Buggy - Samb game 6
Buggy - Samb 2-0 (15.03.2003)
In the last game of the second set, Samb had to win to stay in the match.
≡ 1.31-26 20-25 2.37-31 15-20 3.41-37 10-15 4.31-27 17-22 5.36-31
Brand new openings theory! This position doesn't appear in TurboDambase yet. This is not too surprising, since the symmetric answer 20-25 is already quite unusual. The good news is that it promises to be an interesting game after Samb's next move.
22-28 6.33x22 16-21 7.26x17 12x21 8.27x16 18x36 9.39-33 13-18 10.44-39 5-10 11.50-44 9-13 12.34-30 25x34 13.39x30 19-24 14.30x19 13x24 15.40-34 8-13 16.46-41 4-9 17.34-30 14-19 18.30-25 10-14 19.44-39 2-8 20.45-40 8-12 21.32-28
Finally Buggy takes possession of one of the squares 27 and 28 (or even 29 in an earlier stage). Postponing this decision was not a bad idea, since that would have given Samb a target for a long term strategy (and that is what computer programs are typically not good at). In this position Samb played the remarkable move 3-8?! The objective of this move was undoubtedly to prevent white from playing 22.39-34 due to the combination 18-22 23.28x17 12x21 24.16x27 24-30 25.35x24 19x28 B+. Indeed after ≡ 11-17 or - especially - after ≡ 18-23 the move 22.39-34 would have been satisfactory for white.
Here ≡ 11-17 was not attractive, since white can already play 23.42-37 6-11 24.32-27 17-21 25.27-22 18x27 26.28-23 19x28 27.33x31 36x27 28.38-32 27x38 29.16x27 with a little advantage.
At all costs black has to prevent white from developing the center pieces after ≡ 11-17 24.28-22 17x28 25.33x22.
≡ 24.37-31 36x27 25.32x21 23x32 26.38x27 18-23 27.42-37 8-12 28.37-31
Buggy tries to disturb the development of the black right wing with a very unusual strategy. The main idea is of course that 11-17 ? is prevented by 29.16-11 17x37 30.11x2 . And the exchange 12-17 has the drawback that the piece distribution of black becomes very uneven.
An interesting moment: after 11-17 white can not play 31.16-11 17x37 32.11x2 because of the black reply 1-7 33.2x16(?) 37-42 34.48x37 6-11 35.16x18 13x44! However, Buggy has prepared another combination with ≡ 11-17 31.27-22 17x37 32.22-18 13x22 33.48-42 37x48 34.39-34 48x30 35.35x4 W+. In this position Samb could have speculated on a nice combination after 23-28 31.49-43 ? 28-33 32.39x28 19-23 33.28x17 11x22 34.27x18 29-33 35.38x29 7-11 36.16x7 1x45 . But a computer will surely not miss that, and besides that for a black player that must win the game, the continuation 31.40-34 29x40 32.35x44 28-32 33.39-33 32x43 34.48x39 would not be attractive.
≡ 15-20 31.40-34 29x40 32.35x44 20-24 33.44-40 24-29 34.48-43!
To eliminate combinations for black after 11-17 35.16-11. With his next move Samb simplifies the position. Effectively this means that he has lost the match, since it is unlikely that a computer will lose the remaining position. But keeping the tension would probably have been more dangerous for black than for white. For example after ≡ 19-24 35.39-33 13-19 36.31-26 11-17? white can take a spectacular combination with 37.25-20! 14x25 38.33-28 23x32 39.38-33 29x38 40.27-22 17x28 41.21-17 12x21 42.16x27 32x21 43.43x3 W+
≡ 12-17 35.21x12 7x18 36.16x7 1x12 37.40-35 6-11 38.31-26 19-24 39.38-32 12-17 40.27-21 14-19 41.21x12 18x7 42.26-21 9-14 43.47-42 14-20 44.25x14 19x10 45.43-38 10-14 46.42-37 13-18 47.37-31
The position is completely equal now. But Samb had only spared a few seconds for his last couple of moves. And there is a small problem for black: after 14-20 white can attack the piece on 23 using 48.39-33 followed by 33-28. Of course there are several solutions for this problem, but it might be that Samb has spent his last seconds on this.
≡ 14-20 48.31-26 20-25 49.39-33 29-34 50.33-28
And although in this position Samb played the correct move 34-39, he was one second short of pressing the button of the clock. And so the disaster became complete for Samb. Not only did he lose this last game on time, he also didn't manage to get Buggy into problems in any of the games!
© Wieger Wesselink https://10x10.org