the correct way to play a side. The reason for this is because it allows your opponents to eventually play i8(I call this "running you up on the wall/side". This will force you to protect the NE corner, so you will be forced to play h9 after your opponent plays i8. And after you play h9, if your opponent is smart, they will play h8(I call this "finishing with the Sweep"). This is where your opponent will Gain Tempo. And now you will have to move again.

But what's worse is, now you will have an Unbalanced Edge(UE) on the North side of the board. So, there is going to be an empty space at that g10 spot. So, what this means is, it means if you get the NW corner, your opponent can now Wedge in at that g10 spot and get their own corner at k6(the NE corner). And now what's worse is, now your opponent can WORK FROM that NE corner. Make sense?



So... what we want to look for when we are playing a side is... we don't want to have 2 pieces exposed like h8 and i8 are in the image above after you made your move, because it allows our opponent to "Run you up on the wall, and finish with a sweep". h1 is a perfectly acceptable way to play a side in the image above and so is j1 if you would have had a move there because you can't be forced into a UE, at least not one that can't be balanced back out later. This is difficult to explain so don't worry if you make this mistake a few more times. It took my brother at least 6 months I think to get this right.

Also, d3 would have been a very good move for you here because it would have given you a Closed 2 on that bottom side. A Closed 2 means that you have control of a side by having the 2 pieces in the middle and the pieces on both sides of you are empty. Closed 2's are an acceptable way to play a side. The other acceptable ways are, Full 4/balanced edge, Open 2, and sharing a side is also acceptable. b7 would have also been a very good move here because you are flipping a lot of inside pieces. h8 would have also been a very good move for you here.

When we play a side, we want it to be clean. We want to make sure that we can't be forced into an Unbalanced Edge. OR, we have to make sure that we can balance our edge back out if we do so. Side-play gets very tricky. Just try to keep everything really tight and clean.

I recommend going through some of my games and looking at my side-play and if you have any questions feel free to ask. I hope this helps a little anyhow.


https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...1847&t=1&gn=97

Edit... Green missed their opportunity to play i8, but you still ended up with a UE and lost that NE corner because of it.

Side play is tricky just like you said, my newbie thinking was wrong, I thought if I get j7 and green i8 I would get k6 also looked like green would take j7 if I didn't. If green gets j7 there will purple be in good shape or better shape to get control of that side?
Was j1 a move for me at this point?
Thanks again Im trying to put all this good info to use in my games.
Simple game to play hard game to play master!!

[JohnGalt2341]

Side play is tricky just like you said, my newbie thinking was wrong, I thought if I get j7 and green i8 I would get k6 also looked like green would take j7 if I didn't. If green gets j7 there will purple be in good shape or better shape to get control of that side?
Was j1 a move for me at this point?
Thanks again Im trying to put all this good info to use in my games.
Simple game to play hard game to play master!!

I'm not sure if I know what you are asking, but the whole thing about playing the sides is, it's not about controlling the sides, it's just about playing them correctly. So, my style of play relies heavily on my opponents playing the sides INCORRECTLY. And when they do, I call them out on it and I make them pay for their mistakes. And most of the time, they have absolutely no idea that they made a mistake to begin with. I know this because, they often make the same mistakes over and over again... for YEARS. Usually, it only takes one mistake on just 1 side to secure a Win in just about any game, if you know how to properly exploit it.

You didn't have a move at j1 just yet. But I marked it because it would have been a correct way to play a side once you EARNED the move there at j1. You could have EARNED the move there once you played b7. I'll teach you more about the importance EARNING moves when you need them in the future once you get a little more experience. It's often really important when you need a move for a "Sweep".

So... what I will do is... I'll just keep showing you examples of Correct side-play and Incorrect side-play. Don't worry if you are making mistakes. As long as you are making progress. Eventually you will figure it out, I'm pretty sure.

[jackpot269]

You articulate the point you are trying to make very well, its not one of my best qualities. Anyway I was making more of a statement as to what my strategy was there. After a quick reread I should have left it out!! Ill get some more playing time and hopefully get a better understanding of playing the sides

[JohnGalt2341]

Round 2 of the Tournament has started! Below are the Section Winners for Round #1

1. WHUFC 5-1
2. Holden2341 6-0
3. blankoblanco 6-0
4. Cyke 5-1
5. Guy Plowman 6-0
6. powercow 6-0
7. Amelrus 6-0
8. shimgar 6-0
9. Ivan Gutorov 3-1
9. mmariomm 3-1
10. d15200003431834(Phan Anh Luong) 4-0
11. Wren 3-1

The prediction point standings are as follows.

1. blankoblanco 9*
2. JohnGalt 9
3. Daniel Espinosa 8
4. Jackpot 0

The points for this Round will be worth 2 points each. Try to get your picks in by Friday. Here are the match ups below.

Section #1
Player's Name	Score	Games com pleted	Avg score per game cmpltd
blankoblanco	0	0	0.00
d15200003431834	0	0	0.00
Guy Plowman	0	0	0.00
shimgar	0	0	0.00

Section #2
Player's Name	Score	Games com pleted	Avg score per game cmpltd
Amelrus	0	0	0.00
§Cyke	0	0	0.00
§Holden2341	0	0	0.00
WHUFC	0	0	0.00

Section #3
Player's Name	Score	Games com pleted	Avg score per game cmpltd
Ivan Gutorov	0	0	0.00
mmariomm	0	0	0.00
powercow	0	0	0.00
Wren	0	0	0.00

Good luck in the 2nd Round blanko!!

[JohnGalt2341]

100 Point Instant Bonus for every Section that you can predict the exact order in which they will finish. I will go by IYT's order. So, if there is a tie, it goes alphabetically. MUST BE EXACT. You may copy others picks if you wish. In Section 1, d152 is working on getting their name back to Phan. Good luck!

I'm stoked for this 2nd Round! blanko has hands full here! His Section is 22-0!!! Holy crap!! 3 players right there in Section 1 that I did NOT want to see in Round 2... WHEW! I think I could take d152 and I think blanko can too. It's those other 2... give 'em hell blanko!!! You got this!!

[Daniel Espinosa]

Section 1: Guy Plomwan
Section 2: Holden2341
Section 3: mmariomm

Gg John I thought I had a shot in one of our games.

Interesting match between Guy Plowman and blanko, gl!!

[blankoblanco]

I'm so screwed lol

In order of predicted finish:

Section 1: shimgar, Guy Plowman, blankoblanco, PhanAnhLuong
Section 2: Holden2341, WHUFC, Amelrus, Cyke
Section 3: mmariomm, Ivan Gutorov, powercow, Wren

[JohnGalt2341]

Section 1: Guy Plomwan
Section 2: Holden2341
Section 3: mmariomm

Gg John I thought I had a shot in one of our games.

Interesting match between Guy Plowman and blanko, gl!!

Yes indeed you did. The game where I was Green and you were Purple... that game was REALLY tricky. I thought you had me in that one for a while. I think my experience saved me in the 2nd half of that game. Good game!

[jackpot269]

In order of finish


1)Guy Plowman, blankoblanco, shimgar, d15200003431834

2)§Holden2341, Amelrus, WHUFC, Cyke

3)Ivan Gutorov, mmariomm, Wren, powercow

[jackpot269]

Way to go and Good luck blanco and john !!

[blankoblanco]

Interesting match between Guy Plowman and blanko, gl!!

Way to go and Good luck blanco and john !!

Thanks buds! I don't like my chances but will try my best, all I can really do

edit: Also, shout-out to Daniel who could have moved on to the next round if the round 1 groups were a bit different. You got unlucky to run into John. You beat everybody else. I'd almost certainly be out if I was in your shoes. I've never even beat John once before and you have!

[jackpot269]

Thanks buds! I don't like my chances but will try my best, all I can really do
edit: Also,
shout-out to Daniel who could have moved on to the next round if the round 1 groups were a bit different. You got unlucky to run into John. You beat everybody else. I'd almost certainly be out if I was in your shoes. I've never even beat John once before and you have!

Tough draw

[JohnGalt2341]

My Round 2 Picks

Section 1

1. shimgar
2. blankoblanco
3. Guy Plowman
4. PhanAnhLuong

Section 2

1. Holden2341
2. Amelrus
3. WHUFC
4. Cyke

Section 3

1. Ivan Gutorov
2. mmariomm
3. powercow
4. Wren

[Daniel Espinosa]

Yeah! Although there are other pros now too!

I didn't predict orders of finish, so here I go:

Section 1: Guy Plowman, blankoblanco, shimgar, PhanAnhLuong
Section 2: Holden2341, WHUFC, Amelrus, Cyke
Section 3: mmariomm, Ivan Gutorov, powercow, Wren

Thanks buds! I don't like my chances but will try my best, all I can really do

edit: Also, shout-out to Daniel who could have moved on to the next round if the round 1 groups were a bit different. You got unlucky to run into John. You beat everybody else. I'd almost certainly be out if I was in your shoes. I've never even beat John once before and you have!

[JohnGalt2341]

Jackpot, I noticed you won a couple of more Ladder games. Congrats! I just want to point out one more mistake in your game vs DonJuan. This was your only bad mistake in this game since the last one I posted. You played well in this game overall. Well done here!

In the image below for move #24, you played c10 here. Notice those 3 outside(they are all exposed) Greens on that SW slant that you are flipping. That's no good. What you are doing is, you are taking away future potential moves for yourself AND you are creating brand new moves for your opponent. This is exactly the opposite of what we are trying to achieve. 3 far better moves are b7(notice how the majority of the pieces you would have been flipping are on the inside/unexposed), h1 and j1.

With h1 and j1, notice how on both of them that you would be flipping pieces in ONLY 1 direction AND you wouldn't be touching one of your own pieces when you would be putting your own piece on the board. This is how you know you are playing the side correctly. Don't worry if side-play doesn't make sense to you just yet. It will over time.


And here's the screenshot after you made your move. And now you can see that big wall of Purple in that SW region. Those are brand new moves for Green that were just yours 1 move ago. We want to hang on to our moves as long as we possibly can. Flipping outside(exposed) pieces is ALMOST NEVER a good idea. There are exceptions to this rule, but it is fairly rare. You played well overall. Congrats on the win!



Edit.... I just ripped through your game with Princess. I am going to show you a few tricks in that game as well once I have a bit more time. Probably within the next couple of days or so.

[jackpot269]

Thanks buddy im trying to make correct moves. All your help is welcomed and always makes sense. There is a couple things I start doing late in the game that leads to bad moves. I Just got to remember the things your teaching and apply them. Without your help no way I would have won the games I have.