Round 1 of 2016 US Tak Open

This past week featured the first round of the 2016 US Tak Open. As this is only the first week, players are only just beginning to distinguish themselves.  The top 37 players are currently undefeated. This puts the pressure on them even more to keep their scores up to ensure a place in the top 32 by the end of the Swiss-style stage. The middle 74 won one game, but not the other putting, meaning their match win or loss was determined by the individual game scores and tie-breaker rules. Both these individuals and the bottom 37 will have to up their game if they want a chance at the coveted top 32.



The individual player rankings are listed on Toornament and in the following widget:



So far, most of the games have been road wins. This is likely due to the mixing of experienced and novice players. As the more experienced players face off, we'll likely see a greater number of flat games.  Of the games this past week, I wanted to highlight one particular game:

filippos314 v Unsweet

In particular, I wanted to highlight a particular position:

[1. a1 a5 2. b4 c4 3. b3 Cc3 4. b5 c5 5. b2']

This position, while perhaps not too common, has a lot of features of an intermediate-level game. For one, we see that both black and white are working towards clear road threats, though in parallel. In addition, black has placed a fairly early capstone at the board's central square, giving it a good influence point.

Where this position interests me, and I think is valuable for players in general, is to consider black's options from here. Most players, hopefully, should be able to spot that black needs to respond to white's immediate tak threat at b1. There are, however, a number of ways that black can do so. Black could place a flat at b1, or make a capture from the c-file to the b-file. Note however, that either c5< or c4< would have an easy defense by white to retain the power of the current road threat. So, this leaves b1 and c3<.

I suspect that certain players might assume that a flat at b1 would be preferable, since placing a flat is generally better than making a capture move. In this case, however, placing a flat probably isn't strong enough. After 5. ... b1, then white can easily follow with 6. c2'!, renewing his tak, while interfering with black's progress and gaining some influence in the center:

[5. ... b1 6. c2'!]

In contrast, by capturing with c3<. black directly interferes with white's progress towards a road, preventing white from continuing to build this threat. As a result, white is forced to extemporize and either respond to black's threat (cutting at c3) or find some other way to develop.