Position 342

 How should White play 21 here?

In the chouette, I would expect the aggressive players to play 10/8 15/14:

This will give you a direct 6 to attack Black’s blot on your 2 point. The problem with this play is that if you do hit loose on your 2 point only 66, 44  and 33 will cover to give you a 6 point board. Black will have a lot of chances to hit that blot before you can cover. You will be giving your opponent a direct target from the bar. But if Black does roll a 2, we will have to either cover the blot on 8 point or move it into our board.

After the roll we will be ahead in the race by 13 pips, so we could just start to bring more builders into the zone by playing 15/13 10/9:

Now we will have more indirect numbers closer to the action, if Black does not anchor. But this again focuses on attack, and we need to step back and look at the position as a whole. It would be nice to attack if the dice cooperated, but have biggest priority here is to get have back checkers moving and make them mobile while Black is still on the bar.

Consider 21/18:

Some players will get worried about giving Black a good 6 from the bar, but if Black does roll 62 and plays bar/23 13/7*, they will be giving up them midpoint and leaving lots of return shots.

You will gain mobility and flexibility. You get all your back checkers moving, while still keeping your 20 point as security.




 

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