Here are some real time games played in an online three board match between Tokyo and Kuwata, on 13 March 2021. I will post a separate comment for each game. The stream from the match is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTkpjhVCobc
4.t11 might be more complicated than necessary. 4.p16 seems to block the opponent better, but I cannot be certain, so early in the game.
4.t115.o11 is a good move by white, improving the position on the top half and on the bottom half. One possible continuation is 6.p167.h148.l8 and I don't know which side is winning.
The players did their own post mortem discussion after the game, where they looked at the branch 10.o711.r812.r6 I don't think this is as good for black as 12.q8 because after 12.r613.t7 white takes the corner. one continuation is 14.u515.t3 They also looked at the position after 12.r613.p714.p515.u7 I would like to point out that black could then play 16.s9 but white still wins after 17.n8.
After 4.p14, white could win the very simple ladder chase 5.r146.r137.s128.s119.t1010.t911.u812.u713.v614.v515.w4 Of course black would not play this way, but U3 gives white some "aji" on the right side. 4.p10 might have been better for black, because it is more strongly connected to the right, and it seems to make more threats on the left.
So instead of H15, maybe black 6.j10 was better? I don't know for sure, but Black probably should have played higher up to take advantage of the full board.
So let's say white blocks the F20 threat with 19.g16 and after 20.m8 the battle is now all about white trying to connect to the top. And that's just one line out of dozens here. Unfortunately for black, 18.i12 doesn't work so well as a negative ladder catcher.
IMO 10.m8 or 8.m8 would have put black in the driver's seat. The entire board is available to you. Why not use it? For example 8.o189.s1710.m811.k812.k13 rips white to pieces.
Instead of 7.m15 I believe white needs to play on the right, possibly 7.r13, I dunno.
On
2021-03-16 at 03:51,
mmKALLL
said:
Thank you so much for recording the games as well as the detailed comments! I felt a common theme is that we don't make good use of the full board - after looking at the lines you posted I completely agree. It seems like that is kind of a collective blind spot for us, but the variations helped me appreciate the importance of full-board threats more. :)
I'll try to convince the organizers to use igGameCenter instead. That would hopefully open up enough time to both play more as well as record the matches here!
On
2021-03-16 at 03:57,
mmKALLL
said:
By the way, in the second game's comments you mentioned white being able to do a "cascade threat". Is there a definition for this somewhere? I also haven't heard about a "negative ladder" before, I'm assuming that means a ladder that's starting from corner and going "up" instead of towards the corner?
On
2021-03-16 at 10:04,
Peyrol
said:
This is all very good news. Soon Arty will have to create a separate page for Twixt just as he did for Toguz Kumalak.
Keeping the whole board in mind is the most difficult thing to do in the game. This is how the bot crushes me.
A cascade threat is a sequence of moves, each of which makes a threat, culminating in a double threat or an unstoppable threat. In the 2nd game, I did not look at every possibility for black, but I just wanted to point out that white Q11 forces black to respond on the right and at the same time lays the groundwork for an attack by white through the middle.
|1.w6 2.l12 3.q12 4.t11 5.o11 6.q16 7.o15 8.p14 9.n13 10.o7 11.r8 12.r7 13.s6 14.n17 15.n18 16.o19 17.m16 18.m18 19.l18 20.resign
4.t11 might be more complicated than necessary. 4.p16 seems to block the opponent better, but I cannot be certain, so early in the game.
4.t11 5.o11 is a good move by white, improving the position on the top half and on the bottom half. One possible continuation is 6.p16 7.h14 8.l8 and I don't know which side is winning.
After 6.q16 7.o15 I believe white is winning.
8.p14 9.n13 10.o7 11.r8 gives black the opportunity to attack with 12.q8, but even better for black would be 12.l16 13.n17 14.q8 15.p9 16.s7 and white has a problem. For example 17.m8 18.l6 19.j7 20.l10 21.k9 22.n9 23.l11 24.n11 25.k13 26.k14 27.j15 28.i17 29.i16 30.h15 31.j18 32.j16
IMO white could have won with 11.m8 right away, for example 12.l6 13.r10 14.s8 15.q8 16.q7 17.o4 18.o8 19.k9
The players did their own post mortem discussion after the game, where they looked at the branch 10.o7 11.r8 12.r6 I don't think this is as good for black as 12.q8 because after 12.r6 13.t7 white takes the corner. one continuation is 14.u5 15.t3 They also looked at the position after 12.r6 13.p7 14.p5 15.u7 I would like to point out that black could then play 16.s9 but white still wins after 17.n8.
After 4.p14, white could win the very simple ladder chase 5.r14 6.r13 7.s12 8.s11 9.t10 10.t9 11.u8 12.u7 13.v6 14.v5 15.w4 Of course black would not play this way, but U3 gives white some "aji" on the right side. 4.p10 might have been better for black, because it is more strongly connected to the right, and it seems to make more threats on the left.
After 4.p14 5.h17 6.h15 I belileve white could have won with a cascade threat 7.q11 8.r15 9.n13 10.n15 11.i15 12.j14 13.k14 14.l13 15.m15 and white's U3 peg is growing stronger with every move. Maybe 16.n10 17.m11 18.m8 19.o10 and I don't see what black can do about it. But I certainly might be missing something.
So instead of H15, maybe black 6.j10 was better? I don't know for sure, but Black probably should have played higher up to take advantage of the full board.
After 6.h15 7.k15 8.k13 9.q11 again looks winning for white. So how about 8.l10 instead.
Working backwards for this one. There are so many interesting lines. I will just look at what I think are the highlights.
35.e21 made me cry out "OHHHH Esa san!" Of course 35.f20 wins for white.
The position after 17.d19 is very complicated. For example black might play 18.e17 or he might play 18.f20. But BEFORE F20, black would need to place a downstream peg, let's say 18.i10 which turns F20 into a real threat. If white ignores this threat, then we get 19.l10 20.f20 21.e21 22.e22 23.d23 24.e18 25.e17 26.f16 27.f15 28.g14 29.g13 30.h12
So let's say white blocks the F20 threat with 19.g16 and after 20.m8 the battle is now all about white trying to connect to the top. And that's just one line out of dozens here. Unfortunately for black, 18.i12 doesn't work so well as a negative ladder catcher.
As was pointed out after the game, 14.i18 15.d19 16.g17 would have been much better for black. If 17.m19 18.n20
11.o16 looks interesting, for example 12.q17 13.k19 14.l19 15.m20, or 12.p20 13.k19 14.j19 15.m20 or 12.n20 13.p18 14.q19 15.t19 16.p17 17.t15 18.q13 19.q17 20.r17 21.s16 but 12.m8 looks more crucial.
IMO 10.m8 or 8.m8 would have put black in the driver's seat. The entire board is available to you. Why not use it? For example 8.o18 9.s17 10.m8 11.k8 12.k13 rips white to pieces.
Instead of 7.m15 I believe white needs to play on the right, possibly 7.r13, I dunno.
I'll try to convince the organizers to use igGameCenter instead. That would hopefully open up enough time to both play more as well as record the matches here!
I also haven't heard about a "negative ladder" before, I'm assuming that means a ladder that's starting from corner and going "up" instead of towards the corner?
Keeping the whole board in mind is the most difficult thing to do in the game. This is how the bot crushes me.
A cascade threat is a sequence of moves, each of which makes a threat, culminating in a double threat or an unstoppable threat. In the 2nd game, I did not look at every possibility for black, but I just wanted to point out that white Q11 forces black to respond on the right and at the same time lays the groundwork for an attack by white through the middle.
You can see what I mean by a negative ladder if you play out this variation, which I copied and pasted from above:
|1.v4 2.m12 3.k12 4.k17 5.i15 6.h20 7.m15 8.o18 9.s17 10.r15 11.p14 12.q17 13.h18 14.j19 15.k16 16.m18 17.d19 18.i10 which turns F20 into a real threat. If white ignores this threat, then we get 19.l10 20.f20 21.e21 22.e22 23.d23 24.e18 25.e17 26.f16 27.f15 28.g14 29.g13 30.h12