This game happened 3 years ago, but I remember it distinctly because of what it took to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. My first blunder, I think, was 7.i14, which blocks my own path to the top in case of 8.l11, at least on the left side. Then the fight on the right side wasn't going so well, so by 16.r5, it looked hopeless. A perfectly reasonable move here would have been 17.resign.
On the verge of resigning, I looked at the consequences of 17.u6, which looks like a stupid move. But there is a downstream peg! You know, that dead peg at L10. Perhaps I shouldn't have played 19.j9 right away, because that tipped Axel off to the trick, and he immediately closed up the downstream with 20.s8. The alternative was something like 20.i821.s722.u423.q624.p625.o726.n727.m828.l629.i7. Axel was wise to close up that threat, because my other path, around the left side, was less promising. And in fact, I was losing by move 35. My plan was 36.j1937.l18, but that's a faux threat because of 38.l19. So, anyway, he played 36.k19 instead, perhaps thinking my response would be 37.h20.
Then he played |38.g16, which was a trap. The quick response would have been 39.i19, but then 40.i12 and my connection to the top is broken. Fortunately, 39.f15 seems to just barely work.
On the verge of resigning, I looked at the consequences of 17.u6, which looks like a stupid move. But there is a downstream peg! You know, that dead peg at L10. Perhaps I shouldn't have played 19.j9 right away, because that tipped Axel off to the trick, and he immediately closed up the downstream with 20.s8. The alternative was something like 20.i8 21.s7 22.u4 23.q6 24.p6 25.o7 26.n7 27.m8 28.l6 29.i7. Axel was wise to close up that threat, because my other path, around the left side, was less promising. And in fact, I was losing by move 35. My plan was 36.j19 37.l18, but that's a faux threat because of 38.l19. So, anyway, he played 36.k19 instead, perhaps thinking my response would be 37.h20.
Then he played |38.g16, which was a trap. The quick response would have been 39.i19, but then 40.i12 and my connection to the top is broken. Fortunately, 39.f15 seems to just barely work.