Fang: Simple Endgame Advice
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- Build on what you already know
- More is More
- Rules are made to be broken …
There are several ways to consolidate disks near the H8 corner – because the disk at G6 is closer to H8 than any of the other white disks, we’ll play G3 – which flips that disk in the least disruptive way possible. Notice that D3 would also flip the G6 disk – however, after G3, white has 2 options, after D3, white has 6 options. Once your have your opponent under control, its better if you keep them under control and limit what they can do. The more options they have, the more complicated the position will become and the more complicated the position is, the easier it is to make a mistake that will lose disks. While black isn’t in any danger of losing after D3, white may be able to salvage 15-20 disks if black plays inaccurately. However, after G3 white is still in danger of being wiped out, even if black makes a few minor errors. It’s also much easier to calculate ahead when your opponent only has one or two options because then you can concentrate on finding your best moves instead of having to worry about them fighting back.
After G3, white has 2 options, H3 and H2. Let’s look at both: | ||
WHITE PLAYS H3 | BLACK PLAYS H2 |
OR | ||
WHITE PLAYS H2 | BLACK PLAYS C7 |
If white plays H3, then black plays H2. White has to play G2 the next move and black will easily take the northeast corner. If white plays H2, then black plays C7 and then white is forced to play H3 also giving up the corner. After taking the northeast corner, black will consolidate around that corner as well and will have an overwhelming advantage.
Exercises:
3. | 4. | |
BLACK TO PLAY | BLACK TO PLAY |
Answers:
1. | 2. | |
3. | 4. | |
Counting and Basic Endgame Theory
Of course, building is only going to help when you’re way ahead. At some point in a closer game you have to remember that you want to have the most disks at the end and more importantly the end is getting near. You are trying to keep the number of disks that you have to a small number as suggested in the previous sections, right?
Obviously, at the end of the game, keeping your disks to a minimum is not as good of an idea. You have to start playing moves that take a lot of disks. Usually, in a fairly even game, this is when there are about 8 or 10 empty squares on the board. Unfortunately there’s no hard or fast rule for when you should start taking a lot of disks, however, if you can take a lot of disks and most are stable or they make other disks that you have stable, then it is probably a good idea.
So, taking the corner in this case is the wrong move. In fact, if we count the disks currently on the board, black has 26 disks. 26 + 4 = 30. Black loses 30-34 if he takes the corner. 26 + 7 = 33. Black wins 33-31 if he plays A2. The difference between winning and losing is in understanding why this is the case. For one thing, the move to A2 simply flips more disks. With only 1 move left, white can’t flip enough of them back to make the corner worth very much. Remember, the reason that corners are important is that they tend to lead to stable disks. Here, there isn’t anywhere for white to build off of, so the corner isn’t worth very much. What we can learn from this fiasco is that rules are meant to be broken and that corners become worth less late in the game because there are fewer opportunities left to build from them.
After all this calculation, we see that the best sequence after B2 is A1 B1 A2. +10. In the original position, Black has 25 disks. This means that with perfect play black will win 35-29. Since 35-29 is better than 33-31, B2 is the best move for black in the example position. Clearly being greedy and playing B2 and flipping a lot of disks works out well in this position.
One of the most difficult parts of Othello is playing proper endgames because at times the right sequence is nearly impossible to see without counting every possible variation, and that quickly becomes impossible, even for master level players. Even top human players make endgame errors, however, the errors that they make tend to be small (2 or 4 disks) and they tend get a lot of the moves right. On the other hand, I’ve watched games between beginners where both players trade endgame errors that are 8 to 10 disks wrong at almost every move.
One important rule we can follow when counting is to know that in almost all cases, if we have a sequence in which we get all of the remaining moves, it will probably be the best sequence.
Exercises:
3. | 4. | |
WHITE TO PLAY | WHITE TO PLAY |
Answers:
1. | 2. | |
BLACK WINS 33-31 | WHITE WINS 33-31 |
3. | 4. | |
WHITE WINS 33-31 | WHITE WINS 40-24 |
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