Bushka

Game 5 of a 'best of 19' match - not counting draws - between

Christiaan Freeling (NL), white, and Anneke Treep (NL), black.

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Here's the old dispute between Anneke and me about her defence against 1. f25-c64, 2. ed3. She won our first game with it and lost the second.
1. f25c64
2. ed3cd4
3. hxe4f87
4. f3x6d6e5x Anneke's particular defence against the f25 opening.
5. g56ad5
6. d2x4bc4x
7. h67In 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.
f98Black 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 defence.
9. hg7cxf7
10. f4x6e96
11. jh6bc6
12. h57cd6
13. d45xd8x6Threatening 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. h68cd5!Threatening e54 (e1x3) d5f4x.
15. gf4Again 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. e1x3Takes precedence over gxe6.
d5e4xWatch this fella!
17. gxe6Phalanx-capture takes precedence.
e4f3xAin'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. hg7dxf7
19. f45f34x
20. f6xbd4White has used a last resource to eliminate the most acute danger. Black blocks the man on e6.
21. ih5c43
22. hg5g98
23. gf5cd3Maybe f09 would have been better; white now has a 2x2 exchange that is precisely enough to draw.
24. ed6d3x5
25. f5e6xe87x
26. fe6f09
27. ih6ef7White cannot move e67, because of g87.
28. h67fg7x
29. ih7xg87To contain the white man on e6.
30. hg8f98
31. h78White is down to his last move, but now so is black! Please release me, let me go ...
d43And 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. ed6de3
33. dc6ef3
34. cb6 kingfg3 king
35. c64g35
36. bf4Black offers a draw. White accepts.

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[Game 1:  0-1]
[Game 2:  0-1]
[Game 3:  1-0]
[Game 4:  draw]
[Game 5:  draw]
[Game 6:  in progress]