This was my longest game ever. It happened in the same tournament with my 2nd longest game ever, so I wonder if it has something to do with the way I've been playing recently.
Anyway, my opponent wrote "as luck would have it..." on his resignation move. This made me wonder about the role of intimidation in Twixt.
Because, as luck would really have it, he resigned a winning position. Unless I missed something... Does anyone have a good response to |75.u6?
It's possible, by "as luck would have it...", he meant that if his response to |24.h4 had been |25.f4 instead of |25.e5, he would have had the win. And that's true. F4 was better than E5 here, because there's white gauntlet below E5, not much potential for a ladder chase, and F4 holds out the possibility of a connection with something on the right. Then again, I could have capped it (|25.f426.f327.e2) and then it wouldn't have ended up helping after all.
The win was also in his hands with |63.p464.o465.t4, a pattern from one of my puzzles. I was really toast as of move 61, and it would not have been unreasonable for me to resign. I needed multiple blunders from my opponent, and as luck would have it...
How'd I get myself into this mess? Well, he opened with unconventional moves, which is a good strategy against a stronger player. I found myself in a tough position. With my back against the wall, I managed to find daylight by move 41, but then I blundered badly. With |42.q15, a weird-looking move, I was just trying to set the stage for a more ordinary pattern, |43.o1544.q1945.q1846.r1747.p2048.o1949.n1950.p18, which I realized doesn't work, but only after I had submitted the move (coign connection thru o17). Then I started scrambling.
Without the blunder, I think my victory was well in hand. Here is a fictional ending to illustrate it. (There are many different variations. The point is that my position across the top was strong enough that I didn't really need Q15.) |42.q1943.q1844.o1845.s1946.p1647.q1548.o1549.q1150.r751.o552.o6
Anyway, my opponent wrote "as luck would have it..." on his resignation move. This made me wonder about the role of intimidation in Twixt.
Because, as luck would really have it, he resigned a winning position. Unless I missed something... Does anyone have a good response to |75.u6?
It's possible, by "as luck would have it...", he meant that if his response to |24.h4 had been |25.f4 instead of |25.e5, he would have had the win. And that's true. F4 was better than E5 here, because there's white gauntlet below E5, not much potential for a ladder chase, and F4 holds out the possibility of a connection with something on the right. Then again, I could have capped it (|25.f4 26.f3 27.e2) and then it wouldn't have ended up helping after all.
The win was also in his hands with |63.p4 64.o4 65.t4, a pattern from one of my puzzles. I was really toast as of move 61, and it would not have been unreasonable for me to resign. I needed multiple blunders from my opponent, and as luck would have it...
How'd I get myself into this mess? Well, he opened with unconventional moves, which is a good strategy against a stronger player. I found myself in a tough position. With my back against the wall, I managed to find daylight by move 41, but then I blundered badly. With |42.q15, a weird-looking move, I was just trying to set the stage for a more ordinary pattern, |43.o15 44.q19 45.q18 46.r17 47.p20 48.o19 49.n19 50.p18, which I realized doesn't work, but only after I had submitted the move (coign connection thru o17). Then I started scrambling.
Without the blunder, I think my victory was well in hand. Here is a fictional ending to illustrate it. (There are many different variations. The point is that my position across the top was strong enough that I didn't really need Q15.)
|42.q19 43.q18 44.o18 45.s19 46.p16 47.q15 48.o15 49.q11 50.r7 51.o5 52.o6