[JohnGalt2341]

Ok thanks for the explanation it makes a little more sense now. And I had a follow up question which you already explained... How to exploit an UE? So thanks for doing that already. If my opponent plays a C hex I try to take the place right by them. I can either catch him slipping and get the corner or force him to a UE. I just am not great at exploiting that. Did Bruno end up surrendering in that game you have linked? It only goes to move 25.

Yeah, he resigned here. So here's why he resigned. Purple's got 3 moves right now. If he plays j1, he will be flipping the Eastern X-hex to Purple which will give Green the Eastern corner. If he plays the South-East X-hex at f2, he will be giving Green the SE corner. So, Purple's only decent move is to play the South-West X-hex at b6. After Purple plays the SW X-hex at b6, Green can safely play the SE X-hex at f2. This will leave Purple with only one option(remember, our goal is to run our opponents down to ZERO Available Options, AO or OA for short). Purple will then be forced to play their last remaining move at j1, which will give Green the Eastern corner. Purple will now be out of moves entirely. We've accomplished our goal. Green can now simply work FROM the corners... it's GAME OVER for Purple after that. Make sense?


This is mostly achieved by "Running Purple up on the side" and "Finishing with the Sweep" from move #13 and on in this particular game. Every time we do this, we Gain Tempo. Gaining Tempo is HUGE. But it must be done CLEANLY. You can't be flipping outside/exposed pieces when you are "finishing with the sweep." Look through any of my games with Bruno to learn this trick and to see how it's done properly.

If your opponent is the first player to play a side and the piece they are putting on the board is touching one of their own pieces, it ALMOST ALWAYS means they are playing the side incorrectly. There are exceptions, but they are rare. When you see players make this mistake, you can exploit their mistake by "Running them up on the side, and finishing with the Sweep". This will give them an Unbalanced Edge.

If they should choose to NOT take the side, you can take it for yourself. Even though you will end up with an Unbalanced Edge, it's not that bad because you will have what I call an Unbalanced 6, which means all the pieces will be yours, so it can only be exploited from one angle. And you will have gained 2 tempo, so it's worth it because it means you got 2 FREE MOVES while your opponent had to play elsewhere which means they will likely have created new moves for you.

[JohnGalt2341]

Here's one move later in your game between Las8 and Jackpot269 that ended on May 16th. #15 Green to move. Jackpot is Green and he played a10 here. This is not the correct way to play a side. Notice how Green is exposing 2 pieces at a9 AND b8. This is how we know he is playing it incorrectly. If Green played i1, that would be a correct way to play a side because he is following 2 Rules.

Rule #1 If you are the first player to play a particular side, you don't want to be touching one of your own pieces when you put your piece on the board. Rule #2 You don't want to expose more than 1 piece, besides the piece that you are putting on the board. Try to follow these 2 rules as much as you possibly can. Sometimes it might be impossible but I recommend that you try to follow these 2 rules as much as you can. I promise you that you are being tricked if you don't follow these rules. When you are exposing more than 1 piece when you are the first player to play a side it's ALMOST ALWAYS a bad move.

Even though i1 is a correct way to play a side for Green, the best move here for Green is d3. It's because Purple just played the side incorrectly. We know he played it incorrectly because he has pieces exposed at both d3 and d4. Green can exploit that. If Green plays d3(Run him up on the side), Purple will be forced to protect the SE corner, so he will be forced to play c4, then Green can play d4(finish with the sweep).

A couple of REALLY good things come of this for Green. Purple will now have an Unbalanced Edge on that South side. So there's going to be a gap between the SW corner at b5 and then 3 Purples. That's the Wedge spot there at b5. That's why we create UE's for the gap at b5. What this means is, it means Green can deliberately give up the SW corner and then play the gap at b5 to get a corner of their own. The reason why Green's corner(the SE corner) will be so much better is because Green can work FROM their corner. This might sound confusing. If you want to know what it all looks like, just look at any of my games with Mr. Bruno. And it all starts with plays like d3 down below. This is why learning how to play the sides correctly is so important because if you don't know how to play the sides correctly it's nearly impossible to beat the really good players.



Let me know if you have any questions. Don't worry... I will keep going over a ton of side-play stuff. If you guys stick with it, you should learn A LOT before the next Tournament.

https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...2044&t=1&gn=97

[JohnGalt2341]

Here's a few moves later in the game between §Las8 and §Jackpot269 that ended on the 16th of May, this move was made on the 14th of May. #18 Green to move. Jackpot is Green. You played b8 here, you should have played a8. This may have been a brain fart here. Don't worry about it, my brother made these types of brain fart mistakes for quite a while. Just be aware, that when your opponent is threatening to take a corner as Purple is threatening to take the Western corner at a11, protecting that corner becomes your #1 priority. This is because corners are EXTREMELY valuable because once you get a corner it is yours to keep. And skilled players know how to work FROM their corner. What this means is, often times, if you give just a single corner to a skilled player you likely have lost the game because you are likely going to run out of moves because they will dictate the rest of the game after you give up that corner. So, when you play the C-hexes, you have to make sure you are always protecting the corner next to the C-hex. And if you do give one up, make sure you are going to get one in return.



https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...2044&t=1&gn=97

[JohnGalt2341]

This is from a new game that ended on May 19th between §Las8 and Jackpot269. This move is from May 17th. Las8 is Green. Move #4. Green to move. Green played h7 here. I do not recommend this. The reason why I don't recommend this is for a couple of reasons. The main reason I don't like this is because Green is exposing 4 new pieces at c8, d8, f8, and g8. This is not good, because these are all potential future moves by Purple. And at the same time, you are taking away future moves of your own.

If Green plays d5 here instead, there is no new move created for Purple at f4, AND c6 has now become WORSE for Purple, because now if Purple plays c6, Purple will be flipping pieces in 2 different directions and building an outside wall. And the other new move for Purple would be d4, which is also not great because if Purple replies with d4, it sets up Green for f4 and then c8. So, the reason why I like d5 here for Green is because it doesn't really create anything good for Purple.

I try to avoid playing too "BIG" early on if you can avoid it. It can get you into a lot of trouble. I prefer to have less pieces than my opponents in almost all of my games before I get a corner if given a choice. You will see this frequently in my games




https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...2044&t=1&gn=97

I'm not sure how much of this made sense. But the moral of the story is, we don't usually want to expose too many of our pieces because this usually means we are creating more moves for our opponents. So, when we are making our moves, we always want to be thinking about, "Is this move creating more moves for me in the future? AND, am I not creating several new moves for my opponent as well?"

This is why I recommend playing FIPE's(Flipping Inside Pieces Entirely, meaning, ALL the pieces you are flipping are completely unexposed. FIPE's won't always be your best move, especially when side-play is involved, but they are VERY often your best move. For new players, I can't express enough to just try to play more FIPE's. There was no FIPE here, but d5 was the next best thing. Another thing I recommend for new players is to try not to play too fancy. If your play is very boring(like mine most of the time), it means you are probably doing something right.

[JohnGalt2341]

Here's another one from the same game between §Las8 and §Jackpot269 that ended on May 19th. This move was made on May 17th. Move #14 Purple to move. Jackpot is Purple. Purple played i4 here. Purple should have played e9. The reason why e9 is such a good move here is because it is a FIPE(Flipping Inside Pieces Entirely, meaning none of the pieces you are flipping are exposed, so you aren't creating any new extra moves for your opponent). Remember, our ONLY objective is to run our opponent down to ZERO Available Options. In other words, we are trying to run them out of moves. Once we do this, we can dictate the play and winning is easy. We can simply work FROM our corners.

The reason why i4 is not a good move here is because it flips 2 outside pieces at e9 and i5. AND, it takes away your fantastic move at e9. Purple's second best move here after e9 is b5. The reason for this is because the only new move you are creating if you play b5 for Green is b6, and if Green plays b6, then you get the SW corner.

So, when we are making our moves, we always want to be thinking... "Does this create several good new moves for my opponent?" If we can, we want to avoid creating new good moves for our opponent entirely if it's avoidable. This is why playing FIPE's and avoid flipping outside pieces are usually good plays. And if you can play the sides cleanly like b5 below where you are exposing only the 1 piece, these are usually good plays as well because it allows you to Gain Tempo. What this means is, it means you are getting 1 step closer to running your opponent out of moves. Every time you Gain Tempo, it's like they lose a move and you gain a move. It's like 2 dimensional jiu jitsu on a gameboard. We are just trying to run them out of moves before they run us out of moves. After that, winning is easy.



https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...2044&t=1&gn=97

[JohnGalt2341]

Here's another from the same game between §Las8 and §Jackpot269 that ended on May 19th. This move was made On May 18th. Move #25 Purple to move. Jackpot is Purple. I didn't fill in all of the notation for this one because the correct play was made in the first image at b6. I just want to point something out here first. Notice how Green has ZERO Available Options. Purple has 14 Available Options(feel free to count them). What this essentially means is, it means that Purple has WON the game. You just have to figure out how to finish. Purple is in control of this game ENTIRELY. When you are in this type of situation, what we want to do is, we want to give our opponents ONE shitty move at a time. Preferably, we want to force them into giving us a corner. And then we want to try to work FROM that corner if we can. Purple was right to play b6. This will give Green ONE move at b7. Let's take a look at the next image.



Here's where Purple made their mistake. I didn't fill in all of the notation. But again, Purple has several different moves to choose from. Purple played k5 here but Purple should have played a8 instead. Here's why, notice how Green is now threatening BOTH the SW corner AND the SE corner. If Purple plays a8 instead of k5, Purple will now be protecting BOTH the SW corner AND the SE corner. Not only that, if Purple plays a8 for move #26 instead of k5, it will leave Green with exactly 1 and ONLY 1 move. And that move would be at a7. Once Green plays a7, Purple can take the SW corner. Make sense?



https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...2044&t=1&gn=97

[blankoblanco]

The previous example John gave is really important as a fundamental basis for learning the game. As he said, purple had a knockout move with a8. It protects the corners while also forcing green into one bad move. Those are both absolutely some of the main things you want to do

It's really hard to overstate how important it is to get a corner first, most of the time. There are a few exceptions, especially if there's an exchange of corners. But especially as a beginner, if you can figure out how to force the opponent to give you first corner, you will start learning how to win games. Figuring out how to win after that is still important but almost secondary imo. Over the course of playing games you'll start to see how much control you have over the board after you get the first corner

[JohnGalt2341]

I noticed §Las8 had a tough loss against §winbig2 here recently. This game ended on May 27th and this move was made on May 26th. I want to show you how to exploit Unbalanced Edges and show you how to easily beat these hyper aggressive players. Las8 is Purple and is totally dominating this game right here. Las8 has 13 Available Options(I'm not counting the ones in Gray). Green has just 5 AO. This is how we know Purple is dominating the game.

Move #24 Purple to move. Las8 played j5 here. You should have played a10. Here's why, this forces Green to make an immediate decision. If Green should choose to take the Western corner by playing a11, then Purple can WEDGE in at b11. Then Green will be forced to move again. Purple's next move will be at f11, taking the NW corner. Green will move again. Purple's next move will be at g10. Green will move again. Purple's next move will be at k6 taking the NE corner. Green is now going to be out of moves, or pretty close to it. You get 2 corners for sacrificing just 1 corner. Pretty sweet deal right? AND, after you get k6, not only will Green be fresh out of moves, but you'll also be able to work FROM your corner. Make sense?

Let's just say for some strange reason if you play a10 and Green should choose to NOT take the Western corner, then you can take the SW corner by playing a6. Either way, you are going to get a great deal out of it. Once you get used to exploiting these UE's, you'll never lose to an aggressive player ever again. Let me know if you have any questions.



https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...2044&t=1&gn=97

[blankoblanco]

The above is another essential example to learn from if you want to improve. Understanding and exploiting unbalanced edges was probably the main thing I learned from John's lessons when I first started playing. I've picked up many other things from these threads as well, but that was sort of the lynchpin that helped me realize how to outplay my opponents on the sides (most of them, at least)

[las8]

I appreciate the lessons again John and your feedback blanco! I remember that game against Jackpot I felt like he was really controlling the early game until I got that corner. And I definitely want a rematch against winbig. I remember he was moving off of me. Like I would make a move and the only option was for him to use that move I just made. I just didn't know how to put him in a worse position. I have seen in your games John that you sacrifice a corner like that to be able to wedge into the corner. I will have to keep an eye out for that in the future. And I remember you said something about having to play the sides correctly against blanco as he will take advantage of UE. You weren't lying he's putting on a clinic against me I have one move basically.

In good news I think I finally beat alleyH. I am not sure if I am getting better or he messed up somehow. I just remember sacrificing the NE corner so I could get the NW corner that's when I felt I gained momentum. Please keep posting these John I feel like I am learning a lot from these lessons. So thank you both.

[blankoblanco]

In good news I think I finally beat alleyH. I am not sure if I am getting better or he messed up somehow. I just remember sacrificing the NE corner so I could get the NW corner that's when I felt I gained momentum. Please keep posting these John I feel like I am learning a lot from these lessons. So thank you both.

Dude, that's a great win, congrats! alleyH has a few years of experience and is generally one of the better players. He's given me some tough games. To beat someone of that caliber and experience after, what, only a month of playing? That's really impressive

Your recognition of trading those corners was very sharp. Because of where his pieces are on the west side, you can essentially guarantee yourself 2 corners whereas he only got the one. That's the slightly deeper level that goes beyond just "corners are good" -- sometimes getting a corner instantly leads to a nearby corner, whereas sometimes a corner is just sort of stuck on an island and doesn't necessarily give you much board control to expand upon. Recognizing when you can exchange a weaker corner for a stronger one is an important move, and you did it perfectly. Bravo

[JohnGalt2341]

I appreciate the lessons again John and your feedback blanco! I remember that game against Jackpot I felt like he was really controlling the early game until I got that corner. And I definitely want a rematch against winbig. I remember he was moving off of me. Like I would make a move and the only option was for him to use that move I just made. I just didn't know how to put him in a worse position. I have seen in your games John that you sacrifice a corner like that to be able to wedge into the corner. I will have to keep an eye out for that in the future. And I remember you said something about having to play the sides correctly against blanco as he will take advantage of UE. You weren't lying he's putting on a clinic against me I have one move basically.

In good news I think I finally beat alleyH. I am not sure if I am getting better or he messed up somehow. I just remember sacrificing the NE corner so I could get the NW corner that's when I felt I gained momentum. Please keep posting these John I feel like I am learning a lot from these lessons. So thank you both.

Great job here! I just ripped through the game really quickly. My brother made several mistakes. I feel a bit guilty because I haven't really been helping him out much lately. I've sort of been leaving him on his own as I've been doing the same with Daniel and blanko. But Daniel and blanko are good players that have developed their own style, but my brother still needs A LOT of help and he still makes A LOT of mistakes. He's often very reckless with playing the X-hexes as illustrated in move #28 in your game. That was the move that really hurt him.

https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...2044&t=1&gn=97

There is an art to playing the X-hexes that is very difficult for most players to learn. Beginners play them far too often, and mediocre players often don't play them enough. But the main thing is, you just have to be REALLY careful with them, and think things through. The best players know how to play them really well. For newer players, I recommend staying away from the X-hexes entirely until you have a better understanding of the game and build up a winning streak against aggressive players. Just as a reminder, the X-hexes are the hexes in Red in the image below. Congrats on the Win!

[JohnGalt2341]

I'm not sure if I told §Las8 and §Jackpot269 about this or not but I do Hexversi Daily Challenges on my Facebook page every day. They are mostly endgame puzzles. Usually only a couple of people play them every day but I think more may be viewing them because when I do puzzles from a game from shimgar or mmariomm they often recognize their game and chime in. Ivan Gutorov is a very good player that Won Section #10 in Round #1 of the current Tournament that plays nearly everyday. But some of the puzzles are fairly easy for strong players so I think they let other people try to guess first.

Anyway, for the last 2 days I've used puzzles from blankoblanco's games in the current Tournament. I will post them here now. These are fairly advanced so, don't feel bad if you don't get it right. I will explain the answer tomorrow or the next day.

Hexversi Daily Challenge #453

What's the best move for Green?(feel free to take a guess)

[JohnGalt2341]

Hexversi Daily Challenge #454

What's the best move for Green?(feel free to take a guess)

[las8]

453: a7 (or a9) This one there are several bad moves so those are easily eliminated.

454: This one is way more difficult and I have absolutely no idea. I see that purple currently has 0 AO so green gets to dictate where purple goes next. I would probably play e9 or d9 here as I am not really comfortable playing the sides yet. I feel like this is an example similar to post 183. So g2 and i2 look solid but so does i7. i7 green is only flipping in one direction so that might be best. On the other hand, if green takes g2 or i2 they can force another UE and run purple up the side. Then try and wedge either the E or SE corner. I honestly do not know but that was my thought process.

[JohnGalt2341]

Hexversi Daily Challenge #453

What's the best move for Green?(feel free to take a guess)

Green(blanko) played h1 here as seen in the image below. Here's why, this forces Purple to make an immediate decision. If Purple should choose to take the SE corner(they didn't) by playing f1, then Green can wedge in at e2 and get the SW corner at a6 and start working from there.

If Purple should choose to NOT take the SE corner, then Green can take the SE side for themselves by playing j1 and they will have gained extra tempo and they will have what I call a 7-block, meaning... they have all 7 hexes which means they have created no moves for their opponent near that side on the exchange which is win win for Green.



And here's one move later after Purple played k4 and Green played j1. And now as you can see, Purple doesn't have any moves in the SE region of the board. AND, Purple is now forced to move again. Purple got burned on this exchange really badly and it's all because of the UE on the South side of the board. This is why creating UE's for our opponents is so valuable. AND, it's why it's SO important that we play the sides correctly because if you don't play the sides correctly it's nearly impossible to beat the really strong players.



Don't worry if you don't understand this stuff right now. This is pretty advanced. Just remember, it's not about piece count. It's about move count and trying to run our opponents out of moves and forcing them into giving us a corner. And in the example above, blanko was willing to sacrifice a corner because he could work FROM his corner, and his opponent could not. That's why his corner was better than his opponents. I can't stress this enough. My brother had a really hard time learning this and he still does sometimes. But Purple realized this so, he decided to just not lose the corner and he decided to just lose tempo(move count) instead. blanko was getting beat early on in this game, this move really saved him IMO. But it all starts with forcing the UE's of course.

https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...7lQBhlBng7iS-U

[JohnGalt2341]

Hexversi Daily Challenge #454

What's the best move for Green?(feel free to take a guess)

Green(blanko) played f2 here. Here's why, this leaves Purple with exactly 2 options as seen below. Purple played their best option in g2. Green can defend that(the SE corner) by playing h1 as seen in the 2nd screenshot. This will leave Purple with exactly 1 option which will force Purple to give Green the SE corner. It's an easy win for Green after that.

Here's the 2nd screenshot after Purple has played g2 and Green has played h1. And now as you can see, Purple has only 1 option at g1 to give Green the SE corner. It's an easy win for Green after that.


https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...hxZFHGiTPiHNHE

Starting from the original position, d7 would have also worked. This would have forced Purple to play d8, then Green could have played the SW X-hex at b6 and then Purple would have been forced to give Green the SW corner, and it would have been an easy win for Green after that.

[JohnGalt2341]

This lesson is for the game between §Jackpot269 and §Las8. This game ended on May 29th and this move was made on May 26th. This move is for Jackpot. Jackpot is Purple. First off, I just want to make a suggestion in general. Most new players play the sides far too early and eagerly IMO. Early in the game, I generally like to play very tight. Meaning, ideally, I like to keep a nice tight ball in 1 nice tight clump around the CenterPiece(or preferably inside my opponents pieces). This is my ideal position. I like to have a nice tight "Island", a nice and small and tight "Island" inside of my opponents pieces. New players think it's beneficial to get a side for some reason. This is where they get burned because they don't play the sides correctly. The most important thing about playing the sides is, you must play them correctly.

Okay, now on to move #20 Purple to move. Jackpot played f2. f2 is an X-hex. I don't recommend playing X-hexes at all until you get more experience because it makes you EXTREMELY vulnerable to giving up a corner. So, X-hexes should be avoided at all cost until you have absolutely no where else to move because or else you will likely end up losing a corner next to the X-hex. A far better move here would have been f9 as it is a FIPE(Flipping Inside Pieces Entirely, meaning, all the pieces you are flipping are unexposed).

Take a look at the 2nd image for a reminder for what hexes are the X-hexes and try to avoid those Hexes as for as long as you possibly can and this should help you quite a bit because every time you play an X-hex it makes you extremely vulnerable to giving up a corner. And once you give up a corner, it's usually too difficult to recover in the game because your opponent can usually just work from that corner and your chances of winning are now slim.



The X-hexes in the image below are the Hexes in Red. Try to avoid playing these Hexes entirely until you get a little more experience and then I will show you how to play these hexes to your advantage.



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

[JohnGalt2341]

This lesson is for the game in progress between §Las8 and §robert sawyers There is no doubt in my mind that Las8 is going to win this game but I just want to point out a couple of things here. Las8 is Purple. This first one is for Move #2 Purple to move. This move was made on May 19th. Las8 played h7 here. I don't recommend this because all of the pieces you are flipping are outside/exposed. Either e8 or e5 are better moves IMO.



This next one is something I haven't really gone over. This wasn't really a mistake. I just want to point this out for future reference because you will need to know this in the future. This move was made on May 23rd. Move #7 Purple to move. You played h9 here. So, this is good that you are "Running Green up on the side" and you are forcing Green to protect the NW corner. But the problem that you have here is, you don't have a move at h8. What his means is, it means you don't have a move to "Finish with the Sweep". The "Finish with the Sweep" move is where we Gain Tempo. Your move wasn't bad by any means at all. But, when we "Run a player up on a side", we want to make sure we have a "Finish with a Sweep" move as well, because this is where we Gain Tempo and we will force our opponents to move again.

So, in this type of situation you usually have to be patient until you either "earn" a sweep move OR, your opponent creates a sweep move for you. Once this happens THEN you can "Run your opponent up on the side" by playing h9. Then your opponent will be forced to protect the NW corner so they will play i8, and then you can "Finish with the Sweep" by playing h8. Your opponent will then have an Unbalanced Edge AND, they will be forced to move again. Make sense?

So, your best move here for #7 IMO is the FIPE at i6. And you could be just a little more patient with the move at h9 until you have a "Sweep" move at h8. I hope this made a little sense anyhow. I know all of this is a lot to learn. Learning what takes precedent is really difficult to learn.





https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...2044&t=1&gn=97


If you guys have any questions, let me know.

[JohnGalt2341]

This lesson is for the game in progress between §Jackpot269 and §Angelo Piantadosi. Jackpot is Green. This move was made on June 3rd. Move #28 Green to move. You were doing fine up until this point. You played g10 here. This is no good because it gives Purple the NW corner. This may have been a brain fart here. It took my brother quite a while before he stopped making moves like this so, don't sweat it. Just be careful with the C-hexes(the hexes on the sides right next to the corner). We don't want to give up the corners because they are extremely valuable. UNLESS, we are going to get one in return(we can wedge in on a UE). I will cover that here as well.

You had a couple of good options here. If Green plays c11(run your opponent up on the side), this will force Purple to protect the Western corner. So Purple will be forced to play d11. If Purple doesn't play d11 after you play c11, then you can just take the Western corner. So, assuming Purple plays d11, then you play d10(finish with the sweep), this is where you will Gain Tempo. AND, now Purple will have an Unbalanced Edge on that NW side. And then Purple will be forced to move again. If Purple plays e10 after you play d10, it's going to create a WEDGE spot for you at e11. What this means is, it means now you can deliberately sacrifice the NW corner by playing g10, and then WEDGE in at e11. This will enable you to get the Western corner.

Don't worry if this doesn't make sense right now, it's just a matter of repetition. Here's the thing about exploiting UE's, the reason why we ALMOST ALWAYS have the advantage when trading corners by sacrificing a corner and then Wedging in on the UE is because we can work FROM our corner and our opponent cannot. This will usually allow us to Gain Tempo. This is why it is so good to create UE's for our opponent. My style of play relies heavily on creating UE's for my opponent and then exploiting those UE's. We create UE's for our opponent when they play a side incorrectly.




Here's another option you had that is a little more advanced. Notice how Purple has a UE on that SE side. That can be exploited. If Green plays f2, if Purple takes the SE corner, then Green can Wedge in at g1, this will allow Green to get the Eastern corner. And then once Green has the Eastern corner, Green can start working FROM the Eastern corner. Playing the f2 option is actually simpler, it's just that it's an X-hex so... the X-hex moves in general tend to be more complicated until you get used to them so I really advise you to stay away from the X-hexes until you build up a Win streak against aggressive players. But playing X-hexes that are next UE's like this are pretty safe, just as long as you can Wedge. A lot of this stuff you just have to get used to seeing over and over again. Then you have to just really think it through. I know a lot of this stuff can be really confusing. It's like learning a brand new language. I hope this helps a little anyhow.

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

[JohnGalt2341]

§Las8 lost a VERY close game to §alleyH that ended today. I want to point out a couple of mistakes made on the sides. Those were made on moves #17(South side) and #18. I'm just going to show #18 because it's easier to show how it can be exploited. But the result is the same. It get's turned into an Unbalanced Edge. If you don't play the sides correctly against a skilled player, they will force you into a UE and that will likely cost you the game.

Las8 is Purple. Move #18 Purple to move. This move was made on June 3rd. You played a7 here. This is not the correct way to play a side. Here's how we know this is not the correct way to play a side. It's because you are exposing 2 pieces when you are playing the side. So, when you are playing a7, you are exposing a piece at BOTH a8 AND b8. What this means is, it means that you are now going to be vulnerable to be "Run up on the side" and "Finished with a Sweep". And guess what you will end up with? You will end up with a UE. And guess what my brother did on his next move? He played a8, which forced you to protect the SW corner, so you must play a9. Then he "Finished with the Sweep" by playing b8. Now you have a UE. AND, he just Gained Tempo, because now you have to move again.

Now, let's take a look at 2 CORRECT ways to play a side instead. Look at c11 or i8. See the difference there? You are only exposing 1 piece instead of 2. AND, you aren't touching one of your own pieces when you are putting your piece on the board(you got this part right, I'm just mentioning it as a reminder). This is how we know you are playing it correctly. When we play a side, we don't want to be exposing more than 1 piece. If we are exposing more than 1 piece, it ALMOST ALWAYS means you are playing the side incorrectly.


Notice how you ended up with UE's on both the sides you played incorrectly. This is not a coincidence. Once you stop playing the sides incorrectly, it's going to make a HUGE difference in your game because it's nearly impossible to beat the really strong players if you don't play the sides correctly.

There are some rare exceptions, but just try to follow these rules as much as you possibly can. My brother still has a hard time making players pay for their mistakes but the best players don't let you get away with hardly anything at all. Don't worry, I will keep pointing this type of stuff out to you guys until you get it right. This is the #1 thing that most players struggle with the most. My goal is to help you guys become experts at side-play.

https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...2044&t=1&gn=97

[blankoblanco]

Speaking of alleyH, he is beating me right now in a ladder game. I don't know what it is but I always feel like he outplays me in the early game, or maybe I'm just prone to making mistakes against him then -- I usually only end up winning because of some big mistake he makes on the side. I guess we'll see if that holds true this time or if he puts it all together. But he's definitely no slouch. Even though he makes some costly mistakes he also makes a lot of very good moves, and I'm sure that's why he wins the majority of his ladder games

[las8]

Yes that makes sense John. Thanks for taking the time to help us out again. I was going to ask where you would have played there so I am glad you told me where the better moves were. I get the exposing my piece part now when playing a side. I thought I had alleyH in that game. Well at first I thought he had me then I took the SE corner, which I didn't do anything with unfortunately. Then I thought he was going to win mid game when he wedged me. Then I was able to get the W corner I thought I might be able to pull it off. What a rollercoaster!

Looking back move 32 I messed up. I got excited I was able to get the corner but I should have gone e2 THEN f1. shit.

[JohnGalt2341]

Yes that makes sense John. Thanks for taking the time to help us out again. I was going to ask where you would have played there so I am glad you told me where the better moves were. I get the exposing my piece part now when playing a side. I thought I had alleyH in that game. Well at first I thought he had me then I took the SE corner, which I didn't do anything with unfortunately. Then I thought he was going to win mid game when he wedged me. Then I was able to get the W corner I thought I might be able to pull it off. What a rollercoaster!

Looking back move 32 I messed up. I got excited I was able to get the corner but I should have gone e2 THEN f1. shit.

Yeah, that game was mind blowingly complex in that last quarter or so! It was really difficult for me to read. Do you mean move #31 below? e2 wouldn't have worked because you had a piece at i2.



I noticed you are playing Frangge. He's a player I recruited from Facebook although I've never really chatted with him before. How did you end up playing him? I was thinking of trying to get him to join the Ladder.

Also, Mario Madrona aka mmariomm has created a Hexversi Discord page at the Othello Academy found here:

https://discord.com/channels/8889922...55519620796446

I haven't really posted much on there yet but I'm hoping to recruit some more Othello players to give Hexversi a try.

[las8]

Yep that would have given him the corner! That's why I like playing this game on my computer as much as possible. It's easier to hover to see available moves. I usually click most of them before I decide which to go with. So I probably noticed that while playing.


I have been posting games in the waiting room to try and get more reps. He joined two of them. This first game is not looking good for me, I'm afraid. We basically have our pieces grouped all together on each half of the board. He should be able to dictate my moves here shortly. I'm going to try and prevent that from happening in this second game.

I almost challenged Mario in the ladder. I looked at his profile and I don't think he'd lost a game yet. So I went with Steve. I want winbig again! I still have my two week buffer so I have up keep waiting.


This is the first time I have really noticed your profile picture. Is that by Alex Grey?

Also, I can't get that discord link to work. I don't use the app often maybe I'm not doing something right.

[JohnGalt2341]

Yep that would have given him the corner! That's why I like playing this game on my computer as much as possible. It's easier to hover to see available moves. I usually click most of them before I decide which to go with. So I probably noticed that while playing.


I have been posting games in the waiting room to try and get more reps. He joined two of them. This first game is not looking good for me, I'm afraid. We basically have our pieces grouped all together on each half of the board. He should be able to dictate my moves here shortly. I'm going to try and prevent that from happening in this second game.

I almost challenged Mario in the ladder. I looked at his profile and I don't think he'd lost a game yet. So I went with Steve. I want winbig again! I still have my two week buffer so I have up keep waiting.


This is the first time I have really noticed your profile picture. Is that by Alex Grey?

Also, I can't get that discord link to work. I don't use the app often maybe I'm not doing something right.

Yeah, I stopped making moves on my phone after I made a blunder and it cost me a game. Now I only make moves on my phone if I know I've won for sure or if I'm playing a hyper-aggressive player.

Mario is a beast. He's a well known and well respected Othello player online and he's played in several Othello World Championships. He would crush me in regular Othello. My record vs him right now in Hexversi is 6-7. (3-3 Tourney, 0-4 Ladder, and 3-0 Regular). I'm kicking myself though because I made blunders in 3 of those games and in 2 of them I know I would have won for sure. But, he made blunders in games as well so... it evens out I suppose. He's currently ranked #12th at https://www.eothello.com/leaderboard which is one of the best sites online to play Othello. They have several hundred active players. I am hoping they will eventually pick up Hexversi. And here's Mario's profile at World Othello:

https://www.worldothello.org/ratings...=mario+madrona

I'm not sure who my profile picture was done by but it was a google search for the word "Consciousness" as that is a subject that fascinates me. I thought the image was cool and so I kept it. Funny you should mention Alex Grey though because I believe he has done quite a bit of art work for the band TOOL, or they have used his art at least. And 46 & 2 is my favorite song of all time. I'm slightly obsessed with it.

I'm brand new to discord so I don't really understand it very well yet. Mario told me he was going to create a Hexversi section at the Othello Academy discord a couple of months ago or so but I sort of forgot about it and then RCCH told me a week ago or so that he had created it. I think you may have to create an account at the Othello Academy first? I'm not really sure how it works. Here's another link below to try first. I created a username at that link, and then the other link in post #199 should work I think.

https://discord.me/othelloacademy

After you create a username, the link below should work I think. I haven't really posted much yet. I've only left 2 posts so far. Mario made a few posts and RCCH posted a few and there are a few other posts. I might start posting puzzles in the future if I can figure out how to do it.


https://discord.com/channels/8889922...55519620796446

[JohnGalt2341]

I noticed §Mr. Bruno got an early corner against §Las8 in a current game. Mr. Bruno plays really well early on so... you just have to survive that and you just have to exploit his weak side-play. I just want to point out a couple of things here. I know this game is still going but this won't change anything, or be giving anything away. This first one is just for an opening move #3. I know I've said in the past to split your opponents pieces in half, and I do usually recommend that, but for this particular opening you are better off playing e9 IMO. g8 isn't terrible or anything but you are setting up Purple for better moves by playing g8 than you are with e9. Openings aren't always my strongpoint but I usually try to keep a tight center of gravity if possible.



This is the move that really hurt you. This move was made on June 10th. Las8 is Green. Move #6 Green to move. You played e10 here. You should have played h5 here IMO. Here's why, do you see that Purple piece just NW of h5? Do you see how that piece is touching 3 of your Green pieces? What this means is, it means that piece holds a lot of power right now. I call that a KP3(Key Piece 3) because it's touching 3 of your pieces.

So, if we have a chance to take out one of our opponents Power Pieces like that nice and cleanly, its usually a good idea to do so. And for me, I like to keep my pieces in a nice tight round ball. This is my ideal position. i5 isn't a bad move either, but I prefer h5 over i5 because it's rounder, it's one solid block. AND, think about this... if you play h5... what new moves would you be creating for Purple? His only 2 moves will be at d7 and g4. No matter which one he plays, he will be giving you a brand new good move at f8. Make sense?



https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...2044&t=1&gn=97

[JohnGalt2341]

I noticed §Las8 lost a game that ended today against my brother §alleyH. My brother played really well in this game but I just want to point out a couple of things and mention something in general first. So, my basic style that I generally recommend that I call "The island in the water", ideally we want to have a relatively small island if possible. There are some exceptions you might see in my games but I usually try to avoid playing too "BIG"(meaning I usually try to avoid having WAY more pieces than my opponent). The reason for this is because if you have too many pieces early on, or for the majority of the game for that matter, until you get a corner, it usually limits your options and it creates more options for your opponent. This isn't always the case, but it usually is. I usually prefer to have LESS pieces than my opponent for the majority of most games until I get a corner.

Okay, I just want to point out a couple of moves here. §Las8 is Green. This move was made on June 12th. Move #3 Green to move. Las8 played e9 here. I don't recommend this because you are creating an outside wall. I like either d7 or c6 here. By playing d7, you get your pieces back to 1 nice clump AND, you just created 2 new moves for yourself at i4 and d9. c6 is also a good move because you are taking out a piece that is touching 2 of your pieces. Openings are really tricky... I often get smoked on them myself, but I don't think that e9 move here was a good one. Some of these Othello players like shimgar, mmariomm, and Ivan Gutorov are really slick with their openings. Check out some of their games to see how they play them. Although, they often have really complex openings where they will deliberately flip outside pieces that I don't recommend for beginners.



This next one is for #7 Green to move. This move was made on June 13th. Las8 played g3 here. You should have played f9. I'm going to take the blame on this one because I am remembering now that I told you to play around the Center Piece in Post #193. One of the hardest things to learn is what takes precedent. It's good to play around the CP, but we don't want to be flipping exposed pieces in the process, especially if we have the option to play a FIPE. When I was teaching my brother, one of the hardest parts was, there is always a TON of exceptions to everything and so I would always forget about these exceptions and so he would just have to learn these things over time.

f9 is a FIPE(Flipping Inside Pieces Entirely, meaning you aren't flipping any exposed pieces). FIPE's are usually either your BEST move or one of your BEST moves. And so, with g3 right, you are starting to play WAY too BIG and so it's just really hard to recover when you have this many pieces on the board this early in the game because it really limits your options. If you are flipping outside/exposed pieces, it usually means you are making a bad move, and the more outside/exposed pieces you are flipping, it usually means the worse your move is. And vice/versa is also true. This is why FIPE's are such great moves because you aren't flipping any new exposed pieces at all. Make sense?



https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...2044&t=1&gn=97

[las8]

Thanks for the feedback John! I know I did not play that game well as every time I would open that game it would piss me off because he had total control. The very first game I played was against alleyH and I ended up surrendering about half way through because I had zero moves so I thought I lost. He told me I should have kept playing as a learning experience. He sent me a message for this game saying he would not judge me if I surrendered. I gladly took that offer. I am going to be careful on my starts. I get so focused on getting those pieces around those pieces around the dead piece. I certainly don't blame you for that as it has been my focus after a few games I played before you said anything. I just need to be more careful in the future about flipping too many. Btw I am not sure how these ladder rankings work. I thought blanco beat alleyH but he claimed the top stop.

[JohnGalt2341]

Thanks for the feedback John! I know I did not play that game well as every time I would open that game it would piss me off because he had total control. The very first game I played was against alleyH and I ended up surrendering about half way through because I had zero moves so I thought I lost. He told me I should have kept playing as a learning experience. He sent me a message for this game saying he would not judge me if I surrendered. I gladly took that offer. I am going to be careful on my starts. I get so focused on getting those pieces around those pieces around the dead piece. I certainly don't blame you for that as it has been my focus after a few games I played before you said anything. I just need to be more careful in the future about flipping too many. Btw I am not sure how these ladder rankings work. I thought blanco beat alleyH but he claimed the top stop.

Yeah, the rankings are a bit goofy. I think the way they work is, if you beat someone ranked higher than you, then you take their spot and they move one rank below you. But if you beat someone ranked lower than you, then you move up just one spot. So I think the reason why §alleyH moved to #1 is because he was ranked #2 when he beat you so he automatically moved up one spot, and his game with you finished AFTER his game with blankoblanco. I think that's what happened anyhow. I don't put a lot of faith in the rankings.

Here's how I would really rank the top 5.

1. mmariomm
2. §Holden2341
3. blankoblanco
4. Toptal
5. §RCCH or maybe §Ryan

[las8]

Where would you put Shimgar on that list?

[JohnGalt2341]

Where would you put Shimgar on that list?

Currently, #1. he won the last Tournament and Mario and myself tied for 2nd. He's only lost 1 Hexversi game so far but he's only played 26 legit games. He lost to Ivan Gutorov I'm currently 9-3 vs Ivan and I'm 0-3 vs Shimgar but our games were close(position wise) but I definitely think he's beatable but he's good as hell for sure. Mario told me he's easily one of the top 5 best Othello players in all of Europe. His real name is David Hand. He's a well known and well respected Othello player online.

Round 2 of the current Hexversi Tourney just started. I was hoping shimgar would draw a tough Section but he got the easiest Section without a doubt. And I ended up with Mario in my Section again.

[JohnGalt2341]

Here's a lesson in side-play and what I call "The Hexes between the X's", this is a current game between §alleyH and §Las8. This won't affect the game. This is just side-play stuff in general. A lot of this stuff I made up specifically for my brother because blanko and Daniel picked up the game much more quickly than my brother did so, I wasn't nearly as specific with them and I started teaching him after them. I feel like I barely taught them anything at all and they were good to go. So, I'm hoping I can still teach them some new tricks on occasion.

This is for move #14. Green to move. Las8 is Green. You played b7 here. This is no good. Here's why, in the image below I put all the X-hexes notation in white. So, we already know we have to be careful with playing X-hexes. But here is something new I haven't told you about. What I am talking about are the 3 light blue hexes in notation between each X-hex in the image below. On each side, we usually want to avoid playing more than one light blue Hex between each X-hex before someone plays a side, because what happens is, when we do that, we give our opponents more options on how to play the sides. And so when we do this, we give them opportunities to Gain Tempo. And Gaining Tempo is how games are won. So, when you played b7, on that SW side, you now have ALL THREE Hexes between the X-hexes on the SW side. This is usually bad news because you give your opponent multiple ways to play the side. And my brother did a great job exploiting this. He had a couple of different ways of doing it. He did it with a "Quiet Move" at a8. I would have done it with an Open 2 but both ways work.

I will explain the Open 2. Once Green plays b7, now Purple can play a10, even if Green tries to force a UE by playing a9 in reply to a10, when Purple plays a8, Purple won't be flipping any horizontal pieces. What this means is, it means Purple will be able to balance out their edge by playing a7. And with that will be an extra move. And if Green DOESN'T play a9, then Purple can play a7 and will have an "Open 2", which is a balanced edge and Purple will have gotten 2 moves out of the deal and Green got ZERO. Either way, Purple Gains Tempo. And so, the more pieces you put on the "Hexes between the X-hexes" on a particular side before a side is taken, the more likely you are to get burned on that particular side on most occasions. Sometimes it's unavoidable. Sometimes you can get away with it, but for me, I try to avoid having more than 1 piece on the Hexes between the X-hexes on each side before a player takes a side.

You have 3 really good options here and I will explain why they are good. b11 is a solid move here for Green and a is a correct way to play a side because you are only exposing 1 piece AND you aren't touching one of your own pieces when you are putting your piece on the board. a8, same deal here. Don't be afraid to make these kind of plays. b11 and a8 are FANTASTIC moves here. If more players just understood how good these simple side plays like b11 and a8 here it would improve there game SO much. These are VERY GOOD moves here. i5 is also an excellent move here as it is a FIPE. Notice how you aren't flipping any exposed pieces by playing i5. This is how we know it's a good move.




https://www.itsyourturn.com/pp?gm&g=...2410&t=1&gn=97

One thing I really try to express to my brother a lot is to not try to play too fancy. This doesn't really have anything to do with this example here but my style of play is really fairly simple. You just really have to know the "rules" and then try follow them as much as you can. And once you figure out why they work, then everything should start to click.

[las8]

Thanks for that explanation John. I have started to pick up your brother's tactics when I play a side. Let's say I did play b11 his next move was d11 guaranteed. If I played a8 he was going for a10. He likes to share a side with me with one space between our pieces. That is why I tried to get cute with b7. In the future I will try my best to avoid playing too many of my pieces by the x hexes.

I wanted to give your boy Frangge some advice but I don't want to come off as rude. But if you look at all three games he has played against me he is intentionally setting his corner up like this. As you know this is easily exploitable. I know you said you recruited him from reversi so I am not sure if there is a tactic in the game that works on the square edges similar to this. I would like to help him without offending him. He's purple.





Btw I watched that video that was posted a week or so ago with sigmur. They were using terms like poison, quiet move, loud move. I did not understand that especially poison. But I did like hearing their thought process before they made a move.

[JohnGalt2341]

Thanks for that explanation John. I have started to pick up your brother's tactics when I play a side. Let's say I did play b11 his next move was d11 guaranteed. If I played a8 he was going for a10. He likes to share a side with me with one space between our pieces. That is why I tried to get cute with b7. In the future I will try my best to avoid playing too many of my pieces by the x hexes.

I wanted to give your boy Frangge some advice but I don't want to come off as rude. But if you look at all three games he has played against me he is intentionally setting his corner up like this. As you know this is easily exploitable. I know you said you recruited him from reversi so I am not sure if there is a tactic in the game that works on the square edges similar to this. I would like to help him without offending him. He's purple.





Btw I watched that video that was posted a week or so ago with sigmur. They were using terms like poison, quiet move, loud move. I did not understand that especially poison. But I did like hearing their thought process before they made a move.

Yeah, I am playing Frangge in a game right now as well. He plays rather aggressively. My brother often tells me the same thing that he wants to give players advice but he doesn't want to come off as rude. I run into the same problem as well. I was thinking of using the Hexversi discord for New/Novice Othello/Hexversi players and if they voluntarily want me to point out where they are making mistakes in their Hexversi games, I could do so. Sort of like what I am doing on here, but if I do it on discord here:

https://discord.com/channels/8889922...55519620796446

I am hoping I can attract some more Othello players to play Hexversi. Btw, here's a bit of background on my Othello/Reversi playing history. I played Othello a few times as a kid, I was lousy. I also played it on IYT a bit with online friends in 2001 and 2002, but honestly I was still lousy. And then in 2006 I decided I wanted to become good at it. So I read the eBook "A Minute to Learn... A Lifetime to Master" by Brian Rose who was Othello World Champion in 2001.

https://www.ffothello.org/livres/oth...Brian-Rose.pdf

This completely changed the way I played Othello/Reversi. So, I started entering Tournaments on IYT and it wasn't too long before I started winning some Tournaments. But there was one player I could never beat and I always wondered if he was using a program or not. And then in 2007 Hexversi came out and it quickly became my favorite variation of the Othello games as it works really well with my style of play. I sort of stopped playing regular 8x8 Othello shortly after. And for a while I was sort of hooked on Othello/Reversi 6x6 because I was on a mission to beat this really great player named Came Dude who ruled over Reversi 6x6 on IYT for nearly a decade.

And I've sort of played Hexversi on and off since it came out in 2007. But when Covid hit in 2020 I started organizing Tournaments and this was really the first time I was actively trying to recruit Othello players from other sites to give Hexversi a try but I wasn't having much luck.

This is what sort of perplexes me... when Hexversi came out in 2007 I had really only been playing Othello/Reversi for a little less than a year where I actually knew what I was doing. And instantly I thought Hexversi was a much more interesting game than regular Othello/Reversi. I know I'm terribly biased of course. I just find it so bizarre that there aren't more Othello players that don't prefer Hexversi over Othello. I find it strange. I have nothing against Othello at all. But to me, Othello is like June Cleaver and Hexversi is like Raquel Welch. It's no contest in my eyes, sorry June.

My success rate of recruiting Othello players on Facebook and even IYT and other sites is mind bogglingly low. I don't get it. I know I'm biased of course, but to me... it seems like it should be more balanced. If a better site like eOthello had Hexversi I think that would help a lot. I stumbled across this video a year or so ago and I would like to show it to the Othello players but I suspect it would do more harm than good, especially around the 7:32 mark.




I wasn't intending on this post being so long. Post that video you are talking about if you could, I'm not sure what you are talking about. I'm not sure what "Poison" means either. I know some of the Othello terminology but not all of it. I'll show you an example of a "Quiet Move" in the post below this one.