This was the game that decided the winner of Championship 15. Of course we didn't know that during the first half of the game...
I am not sure about 6.i14. It looks like a bad move. After 7.n14 I did not feel good about the game. I was in time trouble early on in this game as well, so I did not analyse the opening moves too much. By 9.i16 I was pretty sure I was losing this game, but did not give it up without fight. 10.j16 was a major error. I made that choice while I was travelling, and the plan was 11.k1712.m14, but of course white would answer with 13.k13 and would win easily... Moreover, white could immediately play 11.o1212.l1713.r16, and win the game instantly. Máté chose to play 11.k17, which is also winning, but that is a lot more complicated. Máté had to walk through a minefield there, and as I was back home, I had time to think about a plan (which was unfortunately too late).
14.k19 was an important move, which helped a lot in the coming fight. The key was again 17.r16 for which the only answer is 18.r20. Now that position is an extremely complicated puzzle. Most people would play either 19.p17 or 19.o19 or 19.q18 or 19.p19, which all loose! 19.p1720.m20 or 19.o1920.p16 or 19.q1820.o19 are not that difficult to compute, but 19.p1920.o21 is the most complicated one. I leave it as an exercise...;) Unfortunately for me, Máté found the winning move of 19.u19. I am quite sure that required many hours of computations to find. I had only two possible answers: 20.t1921.s1822.u2123.p19 wins for white. p19 is a winning move now because of the help of the 21.s18 peg. (Starting with 20.u21 leads to a similar position.) So my only chance was the other move: 20.u23. To complicate the position further I played |21.r8 before that. To understand that move, one needs to analyse the position a bit more deeply: Assume this sequence of moves: 20.u2321.p1722.p1923.o1924.n2025.k2126.l2127.j1928.i829.k11. Now of course i8 is not able to connect to the right, but if there was some help there... Also assume a sequence like 20.p1521.q1422.q1323.r1224.r11, or anything similar. Again, black can not connect to the right side, but if there was some help... So Máté had to be very careful to defend against the double threat, which he did excellently with |21.r8.
I am not sure about 6.i14. It looks like a bad move. After 7.n14 I did not feel good about the game. I was in time trouble early on in this game as well, so I did not analyse the opening moves too much. By 9.i16 I was pretty sure I was losing this game, but did not give it up without fight. 10.j16 was a major error. I made that choice while I was travelling, and the plan was 11.k17 12.m14, but of course white would answer with 13.k13 and would win easily... Moreover, white could immediately play 11.o12 12.l17 13.r16, and win the game instantly. Máté chose to play 11.k17, which is also winning, but that is a lot more complicated. Máté had to walk through a minefield there, and as I was back home, I had time to think about a plan (which was unfortunately too late).
14.k19 was an important move, which helped a lot in the coming fight. The key was again 17.r16 for which the only answer is 18.r20. Now that position is an extremely complicated puzzle. Most people would play either 19.p17 or 19.o19 or 19.q18 or 19.p19, which all loose! 19.p17 20.m20 or 19.o19 20.p16 or 19.q18 20.o19 are not that difficult to compute, but 19.p19 20.o21 is the most complicated one. I leave it as an exercise...;) Unfortunately for me, Máté found the winning move of 19.u19. I am quite sure that required many hours of computations to find. I had only two possible answers: 20.t19 21.s18 22.u21 23.p19 wins for white. p19 is a winning move now because of the help of the 21.s18 peg. (Starting with 20.u21 leads to a similar position.) So my only chance was the other move: 20.u23. To complicate the position further I played |21.r8 before that. To understand that move, one needs to analyse the position a bit more deeply: Assume this sequence of moves: 20.u23 21.p17 22.p19 23.o19 24.n20 25.k21 26.l21 27.j19 28.i8 29.k11. Now of course i8 is not able to connect to the right, but if there was some help there... Also assume a sequence like 20.p15 21.q14 22.q13 23.r12 24.r11, or anything similar. Again, black can not connect to the right side, but if there was some help... So Máté had to be very careful to defend against the double threat, which he did excellently with |21.r8.
After 22.u23, white has two reasonable choices: 23.p17 or 23.p19. But the second one loses for white. A possible continuation is: 23.p19 24.o21 25.k21 26.j21 27.m20 28.q17 29.p17 30.o18 31.q18 32.n20 with 28.q17 being the trick move. Unfortunately Máté didn't fall into this trap either, so he played the correct move 23.p17.
As a preparation for my last puzzle, I played |24.l4. That move threatens to connect both on the left and on the right sides. 25.q6 closed the right for sure. Then I tried my last puzzle: 26.o16. If white o19, then either 27.o19 28.q11 29.p15 30.p9 31.h10 32.g6 or 27.o19 28.q11 29.p9 30.q15 31.s14 32.r13 33.t12 34.s10 or the most complicated: 27.o19 28.q11 29.p9 30.q15 31.q14 32.p13 33.u11 34.t13 35.t14 36.r14 37.v13 38.t15 39.u16 40.u17 41.v18 42.s18 43.u21 44.v21 45.s22 46.t20, all winning for black, or in the first case at least giving a chance to black. Unfortunately Máté gave me no chance by playing |27.t17. The rest of the moves we just played for fun...;)
I hope Máté will add his comments as well.
|19.p19 20.o21 21.m20 22.p16 23.p15 24.q18 25.o17 26.n20 27.k21 28.j21 29.n22 30.n23 31.i22 32.m18 33.q21
or 26.l20 27.k21 28.j21 29.n18
or 22.n21 23.n22 24.m19 25.q21 or 24.q20 25.n18 26.o16 27.p17 28.p14 29.r13
or 22.o18 23.r18 24.p20 25.r22 26.s18 27.t17 28.q22 29.u19
or 22.o17 23.r18 24.s18 25.t17
or 22.l22 23.l23 24.n21 25.k21
or 22.p16 23.p15 24.o18 25.r18 26.p20 27.r22 28.s18 29.t17 30.q22 31.u19 or 30.r21 31.u19