GnuBG Position ID: 4HPwAQPg8+ADIA

Engine thinks my move of 13/9(2) 8/4(2) is 0.087 worse than 24/16 13/9(2). I don't get it... my 16 gets hit about a third of the time so I'm giving up 8/3 pips in equity with that. And making a point on my 2 should be at least as valuable (I would assume more!) than having something on the 16?

I am a total newbie. What am I missing, and am I thinking about this situation correctly?

After the roll you will be ahead 24 pips. You are ahead in the race so race. If he doesn't hit you and gets an average roll like a 5-3 or 6-2 3-2 etc, you are going to be between 65-70% favorite to win the game. You aren't playing a hitting game so why worry about making the 4 point when he has no men behind it

That's not really the best way to look at it. Pips an equity are related, but it's not really a one-to-one correspondence at this point because of all sorts of positional factors that get need to be considered.

In the early game, you want to be thinking more about assets and paths to victory. You're ahead in the race, so you should generally be looking to make racing plays. If you were behind in the race, you would definitely want to hang back and make inner board points to try to move towards an attacking strategy. (Your opponent has made an advanced anchor, so priming is not a good strategy.)

By the way, what dice/plays led to this position? I'm having the hardest time trying to think of a sequence that leads to this.

Because he said he is a total newbie here is how I'm guessing the game went down.

Black rolls 6-5, runs. Red rolls 21 and moves a back checker up. Back rolls 3-2 and brings one down to 8. Red rolls 4-1 and makes 20point.

Isn't red GNU? Does GNU play 24/21 with a 2-1 after an opening 6-5? Maybe it does if it's set to play 0-ply or something like that.

This could have been an imported match from a real game.

That would make sense.

In the early game/when your opponent only has a 1 point board and you have 1 back checker, it's generally a good idea to come out to your opponent's outfield to try and escape containment. It's not a big deal if you get hit since he only has a 1 point board and usually, you're taking a lead in the race.

Keep practicing against an engine. I used to be a strictly priming/blitzing and if that fails, backgame player. I used to believe going for gammons all the time is the "right" way to play backgammon. I used to think winning by trapping 2 checkers behind a 6 prime or closing them out is the only way to win. Practicing against an engine changes that. It made me a more universal player. I got better at recognizing when to race and I learned how to play an early ace point or 2 point game. I don't like doing those things but I learned how to do them and sometimes, they are the best option.

What are you two on about? Red was GNU set to 3-ply and I was playing tutor mode with a low threshold, so none of my moves were particularly strange. I don't remember what the actual moves were though.

Hmm, this is interesting.

I guess there is also the fact that he potentially loses 16 pips if I roll an eight, which happens 14% of the time, for -2.23 pip equity (I am sticking by this concept!) which makes the pip equity loss kinda small too.