Hello!



This is a money game. Black is leading with 17 pips. So many possibilities: Hitting, running or making the points 7 or 2. What would you do?

Disclaimer- I am usually wrong on these. Making the two point behind black’s checkers seems useless. That point really only is valuable in a blitzing game, but black is anchored so there is little chance white will be able to blitz. Making the bar point also seems wrong here. With the 4 point anchor, priming chances are low. Therefore I am making a run for it with 24/14. This leaves you with viable racing chances (only 7 pips behind), you have good outfield control, and only indirect shots for black. You do have a back checker that could be attacked, but that checker could also pick up a blot and help your racing chances.

Running 24/14 seems like it does the most to me too. You'd like to make the 7 point, but I don't think it's worth giving up the 13 and the 11 to do it.

You are absolutely right and with your explanations this makes a lot more sense.

Good explanations.
I first eliminate hitting and making the 2-pt.
But over the board, I would probably have made the bar point.

Same here. I was shocked that everything else would have been better: Not only running with 24, but also making the 2 point, burying the 12 or hitting the 3 would have been smaller errors than making the bar point.

I think that it is because we often overrate the value of an outside prime case an advanced anchor. The bar point certainly looks like an asset, but if all goes well for white, it will quickly become a liability. Against an advanced anchor holding game, each additional point that must be broken is an increased chance of leaving a blot. The prime does not really compensate— black is not going to be eager to run off the anchor any time soon, so blocking him from doing so has little value. Besides making the bar uses the wrong checkers. White has a stack on the 6 point he would really like to get moving. After stripping the 8 to make the bar it gets tougher to do so. I suspect that had the roll been 61 instead of 64, making the five point might have been correct, or at least better than making the bar was in the given position.

I’m curious how black ended up with this structure in the first place — do you remember how it happened? I can’t think of an obvious sequence that would leave you with no midpoint, 3 on the 9, none on the 8. Did black play 61 (making the bar) then 44 as 13/9(2) 8/4(2) maybe?

I suspect something along those lines; then maybe a 41 splitting the bac men and leaving a blot on the midpoint with 13/9, which white hit accounting for both white’s blot there and black’s third checker back??

As you took the effort of explaining this I took the effort of finding this position again in all of my games of that day. Here comes the prehistory:

Yeah that's interesting. I, too, narrowed it down quickly to the best and worst choices and OTB don't know whichI would have chosen.

First rank is running with the 24.
Second rank is making the 2 point.
Third rank is 24/20 12/6.
Fourth rank is hitting the 3.
Fifth rank is burying the 12.
Sixth rank is making the bar point.