Position 343

 How should White play 42 here?

You were really hoping for any 5, 41 or 32 to hit Black’s blot on their 5 point. If you had hit their blot, then you would probably pick up at least another blot and when lots of Gammons here. But you have to you let it go, it would have been nice but it didn’t happen. The danger here, is that you think about what could have been rather than focusing on the situation at hand. Not focusing on the current position would lead you to simply play bar/23 8/4:

If you make this play, then you are playing a priming game where you are 35 pips ahead in the race. This would not always be bad if your opponent had more checkers behind your prime than you did behind there’s but here you both have only one checker back.

If your opponent makes the 5 point, you are in a lot of trouble because your opponent has much more timing than you do. This situation is so bad that your number one priority here has to be to stop your opponent making their 5 point. And you have to stop them by any means necessary. This means that you have to you play bar/23 5/1*:

This move leaves 2 inner board blots when your opponent is on the bar. They will hit you with 20 rolls but they will miss with 16 rolls. And even when they hit you, they may not cover the blot on their 5 point, so you will have some more shots at it.

This type of move is called a “banana split” play. It is rare that it is the correct move, but when it is correct, it is usually correct by a lot. All the alternatives to this play are blunders.




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Position 342

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