Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Playing in the KGS Ranking Room

If you are not familiar with it, the KGS Ranking Room has a few Bots that will play rated games against you. There are only a couple so you have to be quick to grab one when the bot finishes its previous game.

I had RankBot000 and was ready for a game - I set handicap to 4 and clicked go. (I had to go fast or someone else would get the game.) In the process of setting handicap the game switched from rated to free. Doh!

Nonetheless, the bot is rated at 8k, so with 4 stones I figure I should get my butt kicked. I followed my latest thinking - play on the 3rd and 4th lines, focus on corners and sides, keep the center a low priority. It was apparently good enough to win by 20 points!

I will post the game under the "Prime Games". I did win, but hopefully the strategy I used is clear, and I think it is one a beginner can understand and use to gain a stone or two!

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