I thought this was interesting. Game 1 of a 9 pt match, I have 4 choices with 1 slightly better than the other 3. What's your move and more importantly, for me, what is your thought process as you examine your four options and discard 3 of them...

Make the Golden Point -- bar/20, 24/20
If you are playing in a vacuum, this play might look good. Magriel says the point is golden, so you make it. Reality will intervene, of course, when White attacks the two outside blots.

Make the 11 or 16 Points -- bar/4, 16/11 or bar/16
These moves both make a seemingly attractive point. But like a mirage, any seeming advantage will vanish in an evanescent shimmering. These moves are mistakes because they give White complete freedom of movement to advance the one checker he would like to move. Consider: White certainly doesn't want to move from his 6 or 8 points (unless he rolls a point-making combination). And White cannot afford to move from the midpoint. The only checkers he is free to play are the back men and his outside blot.

On top of all this, when Black makes the 16 point, White gets a free shot to hit outside.

Hit -- bar/20, 13/9*
Because of an early 55 by White, Black trails in the pip count, 165 to 148. After Black moves, his count will be 156. If he hits, White's count will become 157. By hitting, therefore, Black becomes the instant leader. The hit also keeps Black's checkers flowing. His structure in the outer boards will remain flexible, and should quickly improve. Of course, Black leaves a vulnerable blot back on the 16 point when he hits, but White will have to abandon the midpoint to strike. Finally, hitting leverages Black's better home board, and might cause White to further strand his back men.

The hit seems clear.

Assume you're looking at bar/20 24/20, 20/16, 13/9*, and bar/21 16/11. Binking him seems pretty simple here. He has minimal structure, so I don't fear blots there and only letting him play one die means he can't do anything very exciting unless he rolls doubles. Any hit leaves plenty of returns. A builder on the 9 is good. Another man back is good. I'm really not thinking much beyond that in this position. I can send a man back while positioning my already superior checkers even better in the front. He can't do anything useful with one die. I'm not scared of the back. No other move does anything notable. Hit.

bar/20 13/9* looks automatic for me in the early game here. it usually takes a pretty strong reason not to just whack in these situations.

Interesting. I would hit, but I don't think it's "automatic". Locking up the anchor when white has ten checkers in the zone and an undeveloped stack on the sixpoint has a lot going for it. Still we have a good offensive structure ourselves and hitting takes away the initiative from white and places a builder in a good spot.

We do strew five blots around, so there is some potential for things blowing up in our faces, but with our own offense I think it's worth it.

Making the 20-point anchor has to better than the other defensive options.

Technically, White being on roll after that, he would lead by a very tiny margin, considering the average roll. Practically, the race would be dead even.

OTB, I would go with the hit without much hesitation. However, I agree with mute that it might not be automatic.

In and hit seems clear, not just because of the race, but because you have your 5-point. The good structure lets you put White behind a developing prime. The 5 blots aren't such a worry when you have a good position.

Take the two checkers from your 5-point and move them back to the 8-point and the 6-point, and now your game is too weak for 5 blots, so Bar/20, 24/20 looks like the play.