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        Arimaa >> Game Analysis >> elimin8r vs bot_Sharp2010P2
        
(Message started by: elimin8r on Jun 13^th, 2014, 6:25pm)

Title: elimin8r vs bot_Sharp2010P2
Post by elimin8r on Jun 13^th, 2014, 6:25pm

http://arimaa.com/arimaa/gameroom/comments.cgi?gid=393134

I felt like i was doing ok until about move 40. I thought I should avoid trading cats so I tried to save mine, but I think it caused me to lose more material. Was my play up until move 40 ok? What continuations should I have considered from there? Any other suggestions on how to improve in general would be helpful too. Thanks

Title: Re: elimin8r vs bot_Sharp2010P2
Post by odin73 on Jun 14^th, 2014, 4:03am

The link does not work.

You mean this game:

http://arimaa.com/arimaa/games/jsShowGame.cgi?gid=305245&s=w ?

Title: Re: elimin8r vs bot_Sharp2010P2
Post by harvestsnow on Jun 14^th, 2014, 6:34am

Your 38g position is very good. You have a significant material advantage, and Silver's camel hostage works against him because his camel is stuck behind the trap and you have an advanced swarm. Your long term objective should be to bring enough pieces around c6 to free your elephant from permanent defense duty, and then attack f6.

38g Rb4w Ra4n Ra5n Dc4n looks natural to me: the dog protects the trap and allows a horse to replace the elephant on d6; the rabbit blocks the silver rabbits and gives you a goal threat if the silver elephant leaves. It also prevents another piece from being hostaged on a6 (37s was a positionnal blunder). If you still want to flip the silver cat after that, the dog in c6 is in your advantage, because the silver camel can't swing your cat.

On 41g, you could defend the cat with a horse on f5. This looks less risky. Another option is 41g cd3w cc3x Dd2n He3n He4n: the dog can capture, but then it's threatened by the horse.

I think 43g Hg3w Hf3n Hf4n Dc4n keeps everything safe. If the same 44s is played, you can flip the camel to c6 or d5 without losing a horse. The dog allows a quicker elephant rotation on the next move (eg. 43s He6s me7s Cf7w hf6n / 44g me6e Ed6e He5w Hd5n, 43s me7w He6n He7n md7e / 44g Ed6e Hf5w He5w Hd5n). It's sharper, but you're not losing material immediately. Note how easier the situation would be to handle if you had more pieces around c6.

Some other moves worth considering:

On 27g, there's no immediate material threat in c6. You can capture the rabbit, or play Ee6s hf5s Ee5e Hg3n to win the horse. I don't see any quick enough counterthreat.

32g should prevent the double hostage somehow. The dog is too useful as an attacker. Ee5n Ee6w cc6s Mb6e or Hc4n cc6e Mb6e Da6e both look ok. There's a threat against the d7 dog, but even if it's traded against the cat the imbalance of the silver army and the western goal threats are probably enough compensation.
32g ra7e Da6n Ee5n Ee6w looks fine too (32s Mb6w eb5n Dd7e mc7e / 33g md7w Ed6n De7s De6s).

Title: Re: elimin8r vs bot_Sharp2010P2
Post by elimin8r on Jun 14^th, 2014, 5:51pm

Thanks for the analysis =)