Quantum Tic-Tac-Toe

Doom?

In a classical tic-tac-toe game, if X gets marks in three corners, it's all over. He has three ways to make three in a row (across, down, and the diagonal) and if O doesn't already have two of them blocked, she's doomed. This is not necessarily the case in Quantum Tic-Tac-Toe. Here is the setup for a puzzle where X has real marks in three corners, O has two real marks elsewhere, and it is her move. Can she defeat X?

Move		X		O
1		1 - 9		1 >9
3		3 - 6		6 - 7
5		7< 3
7
9

Here is another setup that is more realistic; X has real marks in squares 1, 3 and 7, and O has real marks in squares 5, 8 and 9. O has already blocked one of X's possible wins by taking the middle square, but it is X's move. Now can she defeat X?

Move		X		O
1		1 - 3		5 - 9
3		1< 3		5 >9
5		7 - 8		7 >8
7
9

Be sure to include your name and email address! We want to give credit to the person that sends the best solution.

Our thanks to Nathan Conley, who sent us a suggestion for X's last move.

It turns out that he can't quite do it. Of the 21 possibilities for his final move, all end with O getting a 1-point win no matter how the final collapse turns out. But in 6 cases, X gets a half-point no matter how the final collapse turns out. One of X's best-case moves is 7 - 9. Can you find the other five?