Bill LeBoeuf vs. Universidad de Oviedo

In late 2003, Bill LeBoeuf played a game against a university class in Spain and agreed to comment on why he was making each move. The game took place on Little Golem. The students simultaneously played a second game against the user Ypercube. The students, who were playing as Red in one game and Blue in the other, appear to have initially used a copy-cat strategy to ensure they would win at least one of the two games. However, the two games differ in the endgame. Red won both games.

Game information

• Size: 13x13
• Red: Bill LeBoeuf
• Blue: Universidad de Oviedo
• Date: from 09-10-2003 to 30-11-2003
• Result: 1-0 (Red won)
• Comments: Bill LeBoeuf, slightly copy-edited
• Note: Turn-based game

Moves and comments

You can see the diagram for each move by following along at this HexWorld link.

• 1.a3: The first move is the most critical move. a3 and a2 are time tested as being almost equal whichever side you play on, and since your opponent has his choice of sides, it is critical to keep things as equal as possible. Too far away (a1) has been shown to lose, and any closer to the center (even b3) is a huge advantage after the swap. Basically, strong players almost always play on the A column (but not a1) or on the second row (but not l2 on the short diagonal, which is too strong).

• 2.d6, 3.g7: d6 is an interesting move. After I play in the center, it will support either a sweep along the top or a sweep along the bottom of the board. Now where do I play in the center? Well, I want to play not too high, which would give you too much room on the bottom, and not too low, leaving you too strong on the top. So I will try g7 right at the center.

• 4.h4, 5.f5: h4 is interesting. Now I must play on the right (i4 or j4 or k3 or k4 or j3) or to the left (f5 or e6 or g4 or g5 or e5) or play a waiting move in the middle (h5 or h6 or g6). If I play a waiting move, often a waiting move in response is good such as h3 or i2. The obvious move is often a trap, but I will try the obvious block f5.

Some comments on ‘sweep’ and ‘waiting move’: Lets say the player connecting top to bottom makes a move in the center. Then the other player must connect the left to the right side by either going above or below. By sweep, I just meant the process of setting up a connection between the sides. Now, to set up a connection above or below, one must make a move above or below, respectively, and this could also be seen as a ‘block’ of the opponent's move. Now, if the first player plays to the center and you play (block) above him, then he will play (block) you either to your left or to your right and connect (sweep) top to bottom from your left or your right.

A ‘waiting move’ is the idea that instead of blocking your opponent on either the top or the bottom, you play to the side, which looks wasteful but which allows you some protection whichever side your opponent plays to. I know this may sound confusing; once you see it work in practice, it becomes very clear.

• 6.g6, 7.e7: Both are pretty natural moves trying to extend oneself and block the opponent.

• 8.e8, 9.f7: The move e8 blocks my e7. Now I want to find a way to connect g7 to the top and then fight to connect to the bottom. There are three ways to do this: the obvious f7, or either h6 or i6, whence I can run to the top either on the left or the right of h4/g6. The choice here is often critical, with only one move being viable (and usually not the obvious move). However, in this case, it appears that any of these moves is viable so I will just play the obvious f7.

• 10.g8, 11.f8: This is a common situation where you block to the side (g8), I play to the middle (f8) and you block below me (e10).

• 12.e10, 13.h9: e10 is the natural block following which the key offensive hex is h9. Why? Because from h9, I can connect upwards on the left with f9 or try to fight my way up on the right side starting with i7. Of course, I can also be blocked from below, and following that, I will make another move to the pivot hex and again connect up on the left side or try to fight my way up on the right side...as we shall soon see.

• 14.i7, 15.f9: He blocks on the right with i7, so I move on the left with f9 to connect to h9...thus h9 was destined (by virtue of being the pivot) to connect to the top. Next, I will try to connect h9 to the bottom.

• 16.f10, 17.g9: f10 blocks and then g9 connects the pivot point h9. Now he will block again and a new pivot point i11 will arise. From there, he must block on the left and I will move to j8 and then k6 in a bid to connect to the top. You may note that I could simplify this a little by playing j8 right now instead of g9. Playing g9 now just makes it clearer how to reach j8 if you don't see that j8 is already connected to the bottom.

• 18.h10, 19.g10: h10 defends, g10 attacks.

• 20.f12, 21.i11: f12 defends, then i11 is the new pivot point, from which I will fight my way to the top on the right.

• 22.h11, 23.j9: Here Blue had a choice to either block at the bottom (h11 or better g12), or at the top with a move like h2. Sometimes switching the area of combat is critical to winning. In this game, it makes no difference, although h2 would be an attempt to confuse the opponent. However, if you see that the reply g3 sets up a ladder towards a3 which can be switched back to the 5th row, then you see that g3 is connected to the top and the game is the same with or without the (h2,g3) diversion.

  Let us call h11 the mainline. Actually this move is a very common mistake (inaccuracy). When playing up to a pivot point the correct move is an automatic g12 rather than h11. Why? Because, if you can ever fight under the pivot point to h13 you will be connected with g12 but not with h11. Of course, in this game it's an instructional point only (it doesn’t change the outcome). (Note: another way to explain this is that g12 dominates h11. See dominated cell).

• 24.h3, 25.g3: h3 is an interesting alternative to blocking me on i9. Now I could try continuing my development at the bottom with i8. However I will play g3, reconnecting to the top.

• 26.i9, 27.j8: Now for these two moves and for the following pairs of moves, you will be blocking and I will be trying to advance to the top up the right side of the board. And we will see whether your blocks or my advances are stronger.

• 28.i8, 29.k6: i8: blocking, k6: trying to extend.

• 30.j5, 31.l4: j5: blocking, l4: continuing to advance. Now we are at the end stage and it is very close. It looks like for me to break through in the coming variations, I must first try to break through to the j4 hex.

• Blue cannot stop Red from connecting to the top and resigns.

Additional comments

In this game as in every game, Blue had the opportunity to swap and, therefore, Blue had a theoretically won game. But after Blue's first three moves D6, H4 and G6, all subsequent moves more or less seem forced. This suggests that Blue may have already lost the game after his third move.

If this is so, then obviously the first three moves are very important. How should one play the first three moves? Since Blue had a theoretically won game, Blue should try to play into a simple winning position. But after Red starts with A3, we don’t know of any simple winning sequence of moves. So what is the next best thing to do? Well, for sure, to try to avoid playing into a simple losing position. This leaves playing into an unclear position but in which your side seems to be as strong as possible.

This leads into two other points:

• It can be very helpful to know what sort initial moves strong players have made in the past and how they have fared (so-called Opening Theory).

• If you have not followed forced lines through to their conclusion, you will not fare well against someone who has.

Thoughts on the A3 opening: Of course, the point of A3 is that it is neither weak nor strong but almost exactly equal and thus neutral, such that the game remains almost neutral whether the second player swaps or does not swap. As proof of this, note how strong players are able to win both with and without swapping A3. Of course, ultimately, with perfect play, A3 (and every other move) is a dead loss one way or the other. But we don’t even know which way yet, let alone how to carry out the perfect play.

Source

• Comments : this forum thread on Little Golem.

• Game : this game on Little Golem.