Two good tic-tac-toe players started a game, but the wind blew away their paper just after the second play. Given that the situation was as follows, who was to play next, O or X?

       |   |
    ---+---+---
     O |   |
    ---+---+---
     X |   |

If X had played the opposite corner, what would you say?

There exists no first person winning strategy in tic - tac - toe

Any good player will thus not place himself in a position where a forced victory for the other exists.

If it's x's turn he forces victory by claiming the bottom right hand corner. 0 has to play in the bottom middle cell. X now takes the centre and o can't do anything to prevent X playing both upper left hand corner or upper right hand corner.

If its o's turn the game is a stalemate. Good play from both will result in a draw.

I thus conclude that it's o's turn to play

Posted by neshal on 2004-08-02 07:46:26