Othello news
Interview with Jonathan Cerf
25 April 2025Written by WOF Othello News
After Hiroshi Inoue won his second world title at the 1979 World Othello Championship in Rome, he praised his finals opponent, Jonathan Cerf, saying the US champion was one of the toughest players he had ever faced. Jonathan had come very close to winning the first game of the finals, an early sign of what was to come the following year…
At the 1980 WOC in London, Jonathan Cerf won the finals in two straight games against the Japanese champion Takuya Mimura, becoming the first world Othello champion from outside Japan. This was a major turning point in the history of our game, in an era when the Japanese had until then always won the WOC undefeated.
The WOF News team was delighted to catch up with Jonathan for an interview.
WOF: Thanks Jonathan for taking the time for this interview. So let’s start at the beginning, can you tell us how you discovered the game of Othello and how you got involved with the US Othello Association ?
Jonathan: I have always liked games, particularly the sort of games where there are no hidden or secret elements. As a young adult, I took a non-credit course at The New School in New York City. It was delightful. They taught us a new game in every session, and they encouraged us students to play each game several times against our fellow students so that we could begin to guess how to think about it strategically.
One of the games they taught us was Reversi, which has a great deal in common with Othello. Later, I got a freelance writing job for Games Magazine reporting on the 1978 U.S. National Othello Championship Tournament and the subsequent World Championship Tournament. The magazine wanted me to actually play in the U.S. National Tournament so that I could report on the proceedings from a player's perspective.
I was by no means an expert Othello player at the time, and I didn't get very far in the tournament, but I had a lot of fun, and I liked several of the people I met along the way. A group of us decided to stay in touch and ultimately to form the United States Othello Association. We all hoped that participating in the USOA would help us get better at the game. Over the next few months, we organized several small Othello tournaments, and we began publishing a magazine called Othello Quarterly. It turned out that writing and editing articles for that magazine was a very good way to learn. By the time the following year's U.S. National Tournament came around, I had spent a lot of time thinking about Othello and had gotten quite good. Not great, but good enough to win the U.S. national championship.
WOF: In 1979 after winning the US Nationals you played at your first World Othello Championship (WOC) in Rome. In the first game of the finals against Hiroshi Inoue you had very good position in the midgame but then Inoue came back to win in the endgame. Do you still remember that first final game in Rome ?
Jonathan: Yes, I certainly do. It was my feeling that the best 500 players in the world at that time were all Japanese, but according to the rules of the tournament, each participating country could send only one contestant. As a result, I was able to advance to the finals against Hiroshi Inoue, even though I was by no means the second best player in the world.
I have enormous respect for Hiroshi Inoue. I have never spoken to him about our match, and I can only speculate why I was able to achieve a decent midgame position against him. My best guess at how this could have happened is that Hiroshi enjoyed making experimental early moves even in important games.
Perhaps he correctly guessed that with his superior knowledge of the game, he could well afford to assume an early disadvantageous position, knowing that he would have plenty of time to recover against a relatively inexperienced international opponent such as myself.
WOF: At the 1980 WOC in London you became the first world Othello champion from outside Japan. Can you take us back to that moment? Did you realise at that time that your victory would still be talked about decades later?
Jonathan : I am completely charmed by your question. I am not acquainted with anyone except for me who is still talking about my victory in 1980. You need to keep in mind that back in those days, we all still had a lot to learn about Othello. Most of us were clever but not deeply knowledgeable.
Even so, I believe that Takuya Mimura knew a lot more about the game than I did. However, he was very young and under enormous pressure to win. No Japanese player had ever lost even a single game in international competition, and there was a Japanese television crew on site in London to cover Mimura's expected victory. It seemed to me that he might have underestimated me. I was fairly sure that in our first game in the finals, he had a winning midgame position, but he seemed either to miss the winning play, or to believe that I could be counted upon to misplay the opportunity that he gave me. And I think he might have been so shaken by losing that first game, that he was unable to give our second game his very best effort.
WOF: You retired from Othello tournaments in 1981, shortly after becoming world champion. Can you tell us the reasons for that decision? Did you ever consider making a comeback?
Jonathan : I never for a moment felt that I was a great Othello player. I felt I'd be kidding myself if I thought I could successfully defend my world championship. But I felt I couldn't retire immediately after winning in London, even though that's what I most wanted to do. I had made a lot of friends in the U.S. Othello Association, and I felt a strong obligation to give my friends the fun of playing against the reigning world champion. So, I played in several small tournaments before retiring. I have never been tempted to try a comeback. I've kept up with the game enough to know that I am not in the same class with the best contemporary players.
WOF: In 1983 you took part in a match against the computer program ODIN (written by Peter Frey and Larry Atkin) which you defeated in two straight games (both by wipe-out!). Do you remember that match and why you decided to take part in it ?
Jonathan : I do not remember that match. But I do remember losing a public game against a computer program. I immediately regretted having agreed to play that game, because I felt I was letting other human players down.
WOF : Young Othello players today find it hard to imagine how it was possible to improve at Othello before the advent of strong computer programs that are now used as tools to study and practice all phases of the game. Can you tell us how you used to prepare for tournaments back in the early 1980s and do you think computers have dramatically changed the game ?
Jonathan : Yes, computers have dramatically changed Othello. And in my opinion, computers have taken some of the fun out of the game. Nowadays, you would need to really do your homework, playing against a good computer program, before you could hope to do well against human opponents in a tournament setting. You'd need to do that work, because in any tournament, you'd be sure to encounter human opponents schooled by computers. Back when I played, I had an unfair advantage against my opponents. I had a home computer, and I knew how to program it. I wasn't a good enough programmer to write a program that would play interesting practice games against me, but I was able to write code that could find interesting insights from human game transcripts (such as finding missed winning plays).
WOF : Do you still keep up at all with what's going on in the Othello world ?
Jonathan : I don't keep up as much as I used to. Immediately after I retired, I enjoyed following the exploits of all the people I had met when I was an active player. But now, I know very few of the best players, so I do not have much of a rooting interest in current tournament play.
WOF : Jonathan, before we end this interview, we have to ask you a very important question that could help us solve Othello's biggest mystery...
Who named this edge configuration a "Boscov"? And more importantly, why ?
Jonathan : What a wonderful question! And it delights me that I happen to know the answer. For many, many years my friend George Sullivan and I co-edited Othello Quarterly. Writing articles for that magazine gave George and me many opportunities to invent names for various Othello "openings" and positions. George grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania. That town's leading merchant for many years was a man named Al Boscov, who was chairman of a department store chain called Boscov's. George and I gave the name "Boscov" to an Othello edge position on a whim, as something of an "in" or personal joke. We thought the position should have a name, but our choice for that name was completely arbitrary. Later, when George ran into Al Boscov at a party, he was pleased to be able to tell Mr. Boscov that we'd named an Othello position after him. Mr. Boscov had no idea what George was talking about.
WOF : Thanks Jonathan for the interview. Is there anything else you would like to add ?
Jonathan : Not at all. In fact I apologize for going on at such length in response to questions that could have been answered with far fewer words.
WOF: Your responses were fantastic and never too long, it's exactly what we had hoped for, taking us back to those pioneering days of Othello and you even helped us solve a 45 year long mystery in the process! Thanks again.