Studies in XF Lerpy #3

With the standard version of this opening (with orange having an X, N, Y cross in the middle of the board) the tendency is for orange to be protective of the holes in his defence. This game shows that this idea may be a mistake.

Moves:
1. X – X
2. F – N
3. N – Y
4. Y – Z5
5. L5 – W
6. T4 – L4

This is the key moment in the game: violet could (& probably should) attack on the right side rather than play the T4 in the bottom left corner.

7. L4 – Z4 and the rest is packing (since orange cannot waste the 1 attacking violet’s main area, since it’s better to grab I3 in the bottom left).