Grant's Puzzles - Backgammon Position of the Week

 How should White play 42 here? This is a position where a good player quickly made the obvious play, and got away with it. The obvious play is just to complete a 7 prime by playing 6/2 4/2: It takes a long series of unfortunate events for this to backfire on White, but if you make this play and you then roll 33   twice in a row, you will lose not only your 7 prime but also your 6 prime. It sounds unlikely and it is but if it can easily be avoid without any real penalty then avoid them. Bill Robertie calls these problems “silver bullet problems”, because the reason you make an alternative play is because there is just one roll or sequence of rolls that is so bad you have to avoid it. Here the correct move is to play 4/2 20/16: You do not need to worry if your opponent hits you from the bar, as they will still need to escape 3 checkers from behind your 6 prime. I would rather not be hit here as I do not want my opponent to upgrade their 24 point anchor to a 23 point anchor, but

 How should White play 62 here? After you had played 6/off you can increase your gammon wins by playing 6/4: But you have only increased your gammon wins by 0.5%, and in order to get those extra wins you will win 1.6% less often. This is a really bad trade. One of the ways to recognise that a position is dangerous, is to recognise when your top two points have an odd number of checkers on them. It will usually be safer to have an even number of checkers on your top two points. You now have given yourself 4 rolls that will leave a blot next roll – 63 and 53. This looks appealing as you create a 5 point board, but consider 6/off 4/2: Now there is no roll which leaves a shot next turn. If your opponent enters with 64 or 63, they will be forced to run immediately. There are many more rolls which enter and give your opponent the choice between weakening their board or are leaving your home board. The visual clue that this is the correct play is that the top two points have an even n

 How should White play 31 here? After the roll you will be behind in the race by 36 pips, so you are unlikely to win this game by racing. Because your opponent has three checkers on their 1 point, they have a very inflexible position and will have to you run off their 22 point, which is your 3 point. You want to be waiting for them, as they have no outfield presence. You want to have a strong outfield presence. Consider your outfield presence if you play bar/22 14/13: This move makes it less dangerous for your opponent to move into the outfield. For that reason, it must be rejected. Consider bar/22 13/12: This move leaves 8 rolls that hit you – 65, 64, 63 and 54. That’s 22%, which is just too many rolls. Consider bar/22 6/5: This leaves only two rolls – a 65 for Black to hit you. If you are not hit when your opponent moves into the outfield, then you will have a double shot at the fleeing checker and the ability to maybe hit loose on your opponent’s checker left behind on your

 How should White play 22 here? It would be nice to have both the 20 and 21 point anchors and to put your opponent on the bar, so you consider 2321 8/2*: This move leaves you with only 3 blots, but unfortunately you have no direct covers and you will be hit with 20 of your opponent’s rolls. That’s 56% of the time. This is the move to make if you really want to play a Backgame, but you should not want to play a Backgame as they are fallback positions, not positions that you should actively seek. Consider 23/21 4/2*(2) 8/6: This also gives you the 21 point anchor, but leaves only 1 inner board blot. You do have a direct cover with a 5. Although this looks nice, your 4’s will play badly here as your 20 and 21 point anchors cannot be used to play a 4. In particular look how 44 plays after this move. You need to have mobility, so that you can move your checkers into the outfield as easily as possible. You really want to avoid making your 20 and 21 points here, so you consider making

 How should White play 44 here? Before the roll you had 17 numbers that hit your opponent’s blot on your 10 point. Unfortunately, you rolled one of your 19 misses. It is very easy to get discouraged, but if you choose the correct move, you will still win 26% of the time here. Your board is weak with your 5 and 4 points not yet made. With this 44 you can make either your 5 or 4 point. Generally, if you have a choice between these two points you should make your 5 point. Consider 13/5(2): It seems like every time I play at the club, I hear somebody say “if in doubt, make the 5 point”. There is a lot of truth to this quote, but you still have to you think about what you are doing. After this move, your board has improved which will be good if you get a shot and hit it but Black is not under a lot of pressure here. You are behind in the race by 15 pips with your opponent on roll. Your opponent should be considering the cube over the next few rolls. Would you like to be doubled in t

 How should White play 52 here? The good news here is after this roll you will be ahead in the race by 38 pips. Unfortunately, that racing lead will do you no good if you are trapped behind your opponent’s 5 prime. If you make the safe play of 8/3 5/3: Your opponent will have many rolls that make the 4 point, and they will control the outfield. Put another way “what would you do for an encore?” You could combine playing safe, with stepping to the edge of the prime with 8/3 24/22: Now you can see daylight, and escape with any 6. But you have left your opponent with the initiative and they will either make their 5 prime, attack or make the 4 point and attack. Bill Robertie once said “in a kill or be killed situation, make sure you’re the one doing the killing!”. Consider 6/4* 8/3: You have to be the one with the initiative if you hit 6/4*. You cannot safety the blot on your 4 point and even if your opponent just enters without hitting, you will be in trouble. So, you have to ma

 How should White play 32 here? Another position from the Monte Carlo world Championships 2023. I do not remember whether this position was played correctly or not, I just remember it was a fascinating position. Sometimes when I do analysis, I try to work out the exact number of return shots after all the alternatives, but especially if I hit. This can take a long time and sometimes you just don’t have that time over the board. Especially if you are under time pressure or if you are playing in the chouette where you do not want to delay the game and the fun. Stick Rice has a saying “when in doubt make the five point”, so you consider 8/5 7/5: This gives you a powerful 4 point board but it gives up hitting immediately. You need to ask yourself, if I do not hit now how likely am I to get a shot in the future? Here you cannot be certain that you will get a shot, particularly at your opponent rolls doubles. The problem is that after the roll, your opponent will be 12 pips ahead in th

 How should White play 62 here? This position is taken from the final of the world champs in Monte Carlo 2023. I have removed the score and made this a money game. Mario Kuhl from Germany was playing White. He played the entire 21 point match with a PR of 2.5, which the commentators believed was the lowest PR for any final in the world champs. After having watched this long match and seen how complex the games were, Mario played amazingly. This position is one of his rare errors. Please do not interpret this analysis in any way as a criticism of Mario, he had been playing a lot of high level backgammon and had to make this decision under the pressure of the final, with so much money at stake and while playing with the clock. Over the board Mario played 13/5: This is the move that leaves the least number of hits. While that is good, Black will hit with any 1 and his 1’s play poorly otherwise. Michy’s book “Opening Concepts” contained a number of Proverbs about how to play the fi