Position 369

 How should White play 41 here:

It is a New Zealand money game, meaning there is no Jacoby rule, so you can lose a Gammon without the cube being turned.

If you want to hit play here, the best way to do it is bar/24 16/12*:

This is the best hitting move as it leaves the less blots. Unfortunately, it still leaves 4 blots around your board. That is way too many, and you are vulnerable all over the board. You will be happy if Black rolls one of the 9 rolls where they cannot enter. When Black does enter, if they hit you, they will be happy but also when Black enters without hitting, they will also have a good position. It is hard to resist a hitting play, but here you should.

It would be really nice to make a 5 point, so you consider bar/21 6/5:

This leaves only 3 blots but Black has at least 16 rolls that make another new inner board point. If his blitz attack succeeds, they will have enough timing to roll the 2 that they need to play 24/22. This move will lose 19% Gammons.

If Black makes their 4 point, they will be either able to prime you or blitz you. They will be able to choose the appropriate game plan based on what they roll.

Sometimes you just have to you play defence, and make an anchor with bar/21 22/21:

This move leaves only 2 blots, and there is duplication of 4’s to hit.

Having your 21 point anchor makes it very hard for Black to prime or blitz you. If they attempt to prime you; they will have an outer prime – a prime we are more of the points are in their outer board compared to their inner board. Outer board primes do not last long when the opponent has a 20 or 21 point anchor.

If Black does not hit you, then they will have to tidy up the blot on their 13 point and hope that you do not make your 5 point.

This is not to imply that we are the favourite here, but this move guarantees that we will be in the game for a long time.



 

 

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Position 367

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