James A. Cook vs. Niall, December 2010

Unfinished notes for game: http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/game/game.jsp?gid=1252463

Move 22: / F10 (G11) \ I10 (D11)                         I7 not needed (F8) F7 (G7) G6 (H6) G4 (B9) C2 [see below] \ G11 (F10) / -  - (D2) D7 (B7) C5, blue connects, red can play (F8), but looks like this works for blue? What if red plays (H4/G5/H5/I4), threatening an attack around (J2) before (F8)? Well, blue can play at F7 and just connect to I7 and win.

C11 (B12) D11 (B11) C9 (E10) C10 - (G11) - (A10), and a ladder C11 (D9 - cuts off E8 pieces fairly thoroughly) I10 (G11) C11 (B10) C9 (D11) - confusing...

D8s connection to both the top and the bottom? [E3/F2 - looking at C2? C2? - ignoring F2 too much?] H4 [protect against F2, sets up G6 related moves, like C9?] Can I get J5 in as a forcing move? J5 (J4) - looks bad for blue Red is in danger of playing J2 and chopping through the top. After red J2 blue can get to the E8 stones, but not to the left edge yet.

Move 20: D6 (C9? B7? D7? F4?) E4 (D5) C2 (D2) D6 (B7) C5 E4 (D5) C2 (B3) B2 (C3) F2 (D2) C9 (G11) F6 - looks good for blue E4 (D5) C2 (D2) D6 - seems to work for blue Red can pull out (J2) at any time - that looks like a big problem!

Problem is that if I play C9, red will play a testing move like (G8). If I play G7 red can play (I7) and I10 no longer threatens anything. So red can focus on the top, with something like (K4). Then when blue plays G11 red can answer at (E10), connecting to the bottom.

Move 18: E5 (F5) F2[say] (I4) I3 (B6) - looks good for red, F5 seems basically connected to top and bottom E5 (D6) D5 (B6) C7 (D8) C6 (B10) B8 - good for blue, red has no way to the top D5 (F4) - red seems to connect to the top and benefit substantially from this exchange. E4 (D5) G5 (B10) - good for red?

Move 14: C5? E8 (F8) F5 [looking at I4 and C5, or even D6, with E8?] E8 (F8) F7 (G7) G6 (H6) I4 - doesn't look like quite enough for blue? E8 (I7) H4 E10 (I7) I6 (J6) J5 (F8) F10 (G8) G11 (H11) - now (I7) forcing sequence connects red around to (F8)! - Bad for blue I7 (F8) D6 - doesn't connect to the left, can that be ok? F11 (D10) - goes badly for blue when red [later] plays E11

Move 12: Should arguably have been at J3, as this still connects with J11. Should always stretch as much as you can (Jonatan Rydh)

Move 10: I8?