hielco vs. SEKERTZIS Championship game Recap hielco was red. hielco started with tentative advances on the flanks while SEK advanced pieces in the middle. SEK determined that hielco intended to mount an offensive on the left flank, so abandoned any plan to attack in middle. Tentative action on each side resulted in losses of 7s and 9s. Cpts traded on hielco’s left. Action then switched to hielco’s right resulting in another exchange of Cpts. At the 100 move mark, all of the offense had been supplied by hielco on the flanks and SEK had been unable to bait hielco into any middle action.
Shortly thereafter, hielco attacked in middle with scout, opening up all three lanes. hielco moved 4 pieces toward the middle. hielco advanced in the middle and his left while SEK shuffled pieces defensively. SEK attacked on hielco’s right, losing a Cpt to a higher ranking piece. After 200 moves, piece losses stood at 2 Cpts and 1 Lt for hielco to 3 Cpt loss for SEK. hielco had lost 5 scouts to 4 scouts and a Sgt for SEK. hielco had 1 known piece that was at least a major or higher. No bombs had yet been found.
Apparently, shortly thereafter, hielco scouted SEK’s Marshall with a Sgt in the middle, which led to the first really critical exchanges of the game. hielco pressured SEK’s formation by bringing pieces down his left flank and the middle setting up for a trap type offense behind SEK’s lake. At 280 moves, hielco attacked on SEK’s second row back, behind SEK’s lake on the left with a lone piece (subsequently confirmed to me by hielco to be his Gen), striking and killing an unseen major (see figure 1).
Figure 1
SEK had nothing to counter with since his Marshall was known. hielco left his Gen in place, severely restricting SEK’s ability to maneuver to the middle or approach his own right flank. At 300 moves, hielco had lost 2 Cpts and a Lt to SEK’s 1 Major and 3 Cpts. hielco was down a Sgt and Miner and up a Scout but with a known Gen which was in SEK’s backfield.
With the middle and hielco’s left flank now gummed up, attention shifted to hielco’s right flank where unknown Cols traded. At the 400 move mark, both players had lost a Col, SEK had lost a Major, SEK had lost 3 Cpts to hielco’s 2 Cpts, hielco was down 2 Lts to none, Sgts were even, hielco was down a single Miner, and hielco had 2 scouts remaining to SEK’s 1.
Tentative shuffling now occurred for around 100 moves until SEK finally got what he had been looking for the entire game—attacks in the middle. But, hielco had apparently acquired enough information by this point to successfully blunt SEK’s ability to gain advantage. Marshalls traded in the middle.
Cols traded on hielco’s left flank at move 577. At 583, the second really critical exchange of the game occurred. SEK advanced two pieces down hielco’s right flank. hielco killed a Sgt with a Major, but then lost the Major by attacking SEK’s unknown Gen (see figure 2). This evened things up significantly from a power and knowledge perspective.
Figure 2
At move 670, SEK’s 2 4 4 were known as were hielco’s 2 4 4. The focus of the game for both players became a contest of picking off lower pieces by trapping at opposite ends of the board. Hielco had 2 4 5 5 6 6 to SEK’s 2 4 5 6 6 6. hielco had an extra Sgt to SEK’s extra Miner. hielco had one scout remaining to SEK’s none. Generals traded at 677.
By move 738, hielco had 4 5 6 to SEK’s 4 6 6. hielco had 7 8 8 8 to SEK’s 8 8 8 8. SEK traded Majors at move 750 and made an offensive move down hielco’s left flank. hielco abandoned his middle offense to defend.
At 801, the third critical exchange of the game occurred. SEK attempted to trade miners, but hielco had bluffed his Sgt resulting in a loss of miner for SEK (see figure 3).
Figure 3
hielco now had 5 7 8 8 8, to 6 8 8 8 for SEK. Both players appeared to have bomb/flag triangles just off center in back. SEK’s 6 was trapped in the middle by hielco’s presumed Cpt forcing SEK to defend Miner advances with Miners. hielco got down to 5 7 8 vs 6 8. SEK had to use his last Miner to try to achieve a draw by trading miners. SEK then must have miscounted squares and got his last Miner trapped by hielco’s 5 7 which allowed hielco to advance his Miner down the middle (protected by the Cpt) to start striking SEK’s apparent bomb/flag triangle. All was not as it seemed though, as hielco continued to hit bomb after bomb with his Miner (see figure 4). The end was unavoidable though, as it was only a matter of time until the miner found the flag in the last unmoved square on the board.
Figure 4