You won’t find many recent articles offering exhaustive overviews of the most played Othello openings. Probably because most seasoned players have already moved beyond the popular lines, and many have dedicated themselves to finding unique styles to surprise their opponents. And even if you found an expert willing to discuss common openings, you’d still have to convince them to find the courage to write about them, overcoming the fear of taking a stand on such a debated topic.
But let’s be honest: focusing solely on standard openings—those classic sequences with a 0.0 evaluation that turn into long memory exercises—is becoming an outdated practice. The recent World Championships sparked a debate on how uninteresting the game can become when top players rely almost exclusively on memorization. This desire to keep the game varied led to the debut of the upcoming XOT European Championship, and talks are underway regarding potential scoring changes to discourage ‘easy draws’ achieved through fully memorized sequences
We are entering a new era for Othello, and you might soon need new tools. I’m talking about openings few people know—alternatives that make the game more creative and less predictable. It’s what we were discussing the other day about breaking free from the prison of openings: courage sets you free, it makes you enjoy the game more, and if you prepare the ground well, it doesn’t visibly change your chances of victory.
I call it “Happy Othello”: it’s that particular phenomenon where you end up laughing even if you lose, because you gave life to a match more exciting than usual. You’ve moved the game to a purely strategic plane, free from rote memorization, where the winner is the one who simply “sees” more than the opponent.
If you’re thinking of changing your strategy and diving into openings that few would dare to play, you’re in the right place. For the past year, I have done nothing but play “crazy” openings, evaluating their philosophy, opportunities, and risks. Below is a selection of rare openings—five for White and five for Black—to help you find a style that fits your spirit.
Note: All these have a negative computer evaluation. Do not let that discourage you. Openings with 0 or positive evaluations are the ones everyone knows. Starting at -4 or -8 at move 4 means very little with the whole game ahead of you; the advantage is that your opponent will leave their “book” and memory game much sooner.
The queen of alternative openings. Anyone who says it’s easy for Black to manage is lying. There is a virtually infinite number of traps that, if mastered, can trouble anyone. It is very rare for the initial disadvantage not to be recovered somewhere by the mid-game.
The fastest “crazy” response in the world of perpendicular openings. Its rarity, combined with a relatively mild negative evaluation, makes it incredibly fascinating. Often, Black manages well with intuitive moves until the mid-game—then things get very interesting.
The E6 move is less absurd than it looks. If prepared well, the situation remains generally balanced until the mid-game without much effort. Perfect for those who feel an urgent need to escape the traps of the Rose opening and want to stay original.
At first glance, playing G6 seems nonsensical. But for Black, escaping the discomfort of this opening is surprisingly difficult. Most of the time, Black reaches the mid-game convinced they have an advantage but without knowing exactly how to handle it. Suddenly, they find themselves hopeless.
Perhaps the most underrated opening in this list. It took me a while to convince myself: on paper, it’s -8, but very few players stay at that evaluation for more than two moves. You usually find yourself in a balanced situation quickly, but with the advantage of knowing the evolutions better than your opponent.
Not the easiest to manage due to several possible continuations. Without some experience, you might find yourself in an irrecoverable position by the mid-game. However, if you learn the risks, you’ll find you can emerge with positions that are much easier for you to navigate than for your opponent.
(The Semi-Wing variation is officially White’s C5 response to the sequence shown above)
(注：半翼变体官方是指白棋以 C5 应对上述序列的下法)
Play frequency (past year): <1% Evaluation: -8
使用频率（过去一年）： <1% 机器评估： -8
Okay, this one requires a massive dose of courage. White is out of the “book” very early but has several fairly intuitive continuations available. Black, on the other hand, has to work quite hard to navigate back into positions that feel confident. This is the “least happy” of the openings in this article, but if you want to become an expert in something only you know, it’s perfect.
It looks more like an iron than a raccoon. You need to study it, but if you do, you’ll discover that staying in a balanced position is fairly easy for Black, while White… well, White better know it better than you, or it ends badly.
This falls in the ‘Let’s escape Rose opening as fast as possible’ department. If you play the Bhagat, you will likely find White steering the game toward familiar, common territory. Your job is to follow that lead initially, only to pull a rabbit out of the hat and find a surprising way to disrupt their plans. The possibilities are vast; it is rare for White to maintain their advantage all the way into the second half of the game.
This is a true gamble. You throw the game into confusion immediately. White typically follows a limited number of continuations that are easy to manage, so in terms of knowledge, the advantage is yours. Then, it’s up to you to translate that into a positional win.
There are many others, of course. Once you start playing them, you’ll understand the double-edged charm: if you enter the spirit of Happy Othello, you’ll end up learning five or six new ones every year. Your opponents will never know what to expect, making it much harder for them to build a strategy against you.
You will have fun studying and playing them without introducing massive disadvantages. Of course, a world-class player will likely find a way to beat you—but it won’t be any easier for them than it would be with a classic opening.
