The decisive moment
What were the decisive moments of the championship?
Well, the decisive moment came in the middle of the second game of the final.
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Black to move
Black: Takeshi Murakami
White: Brian Rose
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| Brian Rose (left) in the tense final.
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It was my turn to move. As he did every time it was my turn to move, Rose crumpled into the back of his chair, taking rest. He had slept little the night before, with his energy and concentration now on the verge of extinction. I was also tired, but still had some extra resources to keep me running; my mind was fixed on the board, whether it was my turn to move or not.
The position is close, and there are many reasonable options for black.
I think most good players would consider c1 first, which will flip c5 into
black, giving black a nice, quiet pair of moves to f8 and then f7. But I
had a different plan in mind, which will involve my making a highly
unpromising looking move after 6 moves (a move in Othello is a ply in
chess). That move would be discarded instantly by most of the good players,
but in this particular position it could work: it might limit white's
options considerably, and might give me a clearly winning position before
the endgame.
I carefully checked white's possible counters, looking at lines as far
as 15 moves ahead. I was finally convinced that it would work, and made the
move to e1.
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White to move
Rose stared at the board and began to think. He took only a minute to
make the next move, but it felt to me like an eternity. I knew Rose would consider d1 first. But it would allow me to play to c1, which would, as I described above, give me a nice pair of moves to f8 and f7.
I knew Rose would soon discard d1 and consider d2. Would he then discard d2 as well, seeing my rather unlikely edge grabbing attack in five moves? Or would he move to d2, deciding that such attack would not work, or simply not
realizing that such attack exists?
If Rose had been on his normal form, he would surely have sensed my
intention and avoided it. But he was so exhausted. He might also have been
rather disheartened, having lost the first game, in which he had a nearly
winning position but made a game-losing move at 55. It seemed there was a
high probability that Rose would step into my planned path. My heart
started to pound, and Rose did play to d2!
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White to move
Move 7 to b1. I don't think Rose had expected this move, because this
move will give black quite a precarious edge position to the north, which
looks vulnerable to various white attacks. But in this particular position,
this move 39 was a good move.
There were things Rose could do here or after
a couple of moves to complicate the situation, but he was now completely
drained. I was able to go through a rather easy endgame without much
trouble, winning the game 45-19.
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