Games from the 14th Little Golem TwixtPP Championship

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Some games from the 14th TwixtPP Championship at Little Golem.
Commentaries by György Csizmadia, Alan Hensel and David J Bush.

Game 667520: Klaus - György

1.d3 2.o10 3.m10 4.j17 5.m15 6.n17 7.e17 8.f17 9.g18 10.g15 11.e12 12.e14 13.c13 14.c15 15.b15 16.b17 17.i14 18.h16 19.r16 20.q14 21.n16 22.l16 23.p15 24.m14 25.q13 26.p12 27.resign

György: I think 5.m15 was a mistake from Klaus. 6.n17 feels just too good. Now it is difficult to cut black on any side. After 10.g15, Klaus had the option to cut with 11.k16 12.k15 13.j18 14.m14, but that is probably an easy win for black. So instead he strengthend the upper left, expecting a later fight to extend into that area. That was a smart plan, but in the end it didn't work. 19.r16 was probably one of the best options. But 21.n16 was a losing move. Instead, 21.s13 had some complicated variations. Black was already in a better position, and I didn't see any way white could win here, but s13 would have required a lot of computation, and that fight could have spread to the upper left part indeed.

David: In your variation 11.K16* K15* O14* M11* G12 looks good for Klaus, for example 16.H13* K14* K10* F10*. I don't see a clear win, but maybe 5.M15 from Klaus was not so bad after all...?

Game 667521: György - Alan

1.d4 2.swap 3.j15 4.k11 5.h11 6.i7 7.l9 8.k13 9.i13 10.l16 11.k18 12.m10 13.n10 14.j9 15.o13 16.o22 17.n15 18.n17 19.n19 20.p18 21.l14 22.i19 23.i17 24.k20 25.e18 26.g17 27.f20 28.resign

György: I was happy when I found the move 7.l9. It just looked good. I believe 8.k13 was a mistake, since after the connection (i13) I was clearly in a better position. 12.m10 was really the only move for black. After 15.o13, the stage was very similar to my game against maraca - except that I was playing that game with opposite color. I thought to myself, that it was not very smart of me to get on different sides of the same position in the same tournament. Anyway, I think in this game my position was better. 16.o22 was too low. The key point is 17.n15 here, which allows a connection to the group at left. The game was probably over at that point.

Alan: 5.H11 came as a surprise. It's usually the more open side that gets the next peg; and yet, it seemed that it put me in trouble this time, despite owning the strong D4 peg. My first thought was 6.j9, which cuts the H11 peg off from the top, but commits me to connecting j9/k11 to the right side. In hindsight, my actual 6.i7 enabled 7.L9, which was much worse, but I didn't see it coming. I really knew I was in trouble then. Gyorgy is right that my 8.k13 was probably a mistake; maybe 8.j13 would have been better, but when there are no winning moves, what is a mistake? I suppose it is what fails to maximize the probability of a true mistake from the opponent... And I'm not good at psychoanalyzing my opponents remotely...

Game 667522: nie_wiesz - György

1.v6 2.swap 3.p16 4.p14 5.h11 6.l14 7.j16 8.k16 9.g17 10.i17 11.r12 12.r15 13.h17 14.h19 15.n12 16.n13 17.resign

György: I believe 1.v6 is not good. It seems to be too strong - so I swapped. Then 3.p16 is too low. The playing field for white is limited afterwards. 11.r12 was an equivalent to resign. I was surprised, because although my position was better, there was still a complicated fight left at the lower left corner, which could have spread to the lower right. After 12.r15, white's chances are very small.

Game 667523: György - David

1.d3 2.swap 3.j15 4.n8 5.p10 6.p18 7.n15 8.m11 9.j9 10.n4 11.o12 12.n13 13.h8 14.i11 15.p14 16.l14 17.h14 18.h5 19.r5 20.k20 21.k18 22.q5 23.p6 24.o6 25.t6 26.q7 27.s8 28.resign

György: Ok, here is what I thought during the game (although David will surely prove that I was wrong...;)): After some strategic positioning, the real fight began with 11.o12. Then 12.n13 was a surprisingly good move and I suddenly thought I lost the game. If I continue with 13.p14 14.m15 15.l16 16.o6 17.i7 then 18.i13 wins the game for black. So I had to try something more complicated. Thus, I played 13.h8 - and it was successful, because black mistakenly played 14.i11. After that, I think I was winning. There is the white l10 threat which can either connect to p10 or to j15. That is the weakness of 14.i11. After that I was on track. I think h8 is unconditionally connected to the top, n15 unconditionally connected to the bottom, so black needs to play twice to cut me everywhere. 19.r5 basically ends the game.

David: Yes my 14.i11 was a lazy move. I should have used the bottom half of the board, 14.J19 for example. But my 16.L14* was even worse. Maybe I still could have saved the game with 16.J19. For example 17.N18 K10** R5 N17*, or 17.L19 N19* J18* i17* N20* K16*, or 17.L18 K18 J17* M19* F18 i13 with the double threat of either M15* or H19. That last line has lots of crucial branches and I could easily have missed something.

Game 667524: maraca - György

1.q5 2.swap 3.j15 4.k13 5.i13 6.j11 7.h11 8.l16 9.k18 10.h6 11.o8 12.k9 13.o13 14.n17 15.n15 16.m19 17.r18 18.o10 19.p11 20.p8 21.q7 22.p16 23.s16 24.s13 25.t14 26.t11 27.r13 28.q12 29.p12 30.m9 31.t10 32.r7 33.resign

György: This was the toughest game for me in this Championship. I made the early mistake of 6.j11 and I was in trouble after that. My plan was to play 10.i7 11.e8 12.f4 and then black wins. But then I discovered that white would play 11.e7 instead and would immediately win the game. So I had to find a new plan. That was 10.h6. Unfortunately white was smart enough to play 11.o8 immediately, followed by 13.o13. Now I had a problem. I was in as much trouble as Alan was against me. This was almost exactly the same situation as in that other game, and I was on track to losing one of them. Most likely this one. And then I discovered that there is a small difference between the two games, and that small difference (the aji of o10) proved to be important enough. I knew I should defend against n15, so I played 14.n17. 15.n15 was coming regardless, and that was perhaps the losing move for white. I had the excellent answer of 16.m19, which assured the connection of my n17 group to the left either by connecting to k13 or by playing i19. So white had no choice but to play as low as 17.r18, which gave me a strong attack, which I started by 18.o10, which checked the answer of white so that I can build a plan on that. 23.r15 could have been an interesting move too, but I believe that could not have saved white (24.r13 is a good answer).

Game 667525: György - Steven

1.d3 2.j13 3.r14 4.p16 5.n14 6.m20 7.m18 8.l16 9.o17 10.p12 11.p13 12.o10 13.k11 14.m10 15.i12 16.k9 17.h10 18.h6 19.h8 20.k18 21.l13 22.o18 23.o19 24.resign

György: 6.m20 looks too low , 7.m18 is a powerful answer. After 9.o17 I felt good, but then Steven started a difficult fight. However, he made the early mistake of 14.m10, which made it too easy for me to connect to the upper edge. The 20.k18 - 22.o18 combination was a very smart one, I did not see 20.k18 coming. I was just lucky this time that it did not quite work. So I had time to connect with 21.l13 and then 23.o19 won the game for me. (If 24.n15 then 25.r18.)

Game 667526: Lucy - György

1.c8 2.swap 3.o9 4.o11 5.h14 6.i12 7.g11 8.f11 9.m10 10.m12 11.q10 12.r14 13.e12 14.h10 15.f10 16.g8 17.e8 18.f15 19.j13 20.k11 21.f13 22.f4 23.e6 24.d5 25.c5 26.b4 27.g5 28.i5 29.resign

György: 9.m10 is an extremely risky move. That is the kind of move you play when you are 101% sure that you calculated all possible variations, and only you can win here. Lucy forces me to connect with 10.m12, puts all hopes on the g11 attack. 12.r14 was a cautious move, I did not want to give Lucy another forcing move like 13.s11. It _almost_ played an important role in the coming fight. 18.f15 was checking to see the answer. I was expecting 19.f13. In that case white's possible k11 could have been answered by black j14, giving me a good attack on the lower left. 19.j13 was a huge mistake. I could connect with 20.k11, and the game was over. IF white did not play j13 (and no black k11) then 28.i5 would not work. But in that case black can play 28.i6, followed by a fight spreading along the upper side: 29.j6 30.k5 31.h7 32.m6 33.k8 34.q6. This wins for black if white cannot get another forcing move on the left side, which she probably can not due to r14.

Game 667527: György - tasuki

1.d3 2.swap 3.j15 4.j13 5.q10 6.p12 7.l12 8.l14 9.q14 10.p18 11.n17 12.r13 13.m14 14.m8 15.o9 16.n8 17.n7 18.m19 19.m20 20.resign

György: Up to 9.q14, it was an opening played many times. I like to play it with white. 10.p18 is probably not good, since it forces the nice move of 11.n17. 14.m8 is probably the best thing black can try. But then 15.o9 wins the game for white. Suddenly white is connected everywhere.

Game 667528: Alan - Klaus

1.c11 2.n17 3.h15 4.h12 5.q11 6.m19 7.j16 8.l7 9.u12 10.q7 11.o7 12.p9 13.n9 14.p13 15.k12 16.h19 17.j19 18.l14 19.f14 20.i21 21.h18 22.g17 23.l20 24.n21 25.k22 26.j11 27.m13 28.n13 29.j10 30.j13 31.e10 32.f4 33.h9 34.resign

Alan: I followed my own advice by pulling us off the beaten track early and deep into the woods against a better opponent. Still, it seemed to me that I didn't grab a clear advantage until 14.P13, which seemed too far to the right. I was expecting something like 14.N13. After that, Klaus found a clever move by forcing 17.j19 and then creating a double threat with 18.L14, which makes the J18 k17 sequence work for him. At first, it seemed like the obvious answer was 19.l15. But then, for example, M12 i13 K11 j10 J8 l9 N8! I didn't see any way around that, so I took a step back and looked at this position as a typical Y-shaped double threat. I looked for a spot high in the branches of the Y, and although there wasn't much space up there, it looked like 19.f14 might actually work. I don't see a way for Klaus to win after that.

Game 667530: David - Klaus

1.i3 2.n17 3.r16 4.p10 5.l11 6.l9 7.n10 8.m7 9.p9 10.q7 11.r10 12.i15 13.j12 14.r20 15.k15 16.l16 17.i16 18.h9 19.g11 20.f8 21.i10 22.h17 23.m19 24.k14 25.s18 26.k6 27.q8 28.q3 29.s4 30.t4 31.p6 32.o4 33.p5 34.r5 35.n4 36.q14 37.s13 38.n5 39.o2 40.o7 41.o5 42.n3 43.m4 44.resign

David: My 7.N10 was a feint to the right, with the ultimate purpose of improving my connection between L11 and R16. Maybe it was a bit risky to pin my hopes on winning the battle to the top on the left side, but as Klaus let me build a longer and longer wall, I felt better and better about my position. Instead of 10.Q7 maybe, I dunno, 10.N21 looks like it would have used the board more effectively. My 13.J12 was another risky move, but I felt I could find a cascade attack no matter how Klaus tried to block. I thought my 15.K15 was unstoppable, but 18.H9! surprised me, pointing out the flaw in my plan. I was expecting 20.H13* which would have smashed through on the left. In that case I had a fallback plan: 21.Q8* S8* T9* U9* P6* K14** O19 P16 U15! (my saving grace) 30.R15* S14** S13* U11* R17* S18* and it looks like I would have won anyway. Another branch is 20.H13* Q8* K14** O19 P16* U15 and now: 26.Q18** U20 T16 S14** V17* V18*, or 26.R15* S16* S13* U12 which works because of my supporting peg at R10. One continuation from there is 30.Q18** U20 U17 W16. Anyway, instead of H13* Klaus played 20.F8* which allowed me to keep my original attack. He managed to get some drawing threats near the end, but my 41.O5 had double threats in each direction.

Game 667535: nie_wiesz - Alan

1.c8 2.swap 3.p10 4.o13 5.h15 6.m8 7.l10 8.m12 9.h10 10.l3 11.n9 12.q5 13.j5 14.j4 15.u6 16.t8 17.h6 18.h12 19.i13 20.k6 21.j11 22.i7 23.i8 24.f4 25.q6 26.o9 27.s9 28.r9 29.q10 30.s6 31.p4 32.n4 33.r5 34.p8 35.u8 36.resign

Alan: I don't want to write a paragraph about this game -- I want to write an epic poem. But I will restrain myself. It was a very non-standard opening, perhaps using my own advice against me about taking higher-rated opponents off the beaten track early. (I was higher rated at the time, but not now.) As of 9.h10 I found myself in a difficult position. His N9 threat was very strong, because it forces o8 which is too far from the right side to work. It took me a long time to find 10.l3, but I felt pretty good about it. By 16.t8, I didn't see what nie wiesz could do. But when I saw his answer, 17.H6, I got a bad feeling about it. Why would he do that? I started looking for threats that could lead to his H6 downstream, and I finally saw it: Q6! I had considered Q6 earlier, but brushed it off with an easy p7 answer, but on closer inspection, that doesn't work: Q6 p7 S7 (tilt parallelogram). So whatever my answer is, it must make the other side, Q6 r7, work, and as it stands with 16.t8, it doesn't! Q6 r7 P4 p6 N5 (double threat with j5 and n9). This was a crisis. I don't remember all the variations; it gets deep. I finally thought I found the answer with 18.h12, but I was deluded. I was thinking 18.h12 19.K12 20.j11 21.I14 and then my m8 peg has its own double threat that works. But his actual answer, 19.I13, doesn't allow 20.j11, because his easy reply would be 21.J9. But I continued to use my h12 peg threat, hoping to throw this game into chaos. 20.k6 shouldn't work because of 21.K8, which renews the threat of a connection to N5 that k6 broke. So I breathed a sigh of relief when he played 21.J11. Victory seemed assured. A slight feint to the left creates more certainty for me, and then 24.f4 25.Q6. I said I wasn't going to explore all variations, but I'll mention that I played 26.o9 instead of 26.r7 because r7 P4 p6 O6 (instead of N5) and that has a strong coign connection with N9. So 26.o9 first. Then, it should assuredly go my way, but at the end I was overconfident, and getting careless, and perhaps a little impatient. Instead of conservatively renewing the double threat with 34.r4, I went straight for 34.p8. Then 35.u8 shocked me. Suddenly, my winning move, w6, didn't work anymore. I didn't see the tricky winning sequence, 36.u5 37.V4 38.w5, until David Bush pointed it out later. (David also pointed out in the other championship 14 thread that 21.R11 might be a winning move for nie wiesz. But I didn't see it at the time, or anything like it; I think we were both focused on Q6.)

Game 667536: Alan - David

1.b5 2.n17 3.j16 4.j12 5.h12 6.h8 7.f11 8.f9 9.d10 10.d8 11.l9 12.i14 13.m13 14.m11 15.p11 16.r20 17.o14 18.j18 19.l17 20.l19 21.p19 22.o21 23.f17 24.i16 25.s18 26.t21 27.u19 28.v22 29.o22 30.n19 31.q21 32.q13 33.q15 34.o12 35.j11 36.k10 37.i9 38.e14 39.resign

Alan: I regret not pressing the issue with 11.b9; it would have come in handy later, and it wasn't very dangerous. David's 16.R20 was a well-placed downstream peg: it works for his O10 threat as well as his J18 threat. 21.p19 was my own carefully placed downstream peg; unfortunately, it does not work quite as well because of its weak connection to the bottom. So after 23.f17, I tried 23.f17 to try to draw a blunder of 24.F21, and then i20 H20 o20! N19 n18 Q22 k21 (double threat - m20 or g19). Not necessarily a win for the whole game, but it was a plan. David didn't follow my plan. 24.I16 neutralized it, so I formed a new plan - and David followed my s cript this time until 32.Q13, which was another well-placed downstream peg, and effectively the winning move. After that, I had some delusions of winnability, but in hindsight I don't think there was really anything I could do.

David: I generally swap everything, but Alan's 1.B5 was just too close to the edge for me. I see Alan has already annotated this game, and did a better job than I had done. But I would be glad to discuss any variation!

David: Alan, in our game, after 11.B9* it looks like I can get away with 12.F4 and then if 13.L9 M5 for example. Maybe I missed a shot.

Alan: You're right, David, maybe 11.b9 was dangerous after all. Sometimes I don't know how much to trust my intuition.

Game 667537: maraca - Alan

1.q20 2.n10 3.i12 4.j16 5.l15 6.m8 7.i8 8.m17 9.o16 10.p18 11.p17 12.resign

Alan: At move 6, I misjudged my ability to connect j16 to either n10 or the right side. A better answer might have been 6.i8 or 6.i10. The n10 peg still has a hard time connecting to the right side, though. His 11.P17 was not obvious to me, but after he played it, I couldn't find any move that didn't have an obvious winning reply.

Game 667538: Alan - Steven

1.h5 2.swap 3.j10 4.l9 5.m11 6.l13 7.r14 8.o7 9.k12 10.j8 11.q7 12.q12 13.p9 14.o11 15.t13 16.s11 17.h9 18.k15 19.g15 20.f15 21.i16 22.resign

Alan: I'm really not sure where Steven went wrong, but every move, I felt I was doing better and better. Finally, Steven blundered with 20.F15. I was expecting 20.H19, and I was prepared for a fight -- something like H19 j18 L20 h17 I21 m19 N21 n20.

Game 667539: Lucy - Alan

1.c8 2.swap 3.o9 4.o11 5.h14 6.i18 7.e18 8.i12 9.q10 10.o18 11.s11 12.n16 13.g12 14.e20 15.g19 16.j20 17.c19 18.f15 19.s17 20.s14 21.resign

Alan: Like the game Lucy vs Gyorgy, Lucy played a high 0-2 opposition: 9.Q10. That was a really weak move, in my opinion. My reply, 10.o18, should have been enough for her to look elsewhere, but to my happy surprise, she continued with 11.S11. But I still had to be careful to try to ensure my victory with a connection to both the right and the left. I needed both of my left threats, I didn't want any interfering pegs in the middle, and I needed to the connection to the right. I think 12.n16 accomplishes all of these goals, though it's a bit weak on the right. I was nervous about that. After the Medcalf defense, maybe there was still a win for her on the right, but 19.S17 wasn't it. After my 20.s14, the best she could have done was 21.T15, which drives a ladder chase to the left, but it looks like I'd win that anyway.

Game 667540: Alan - tasuki

1.c3 2.j10 3.n11 4.o16 5.h14 6.i8 7.r11 8.n18 9.k15 10.l13 11.l12 12.i19 13.k19 14.l19 15.g19 16.k11 17.m14 18.j18 19.f17 20.i16 21.j13 22.o7 23.r7 24.resign

Alan: A very standard "big dipper" style opening, followed by Y-shaped potential path threats, and then I was forced to make the commitment to a line at move 9. I think tasuki might have been thinking that if 10.L13, then l12 J14 m14 K16 ... because that's what I was thinking, at first, but then, if 10.L13, l12 J14 i16 instead. At move 15, I think g19 is the only thing that works for me, but that's still pretty easy, because it's one of my puzzles (#57). At that point, he's sunk.

Game 667541: David - nie_wiesz

1.i4 2.j10 3.q14 4.o8 5.s8 6.q7 7.u7 8.q12 9.n11 10.p14 11.g14 12.k15 13.i15 14.j17 15.c14 16.m9 17.c10 18.f19 19.m14 20.j13 21.l12 22.i11 23.s11 24.q16 25.f18 26.e17 27.h19 28.i19 29.e16 30.g20 31.resign

David: I might have lost the game as early as move 3.Q14. After the natural and strong 4.O8 I started to get a sinking feeling about my position. I couldn't find a way to work up an attack. Maybe I should have tried 5.O9. Yeesh.

Game 667546: maraca - David

1.d22 2.swap 3.o10 4.k17 5.q15 6.q19 7.m17 8.m14 9.o16 10.n6 11.r7 12.q12 13.q11 14.p6 15.p8 16.q4 17.k7 18.o13 19.l9 20.s11 21.j14 22.k13 23.h13 24.i5 25.i8 26.k4 27.f5 28.h10 29.k12 30.g4 31.d6 32.f6 33.e9 34.j15 35.h17 36.f14 37.f12 38.e12 39.g15 40.e8 41.n4 42.o4 43.resign

David: Maybe 7.M17 is thinking too locally. You need large eyes for Twixt, keeping the whole board in view, especially in the opening. 7.G16 instead looks much nicer. G16 is in a "sweet spot" for claiming the bottom left corner, because you have the resource of D19 if you need it. After my 8.M14 I felt I had contained your threats and I could control the game. Again I would be glad to discuss variations.

Game 667547: David - Steven

1.i4 2.swap 3.q14 4.p9 5.l9 6.m16 7.i15 8.i11 9.k12 10.k15 11.o15 12.n12 13.m11 14.n13 15.r11 16.q11 17.p12 18.o11 19.k14 20.l13 21.i13 22.i19 23.n18 24.j17 25.s9 26.r5 27.s7 28.q7 29.t5 30.resign

David: My 9.K12 looks sloppy. maybe 9.T14 would have been better. Instead of 10.K15*, 10.i19 looks like it would have forced me to play more attentively (Or maybe I would have just lost another game out of laziness.) I was lucky that my 27.S7 attack actually works, or at least it seems to. The crucial line would have been 28.T6* U6* V5* Q6* P6* O7* N7* N9** and now there doesn't seem to be any way for Steven to "leap" past me. For example 36.i5 K6*. I hadn't worked this out ahead of time. But Steven let me by with 28.Q7**.

Game 667548: Lucy - David

1.d3 2.swap 3.j10 4.n17 5.h15 6.h19 7.g17 8.k6 9.k7 10.j8 11.m8 12.k10 13.o13 14.o10 15.o9 16.n21 17.l16 18.k18 19.s19 20.m11 21.p11 22.r17 23.k19 24.j20 25.m18 26.l21 27.q18 28.resign

David: I believe I threw this one on my last move. Instead of 26.L21* I had to play 26.O15*, then for example 27.Q18* N13**, or 27.N15** L21* O19* Q20 R21* R22* N22 O23*, or 27.S15 O14* R12* T16* Q18* N13** R16* S13*. But after my 26.L21*?? Q18* O15* O17** I am toasted to a crispy crunch. Ouch.

Game 667549: David - tasuki

1.i4 2.j10 3.q14 4.p10 5.l10 6.n15 7.h14 8.k12 9.f10 10.g12 11.g13 12.g6 13.m8 14.q18 15.f8 16.h18 17.f15 18.g20 19.k17 20.j17 21.u14 22.r20 23.o18 24.o17 25.l15 26.l18 27.m17 28.l14 29.j15 30.e5 31.e6 32.d7 33.h9 34.i7 35.j9 36.i8 37.h6 38.k8 39.j7 40.i9 41.t17 42.t19 43.i11 44.i13 45.resign

David: I played the same 3.Q14 that I played against nie wiesz, but tasuki replied 4.P10 which might have let me off the floor. I had to play 13.K8* instead of 13.M8*, because M8* did not help my plan to attack with F8, and that's probably why I lost. Bleaugh.

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