Position 416

 How should White play 55 here:

This was from a match between two very good players, where one of the players made the natural move of 18/3 7/2:

This reduces your blot count to only one blot, and duplicates Black’s hitting and covering 2s.

The problem with this play; is that even if Black misses you, it still will not be easy to get your remaining checkers to safety. Black’s inner board blot allows you to make a much bolder play, 18/8 13/8(2):

This leaves 2 blots and allows Black to hit you with any 2 or any 3. But the big advantage is, it will be much easier to tidy up this position if you are hit.

That advantage and the fact that Black has an inner board blot makes this the correct play.

To show the importance of that inner board blot, let’s create a variant where blacks inner board blot is covered and now Black has a 4 point board:

Now narrowly, the one blot variation is marginally better. However, this is so close that over the board I would still play 18/8 13/8(2), because it is so easy to tidy up if you are missed.