OH 2010

[Michael Holmes]

My best win of the tournament was against the veteran Louis Cowie.

[Event "2010 OH 9-14 23-19 14-18"]
[Date ""]
[Black "Michael Holmes"]
[White "Louis Cowie"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. 9-14 23-19 2. 14-18 22x15 3. 11x18 26-23 4. 10-14 24-20 5. 6-10 25-22
{31-26 draws. This move loses.} 6. 18x25 29x22 7. 8-11 31-26 8. 5-9
{While the natural 11-15 allows a draw this unlikely move is the only one that wins.}
27-24 9. 11-15 19-16 10. 12x19 23x16 11. 14-18 30-25 12. 10-14 16-11 13. 7x16 20x11 14.
9-13 24-20 15. 3-8 28-24 16. 1-6 24-19 17. 15x24 22x15 18. 8-12 1-0

[william]

Nice win Michael

my sincere congratulations on a fine result!!

probably the best deserved result for anyone this year!!

William

[rich beckwith]

OK, my turn for an express Ohio game:

[Black "Alex Moiseyev"][White "Rich Beckwith"]

11-16 23-18 7-11 18-15 11x18 22x15 10x19 24x15 3-7 (A) 28-24 16-19 24-20 (B) 6-10 (C) 15x6 1x10 32-28 12-16 20x11 8x15 25-22 4-8 27-24 10-14 (D) 24-20 14-18 21-17 18x25 29x22 7-10 20-16 8-12 16-11 12-16 11-8 16-20 8-3 19-24 28x19 15x24 3-8 24-27 31x24 20x27 17-13 9-14 22-18 14x23 26x19 Draw


(A) Some texts recommend 9-14 over 3-7 (with 28-24 reply), but 3-7 is also sound.

(B) This position was reached by a Dundee opening at recent 2010 U.S. National (Hallett-Webster) by 12-16 24-20 8-12 28-24 3-8 23-18 16-19 24x15 10x19 18-15 11x18 22x15 same.

(C) Basic Checkers gives only 9-14 here. I’m not aware of any published game with this 6-10 move, but it seems to draw fine in conjunction with the upcoming 12-16 trade, as this game shows.

(D) Correctly played (2-6 also draws), but 9-14 loses by the 21-17 & 22-18 combo.

[Alex_Moiseyev]

Perhaps I should name this article: "Ending decides everythng!". Instead Rich and Michael who posted full complete text of game with professional annotations, I am giving here with diagrams collection of middle-game and ending positions in OH 2010.

Rd.6, G1, A. Moiseyev vs A. Millhone

#1. White to move .................. #2. White to move, red wins
...
20-16? loses

See diagram #1. During and right after the game me and Alan thought that loss in this game came later but a trully amazing fact is that 20-16? which Alan played here already loses! After 20-16 the game continued: 12x19, 23x16, 2-7 ... Here I saw that ending after shot which Alan played, loses and without shot somehow my position is still very promising. But in fact thios position after 20-16 trade is already full complete loss for white. Anyway ... 21-17, 14x21, 30-25, 21x30, 16-12, 30x23, 27x2, 9-14 - see diagram #2. Red wins this position due to right move. After crowing the King red should go through single (not double!) corner and wins the game.

Rd. 6, G2, A. Millhone vs A. Moiseyev

#3. Red to move and draw.

23-27*

Here Alan resigned and I can't say that I was very disappointed with this After we shaked hands, I showed him that 23-27 temporairly pitch saved the game because eventually after few moves red captures an extra man back.

Rd. 5, G1, L. Cowie vs A. Moiseyev

#4. White to move and win. ....... #5. Red to move and draw.
...
20-16* wins, 9-6? draw ............. 28-32* draw, 12-16? loses

In position on diagram #4 I played mistakenly 9-6 and allowed Louis to escape after 3-7. Instead, 20-16 easy wins the game after crowing the second and eventually all 4 Kings and holding two red mans on 3 and 12. After trade, Louis played ending correctly - crowned the second King and placed it on square 21 - well known to publish play classic ending. Eventually, after I tried all tricks, we came to position on diagram #5. Here 28-32 still draws, but Louis played 12-16? and lost the game even having a move! After 12-16? game continued: 30-26*, 28-32, 27-24, 16-20, 24-28, 32-27, 28-32, 27-24, 26-23 WW

And finally the game with my good friend Neil Wenberg.

Rd. 1, G2, A. Moiseyev vs N. Wenberg

I am using here an oppotunity and chance to apologise to Neil for playing obviously drawn position. Neil played this game exceptionally well and was awarded by getting an easy drawn ending - 2 kings in double corner + man on 31 against my 3 Kings. See diagram #6

#6. White to move and draw.

27-24* draw, 2-7* loses

After "fooling around" for many moves I provoked Neil to move one of his Kings out of double corner (he shouldn't do this) and placed one my King on square 1. Before position on diagram #6 Neil played 31-27, 11-16. In position on diagram 27-24 was still a rdaw (easy), but Neil played 2-7??? an lost after 16-19.

Usually I don't play such positions but in this game I was a bit disappointed with Neil outstanding play in the middle of game and I still continued trying something.

I hope Neil forgive me - we all are humans only. I am giving him all credits for his play in this game.

Regards,

Alex

[JohnAcker]

Well, I had a tough tournament, and didn't play any particularly spectacular games. I did, however, find a nice tactic to simplify a Cross ending vs. Steve Holliday: red to move and win.

My most memorable game, though, was a draw with Alex, which was only the second game I've managed to draw with him in tournament play.

[Event "OH 2010"]
[Date "2010-09-11"]
[Black "John Acker"]
[White "Alex Moiseyev"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
1. 9-14 24-19 2. 5-9 22-18 3. 11-15 18x11 4. 8x24 28x19 5. 4-8 25-22 6. 8-11 22-18 7. 10-15 19x10 8. 6x22 26x10 9. 7x14 29-25 10. 3-7 25-22 11. 9-13 23-19 [23-18 is stronger] 12. 7-10 22-18 13. 14x23 27x18 [Perhaps seeking simplification, as we were both at the end of a long day.] 14. 11-16 31-26 15. 16x23 26x19 16. 1-6 32-27 17. 2-7 27-23 18. 13-17 21x14 19. 10x17 18-14 20. 17-22 23-18 21. 6-10 14-9 22. 7-11 Draw agreed. No doubt the basic line here was an old one, but I was very relieved to find the draw crossboard.

[Jay H]

Well, I had a tough tournament, and didn't play any particularly spectacular games. I did, however, find a nice tactic to simplify a Cross ending vs. Steve Holliday: red to move and win.

Awesome John .....who said these endgame tactics are just good for problem solving ??? Stuff like this just does not come up too often in x-board play....
Just a question ,what was Steve's last move prior to this setting.....?

Regards

Jay H

[JohnAcker]

Steve had just moved 8-4, Jay.

[jaguar72]

[quote="JohnAcker"]Well, I had a tough tournament, and didn't play any particularly spectacular games. I did, however, find a nice tactic to simplify a Cross ending vs. Steve Holliday: red to move and win.

Very pretty indeed, John.

V/R,

Gary Jenkins/jaguar72

[Jay H]

Steve had just moved 8-4, Jay.

Thanx John.....looks like the game was lost even before that,...but, what a way to put a game away....NICE !!!

Regards

Jay H

[Michael Holmes]

This was my hardest draw of the tourney. I had the white side so I felt I could experiment a little. Louis played strong moves and forced me to be careful on the ending.
[Event "2010 OH 9-14 23-19 14-18"]
[Date ""]
[Black "Louis Cowie"]
[White "Michael Holmes"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
1. 9-14 23-19 2. 14-18 22x15 3. 11x18 26-22 4. 7-11 22x15 5. 11x18 21-17 6. 3-7 25-21
{31-26 is standard but this is a good secondary.} 7. 8-11 29-25 8. 11-16 31-26
{Gives up any advantage white may have.} 9. 16x23 26x19 10. 4-8 30-26 11. 6-9 19-16 12.
12x19 24x6 13. 1x10 17-13 14. 9-14 26-22 15. 2-6 22x15 16. 10x19 25-22 17. 7-11 22-17 18.
14-18 27-24 19. 18-23 24x15 20. 11x18 28-24
{A draw was offered and accepted. I dont find any better play than white playing 31-26 at move 6 instead of any other move.}
1/2-1/2