Grant's Puzzles - Backgammon Position of the Week

 How should White play 61 here: Your position is terrible, but you have finally rolled a number that gives you the chance to turn the game around. You could make the relatively safe play of 12/11* 9/3: To quote a friend “that move just hurts my eyes”. Your 3 point has 2 extra checkers on it that can only be used to make the 2 or 1 points. Black will easily enter with 32 rolls or 89% of the time. This move creates 3 ugly stacks, and gives you an inflexible position. Consider 8/2* 3/2: This move has the advantage of making a new inner board point, and bringing the semi dead checker on your 3 point back to life. The problem with this move is that Black enters from the bar with 27 rolls or 75% of the time, hitting you with 51, 41, 11 and 54 – 7 rolls. Consider the double hitting play of 12/11* 3/2*: Black hits from the bar with any 2 and 11 – 12 rolls or 33% of the time. But with 2 checkers on the bar, and a 2 point board, Black will only enter both checkers less than 50% of ...

 How should White play 33 here: You have 11 checkers in the attack zone on your side of the board. You consider the blitzing play of 8/2*(2): The advantage of the blitzing play; is that if you succeed in closing black out, you will have a good chance of winning a gammon because Black’s checkers are so far from their home board. The problem with this play, is that if Black enters on the 4 point, you will be forced to attack, hitting loose if necessary. This may seem like a good thing, but if you have to do a loose hit, you could be sent back many pips. If Black anchors on the 1 point, then you are stripped and will not have much flexibility because you have TMP – Too Many Points. When you have TMP, your position is brittle, and you will be forced to leave blots with many of your rolls. The other blitzing play that you consider is 8/2* 7/4(2): The advantage of the blitzing play , is that if you succeed in closing black out, you will have a good chance of winning a gammon because...

 How should White play 61 here: I have heard the saying “if in doubt, hit” many times. It is a good saying, but what should cause you to doubt is never defined. Here the obvious play is just to play 22/15*: After the roll you will only be ahead by 3 pips. As Black will be on roll, effectively you are still behind in the race as the average roll is 8 pips. If you use Paul Magriel’s safe versus bold criteria, you will notice that Black has a stronger board then you have, which should point you to making a safer play. Board strength is the strongest indicator of a safe versus bold play, and here you have a weaker board than Black. Note that Black does not enter with 5s, but can hit 8/3* with a 5. You also give up your 22 point anchor. The 22 point anchor is a weak anchor, but when your opponent has a stronger board, any anchor is good. Consider playing 13/7 8/7: You will be behind in the race by 12 pips after the roll. When you are priming, you want to be behind in the race ...

 How should White play 22 here: After you enter with the first 2, you could play 7/5 7/3: This looks like the safest play, but sometimes the greatest risk is to take no risk at all. Black can escape with any 5, even 51 Black can play 23/18 3/2*. Also, you will not be happy if Black rolls 22, as you will end up on the bar against a 4 point board. The safe play is just too risky as it gives Black 12 good rolls. You consider switching points with bar/23 4/2*(2) 8/6: This play only gives Black 8 good rolls – 64, 54, 44 and 41. With 41, you will have a direct shot from the bar but you will also have another blot on your 8 point. The main point here is that if Black enters from the bar, unless you hit them, they will find it very easy to escape and be significantly ahead in the race. And Black owns a 4 cube. Consider bar/23 8/2*: Although Black can hit you with 11 rolls, Black will not be happy to roll 42 or 32 as this will put you on the bar but expose another blot in Black’s ...

 How should White play 11 here: You have two types of play with 11 here, first the put Black on the bar play of 5/2*/1: The idea here is, you are trying to close out Black and win more Gammons. This is a nice theory, but this play wins 4% less games and 3% less Gammons.  Also, as you will only have one of Black’s checkers on the bar, you will only win about 3% Gammons. The problem here is your 63, 62 and 61 play very awkwardly. If you leave a shot and are hit, you will win less games and less Gammons. Other rolls like 54 may make your 2 point, but your 4 point will still be open and Black could enter and escape, then get lucky and win the race. The best play is to just make a 6 prime with 7/4 5/4: Now you can use any awkward 6 to hit 8/2* and still keep your 6 prime. You do not care if your opponent hits you from the bar because they will use up a lot of timing, particularly if you stay on the bar. Then their board will collapse and you will frequently get more shots at ne...

 How should White play 43 here: You are ahead in the race and have fully escaped both your back checkers. Black has the stronger board so you would rather not be hit. This leads you to look at the non-hitting play of 11/7 6/3: This move still leaves 12 shots for Black, allows Black to anchor with other numbers, and does nothing to stop Black’s development. Note that this is the DMP play as it wins the most games. You do not have the option of doubling Black out here, so you will have to play this game out to the end. At some point you will have to clear your midpoint, so you consider the hit and clear now play of 13/10* 13/9:   Black will hit you with any entering 6 as well as 55 – that is 11 rolls or 31% of the time. Any entering 4 or 1 that does not hit, will allow Black to anchor, making your blitz harder to achieve. You want to make it as hard as possible for Black to anchor, so you consider the double hitting play of 13/10* 8/4*: You will be hit from the bar by Bl...

 How should White play 52 here: You are in a really bad way here, but you need to not panic, and make the move that will win the most. Years ago, Oswald Jacoby wrote “the mark of a good player is how he plays his bad rolls”. This is such a position. You could just play the safe move of 6/1 5/3: This does leave no blots, but your long-term prospects are bad. You have TMP (Two Many Points), and a semi dead checker on your 3 point. You have to take a risk to have any chance of winning. You consider only leaving 2 blots by playing 13/6: This minimises your risk, but if you are not hit, your prospects of improving your situation are not that good. They have improved but not by much. If you’re going to take a risk, consider 13/8 6/4: This leaves 3 blots, but if you are missed you should be able to improve your board. If you are hit, especially if Black only hits 1 blot, you will have a good chance of anchoring or improving your board. I find the key to these types of position...