Problem of the Week #138: February 19


Money game, White owns the cube, Black on roll.




Black to play 6-1.



Note: All ‘cash game’ problems assume the Jacoby Rule is in effect. That is, you can’t win a gammon unless the cube has been turned.

This is another interesting position from Mr. Robertie. I see three basic approaches:

1. Hit inside: 10/4*, then either lift (4/3), or shift (9/8)
2. Hit outside: 22/15*
3. Cover: 9/2

Cube position is significant. Hitting inside and shifting, 10/4* 9/8, leaves two points slotted, and White shooting a double shot from the bar. I wonder if White should double in such a circumstance. In part because of this, hitting inside strikes me as the weakest of the three alternatives, yet, should White anchor on the 4pt, Black will be in big trouble.

Hitting outside has a nice feel. It keeps the checkers flowing, and leaves Black in flexible position. Provided he doesn't dance, he can even withstand a hit on the 2pt. Once again, he should fear a White anchor more than anything else.

After hitting outside, White’s next roll looks like this:

• 9/36 = dance
• 9/36 = hit on Black’s 2pt (21 23 25 26) or 10pt (55)
• 9/36 = anchor on Black’s 4pt (41 43 44 45 46)
• 3/36 = hit on Black’s 2pt and anchor on Black’s 4pt (22 24)
• 6/36 = enter 1 checker on 5pt, leaving a triple direct shot at 2 blots (51 53 56)

My inclination, however, is to cover the 2pt, making a four-point board. White dances 16 times in 36, and then Black will have regained the initiative. Of course, White hits (45 46 55 56), or makes an anchor (41 42 43 44 51), 16 times in 36, and when he does, Black will be in a nearly untenable holding game. On the other tosses (52 53), Black will have many shots.

My solution: 9/2

Two completely different plans here.. if I hit, I want to hit 22/15. If I don't, covering 9/2 seems way the best. The hit leaves 7 (!) blots in a position where we aren't credibly going to get a closeout, gammons are active, and he has the cube, and his structure is better. If we cover, and he fans, which is about half the time, then the game completely turns around- we have a bunch of 2s and 6s to put a second man in the air as well as trying to parlay it into a hit on the 15. If we hit on the outside, then he fans, then we only cover the 2-point about half the time, which leads to a similar position as what we get covering the 2-point immediately.

It's like both moves are trying to get to the same place after the next roll, 2 men in the air and the 2 covered, but the hit seems less likely to succeed as well as to fail more spectacularly when it fails.

9/2

Interesting problem. Race: Black 141, White 147.

Let's list some viable candidates:

22/15*: leaves 6 blots!
10/4*/3: 3 blots + a lot of dead checkers in the house
9/2: One more inner point, only 2 blots
24/18 10/9: Provocative, cleaning a couple of blots
10/4* 9/8: Hitting loose and activating a cover 2

None of those choices is really appealing. Somehow I like my last suggestion, but we're already leading and having a 4th checker sent back behind that annoying White broken prime seems bad, since we don't have the timing for a back game and we have several dead checkers. Sigh!

Screw it, I'm going with 22/15*. A lot of cleaning to do, but unless White rolls a double or enters both checkers on his first try, we should have time to sweep the dust.

22/15*

If we just cover and he enters our game looks awful to me. Our three guys back are disconnected and we don't have much timing up front.

22/15* feels necessary despite the high blot count.

Chances of getting home safely after 9/2 seem slim with lots of optimal doubles by white. 22/15* needs immediate survival but seems best.

22/15* and pray for a fan.

i really want to hit on our the 4 point to keep white from anchoring but 9/4*/3
just kills a checker. 9/2 saves our blot but if white enters black looks like a clear underdog to me. 3 of blacks stones are behind whites prime and many of his checkers deep in his board.
I´d hit 22/15* - it escapes 1 checker to play with, this checker is on the 15 p. and its nicely connected to blacks blots on the 9 and 10pts and it its aggressive - afterall we gave the cube. Hm.. 6 blots are more than enough ?

A priming game is obviously out of sight. We have a handfull of pips leading the race. We have only ten men in the zone. If we are hit, it might be extremly costly. The best scenario i could imagine is a semi-blitz combined with scrambling home. Three men getting home is hard enough. Another captive, and we are busted. Hitting a second checker is fine, but facing a strong front position, cutting down the possibilities of recirculation paired with 10 men in the zone, is far to optimistic. I would make the 2 point and say a little prayer. A bird in the hand is better then two in the bush or as we germans say: a sparrow in the hand is better then a pigeon on the roof.

9/3/2.

Roblem 138

Black has a lot of interesting option here, three of which are totally forward: Covering with 9/2, hitting loose 10x4 with some 1, Pick and Pass with 10x4/3. The problem with all these plays is that the position seems somewhat overstretched, almost disconnected. The 2 other options have a nice contrast. 24/18 10/9 (the pointmaker) gives white an ideal entry/hit diversification (2,4,5 enter) (1,3,6 hit).
The final option (my choice) is the hit and escape 22x15. Although it leaves 6 black blots it seems the best option because it does 3 good things: it hits, it escapes (almost) and it gives black the initiative.

How do I rate blacks chances:

a. White fans (9 moves) black will win 8
b. White enters with a single 5 (6 moves), black will win 4 or 5, say 4,5
c. White enters with a single 4 (6 moves), black will win 3
d. White enters with a single 2 (6 moves), black will win 3
e. White enters both (9 moves) black will win 1.

I give black 19,5 out of 36 wins, one of the reason why his chances are rather high is because of two principles, the first is an ideal entry-returnhit diversification: after white enters (and hits with a 2) black has entrys with (1,2,3) and returnblitzhits with (4,5,6). The second is the principal I call bsb: blots support blots: loose blots give a lot of coverage to eachother. This is one of the reasons I like to play certain openings a little different for instance after the opening 13/8 24/23 I tend to play 43: 13/9 13/10 and 32: 13/10 13/11, because of this principle: bsb.

My answer: 22x15.

Grunch: 10/4*/3.