Grant's Puzzles - Backgammon Position of the Week

 How should White play 65 here: You are very early in the game, and have to decide how to play the 65. A lot of players would just play 24/13: The good news is that you are ahead in the race by 9 pips after the roll. The bad news is you have over stacked your 13 point. Generally, you want to unstack points rather than over-stack them. In the opening position of Backgammon, you start with 2/3 of your checkers on the 13 and 6 points. One of the tasks you want to do in the opening is to unstack these 2 points. You have the much stronger board, so you can make a bold play. 24/13 is not a bold play so you consider 13/8 13/7: This move threatens to make a 5 prime, and put your opponent in serious trouble. The problem is the 14 rolls that hit you. 14 rolls is 39% of the time. You have the stronger board, so you want to use it to put pressure on Black. Consider 24/18 13/8: With your strong board you would welcome an exchange of hits. Even if Black rolled 41 here and played 11/7* 8/7: Y...

 How should White play 62 here: It is always good to so you consider the safest hitting play of 13/7*/5: Although this is the safest hitting play, you will still be hit by Black with 43, 42, 41, 44 and 22 which is 8 rolls or 22% of the time. After the roll you will be significantly ahead in the race, so you get your rear most checker moving, so you consider combining hitting and moving your back checker with 13/7* 24/22: Now you will be hit with 61, 54, 53, 52, 43, 42, 41, 32, 31, 44, 33 and 22, which is 21 rolls or 58% of the time. Here being hit 58% of the time is just too much. Although it is nice to hit Black’s checker, consider 24/16: When you consider what your game plan is, you really just want to escape your back checker and get home safely. After the roll you will be ahead in the race by 17 pips. Black will hit you with any 4 as well as 31, 22 and 62 but the 4’s are duplicated to hit and make Black’s 18 point. This means that you are not giving Black a good 4, they a...

 How should White play 43 here: 43 was not the roll that you were hoping for, but it was the roll that you got, so you need to work out the best way to play it. Years ago, I remember reading in a backgammon book that “anyone can play the good rolls, but the mark of a good player is that they play the bad rolls well”. You could just minimise shots and blots by playing 13/6: Unfortunately, this move gives up all outfield control. Eventually you will have to run your checkers on your 24 point into the outfield, and this will be dangerous to do if Black has spread their checkers out in the outfield. You consider splitting a checker off your 24 point with 24/21 7/3: This move leaves 5 blots around the board. Every quadrant has a blot on it. While it is good to not have 3 checkers on your 24 point, this move is just too dangerous. This is the correct move at DMP (Double Match point) where Gammons won or lost do not matter. Consider 8/5 7/3: This move minimises the number of blots t...

 How should White play 53 here: After entering bar/22, you could try saving a 6 by playing 6/1: But you should reject this play as it weakens your board too much. You are unlikely to win the race here, so you must plan on hitting a black checker and then containing it. Giving up your 6 point means that even if you hit a shot, you might not be able to remake your 6 point and then it will be very difficult to contain Black’s checker. If you are going to play safe, the move you should make is bar/22 7/2: But this move only gives Black 3 bad rolls – 55 and 64. You will still have some indirect shots on some of Blacks other rolls, but playing safe only wins 15% of games. Consider bar/17: The bad news is you will be hit with 15 rolls, including 55 which was a bad roll for Black after bar/22 7/2. The good news is that 5 rolls that only left an indirect shot after bar/22 7/2, now give you a direct shot. Also note that 42 for Black only left an indirect shot after bar/22 7/2, now...

 How should White play 22 here: It is good not to weaken your board, so you consider 13/7 13/11: This is the best of the moves that give up your midpoint, as it slots your 7 point. I have heard good players advocate giving up your midpoint in these situations, to avoid the awkwardness of you rolling 61 next roll. While that number would be awkward, if you kept your midpoint, then Black’s 61 and 11 force Black to break their 5 prime. Black rolling 62 would force Black to play 13/11 13/7, enabling you to hit with 61 next roll. It is worthwhile keeping your midpoint, so you consider 6/2 5/1: The idea is that you will be able to rebuild your board in the future, but you have reduced your board to a 4 point board with 2 blots. You can do better than this by playing 5/1(2): After this move you still have a 5 point board but with only 1 blot. It will be easier to make a 6 point board after this move, and you have retained your midpoint. This is the correct move.   ...

 How should White play 11 here: I want to remind readers that all positions are New Zealand money games, meaning that the Jacoby rule is not used. This means that you can both win or lose a gammon with the cube in the centre. It is always nice to make your 5 point, so your first two 1s should be played 6/5(2). Then you consider playing 7/5: The nice thing about this move is that you duplicate 5’s for Black to hit and cover the blot on their 3 point. However, you will be hit with 2 extra rolls, when                                there is a safer alternative available. Consider 8/5 6/5: This move duplicates 4s to hit on both sides of the board. But now Black will hit you with 2 fewer rolls then after 6/5(2) 7/5. The only asset you have acquired is your 5 point. If both 5s and 4s are useful to Black on the other side of the board,...

 How should White play 51 here: Hitting is fun, but hitting and making another inner board point is twice as much fun, so it must be worth considering 6/1* 2/1: The problem with this play is that it makes the wrong point. You really want to make your 3 point forming a 6 prime. By playing 6/1* you have removed a builder to cover your 3 point. Also, any 3 by Black points Black in a really good position and sends another checker behind Blacks broken 6 prime. The next you consider starting to escape from behind Black’s prime and safety the blot on your 3 point with 23/18 3/2:  You want to make your 3 point, but by lifting the checker on it, it is harder to make. Black would have hit you with a 2 on your 3 point, but 2s are already good for Black as they can hit you on your 23 point. You want to start to escape from behind Black's prime by playing 23/18. You want to keep the blot on your 3 point, so what about playing 23/18 2/1*: Now Black has 16 rolls where they stay on the ...