Position 400

 How should White play 43 here:

43 was not the roll that you were hoping for, but it was the roll that you got, so you need to work out the best way to play it. Years ago, I remember reading in a backgammon book that “anyone can play the good rolls, but the mark of a good player is that they play the bad rolls well”.

You could just minimise shots and blots by playing 13/6:

Unfortunately, this move gives up all outfield control. Eventually you will have to run your checkers on your 24 point into the outfield, and this will be dangerous to do if Black has spread their checkers out in the outfield.

You consider splitting a checker off your 24 point with 24/21 7/3:

This move leaves 5 blots around the board. Every quadrant has a blot on it. While it is good to not have 3 checkers on your 24 point, this move is just too dangerous. This is the correct move at DMP (Double Match point) where Gammons won or lost do not matter.

Consider 8/5 7/3:

This move minimises the number of blots that Black can hit. But your two inner board blots, means that Black can be less concerned about leaving blots themselves by slotting as your two inner board blots could easily be picked up in a blot hitting exchange.

You would very much like to get into a blot hitting exchange, so you consider just improving your board by playing 8/1:

This move leaves the minimum number of blots, improves your board and does nothing rash. Another backgammon author wrote “if you cannot improve your position, at least do not damage it”. Here we cannot dramatically improve our position but we can make another inner board point and wait for a better roll.

This is the correct move because although it wins slightly less games than 24/21 7/3, it loses less Gammons.