I'm very surprised it's a draw. It's not like chess where it's "easy" to exchange a piece for an equal one until the board is "empty" and it's a draw. (Yes, it's more complicated. I played a lot of chess until secondary school, and it's more complicated. But trading equal pieces is a good strategy to get a draw.)

In Othello the number of pieces go up and down in weird patters, so a draw is very surprising for me.

Has anyone checked the proof?

Edit: Is Othello solved for smaller boards? Can this proof be aplied to smaller boards?