Talk:Arimaa/Omar vs. Fritzlein, 2005 Postal Championship

Fritzlein's commentary, in implying that the game remained balanced for a long time, seems a little pessimistic. It looks to me as though Silver retained an advantage after winning the rabbit on 31s, despite the sequence from 33s being in the wrong direction (Silver should have been looking to attack c3 immediately). Still, the commentary is pretty good. I'm not sure it's worth trying to update it strategically, so I settled for adding a note about dated strategy at the top. Risteall (discuss • contribs) 21:20, 7 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Do you think Gold would have had the advantage had he moved against c6 on 40g? Belteshazzar (discuss • contribs) 02:44, 14 March 2020 (UTC)
 * No, I think Silver's threats at c3 tie down Gold sufficiently e.g. 40g Hb6 Ed5 40s Hc2/c1 Ed3 (f3x). It seems like Gold's best plan though. The claim that 47s is a unique move appears to be another example of Fritzlein's pessimism; Sharp actually wants to push the horse to a6. I can only suppose that Fritz thought he was losing control after 47s a5 Eb6/Ha6 48g Dc5 Ec7/Db7, but Sharp says this 48g is bad for Gold because there's no goal and the elephant is misplaced on c7. Its evals are not necessarily to the point; it's understandable that Fritz wanted to maintain control.
 * Sharp thinks 21g Ee6/Mf7,Cf6 is equal and gives Silver a continuous advantage after that.
 * Incidentally, I think the dog hostage from 31s is fine. It was the attempt to convert it to a frame that was the problem. Risteall (discuss • contribs) 17:06, 14 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Do you think Fritzlein would have done better to flip the horse on 30s? I can see why he would have been hesitant to do that, but his commentary suggested that he should have. Belteshazzar (discuss • contribs) 20:01, 14 March 2020 (UTC)
 * It's not very clear. The plan of taking a hostage at f6 is better if the horse is flipped. On the other hand, flipping the horse makes it harder to attack f3; Fritz mentioned the possibility of attack but wasn't very keen on it. Both plans are fine for Silver. Risteall (discuss • contribs) 06:19, 17 March 2020 (UTC)
 * I see now that 13s Mf7w ef6n rc8e mc6e could have given Fritzlein a stronger hostage. Any other good 13s? Belteshazzar (discuss • contribs) 03:32, 26 March 2021 (UTC)