Dalton Games

Here are a couple games I played at the Dalton tournament. In a six-round tournament, of course, every win is important, but I picked these two because they kept me in the running. The first game, from Round 2-- as it turned out, our last round on Friday-- put me in position to square off against Rich Beckwith the next morning, and the second game salvaged a drawn round vs. Kenny Miller, putting me in contention to win the tournament.

[Event "2010 Dalton OH Tournament"]
[Date "2010-08-20"]
[Red "Keim, Aden"]
[White "Acker, John"]
[Result "0-1"]
1. 11-15 23-19 2. 8-11 22-17 3. 9-14 25-22 4. 11-16 24-20 5. 16x23 27x11 6. 7x16 20x11 7. 3-7 28-24 8. 7x16 24-20 9. 16-19 29-25 10. 4-8

A standard Glasgow, which I didn't really expect to see much in the tournament since it leads to so many quick draws. Especially after 4-8 (instead of the more aggressive 5-9 or 19-24), I was ready for a rest game, and suspected that my opponent was testing my PP knowledge.


10... 22-18 11. 14x23 17-14 12. 10x17 21x14

To my surprise, after I played this standard continuation (Martins' Rest), my opponent declared that he'd never seen it before, and the rest of the match was marked by his running commentary on how unsure he was of the next move.

13. 8-11 31-27

Cake recommends delaying this with 25-22 first, then 11-15 31-27 6-9 and after the jumps both sides can break through to king, for a simple draw. I had it in my head that 8-11 was a loss, though, so decided to retrieve the piece immediately. Instead of 8-11, 2-7 is of course a well-known draw.

14. 19-24 27x18 15. 12-16 25-21 16. 16-19 21-17

By this point I was completely crossboard, but saw that red would eventually have to pitch to get a king. So, I decided to attack the man on 8, and started looking for opportunities to pitch myself in the double corner.

17. 24-28 17-13 18. 19-24

The 6-9 shot is perfectly safe-- at least with Cake's ending database in hand! Though the position is still even, I think once I pitched the man and moved in for a king I got a psychological edge.

18...13-9 19. 6x13 14-10 20. 2-6 10-7 21. 6-10 7-3 22. 10-14 18x9 23. 5x14 3-7

10-14 loses, as the resulting bridge ending will prove untenable.

24. 11-15 7-11 25. 15-18

If 14-18, 26-22 etc and 18-14 lead to an easy white win.

25...11-15 26. 24-27 15x22 27. 27-31 26-23

20-16 leads to a winning bridge ending in Cake's database, but I didn't seriously consider it since I saw an easier path this way.

28. 31-27 30-25 29. 27x18 22x15 30. 14-17 25-21 31. 17-22 15-18 32. 22-26 20-16 33. 26-31 16-11 34. 31-26 11-7 35. 26-31 7-2 36. 31-26 2-7 37. 26-31 18-22 38. 1-6 22-18 39. 31-26 7-2 40. 6-9 etc White Wins.

Red has a few ways to vary, but the idea of holding the red men on the left side of the board is the same. Later review showed that I had a few simpler wins in the ending, but I liked the elegance of restricting the king's movement and forcing the single men to advance.

[Event "2010 Dalton OH Tournament"]
[Date "2010-08-21"]
[Red "Acker, John"]
[White "Miller, Kenny"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. 11-15 23-19 2. 9-14 22-17 3. 6-9 17-13 4. 2-6

The Souter, an opening I've been favoring lately. Kenny had beaten me with the red side of this when I misremembered the proper way to meet a published midgame pitch, so I was glad to get another chance to play it.

4...25-22 5. 8-11 22-17 6. 14-18 27-23 7. 18x27 32x23

The 22-17 advance is sound (see Carl Reno's The Work of the Pentium), but Reno doesn't give play on this 27-23. Instead, he recommends 26-23 4-8 23-14 9-18 and 27-23, returning to his main trunk line.

8. 4-8 26-22

Red is already strong after 4-8, but 26-22 is an outright loss.

9. 15-18 23x14 10. 9x25 29x22 11. 11-15

Here I overlooked the much simpler 11-16 runoff, as white will eventually have to trade 19-15 into the double.

11...31-26 (30-26 draws) 12. 5-9 (15-18 22-15 7-11 RW) 26-23 13. 9-14 24-20 14. 15x24 28x19 15. 10-15 19x10 16. 6x15 17x10 17. 7x14 22-17 18. 15-18 17x10
19. 18x27 13-9 20. 27-31 9-6 21. 31-27 6-2 22. 27-23 21-17

White had equalized the position, but 21-17?? goes into a losing bridge ending.

23. 23-18 30-25 24. 8-11 17-13 25. 18-14 2-7 26. 14-17 7x16 27. 12x19 20-16 28. 17-14 Red Wins.

I hope you've enjoyed these games!