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        Arimaa >> Game Analysis >> Nombril vs dht  g#279956 Fritzlein Underated
        
(Message started by: dht on Oct 30^th, 2013, 2:07am)

Title: Nombril vs dht g#279956 Fritzlein Underated
Post by dht on Oct 30^th, 2013, 2:07am

http://arimaa.com/arimaa/gameroom/comments.cgi?gid=279956

1s ra7 hb7 rc7 ed7 he7 rf7 mg7 rh7 ra8 cb8 rc8 dd8 de8 rf8 cg8 rh8

^The Fritzlein opening setup feels like playing the orangutan :o :) :) :D :D

http://www.chess.com/chessopedia/view/orangutan-opening

This opening setup is seriously underrated, maybe? Even with Nombril being a bit rusty I know should have been crushed a lot harder and sooner than I was, and the Fritzlein was my lifeline.

I should have played 6s at 5s like Nobril said and kept Hg2 stymied... Did I lose all my momentum there and from there it was a done deal, or?

Title: Re: Nombril vs dht g#279956 Fritzlein Underated
Post by Fritzlein on Oct 30^th, 2013, 9:32am

For the record, I used "Fritz rabbits" in all of my setups as Gold in the 2013 Postal Mixer, and won them all, including against Alfons who was otherwise undefeated. The only two openings in which I suffered were as Silver where I kept rabbits back. I'm not sure how relevant my setup was to my victories, though.

Your subject line caught my eye, because I am laughably overrated at the moment due to playing only postal games, which generally gives me an advantage in thinking time. But it is possible that my rabbit structure is underrated. The main rap against it is that it makes rabbits too easy to pull, and that seems less and less relevant as rabbit-pulling strategies fade in popularity. A subtle advantage I have come to appreciate from Fritz rabbits is that my cats are more comfortable on the b-file and g-file than on the c-file and f-file.

Title: Re: Nombril vs dht g#279956 Fritzlein Underated
Post by Nombril on Oct 30^th, 2013, 9:56am

I guess I'm out of touch with "current" philosophy, but I don't recall any consensus that Fritz rabbits are a bad opening. The idea to start a trading/racing condition with losing a rabbit first is exactly what happened in our game, so you have the initial advantage.

As a defensive position, I am uncomfortable playing it because it makes movement of my camel to defend different sides more difficult. But I should probably play it more often to add more techniques to my repertoire :)

You were set up to attack with your opening, and did well. But then you started started playing slow moves. Already mentioned is flipping my horse, but looking at it today maybe the worse strategy where you loose momentum is 8s/9s advancing rabbits on the opposite wing from your camel. It only puts pieces in danger where you have absolutely no chance to defend them. Absolutely your first priority had to be the camel hostage situation. (Either run away while you can, or swarm to rotate out your elephant.)

Title: Re: Nombril vs dht g#279956 Fritzlein Underated
Post by aaaa on Oct 30^th, 2013, 12:05pm

Regardless of whether it's actually intrinsically good or not, deploying rabbits in such a fashion could be a good pedagogical tool for "home" players to force themselves out of their comfort zone.

Title: Re: Nombril vs dht g#279956 Fritzlein Underated
Post by Hippo on Oct 30^th, 2013, 12:45pm

on 10/30/13 at 12:05:51, aaaa wrote:

Regardless of whether it's actually intrinsically good or not, deploying rabbits in such a fashion could be a good pedagogical tool for "home" players to force themselves out of their comfort zone.

What is exactly why Fritz is playing it ...

Title: Re: Nombril vs dht g#279956 Fritzlein Underated
Post by Fritzlein on Oct 30^th, 2013, 1:56pm

on 10/30/13 at 09:56:02, Nombril wrote:

As a defensive position, I am uncomfortable playing it because it makes movement of my camel to defend different sides more difficult.

It's quite true that the extra second-rank rabbits get in the way of a camel switching wings along the second rank. Nowadays, however, I generally keep my camel on my third rank anyway, which minimizes the disadvantage.

on 10/30/13 at 12:05:51, aaaa wrote:

Regardless of whether it's actually intrinsically good or not, deploying rabbits in such a fashion could be a good pedagogical tool for "home" players to force themselves out of their comfort zone.

Very true, and one of the reason I set my rabbits forward. Astonishingly, however, I am often able to play a winning home game despite my forward rabbits, as for example against Alfons and arimaa_master. If my opponent doesn't want to pull my rabbits out, then I'm not forced into an away game.