
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
Alex and Katy play a game on an \(8 \times 8\) grid made of 64 unit cells. They take turns to play, with Alex going first. On Alex's turn, he writes 'A' in an empty cell. On Katy's turn, she writes 'K' in two empty cells that share an edge. The game ends when one player cannot move. Katy's score is the number of Ks on the grid at the end of the game. What is the highest score Katy can be sure to get if she plays well, no matter what Alex does?

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
user