The results from the recent Twixt event at the Mind Sports Olympiad are as follows:

Gold: Jan Haugland
Silver: Bharat Thakrar
Bronze: David Pearce

Full results are available at www.msoworld.com.

Congrats, Jan! Heia Norge :-)

Thanks. :-)

I would have come in last. I could not use the Twixt commentator.

Hah. Just saw your comment, mt. I feel the same way. And it's not just the ability to “rehearse” moves when playing the online game. Just seeing the geometry is different when looking at a 3D physical board compared with the 2D birdseye view on the computer screen.

As you know, I tried playing by the artificial rule of not using any planning resources, as if I was sitting at a competition table, and it's hard if you aren't very fluent in all the various patterns and permutations. I definitely need the crutch of trying out move sequences in order to play competitively above the intermediate level.

My hats off to all the finalists.

I'm just wondering whether many players here actually HAVE a Twixt set (like me), or have simply learned to play online. My set was given to my parents as a party gift when I was young; I'm thinking early 1970's, about when the 3M came out, I believe. They were also given 'Facts in Five' from the same 3M series. Nobody but me wanted to play Twixt, but I took to it - beating all comers; that is, until 40 years later when I came to THIS place! I'm still happy to play on a physical set - but what opportunities are there?

Who ARE these guys who keep playing in that Mind Games championship? Anyone know them? Maybe Bush?? Since the website doesn't include game moves, I'm just wondering if these 'champions' are actually any good, and how they would fare against our best players? For all we can tell, perhaps only 3 people actually enter this yearly Twixt championship, and achieving Gold, Silver, and Bronze among them is mostly random chance!
(meow)

I was introduced to the game sometime around 1976 or 77, I think. A friend of mine pulled the game out of the closet. We played a few games. I took to it. He didn't. The game passed out of memory after that. I never knew anyone who wanted to play.

(Same with the game Diplomacy. Played it once and love, love, loved it. Bought it myself, but could never find others who wanted to play. Still have that game. Played it once with some friends in the Navy, but that's it.)

A couple winters ago, I took my son to a gaming store and they had a section for abstract and strategy games, which reminded me of the TwixT bookshelf game, so I asked the clerk if they carried it. She had to look it up and couldn't find it in their catalog. When I got home, I looked it up on the Internet and found it was out of print but could be bought on eBay for $10-20. Then, I found placed to play online, and started at TwixtLive.com before coming to LittleGolem.net.

I've been addicted since.

I did find a full game set at a swap meet. Lady sold it to me for $1. At one point I was recreating online games on the board and working out my strategy that way, but it's been awhile now since I've had it out of the box.

Two minutes of research that didn't take me more than one jump away from LG told me the following: The winner of the tournament is Jan Haugland who plays as Tasmanian Devil here on LG (he did say Thanks in above) and if you look on the complete ranking page is second on the second page making him the 22nd best on LG. Of course not all of the players ranked above him play anymore or they play very seldom. So, yeah Jan is pretty good by LG standards.

My experience is similar to yours Mistercat. I had the a 3M set available to me as a kid, my brother owned it. We played a lot but nobody else would play us so we never developed strategies outside of what we learned from each other. I think that the most important difference is that we didn't use the pie rule so that first move was almost always plunked down in the middle of the board and the opponent had to fight back from there. I looked for years for a place to play both online and in person after my brother died. Nobody would play me on the real board very much because they were not willing to put in the time for the learning curve but I finally found LG. It was a rude awakening to get my ass kicked until I figured out better strategies and tactics. I still have my brother's board but seldom get it out unless Alan's TwixT commentator is down and I have to visualize an important move.

All you young-uns first saw Twixt when you were kids. I got my first Twixt game back in the early 70's when I was in my mid twenties. As the rest of you, I had no competition and then forgot about the game until the first of this year.

For lack of use, my original 3M games is in pretty good shape for lack of use. I made a paper version of Twixt using the tables on MS Word when playing and I can't use the Twixt commentator.

I must say, the competition is far greater here than I ever met anywhere else.

Multi-medal winner Alain is on LG too, not just Jan.

As is Bharat who won the silver this year. Currently rated 1891.

hey, THANKS for all that info and analysis, guys! FYI, Tasmanian Devil has already murdered me mercilessly, so I'm glad to know that he's here, and also competing live!

Now, if Elroy would kindly explain to me how he learned to jump up to the nice, happy playing level at which he resides, I'd gladly give one of my nine lives.

The entries in the Twixt world championship still remains in question, however, as it may have been only these 3 folks?!

Still DELIGHTED to be here, and competing against all these fine folks (yes, that includes you Mr. 7-speed, begrudgingly). I guess we are IT, but better to be in the 'in' crowd than no crowd at all.
(meow)

We were six participants this year. The last three beat each other in a loop and finished on one point each.

Oh and there was a question about TwixT sets. After trying this game for the first time at the MSO2002, I was so impressed I ordered a set from Germany when I got back home.

Having had little practice other than against myself, I think I did well in taking bronze at the MSO2003, with top ranked players Klaus Hussmanns and Peter Henke in the field. (OK so the set comment lead me back to this.) I think I even made Peter sweat a little. ;-) I didn't participate again until 2012 when I ran into yet another top ranked player, Florian Jamain. He didn't sweep me off the table the way I had expected, but in the end, the short remaining time made me nervous and I made a fatal (according to him, that is) endgame error.

@MisterCat I jumped up to my current level by playing here for a long time. I have been Elroy for awhile but also played by another name first which will remain unmentioned because of my unceremonious departure from play and later return when I had more time. Started a new name because I couldn't remember my password and decided to just start over. You have to put in your 10,000 hours to gain mastery of anything. You may notice that I don't sit so comfortably at the playing level at which I reside. One stupid move in TwixT against almost any opponent is all it takes.

I sure wish I could make it to some of the MSO or any other live events but the budget seldom allows for it. I would get destroyed anyway without the crutch Alan has provided me.

Hey Tasmanian - here I thought I was getting creamed by a furry brown creature with big teeth who likes rabbits; had no idea I was going against a Math nerd with a PhD in Number Theory and a bevy of bikini clad babes awaiting his attentions! Hope for us Twixt players, eh? (coming, by the way, from a fellow Math nerd).

Elroy - I've played over 200 games and still lose to players rated below 1500, occasionally. I fear that I may have plateaued, as I have in Chess (and certain other pursuits, like Jazz performance, for instance). What seems to be the case is that I do not, or can not, internalize commonly occurring patterns and schemes; blocks that work and don't, attacks that succeed and don't, standard schemes that are successful and others that are not. In Chess, they say that playing over tactics and combinations over and over will make them a part of your game, but this does not work for me. The same in Twixt, and I will always be at a huge disadvantage playing against someone who has these tools while I do not. I'm really not sure WHAT to do, but I am considering putting together series' of posts where each one explores a specific theme. This is quite different than the analysis on Commentator, since the analysis there is mostly extended lines that may have occurred in the referenced game positions.
But all this takes time, so I don't know when, if, etc.
(meow)

^^

MisterCat - I missed your reply earlier. I kind of know what you mean about plateauing. I felt like I couldn't, as you say “internalize commonly occurring patterns and schemes” but through continuing to play have started to feel a bit more like I am starting to internalize them. The commentator is actually the best tool for me. When I just take the time to run through positions on the board over and over again with minor variations it seems to drive it in a little at a time. I am using it less and less with certain patterns actually so maybe I am making some headway. I like your idea of posts that explore specific themes but like you implied, who has the time? If it gets done I would love to see it and make comment.