Position 370

 How should White play 63 here:

There is a high quiz factor with this position and over the board most players would simply play 22/13 and pick up their dice. Look at the resulting board:

Both players have similar positions. Both players have escaped one of their checkers. Both players will be trying to make more inner board points to prime or attack if their opponent moves their rear-most checker to a higher point.

If you do make this play, then both you and Black will still have similar positions. But your position will be inferior because Black has 3 active builders aimed at their 5 point. An active builder is a checker that you can move to make a point without breaking a point. But you have only 2 active builders available for making more inner board points, so you have an inferior similar position. You want to avoid creating inferior similar positions.

What else can we do? Consider 24/21 22/16:

You have duplicated Blacks 2’s to hit you in two places. If black hits you loose on your 16 point without moving it to safety, then any entering 5 will hit back. Any entering 4 will enable you to anchor on your 21 point.

This move forces an exchange of hits before Black’s board strength improves.

Note that Black will not be able to hit you if they roll 66, 55, 65, 61 or 51. That is 8 rolls or 22% of the time. Then you will have a chance of making your 16 point. If Black does hit you loose, on either their 9 or 4 points, you will have return shots from the bar.

I was once told that if you are drifting into an inferior position, take some action now to avoid it.



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Position 367

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 How should White play 61 here: You could just make the completely safe move here and play 13/6: The ability of Black to escape their last checker should be your main concern here. The problem with this play is it does nothing to stop Black escaping. Next turn Black will either run into your outfield or run into their outfield. Neither of those options should be appealing to you. It is easy to think that the three checkers on your 24 point are your main concern and play 24/18 24/23: The problem with this play is that a lot of small numbers now become good rolls for Black. You are mainly concerned about having 3 checkers on your 24 point when Black has other inner board points made, which makes it harder for you to split off your 24 point. Here with Black only having the 6 point made, there is not as much urgency to get off your 24 point now. You would still like to, but you are not desperate to do it this roll. What about hitting 6/5* and moving 24/18: This does make it harder
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Position 364

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Position 363

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 How should White play 53 here: You see that you can hit 13/10*, and then consider playing 6/1 with the 5: I’ve heard many sayings in backgammon circles about hitting “hitting is fun”, “if in doubt hit” and “it can never be too wrong to hit”. But hitting is not automatic, and sometimes it will be wrong, particularly if the rest of the roll is awkward. Here playing 6/1 puts a checker where you do not want it, and Black will have no trouble entering from the bar, and it will be bad if they hit you on the 1 point. Consider giving up the midpoint with 13/10* 13/8: This appears to give you many point making rolls to extend your 3 prime but Black gets to roll first and any entering 1 will hit the checker on your 13 point. Black has lots of numbers that enter and make an anchor or numbers that enter and hit on the 13 point or your 10 point. It is really bad to give up your 13 point and give Black complete control of the outfield. Consider the double hitting play of 13/10* 7/2*: This
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