David Bush generally swaps everything, but 1.b5 was just too close to the edge for him.
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 22.O21, I tried 23.f17 to try to draw a blunder of 24.F21, and then 25.i2026.h2027.o2028.n1929.n1830.q2231.k21 (double threat - m20 or i18). 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 script 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.
On
2007-07-03 at 18:17,
Alan Hensel
said:
David also said on the LG forum,
after 11.B9* it looks like I can get away with 12.F4 and then if 13.L914.M5 for example. Maybe I missed a shot.
Oh my. I'm not entirely convinced that it works, though. There is a lot of space still in the upper right quadrant, and even the upper left quadrant may still have a battle, for example: 15.m716.n717.i618.k619.k720.i521.g522.h323.c3...
In any case, I trusted my intuition that 11.b9 was dangerous, and as it turns out, it probably was.
So, your instincts look correct regarding the danger of 11.B9. But maybe 11.Q8 (threatening either J11 or Q13) would have been better than L9. This makes sense positionally because you are grabbing more influence from the board this way.
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 22.O21, I tried 23.f17 to try to draw a blunder of 24.F21, and then 25.i20 26.h20 27.o20 28.n19 29.n18 30.q22 31.k21 (double threat - m20 or i18). 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 script 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.
15.m7 16.n7 17.i6 18.k6 19.k7 20.i5 21.g5 22.h3 23.c3...
In any case, I trusted my intuition that 11.b9 was dangerous, and as it turns out, it probably was.
(16.O6 looks better than N7. For example 17.i6 18.J8 (19.K7 20.K10 threatening both M9 and M15 looks good for black.) (White could do better with 19.P9 20.K10 21.P13 but after 22.N13 23.O15 24.O11 25.Q11 26.P8 27.Q7 28.R5 it looks like I win anyway.))
(This branch would not work for me if I had played 16.N7 17.i6 18.J8 19.N10 20.K10 21.M13 22.L7 23.Q7 This is an important way to win the corner, and relatively easy to read once you see the moves for both sides are forced: 24.P6 25.S8 26.R5 27.V5 28.T5 29.T4 30.S3 31.T6 32.U2 33.W3 and white wins.)
So, your instincts look correct regarding the danger of 11.B9. But maybe 11.Q8 (threatening either J11 or Q13) would have been better than L9. This makes sense positionally because you are grabbing more influence from the board this way.