Nietsabes vs. Niall, November 2010

Game information

• Size: 13x13
• Date: 2010/09/20 - 2010/11/18
• Red: nietsabes
• Blue: Niall
• Result: 0-1 (Blue won)
• Comments: Niall, Halladba
• Location: Little Golem, game 1241576 in championship 25.2.2

Game record

You can see the diagram for each move by following along at this HexWorld link.

1.a3 2.swap-pieces 3.h6 4.h8 5.f8 6.g4 7.d5 8.c11 9.g8 10.i3 11.i4 12.j3 13.c5 14.e10 15.f10 16.e5 17.k3 18.j4 19.k4 20.i6 21.j5 22.i5 23.k7 24.j9 25.i8 26.j7 27.l6 28.k2 29.l2 30.i10 31.h7 32.j8 33.k10 34.j11 35.l11 36.k12 37.i11 38.j10 39.b10 40.e3 41.d3 42.e1 43.b3 44.c7 45.d6 46.e7

Comments

Notes for nietsabes game (unfortunately he resigned before I expected and I lost some notes about the last few moves), I had gone through a few variations quite well :( If you have any questions about specific sequences I can probably still answer them.

Move 8

h9 c11 - Blue feels somewhat blocked from the left now? c11 g8 i3 - Red cannot get to the bottom without a ladder the right. Which means that i3 stone has a forcing move to help it, unless Red can get to the top by sliding left. E7 answered by E6? The c11 stone feeds Blue back up to C1 for a connection... Lots of holes and problems... F9 E9 D11 C11 D10 C10 D9 C9 D7 D8 E7 - oops Red is already connected d6? f6 f7 - now I need another move both to go right and to go left ck di fi ej ei dj eh dh... bleeurgh

D10 area? But D10 doesn't act as a ladder breaker. dj ej ff gf ic jc id jd ie je if jf ii ig hg kh jj kj - hmm, how is this going? dj ej gg fg gf ee - Red wins :( F4 looking good, alternatives? Lower left looks unpromising... F4 C5 E6 D7... F4 C5 E7 ? E3 F4 G2 G3 H2 H3 I2 J3 I3 I4 H4 G8 - and I've been crushed E4 has the same problem. However D5 needs to also connect to the central group or the bottom to be useful. So a more creative version of F4 might work. G4? Connects well to C1, so sets up the push at G7. if Red blocks at G6 then Blue can go make trouble in the top right.

Move 12

J3 (E6) F10 (G9) G10 (H9) H10 (E10) D12 (E11) E12 (F11) F12 (G11) G12 (I11) H11 (J9) I9 (J8) I8 (K6) J7 (K7) J5 (L3) L2 (K3) K2 (J4). Now Red has connected F8 to the bottom and Blue has the task of blocking D5. However Red has given Blue J2 - so now E3 becomes a powerful move. - Would Blue having H7 help here? F10, double-ladder creating RHS chain up to (L3) L2 (K3) K2 (E6) E3 (F4) G2 (H3) I2...

Move 14

E10 (B9) C12 - good enough to retains the threat at E5 right? E10 (B9) C8 (D9) - could be problems for Blue E10 (G9) E5 E10 (G9) E5 (C8) D7 (C7) D8 - Blue connects E6 (F5) F4 (E5)

• D4 (H3) H4 (E4) F2 (F3) ... (L2) again! win for Red?
• E3 (D3) E1 (E2) F1 ... (L2) K2 (J4) Red has connected (F8) to the top, and probably to the bottom. Red probably wins.

Unfortunately C5 destroys the plan at move 12. E6 (D7) E7 (D8) E8 (D9) D6 (B7) C7 (B8) C8 (B9) C10 (C9) E10 (E9) G9. Instead of (B9) Red can force at (J4) . If Blue B9 Red (K3) connects to the top and Red can't stop The F8 end of this chain with the extra Red support at (J4/K3). So instead Blue must play K3. Red cannot further force at K4 as this can be locally ignored. Now Red can play B9. Following as above to G9 Blue Red can now block Blue with J7 (connected to the top). From here: Blue J8 looks powerful. So maybe this is good for Blue.

Move 16

E5 (H4) H3 (F5) F4 (D7) D6 (B7) C7 (B8) C8 (B9) C12 (C10) E9 (D9) E8 (D8) [connects to D7] F6 - connects and wins, as Red has neither E6 or G5, so Blue can use either. It then continues with the almost separate battle of: ... (K3) L2 (K2) J4 (K4) I7 (J7) I9 (K8) (J10) - push through, and run up the right to L2 - Red connects to the RHS.(can force the same after M2)

If Red exchanges (H4) H3 & (F5) F4, then Blue D4 avoids the ladder to (L2) and I think almost connects for Blue. E5 (D7) E7 (F5) F4 [doesn't threaten the connection to the top!] (F6) D6 - transposes to the below, a win for Red?

E5 (D7) D6 (B7) C7 (B8) C8 (B9)

• D8 (D9)
• C9/D9 - seem to suffer from being laddered by A12

(F5) response to my moves is a problem. Connected to the main Red chain and F4 doesn't threaten the (D4) connection to the top. Red may also force at (H4). F6 (E7) Red can force the same sequence as before. the E8 peep seems to be of no use.

D7 (F5) - Blue is done for Seems like I might as well force at G9. [Overthinking... Unless I can see a win, or I think Red just made a mistake? [Or Red wanted to get: move on the left G9, and then force at F10...]]

Move 22

Problem with sequence from 16: C12 can be answered with C9!! I5 (H4) H3 (F5) F4 (D7) D6 (B7) C7 (B8) C8 (B9) C12 (C9) - now what?

Move 24

I8 (L6) J9 (K9) - now what?