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Nothing in Othello is random; there are no dice to throw, no cards to deal, everything in Othello is the same from game to game. If both you and your opponent make the same moves in two separate games, the outcome will be identical. This means the game should have a means for 'perfect' play. To date, that 'perfect' play has not been found (and given the complexity of the game, is likely not to be found for some time). However, over the years some discoveries and principles to improve game play have been discovered. Those are what is presented here.
These points are not absolute. The occasion will come up, for example, where gaining a large number of frontier discs is a sound play. But for the most part, it is not, and when it is, is becomes obvious. For example, if gaining twelve frontier discs flips every disc of the opposing color, there is no point is avoiding it; the move wins the game (and so the move is covered by the seek decisive play principle). But anything less than a forced win should be carefully scrutinized before violating the principle.
Opponents are human (usually), and come in all levels of player expertise. Against some of these, you could totally abandon these principles and still win; against others, you can follow every principle and still lose; after all, your opponent may be following the same principles (if he is very good at all, he probably is).
Don't expect to read and digest these principles tonight and beat world class players tomorrow; a lifetime to master isn't much of an exaggeration. But if you diligently apply these principles to your playing, you should be able to gain a lot of expertise much more quickly than would have been accomplished without them.
Every game of Othello can be split into three parts: The opening, the midgame, and the endgame. The average game of Othello is sixty moves long (sometimes less, never more). For simplicity's sake, most speak of the opening as the first twenty moves, the midgame as the next twenty moves, and the endgame as the last twenty moves. Personally, I find the opening and endgame sections are usually less of the moves, and the midgame more of the moves (eg, 15/30/15). Some of the principles apply to all the game, others apply to specific portions; see the descriptions for where to apply them.
The principles have been grouped into five sections. The first section (global) deals with principles that apply throughout the game; the next three sections deal with principles that are specific to the opening, midgame, or endgame stages; the final section (advanced) deals with strategies and principles that are more difficult to grasp. Bear in mind that a midgame principle is just as applicable in the late opening section, endgame principles in the late midgame section, etc. There are no walls between game segments, they flow into one another seamlessly.
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