Editing Hex (board game) (section)

==Computed strategies for smaller boards==
In 2002, Jing Yang, Simon Liao and Mirek Pawlak found an explicit winning strategy for the first player on Hex boards of size 7×7 using a decomposition method with a set of reusable local patterns.<ref>[http://zernike.uwinnipeg.ca/~s_liao/pdf/adcog21.pdf On a decomposition method for finding winning strategy in Hex game] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402234617/http://zernike.uwinnipeg.ca/~s_liao/pdf/adcog21.pdf |date=2 April 2012 }}, Jing Yang, Simon Liao and Mirek Pawlak, 2002</ref> They extended the method to weakly solve the center pair of topologically congruent openings on 8×8 boards in 2002 and the center opening on 9×9 boards in 2003.<ref>Unpublished white papers, formerly @ www.ee.umanitoba.com/~jingyang/</ref> In 2009, Philip Henderson, Broderick Arneson and Ryan B. Hayward completed the analysis of the 8×8 board with a computer search, solving all the possible openings.<ref>[http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~hayward/papers/solve8.pdf Solving 8x8 Hex], {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716030553/http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~hayward/papers/solve8.pdf |date=16 July 2011 }}, P. Henderson, B. Arneson, and R. Hayward, Proc. IJCAI-09 505-510 (2009)</ref> In 2013, Jakub Pawlewicz and Ryan B. Hayward solved all openings for 9×9 boards, and one (the most-central) opening move on the 10×10 board.<ref>{{cite journal
|url=http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~hayward/papers/pawlhayw.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~hayward/papers/pawlhayw.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live
|title=Scalable Parallel DFPN Search
|last1=Pawlewicz |first1=Jakub |last2=Hayward |first2=Ryan 
|date=2013
|access-date=2014-05-21
|journal=Proc. Computers and Games}}</ref>
Since Gardner first postulated in his column in Scientific American in 1957, albeit speciously, that any first play on the short diagonal is a winning play,<ref>Gardner, Martin, Scientific American, July, 1957, pgs 145-151</ref> for all solved game boards up to n=9, that has indeed been the case. In addition, for all boards except n=2 and n=4, there have been numerous additional winning first moves; the number of winning first moves generally is ≥ n²/2.