That however is not to say that a first move guarantees a win every time. There are almost as many counter strategies for the player who moves second as there are attacking strategies for the first moving player.
It is almost inevitable that the two players' lines will meet at some point in the middle of the board and result in blocking each other from certain paths to victory. It stands to reason therefore that this is planned for from the offset by not following a single track path. By the very nature of the shape of each position on the board there are always 2 options for moving forward however, if a player tries to create a more diagonal line to the finish it will create many more possible exits to change direction when a block situation is encountered.
Whilst no player can avoid being blocked in some way during the game, it is foolish to embrace it too far to the point of going out of the way to block an opponent.
This game does not require the employ of such tactics to be successful. There are times where one of two equally beneficial moves will be selected because of its added benefit of blocking the opponent as well as progressing itself.
However these are rare and do not need to be searched for. Many players who try to go down such a negative route will often find themselves successful in their endeavours. However no block can be impermeable and when it is broken through, the blocking player soon realizes that they have no pieces in good enough positions to get to victory before their opponent.
Also, playing in the middle of a two-chain can be a good play even when the opponent should and does respond by saving the link. The reason being that the piece played may be useful later.
When you have no pieces in the area, it is usually best to start blocking broadly close to at least one of your edges and not too close to the opponent's piece. If your blocking move has too little influence on both your edges, then the opponent has at least two good zones of the board that are worth trying, one for each side.
For example, compare the situation for blue in these two cases. In this case, the blue initial pieces E9 and F7 have very little influence on both blue's edges and thus don't provide any immediate threat on bottom.
Blue has no choice but to play D8, which however is still far from being connected to any blue's edge. This position on the other hand is quite more tricky for red to play correctly than the first.
Blue is still too much focused unavoidably, given the weak position on bottom but, after having obtained a reasonable influence on the right side, he can now concentrate his efforts on the left side of the board. If you block too close to the opponent, then he can simply flow around the attempted block. For example, suppose you are trying to stop the vertical player from connecting to the bottom in the following diagram. If you try to block by playing adjacent to the leading piece , say by playing at g7, then the vertical player can simply step around it at f7 see diagram below.
Then the attempted block at say e8, could similarly be met by playing at f8. Obviously, you are not making any progress here. Another try from the original position would be to block at a two-chain distance away at f8 see diagram below. This is better than the adjacent block but sometimes the opponent can flow around this too by two-chaining at an angle — e. Another possibility is to combine the above two ideas by first doing an adjacent block at g7 and then if the vertical player responds with f7, you block at a two-chain distance away at e9.
Then your opponent cannot two-chain towards the right because of the initial g7 piece. A good block in the original position is to block at one hex farther back than the two-chain block at either e9 or f9 sometimes this is referred to as the classic block.
For example suppose H blocks at f9 see diagram below. Two-chaining to f8 is met by e9. Two-chaining to the lower right h7 is met by h8 and two-chaining towards the lower-left e7 is met by d8.
By blocking at a distance, you have a move or two before the advancing head reaches the blocking pieces. Blue's play is what I call an indirect block ; it does not directly block the Red G4 from the bottom rather it threatens to block it on the next move.
Red cannot afford to ignore this threat. If for example Red plays G3, Blue responds with G5 completely cutting off Red's pieces from the bottom. Instead Red can play towards the bottom with F6 and blue can complete his block by playing E8 for example.
Blocking Summation The most important thing for a beginner to do is to avoid the mistake of repeatedly trying to block by playing adjacent to the head of the chain as shown in the first example.
Playing ahead of the chain as in the classic block gives you a move or two to place your pieces before the advancing chain meets your pieces. See also the page Weakest link. Thus, with each move you should attempt to either improve your weakest link or make your opponent's weakest link even weaker. A move which does both is a strong move. For example, in the position below the hex f6 is the weakest point in the Red's best connection across the board. It is also the weakest link in the Blue's best connection across the board.
Thus, the player whose turn it is to move would be wise to play at f6. In fact, whoever plays next has a forced win after playing f6. See also the page Offense equals defense. In Hex, good offense and good defense are entirely equivalent. If you complete a connection between your sides, then your opponent is prevented from completing theirs.
Conversely, if your opponent is prevented from completing a connection, then you must have completed yours draws cannot occur in Hex. Furthermore, the only way to complete a connection is to prevent your opponent from making a connection and the only way to prevent your opponent from connecting is to complete your connection.
In a very real sense, you don't have to worry about whether you should play offensively or defensively since they are the same. The critical point to remember is that unless you are making a sequence of forcing plays , it is generally easier to think in terms of good defense than good offense regardless of whether you are currently winning or losing.
This point about thinking defensively should frequently be used with point 3. Often it is best to look for the connection that your opponent is going to have the toughest time making point 3. For example, suppose that my opponent's most difficult connection to complete looks like the connection to the right edge of the board. Then I'll look for good defensive moves that make it even more difficult for my opponent to connect up to the right edge.
The player who is dictating the play is said to have the momentum. Alternatively, the momentum is against the player who is being forced to respond to the opponent. The player with the momentum usually has the advantage and this advantage is often decisive. You should generally not hand over the momentum to the opponent unless you have a very good reason for doing so. In well played close matches, the momentum often swings between the two players with each move.
See also the page Multiple threats. Whenever possible, a player should make each move achieve at least two different goals or threats.
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