Game: watsu vs. karlw 05/19/2019
Posted:
May 19, 2019, 9:36 AM
I think this is definitely one of, if not THE toughest Boat wins I've had as P1.
Pretty standard opening moves from the Pente DB to begin with, then 8. J6 takes us into uncharted waters. I like the idea of a pair exchange in this position, but Karl instead comes up with the unexpected and very challenging 8. ... M8!! which may well have been the move to sink my boat game, had things gone a bit differently.
After several hours of analysis of the position after 9. ... K7 I finally decide to quit playing Karl in rated Boat games
and with my analysis far from complete I roll on... Aside from 12. ... P7 13. Q6, the line proceeds one of the ways I had played it through in analysis.
After 19. P11, I'm pretty sure I'm done for if Karl plays 19. ... S10! My 11 line is ripped to shreds in Boat rules and I can't really come up with any offense apart from that without a preliminary move like J13. 19. ... O6 will probably work out too or S10 can be followed with O6. I analysed O6 a bit before I saw the possibilities for S10 and thought I could handle it with Boat rules, but I suspect now that my initial analysis was suspect.
20. R11 looks like it may go down fighting against 19. ... S10! at an 8-8 capture score, but it couldn't quite find the fifth capture on the line I played out this morning. Other lines may fare better or worse, IDK.
However, Karl plays 19. ... L7 and continues along a line I explored before I gave up analysing the position and I think it's smooth sailing until he plays 23. ... Q11 which threatens to win by pairs if I try for a 5 with the stones I've got going on the H line.
25. H5! avoids the fifth capture off my five by moving it down one line and puts some more pair taking potential on my side if Karl tries to interfere.
And we end the game with a ninuki renju draw (which is a P1 win here in Boat) but of course the game would have played out differently with ninuki renju rules.
There are a lot of what ifs for P1 after 8. ... M8, but so far while I've found some interesting and exciting end games, I've seen nothing which looks winning for P1. An awesome move by Karl, highly unintuitive - it just looks wrong - and yet it may lead to a sure P2 win with boat rules.
Message was edited by: watsu at May 20, 2019 9:36 AM
Retired from TB Pente, but still playing live games & exploring variants like D, poof and boat
