Here's the old dispute between Anneke and me about her defense against 1. f25-c64, 2. ed3.
She won our first game with it and lost
the third.
| 1. f25 | c64 |
| 2. ed3 | cd4 |
| 3. hxe4 | f87 |
| 4. f3x6 | d6e5x |
Anneke's particular defense against the f25 opening. |
| 5. g56 | ad5 |
| 6. d2x4 | bc4x |
7. h67
 | | In our third game the same position was reached, and 7. ... d76?? turned out catastrophic.
White wins two men with 8. gf6-de6x 9. fe4-cd4x 10. dc3 (to create the necessary phalanx
on the 4-line) -c54x 11. gf4-ce4x 12. e1x3, wiping of a six-men phalanx.
With this move out, black's options seem limited to manoeuvring in the backfield
on the left side. |
| b54 |
| 8. d34! | | White threatens d45, initiating the very combination
mentioned above. Exchange over the d-line allows the same combination with
worse effect. Black cannot block with cd5 either because e23 loses two man. |
| f98 | Black must sacrifice a man to protect the e-line.
This man is won on strategical grounds, not because of a tactical mistake. It is up to Anneke
to show that the white strategy is not a refutation of this defense. |
| 9. hg7 | cxf7 |
| 10. f4x6 | e96 |
| 11. jh6 | bc6 |
| 12. h57 | cd6 |
| 13. d45x | d8x6 | Threatening to win a man with ef8 and f09.
This man would have a price tag attached to it: white can promote on f0 in a few moves,
so it is not at all sure black would go for the man. But I'm a woodgrabber anyway so I'll spoil the option.
I'd rather promote and still be a man up. |
| 14. h68 | cd5! | Threatening e54 (e1x3) d5f4x. |
| 15. gf4 | | Again a forced move (f57 seems premature). |
| e64! | After pointing out that e54 also wins a man
(after the exchange black has a T-strike with e65; ironically this is less spectacular, but
more solid), Anneke initiates a surprising combination that wins a man, leaves her with
considerable positional advantage, and is very instructive in terms of priorities of
capture.
All capture is of course obligatory. In the rules you can see that 'phlanx-capture',
(capture with a phalanx), always takes precedence over 'piece-capture',
(capture with a piece).
Within either principle, maximum capture takes precedence. Now what have we here. |
| 16. e1x3 | | Takes precedence over gxe6. |
| d5e4x | Watch this fella! |
| 17. gxe6 | | Phalanx-capture takes precedence. |
| e4f3x | Ain't that a beauty. Note that white cannot
immediately capture the man on f3 with f45. That is: actually he can if he wants to lose the game:
18. f45??-f34x 19. f65x-ef7 20. ixg7-e8f6x and goodbye. |
| 18. hg7 | dxf7 |
| 19. f45 | f34x |
| 20. f6x | bd4 | White has used a last resource to eliminate
the most acute danger. Black blocks the man on e6. |
| 21. ih5 | c43 |
| 22. hg5 | g98 |
| 23. gf5 | cd3 | Maybe f09 would have been better;
white now has a 2x2 exchange that is precisely enough to draw. |
| 24. ed6 | d3x5 |
| 25. f5e6x | e87x |
| 26. fe6 | f09 |
| 27. ih6 | ef7 | White cannot move e67, because of g87. |
| 28. h67 | fg7x |
| 29. ih7x | g87 | To contain the white man on e6. |
| 30. hg8 | f98 |
| 31. h78 | | White is down to his last move, but now so
is black! Please release me, let me go ... |
| d43 | And so she does. At this point white offers a draw.
Black does not accept. I must point out that, generally, one needs tree kings to trap a lone king. |
| 32. ed6 | de3 |
| 33. dc6 | ef3 |
| 34. cb6 king | fg3 king |
| 35. c64 | g35 |
| 36. bf4 | | DRAW. |