Michael Holmes Recent Games

[Michael Holmes]

[Event "2024 US GAYP"]
[Date ""]
[Black "Lubabalo Kondlo"]
[White "Michael Holmes"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
1. 11-15 22-18 2. 15x22 25x18 3. 8-11 29-25 4. 4-8 24-20 5. 10-14 28-24 6. 7-10 25-22 7.
12-16 24-19 8. 8-12 27-24 9. 3-7 30-25 10. 9-13 18x9 11. 5x14 22-18 12. 13-17 18x9 13. 6x13
21x14 14. 10x17 25-22 15. 7-10 22-18 16. 17-22 26x17 17. 13x22 31-27 18. 22-26 18-15 19.
11x18 23x7 20. 2x11 19-15 21. 11x18 20x11 22. 26-31 11-7 23. 31-26 7-2 24. 18-22 32-28
1/2-1/2


[Event "2024 US GAYP"]
[Date ""]
[Black "Michael Holmes"]
[White "Lubabalo Kondlo"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
1. 11-15 23-19 2. 8-11 22-17 3. 11-16 24-20 4. 16x23 27x11 5. 7x16 20x11 6. 3-7 28-24 7.
7x16 24-20 8. 16-19 25-22 9. 10-15 17-13 10. 4-8 29-25 11. 2-7 21-17 12. 7-10 20-16 13.
19-23 26x19 14. 15x24 22-18 15. 12x19 17-14 16. 10x17 25-22 17. 17x26 30x16 18. 8-12 16-11
19. 6-10 13x6 20. 10-15 6-2 21. 15x22 2-7 22. 1-6 32-28 23. 5-9 28x19 24. 9-13 7-2 25. 6-9
2-6 26. 22-25 11-7 27. 25-30 7-2 28. 9-14 6-9 29. 14-17 9-14 30. 17-21 2-6 31. 13-17 14-18
32. 21-25 6-10 33. 17-22 1/2-1/2

[Michael Holmes]

[Event "2024 US GAYP"]
[Date ""]
[Black "Jack Francis"]
[White "Michael Holmes"]
[Result "0-1"]
1. 11-15 22-18 2. 15x22 25x18 3. 9-13 29-25 4. 12-16 25-22 5. 16-20 24-19 6. 5-9 28-24 7.
8-11 30-25 8. 10-14 18-15 9. 11x18 22x15 10. 4-8 32-28 11. 1-5 15-10 12. 6x15 19x10 13.
14-18 23x14 14. 9x18 26-22 15. 7x14 22x15 16. 14-18 15-10 17. 5-9 24-19 18. 9-14 19-16 19.
8-11 16x7 20. 2x11 10-6 21. 13-17 31-26 22. 11-15 6-2 23. 15-19 2-6 24. 20-24 27x20 25.
18-23 25-22 26. 23x30 22x13 0-1

And the next game is the Excalibur. I am not sure why Jack chose this line.
[Event "2024 US GAYP "]
[Date ""]
[Black "Michael Holmes"]
[White "Jack Francis"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
1. 11-15 22-17 2. 9-13 17-14 3. 10x17 21x14 4. 6-10 25-21 5. 10x17 21x14 6. 2-6
{The Excalibur cook! Old play said to be weak but it is not} 26-22 7. 8-11 30-25 8.
6-10 14-9 9. 5x14 22-18 10. 15x22 25x9 11. 10-14 29-25 {Up to this move played identical as M. Holmes vs. Don Cadogan 2004 Barbados.} 12. 14-17 25-22 13. 17x26 31x22 14. 11-15 23-19 15. 4-8 19x10 16. 7x14 24-19 17. 8-11 {14-17 is about the same in strength. plus 18 for red} 28-24 18. 14-17 22-18 19. 11-16 {Up to this move played identical as M. Holmes vs. Moiseyev 2004 TN.} 18-15 20. 16x23 27x18 21. 12-16 18-14 22. 17-22 14-10 23. 22-26 24-20 24. 16-19 10-6 25. 1x10 15x6 26. 26-31 6-2 1/2-1/2

[Michael Holmes]

I was fortunate enough to have played the 2-6 line against others such as Rawle Allicock, T. Howell, Mr. Frederick, and Oliver Whitford.

[Michael Holmes]

This next game I won on time.
[Event "2024 US GAYP"]
[Date ""]
[Black "Mark Sokolosky"]
[White "Michael Holmes"]
[Result "0-1"]
1. 11-15 22-18 2. 15x22 25x18 3. 12-16 29-25 4. 16-20 25-22 5. 10-14 24-19 6. 6-10 18-15
7. 14-18 15x6 8. 18x25 21-17 9. 1x10 30x21 10. 9-13 23-18
{Here I played the better looking 28-24 vs. Richard Beckwith in the US 2022 National.}
11. 13x22 26x17 12. 20-24 27x20 13. 10-15 18x11 14. 7x23 17-14 15. 8-11 14-10 16. 11-15
21-17 17. 15-18 17-13 18. 18-22 10-6 19. 2x9 13x6 20. 23-26 6-1 21. 5-9 20-16 22. 26-30 1-6
23. 9-13 16-11 24. 13-17 32-27 25. 17-21 27-23 26. 21-25 31-27 27. 25-29 23-18 28. 30-26
18-14 29. 22-25 6-10 30. 25-30 11-7 31. 4-8 14-9 32. 8-12 27-24 33. 26-23 24-20 34. 30-25
7-2 35. 23-18 2-6 36. 18-23 9-5 37. 3-8 5-1 38. 8-11 1-5 39. 23-19 5-9 40. 11-15 9-14 41.
19-24 28x19 42. 15x24 14-17 43. 24-27 10-15 44. 27-31 17-21 45. 25-30 6-9 46. 31-26 9-14
47. 26-23 14-10 48. 23-26 15-19 49. 26-31 10-15 50. 31-26 19-24 51. 26-23 0-1

[Michael Holmes]

[Event "2024 US GAYP"]
[Date ""]
[Black "Michael Holmes"]
[White "Mark Sokolosky"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
1. 9-14 22-18 2. 5-9 25-22 3. 11-16 18-15 4. 10x19 24x15 5. 7-10 27-24 6. 10x19 24x15 7.
16-19 23x16 8. 12x19 22-17 9. 14-18 29-25 10. 9-13 17-14 11. 8-12 15-11 12. 18-23 25-22
13. 3-7 31-27 14. 7x16 27x18 15. 19-23 26x19 16. 16x23 14-10 17. 6x15 18x11 18. 1-6 28-24
19. 12-16 24-19 20. 16-20 19-15 21. 20-24 22-18 22. 24-27 11-8 23. 4x11 15x8 24. 27-31 8-3
25. 31-26 3-8 26. 26-22 18-14 27. 22-18 14-9 28. 13-17 21x14 29. 6x13 14-9 30. 18-15 9-5
31. 13-17 5-1 32. 17-22 1-5 1/2-1/2

[Michael Holmes]

My toughest game I played was against Alan Millhone. He almost convinced me to stop playing the single corner with white. That game I will annotate and publish in a few weeks. It was the only game I had in the 2024 National where I was concerned about my position.