Tic-Tac-Toe

I'm a keen student of military history, focusing especially on Wellington at Waterloo and Marlborough in general.

Marlborough was renowned as an attacking general, focusing his initial attack on a flank, waiting for the centre to move to support whichever flank was being threatened, and then sending his main thrust against the weakened centre. He never lost a battle.

Wellington, on the other hand, was known as more of a defensive general, using terrain to take a strong defensive position and then wear down the opponent. He was facing defeat at Waterloo and was saved only by the timely arrival of his Prussian allies, who turned the tide.

I imagined a game of noughts and crosses between the two. Marlborough, being an attacker, would have to go first and, because it's the best strategy, would take a corner, thereby opening up 3 lines of attack.

Turn 1: Marlborough (X) starts with an aggressive move in the top-left corner.

X |     |
---------
    |     |
---------
    |     |

Turn 2: Wellington (O) defends by playing in the centre to defend against any potential early threats.

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

Turn 3: Marlborough (X) goes for the bottom-right corner, aiming to set up future forks.

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


Turn 4: Wellington (O) blocks by playing in the top-right corner to prevent Marlborough from creating a winning line across the top row.

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


Turn 5: Marlborough (X) plays in the bottom-left corner, creating a potential fork for his next move.

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


Turn 6: Wellington (O)  blocks the potential column win by placing his O in the middle-left.

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


Turn 7: Marlborough (X) plays in the bottom-middle to win. 

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

Conclusion: Marlborough wins! Marlborough takes advantage of his position and secures the win by playing in the bottom-middle on Turn 7, completing the bottom row. Wellington’s defensive strategy wasn’t enough to prevent Marlborough from forming a winning line. This time, Marlborough correctly identifies and takes the winning opportunity, clinching the game.

Apparently, if the first to go, opening by taking a corner is the optimum strategy to win. The optimum defensive strategy for the 2nd player is to take the centre. Taking the centre will result in either a loss or a draw, but not a win, unless the opponent makes a mistake.