[pbmserv-dev] ?SPOIL? Cathedral strong move.

["David GLAUDE PBEM" <dglaude@gmx.net>]

Hello,

On the cathedral web site (http://www.prism-games.com/cathedral.html)
there use to be a message board (maybe it is still there).
On that message board there use to be claim (expression of a strong feeling)
that Cathedral was strongly in favor of one of the player.
Because I knew the game I did contact those claiming that to ask a few
question.

Don Woods [don@icynic.com] (don@ca.icynic.com) did reply to me
(that was a year ago) with some explanation of that claim.

I did ask Don specificaly if it was OK for me to publish that on my web
page,
so I guess it is OK to send it here. I guess most of the peaple involved in
the development of Cathedral on PBeM are on pbmserv-dev and they are also
actively playing.

So if you want to know, keep reading and maybe try a few games using this.
If you don't want to know and want to discover this for yourself...

                           *****************
                           * STOP READING. *
                           *****************

David GLAUDE

PS: I did not verify myself that claim
    I did not play Cathedral since a long time
    But as soon as I have time, I will challenge you all. ;-)
             --- dglaude ---

---
> Was there any proof that the game is a win for first player?

No.

> Did you try to test that on a computer?

No.  (This was several years ago, and I knew of no computer programs
for Cathedral.)

> Did you ask other person to review your strong move to see if they feel
the
> same?

Yes.  A small group of players, all good at abstract games of this
type, studied the proposed opening.

> Could you release your first move?

After the cathedral is placed, orient the board to put the cathedral
in or near the upper left.  For example:

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . c . . . . . . .
. c c c c . . . . .
. . c . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .

Even if it is closer to the center, there will be a place where this
opening move works.  The opening is shown as 'x', the threatened
second move is shown as '2'.

. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
. . c . . . . . . .
. c c c c . . . . .
. . c . . . . . 2 2
. . . . . . . 2 2 .
. . . . . . . 2 . .
. . . . . x x . . .
. . . . x x . . . .
. . . . . x . . . .

This threatens to carve out too much private territory, so the other
player must respond in that area.  The 'x' player then plays in the
other direction.  I no longer recall all the details (many of which
depend on the exact position of the cathedral and where the other
player makes his moves), but the basic idea is that the 'x' player
first threatens to take a large part of the lower right, then makes
a move that threatens the lower left, and then makes a move that
threatens to connect to the top, capturing the entire right side
(including the first defensive play made there).  By the time the
other player is able to stop playing defensively, the 'x' player
has gotten all of his major pieces down and has claimed modest but
important amounts of space.

Using our variant rule, if 'x' tries an opening as shown, the other
player then places two pieces (one of which is the cathedral), and
is able to hem x in from both sides.

 -- Don.