Position 403

 How should White play 52 here:

The play made over the board was 7/5 6/1:

Sometimes when I watch other players, I have to move away from the board because my facial expression reveals what I think about a move.

Although this is a safe move, that is not what you should be trying to do here.

Stick Rice always told me to initially forget about the dice, even if I have to move them to the side of the board. Look at the position and try to figure out what you want to achieve.

Here Black has 7 checkers off so you would really like to put both of Blacks checkers on the bar. How do you do this? Well firstly, you have to get them to move off their anchor, and do that as soon as possible. This means you have to maximise the number of rolls that make them give up their anchor – even if you get hit in the process. Black only has a one point board.

Consider 6/1 3/1:

Conservative players may dislike the fact that you will be hit with 20 Black rolls, but you should be happy if they hit you, even with 51 (double hitting) or 55 (hitting and escaping). This is because you will easily enter and have shots at them, hopefully closing out both the checkers.

Imagine if Black rolled 31 above and hit 23/22*:

Ask yourself how you would feel as Black here, with White on roll. White can hit with any entering roll.

Playing 6/1 3/1 is possible because Black only has a one point board. It is the move that puts Black under the most pressure and aims at your goal of closing out both Black checkers.





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