Tips pente

For the rules of pente, see GameHelpPente

Opening Strategy

Opening proposals for Swap and Swap2 pente should consider the following principles:

1. White has the advantage of playing first and is therefore the first player capable of making five in a row.

2. Stones which are all located near the center of the board generally favor white, because they allow room to expand in any direction. Stones placed strategically close to an edge or corner of the board can reduce white's first player advantage by limiting the directions in which white is able to build.

3. If white's stones are placed too far apart from each other and black's stone(s), black can often build potentials and shapes as though s(he) were white, because white will end up with at least one stranded stone which won't affect the game. As an extreme case, consider two white stones in opposite corners of the board with one black stone in the center. White's stones are both useless for defending against black, and black is essentially the first player with two moves in the center before white can defend.

4. If either player's stones are placed next to each other, they form a pair which can be threatened with a capture, which generally weakens the position for that player.

5. Diagonally aligned stones are generally weaker than horizontally and vertically aligned stones because there are fewer stone placements which create strong shapes available with a diagonal alignment.

6. Any opening proposal will favor one side or the other, so the goal is to find a reasonably balanced position which one is comfortable playing from either side of the board.

General Strategy

Unless there is a specific reason (such as a capture, capture threat or an open 3) to block an open 3 on the side opposite a capture (g5), it's better to block on the side of the three where one will be captured (c5).

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If white plays to g5, black can play to b5 and force white to play to c5 anyway. Once black captures white's pair at b6, black has two aligned stones with b5 and b6.

What can happen if white doesn't immediately play into the capture at c5 is well illustrated by the demonstration of how the pawnbroker shape can be used in Pente at https://web.archive.org/web/20040131001542/www.playpente.com/pawnbroker.html

Pente for dummies thread at pente.org:

https://pente.org/gameServer/forums/thread.jspa?forumID=27&threadID=4553&tstart=0