A game of crosses and noughts should never be won through genius in aligning symbols. If won simply in such manner, it must mean that one of the players is dull.
Why do I say so? It doesn't take much genius to recognise a possible winning pattern enough to block it. In fact, I daresay that a few dozen plays teach that to you. Hence two decent players will play endlessly with no winner.
Because of this, we must look to other means of winning. We must force our opponent to lose, for to lose such a simple game is to bring shame upon themselves and their lineage.
Hence a simple game of crosses and noughts goes from the simple child's game to a game of minds. We must employ all manner of manipulation and twisting of minds to let our opponent believe that they have truly lost or that there is no point in them winning. Our opponent must see this game as pointless, inconvenient, beneath their very esteemed selves, or as a game already lost.
This act of deception is known to both players, but the one who can make the deception real and binding on the other player becomes the winner.
Yes the loser can dismiss the victor with vain words like, "Ah I was already tired", "I had something more important to do", "My mother was smitten by a snake", "My child was playing catch near a pot of oil", however real and genuine that may be, a loss is a loss and victory is victory.
The amateur plays the board. The master plays the opponent. The true conqueror gently and sweetly leads his opponent to believe that retreat was their own idea, born freely and wholly within their own mind.
We could say then that there are levels to winning the game, but the greater victor is the one who won not by aligning crosses or noughts, but he who won by misaligning the heart of his opponent and steering it away from endurance and persistence into a blissful resignation or necessary exit.
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