Position 385

 How should White play 51 here:

After the roll you will be ahead in the race by 22 pips, so you consider the safe play of 6/1 3/2:

Although this is safe for the next roll, as it leaves no blots that Black can hit, this is not very safe long-term. You will be still stacked on your 6 point and have no spares on any other point. You will be inflexible and brittle.

It is always good to make your 5 point, so you consider 10/5 6/5:

The problem with this play, is the 13 rolls that hit the blot on your 10 point. If Black hits you, the fact that you have a blot on your 3 point, should make you less willing to hit in your inner board as you enter from the bar. You do not want to put your racing lead in jeopardy.

You can cover the blot on your 3 point and give yourself some flexibility by playing 8/7 8/3:

Now your board is stronger, and you have a spare on your 7 point, but in order to achieve those pluses you have had to give up your 8 point. Your 8 point was useful for blocking Black and making it harder for them to leave their 21 point anchor.

This move does not do anything about the stack on your 6 point, or making your 5 point.

Consider 6/5 6/1:

Your main two goals here are to unstack your 6 point and to make your 5 point. Why is the 5 point so important? Gaps immediately in front of anchors are very dangerous, so you want to make them if you can, even if it involves a small risk.

If you are not hit, you have a very good chance of making your 5 point.

If your opponent does hits you, unless they have rolled 11, they will not be also making a point elsewhere on the board. And even if they hit you, they will still have to get over your broken 4 prime.

This is the correct move.




If we remove the blot from 3 point and put it back on a 7 point, we give ourselves a much more flexible position. Does this alter the solution?

Now making our 5 point with 10/5 6/5 becomes a lot closer as we can hit loose from the bar if we are hit, but your need to unstack our 6 point is still the most important consideration.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Position 383

Image
 How should White play 61 here: You have a great position here. Your opponent is on the bar, with a blot in their inner board while you have a 4 point board and your 20 point anchor. You consider 20/13: This agrees with Walter Trice’s advice to just pick up your rear most checker and move it forward. But he gave that advice for when you have nothing better to do. Here you have a better goal, and that is to build a 6 point board and when lots of Gammons. 20/13 does not improve your chances of making a 6 point board. Consider 13/6: This brings another diversified checker into the attack zone. Your goal is to make your board, and this seems to fit with that goal. Unfortunately, if things go wrong, you will have lost your midpoint, and therefore lost control of the outfield. This is just too risky. Consider 20/14 7/6: You have diversified your checkers in the attack zone, retained your midpoint and started to escape both your rear most checkers. This is the play that accom...
Read more for the solution»

Position 379

Image
 How should White play 63 here: You can play completely safe here, by playing 10/1: Some unknown wise person said “sometimes the greatest risk of all, is to take no risk”. This move may seem safe but by next roll Black will probably have covered the blot on their 2 point and it will be much more risky to leave your 20 point anchor. If you roll 33, 32, 31 or 11, you will damage your prime next roll. Consider 20/11: Black has no active builders above your blot on the 20 point. An active builder is a checker that can be used to hit or make a point without it giving up the point is on. Here if Black hits from the 8 or 7 points they will have to give up that point unless they roll 22 or 11. It is a good time to run because Black has the blot on their 2 point. However, this roll leaves three blots around the board, so that if things go wrong for you here as White, Black could end up putting all three of those checkers on the bar and winning more Gammons. It is good to leave Blacks ...
Read more for the solution»