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Game number: Main Page
White: Gyorgy Csizmadia    Black: Alan Hensel
twixt.ch.15.1.1 (LG) | This game (LG) | Download JTwixt file
On 2007-09-08 at 17:46, Alan Hensel (info) said:
In this Championship, I have felt a little bit like Robin Hood, taking rating points from the highly ranked players, and giving them to lower-ranked players. I hoped this trend would continue with György, but it was not to be.

I think |1.e4 is too strong. It was a gift. But there is no first move so strong in Twixt that it will guarantee victory. Especially against György. At the time of this writing, György is #1, with a 180-point ratings gap between him and the next highest player. But I don't let it intimidate me. I just try harder against the better players.

My |10.q11 and |12.q5 moves set up the threat of T8, because his responses had to leave gaps. But I didn't feel my connection to the left side of the board was strong enough. I don't remember exactly what I was thinking, but for example, |14.t8 15.s7 16.s10 17.n10 18.o10 19.j9. So I had to strengthen my path to the left, without losing my connection to the right side. And so |14.r13 (I strongly considered |14.p13, but decided that György could actually make a run up the right side if I did that, though at the moment, I don't see how.)

At |15.j9, György wrote, "This is just way too complicated for me..." I didn't reply, but I took that as a good sign. If it was easy for him, then I was in trouble, because to me, it was way too complicated.

By |20.o12, I thought I had led us out of the woods, to victory for me. You can never be too sure of that against György, however. I was thinking, for example, |21.k11 22.n10 23.j5 24.k4 25.i7 26.i5 or |21.k13 22.m11 23.j11 24.l7.

His |21.l10 was brilliant. Suddenly, nothing worked: |22.n10 23.n9 24.p9 25.m7, or |22.m13 23.g12 24.i12 25.i13. I believe that battle is lost. If there is a winning move for me at that point, it is somewhere else. I tried |22.j17; maybe |22.j18 would have been better? I puzzled over it for a long time. Such is Twixt.

On 2007-09-16 at 21:34, csiz (info) said:
I believe I made a mistake with 7.r9. Or perhaps already 5.m12 was a mistake. (I know alan thinks that 1.e4 was a losing move, but I am not sure about that...;)) I didn't feel good about the game afterwards. However, I think 12.q5 was a mistake from Alan. He forces to connect me to the top. Why not 12.r5? Unfortunately, he was so far ahead, that he was still winning. At 15.j9, I had no idea what to do, and was under strong time pressure. I expected 16.j6, but didn't know yet what to do after that... Anyway, 16.j6 was a mistake, I think something like 16.l10 could have been better (although I did not analyse it much). After 16.j6 I found the winning move of l10 and black had little chance after that.

On 2007-09-18 at 15:37, dushoff (info) said:
csiz wrote: I expected 16.j6, but didn't know yet what to do after that... Anyway, 16.j6 was a mistake ...

Is this a typo? Did you really expect j6, or something else?

On 2007-09-20 at 17:27, csiz (info) said:
No, it is not a typo. I knew that j9 cannot connect to the top, even if I add a peg at k11, because black has an excellent defensive move at 16.j6. I also knew that Alan would find this move. But I did not have any better idea, and I hoped that there is a good attack somewhere at the top, and I would be able to connect my j15 peg to the u6 peg. I know this doesn't sound convincing, and it really isn't, but I was in serious time trouble at the time, so I had to make a move following my feelings. I found the winning combination only on my next turn (right after 16.j6).

On 2008-12-20 at 03:45, twixter (info) said:
Maybe 22.j18 would have been better for black than j17. White cannot play the same way:

22.j18 23.l16 24.l19 25.n17 26.p21 27.p22 28.p17 for example.

On 2008-12-28 at 15:00, dushoff (info) said:
So what would be a good response to 22.j18? Maybe 22.j18 23.m17?

On 2008-12-30 at 18:57, twixter (info) said:
How about

22.j18 23.m17 24.m13 25.g12 26.o20 27.l19 28.k20 29.m21 30.l22 31.l23 32.i12 33.i13 34.j14 35.h10 36.k16

and the black wall looks unstoppable.

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