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Re: Open Challenge to All TB Pente Masters -- Financial Incentives
Posted:
May 28, 2026, 6:20 PM
I dont think I'll be doing any tourneys. Im retired from pente. But willing to do the occasional set here and there. Tourneys are too time demanding for me. I could help people prep on live private tables for tourney tho. By being a test board.
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
Re: Open Challenge to All TB Pente Masters -- Financial Incentives
Posted:
May 28, 2026, 8:28 PM
[Sorry guys, maybe I ruined the hype: unwillingly notified pente_gon (he is on BGA on a different name) about this (I did not know that time it was him).]
Re: Open Challenge to All TB Pente Masters -- Financial Incentives
Posted:
May 28, 2026, 10:54 PM
Ok, now I'm back to 2400+, and since +1-1 result affects ELO of both players, I'm going to stop you and hopefully drag down to 25xx rating. I'd like to show that swap2 is actually far better than a "P1 wins, can you manage it" game when it comes to ratings.
Re: Open Challenge to All TB Pente Masters -- Financial Incentives
Posted:
May 28, 2026, 11:24 PM
"Sorry guys, maybe I ruined the hype: unwillingly notified pente_gon (he is on BGA on a different name) about this (I did not know that time it was him).]" It's posted herme in the forum, so not exactly a big secret; I sent pente_gon a msg about it here this AM. Maybe he wants in on the action?
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Re: Open Challenge to All TB Pente Masters -- Financial Incentives
Posted:
May 30, 2026, 4:50 AM
> Anyway, maybe we should do a masters round robin > tournament. > > Watsu, Kevin, KarlW, RichardIII, Pente_gon, BRF, > Zoey, Nedhall. > And anyone else generally regarded as master level > and has ever achieved 2700 ratings.
I wouldn't count on watsu (he notoriously disappeared off the face of the earth in the last masters tournament's otherwise brilliant final round), Kevin or brf (inactive for many years), Richard (either his account is hacked or he's stopped trying, but he's not the same richard as early 2000's). Nedhall is the only 2200+ player who has avoided playing me since my return. That leaves you, me, zoey and maybe pente_gon . Not quite enough for a tournament.
> Are drawn sets of 2 still scored with no change in > Elo? That was likely the driving factor in Elos > going from capping out at 2300-ish to the 2800s. > All someone had to do was hold as player 1 and > d would not lose any Elo even though a draw against a > lower rated player usually would mean an Elo decrease.
Pretty much every player with a tb rating >2500 other than me achieved that rating during the "drawn sets don't affect rating" era and hasn't played enough games since the formula change to properly establish a new rating. With my history as an example, it's about a 200 point drop if you're rated ~2700.
It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
Re: Open Challenge to All TB Pente Masters -- Financial Incentives
Posted:
May 30, 2026, 10:03 AM
Gamo467? (ZK already said no). Also, based on live and TB (swap2) play on other sites, I have a few players in mind who I think could achieve a 25++ TB Pente rating here under current conditions, if they wished to. I could let them know personally about your offer here, Karl. Not sure if they'd take it or not, but could msg them. NedH knows already.
Re: Open Challenge to All TB Pente Masters -- Financial Incentives
Posted:
May 30, 2026, 1:40 PM
I've also msged several accounts here in the 2300+ range, at least some of which seem to have been established after the rating change and seem relatively inactive. Probably so.e are alts, but anyway. So, if a tournament were to happen, would it be open to any 1900+ player like the 2020 tournament was, or would it be more selective? How about the time control. Not planning to participate in either case, just curious, and that way I can pass along info about it.
Re: Open Challenge to All TB Pente Masters -- Financial Incentives
Posted:
May 30, 2026, 3:00 PM
Rather than risk another edit and mucking up the previous posts, I'll just say that Ned is one of three (ever) Pente masters at BGA, and so IMO should be considered for (hypothetical) tournamemt inclusion, if he wishes.
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Re: Open Challenge to All TB Pente Masters -- Financial Incentives
Posted:
May 30, 2026, 5:03 PM
An option. If you really wanted me involved. You could do a tourney, and the winner has to then face me and defeat me to claim victory. The final boss fight.
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
Re: Open Challenge to All TB Pente Masters -- Financial Incentives
Posted:
May 30, 2026, 9:43 PM
Viktor Barykin (you call him Lancer) is a Renju player first of all, as am I. He still plays Renju sometimes. He played in Russian First League in 2024 and did it successfully, he qualified to the High League-2025 but he rejected to play it because of time/money issues.
Still perhaps he can play online, money also may be a positive motivation... I'm not sure if he is interested in Pente since it's mostly solved and he is a very strong theory analyst.
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Re: Open Challenge to All TB Pente Masters -- Financial Incentives
Posted:
May 30, 2026, 11:11 PM
Yes im aware his name and about renju. Not aware that he still plays. As to pente solved. Hold that thought. Because I think im about to destroy some common main line solutions, possibly.
Scire hostis animum - Intelligere ludum - Nosce te ipsum - Prima moventur conciliat - Nolite errare
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Re: Open Challenge to All TB Pente Masters -- Financial Incentives
Posted:
May 31, 2026, 1:30 AM
This is why I love zoey: he's the only master who openly shares my opinion that pente from the P2 side isn't entirely doom and gloom. There's plenty of gold left to mine, you just have to dig pretty deep to find it. And I guess that's a turn-off to people who prefer not to risk have lost the game on the 3rd move, but I find that it heightens the excitement.
As for variants, nobody ever mentions G-pente, which I believe is the simplest fix: a small adjustment to the tourney rule which cleanly removes P1's normally clearly winning 2nd moves but doesn't touch anything else.
After that I prefer keryo, then boat. These are the S tier 5-in-a-row games in my book and I will fiercely compete in a masters tourney under those rules. Everything else either adds too much or changes the game in a way I personally find aesthetically displeasing.
It's no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
