Othello 2023 (bglog version) is out now:
http://itikawa.com/othello23www/othello2023www.html
(also includes previous 9 quizzes)

Regular version here:
http://itikawa.com/fes2023quiz.html

On 5/22/2023 7:53 PM, Simon Woodhead wrote:
> Othello 2023 (bglog version) is out now:
> http://itikawa.com/othello23www/othello2023www.html
> (also includes previous 9 quizzes)
>
> Regular version here:
> http://itikawa.com/fes2023quiz.html
>

1. White is well behind in the pip count with the better board,
so he is looking to hit a shot. I would play 22/17 13/7 aiming
to hit Red's straggler. Note that Red's 4's and 5's are duplicated
to hit and cover. I don't think the score makes a big difference,
but if anything, 4-away/3-away should encourage bold, gammonish play.

2. Magriel's criteria all suggest a safe play, so even though 8/4
6/1 is ugly, I'm going to play it, because the alternatives all
expose fresh blots and look worse to me.

3. I'm surprised to see 13/9*/3 as a candidate. That probably means
that 13/9*/3 isn't the worst of the 6 plays, which in turn suggests
to me that 13/9* is probably part of the top play. I'm going to try
the blitzing play 13/9* 8/2*.

4. The opponent's board is weak so breaking anchor carries little risk,
and seems to me to be better than the non-anchor-breaking plays. So
it's a choice between 22/13 and 22/18 13/8. I prefer to unstack with
22/18 13/8 than to pile up on the already-heavy midpoint. Again, I'm
not too worried about having my blots attacked given Red's weaknesses.

5. 24/21 6/5 looks like the QF play. Red's stacks mean that we're
hoping she'll be forced to expose a blot, and we want to anchor to
avoid getting pointed on. Moves that don't anchor or that give up
the 24pt look weaker to me, so 24/21 6/5 it is. The blots in our board
are not serious weaknesses because our board is still plenty strong,
and we have plenty of opportunities to re-make one or both of those
points.

6. I may get dinged hard for this play, but 23/17 13/12* is my instinct.
The motivation is that even though we're 35 pips down before the roll,
I think we have to play this as a priming battle and not a backgame.
So I take the opportunity to jump a checker over the prime and send
another checker behind my own prime. This also gives me some chances
of extending my own prime to a five-prime. Red has 2's to hit back,
but her 2's are duplicated, and I don't mind too much if she enters
on my 2pt. The downside, of course, is that things could go poorly
and I could get blitzed off the board, and it is gammon save after all.
I'll go with 23/17 13/12* nonetheless.

7. This is another one of those positions where we have a big race
deficit and a stronger board, so I think we need to play to hit Red's
straggler. I start with 21/16 and then is 13/10 too bold? It
duplicates Red's 3's. I'll try it.

8. I think we need the tempo. 6/1*. Even if Red hits back on my 1pt,
she still has to get over my five-prime.

9. Way behind in the pip count again. I go all in with 13/8 13/7. If
Red doesn't roll a 6 then we gain hugely.

10. We have an advantage here and are hoping to turn the cube next turn.
So I think we don't want to get hit back. That means I'm choosing
between bar/24 6/5*(3) and bar/24 6/5*/4*/3. Killing a checker to the
3pt seems premature, so I'll go with bar/24 6/5*(3).

---
Tim Chow

So I got 7/10, and it seems that the top scorers of the real quiz
also scored 7/10. But I had the benefit of taking the multiple
choice version of the quiz, so maybe that boosted my score slightly.
Also interesting to me is that if we judge the difficulty of a
problem by the number of people who got it right, then I got the
hardest problem right and one of the easiest problems wrong.

---
Tim Chow

On May 22, 2023 at 5:54:51 PM UTC-6, Simon Woodhead wrote:

> Othello 2023 (bglog version) is out now:

I'm developing an interest in alternative rollouts
lately. Are there XG ID's for these somewhere?

MK

On 5/22/2023 11:41 PM, MK wrote:
> On May 22, 2023 at 5:54:51 PM UTC-6, Simon Woodhead wrote:
>
>> Othello 2023 (bglog version) is out now:
>
> I'm developing an interest in alternative rollouts
> lately. Are there XG ID's for these somewhere?

http://itikawa.com/fesquiz2023/othello_quiz_2023_rollouts.pdf

---
Tim Chow

On 23/05/2023 1:41 pm, MK wrote:

> On May 22, 2023 at 5:54:51 PM UTC-6, Simon Woodhead wrote:
>
>> Othello 2023 (bglog version) is out now:
>
> I'm developing an interest in alternative rollouts
> lately. Are there XG ID's for these somewhere?

They're in the regular version, could be added to the
web version if Othello agrees. I'll ask.

1. XGID=----CBBB-a--bD--A-de-bAa--:0:0:1:65:3:4:0:7:10
2. XGID=--aCCbC-C---bB--a-bcbb--A-:0:0:1:54:0:0:1:0:10
3. XGID=--a-C-CBCa--bB---bcd--bAA-:0:0:1:64:0:0:0:7:10
4. XGID=---bB-DaB---bE--ac-e--Ba--:0:0:1:54:0:0:0:3:10
5. XGID=-BBBB-B-----bB--bdbe-A--B-:1:-1:1:11:3:4:0:7:10
6. XGID=--Ac-BBBB---aB-a--bbbbbBB-:1:1:1:61:6:3:0:7:10
7. XGID=----BBCaB----D---bff-B----:0:0:1:53:0:0:3:0:10
8. XGID=aa--BBCCB---aB---aabbbbAb-:0:0:1:32:4:2:0:7:10
9. XGID=-a-BBBB--AA--Ca--cbd-b-bB-:0:0:1:65:0:0:0:7:10
10 XGID=-BBBaaC-----cCa-Bb-c-bb--A:0:0:1:11:1:2:0:7:10

On May 22, 2023 at 10:03:36 PM UTC-6, Simon Woodhead wrote:

> On 23/05/2023 1:41 pm, MK wrote:

>> I'm developing an interest in alternative rollouts
>> lately. Are there XG ID's for these somewhere?

> They're in the regular version, could be added to the
> web version if Othello agrees. I'll ask.

Thanks for the help Simon and Tim.

MK

On 23/05/2023 2:02 pm, Simon Woodhead wrote:

> They're in the regular version, could be added to the
> web version if Othello agrees. I'll ask.

XGIDs are now displayed under the board.
But only for the answers ;-)

http://itikawa.com/othello23www/othello2023www.html