Pairs as Offensive Weapons?
Posted:
Dec 15, 2002, 5:22 PM
--- sjustice wrote, in "Re: Pente Strategy Guides," ... << I think properly [...] using the pair as an offensive weapon [...] >>
I've never heard of this tactic before. I've generally thought of pairs as a weakness that you needed to protect. Could someone elaborate on this? It sounds very interesting.
Re: Pairs as Offensive Weapons?
Posted:
Dec 15, 2002, 6:38 PM
I think of pairs more as a defensive weapon... Sometimes it is possible to make a pair such that threatening it will cause the other player to make a pair, which you then threaten. If the pairs are then swapped, the other player ends up with stones that are too far apart ot be very useful. From my experience, most of the time the player to make a pair is player 2, not player 1.
I guess a notable excpetion wold be the well known "wedge" scenario, wherep layer 1 makes a pair on move 3 ot take control. There are probably others that I am not thinking of at the moment. THe important idea related to pairs is to consider them at all times... often, making a pair and then simply blocking the ensuing capture threat can set up a strong offensive, because it turns an opponent's stopne into a keystone.
If I do not accept a game invite right away, it means I will once I have fewer games in progress.
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Re: Pairs as Offensive Weapons?
Posted:
Dec 21, 2002, 6:27 AM
Here's what Rollie Tesh said in the Spring 1984 Pente Newsletter: "... pairs are actually quite strong to use in the opening, if you can calculate that your opponent will have to make some sort of concession in order to attack the pair. Actually, I think the 'pair' is the strongest 2-stone formation you can make, since with it you have two ways to make a tria next move, rather than just one as with the 'potential'. Of course, the pair's vulnerability to capture forms a compensating disadvantage; but this just makes them an interesting facet of strategy." Other points he made in the article: 1. Know which stone formations are stronger. The V-formation (0,R4,R2U2) is weaker than the 'skew' (O,R3,R1U2) and the 'L' (0,R2,U3), hence the reason that R3 as white's second move is stronger than R4. 2. Forcing keystone pairs in the opening is important. This leads into the 'hammer' theory which has a bearing in the opening but also rears its head throughout the whole game. Scott
Re: Pairs as Offensive Weapons?
Posted:
Dec 21, 2002, 11:52 PM
-- sjustice wrote: << [...] what Rollie Tesh said in the Spring 1984 Pente Newsletter [...] >>
Sounds like there was some good stuff in that newsletter. Has anyone considered starting up a new newsletter?
It seems like there are enough players here and at IYT that at least a few folks would subscribe to it. And there are probably enough competent, articulate, players around to write a few articles for it.
