Register
to add
comments.
Game number: Main Page
White: David J Bush    Black: Steven
twixt.ch.23.1.1 (LG) | This game (LG) | Download JTwixt file
On 2009-12-04 at 17:15, David J Bush (info) said:
Maybe |8.j9, threatening o7 or j13, would have made better use of the board than i17.

My 9.r16 was sloppy. A cleaner path was |9.m19, for example

|9.m19 10.l18 11.q17 or

|9.m19 10.n18 11.g16 12.g18 13.j17 14.k18 15.l18 16.l20 17.m20

|11.n19 was a big mistake. |11.m18 would have been much better:

|11.m18 12.n18 13.e17 14.h15 15.f14 16.d17 17.g16 18.f18 19.i20 20.h19 21.k16 22.k18 23.k17 24.k15 25.j13 26.l19 27.k19 28.j15 29.i16 30.i13 31.j14 OR

|11.m18 12.n18 13.e17 14.i11 15.e13 16.g12 17.j15 is similar to the game continuation, OR

|11.m18 12.n18 13.e17 14.i11 15.e13 16.j13 probably wins for black, but I had hopes to hustle a win anyway. These same complications are examined later in this comment, in the |18.j13 variation.

I played 13.k17 hoping that Steve would fall for

|14.j18 15.d17 16.e17 17.f18 18.g18 19.h19 20.c16 21.i18 22.k16 23.o17 24.n20 25.m18

but he didn't cooperate.

|16.h15 would have shut me down. For example

|16.h15 17.f14 18.d17 19.g16 20.f18 21.i20 22.h19 23.j18 24.k16 OR

|16.h15 17.d12 18.d15 19.d16 20.e13

Instead of 18.g12 the crucial line appears to be

|18.j13 19.u15 20.w15 21.j15 22.h19 23.d19 24.l14 25.f10 26.g8 27.g7 28.h6 29.f9 30.f7 31.h8 32.j7 33.j9 34.l8 35.l10 36.q6

and black wins, but w15 is the sort of ridiculous saving move that makes Twixt so insane. Maybe there were other winning moves for black besides w15.

|22.n8 was an excellent judgement call. I cannot use e13 as part of a "pincer" attack on the top left, because e13 is barely able to hold the position on the bottom left, and if I try to burden it with more duties up top, it will be overloaded. In fact that is what happened in the game. But I think I still could have won here.

My |25.r7 was awful. I was fixated on the line

|26.q10 27.l8 28.l9 29.m11 30.l10 31.q9 but the more fundamental problem was, I got lazy. I had won against Klaus, I felt I was winning against spd_iv, and I just didn't look at all the resources my opponent had.

|25.t9 26.p12 27.o13 looks much better for me.

With |38.f14 Steven was communicating to me that he full well understood the weakness in my position, but with so much at stake I continued to cling to any hope I could find.

In the final position, I finally see that g10 is a double link for black. With my illusion destroyed, I resigned.

On 2009-12-06 at 08:21, honest1abe (info) said:
This game is a good example to all players who want to see the possibilities of defense outside the cardinal lines. Many players in white's position might have given up after move 14.n18 by black thinking the left side was lost. I felt I had such a strong position that the rest of the game would be a cake walk, but David quickly quashed my optimism. Even after 15.e17 I was still feeling confident in my position. I knew David could go straight up the left side with the threat of breaking back towards the middle with several supporting pegs through the middle. I did not realize the weakness of my peg at 8.i17 until David brought it to my attention at move 19.j15. Fortunately for me I ended up having enough resources in the upper left quadrant to threaten to connect with the lower right anchor and still make it across the top.

David comments that "|25.t9 26.p12 27.o13" looked better to him, but 26.s4 seems a solid answer.

Also, David talks about move 9.m19 being a cleaner choice, but 9.m19 10.l14 seems quite playable for black.

On 2009-12-06 at 15:26, David J Bush (info) said:
Okay |25.t9 does not work, but what about

|25.u7 26.p12 27.u15

And earlier in the game,

|9.m19 10.l14 11.q17 looks very good for white.

You must be logged in to add comments.