Problem of the Week #3: March 22


Here’s a position which we call a proto-backgame. Black has had several men hit and sent back. The game might develop into a backgame, but White doesn’t have a good blocking position yet, and the game can still take several other directions.

Cash game, center cube.




(a) Black to play 3-3.

(b) Black to play 4-1.

right:
a)my initial thought is 24/18(2) which makes you pretty strong as you have your opps 5 and 7 point.
but I think 24/21(2) and 6/3(2) is better which develops both sides of the board and you have your opps 5 and 4 points.

b) bit tricker, could just play 13/8 but that's a bit of a nothing move, so will split the 2 on the 24 point: 24/20 24/23

what is black trying to achieve? with 33 it is impossible to attack the lone back checker (since 13/4* just leaves blots in our home board). since black is not winning a race, he is trying to hit a blot later. right now, hitting doesnt do much, because of the weak home board. moving the anchot on the 1point is bad I think, because it gives white a safe place for his checkers in his own home board. blacks points are good the way they are right now I think. so I would play 8/5(2) 6/3(2), so hitting a blot later actually causes problems for white.



41 is obviously a bad roll, because nothing good can be done. again, hitting seems pointless with a very weak home board. no point can be made and no point should be ginven up I think. black should build his home board as quickly as possible, for the reason stated above: hitting a blot should be a threat, right now it is not.
11/6 leaves a bad distribution. 13/8 looks better although stripping the midpoint is not a good thing to do. I dont see anything better.

A) 13-4*, 11-8

We MUST hit here. We are already trailing in the race 184-147. Hitting prevents white from making another safe landing spot in his outter board or worse closing another point in his board. Worst-case scenario we get hit and fall further behind in the race, which in this case is not all that bad. With 2 anchors white is very likely to leave us a shot or 2 while bearing in/off and being further behind in the race actually helps keep our own board from collapsing if we end up in a back game. best-case scenario we hit and cover next roll and hope for white to roll awkwardly leaving us a shot somewhere in his outer board or while trying to run.

That takes care of 3 of our moves for the 4th, move i think we have to play 11-8. I'd rather not stack the 8 point but the only other options require stripping one of our anchors or our mid point which will become important as we try to claw our way back into this race.

B) 13-8

As always my 1st instinct is always HIT!(8-4,8-7), but the increased possibility of our opponent hitting a double shot if we play too aggressively cripples our chances of making a comeback. We are trying to make white leave shots while bringnig down builders and attackers. We can't do that if we only have 5 checkers in our home board after a double shot. So i think we have to choose the boring safe play of 13-8. bringing down an attacker and hope that white is not able to run on it's next roll.

a) Hitting here is a mistake. At this stage of the game you would prefer to let white come to you unimpeded. I think your best play is 8/5 6/3. One needs to look ahead a few roles and realize that white is in an akward spot.Its likely that he will leave a shot in the near future, 8/5 6/3 is preparing your home for that shot. You have a relatively well timed backgame by letting white escape. The 1 5 anchors are not the ideal backgame combo.....but whatever, sometimes it is what it is.

B) A general rule of thumb.....if you are ahead in the race, you want to minimize contact and not hit your opponent (gammons aside).....if you are behind in the race you want to maximize contact and get hit (helps your timing). I am inclined to play 11/7 6/5 or 13/9 6/5. Your opponent hitting you in this spot increases your chances of winning this game,you will be playing for that one single or double shot. Make the hit , flood the outfield, prime your opponent. there is no sweeter victory in backgammon than a well played backgame. Did i mention i hate a 1 5 backgame....oh well.

Pretty much my thoughts exactly.

With the 33 touching those back checkers is the wrong game plan. White can simply play all his awkward shotleaving rolls by dumping checkers behind the anchors.

Not sure if I would prefer to get hit after the 41, but there's no real downside to it either. I would play 13/9 over 11/7. Puts my checkers where I want them and making the bar point isn't really what I want to do here.

(a) I think I have to go with 8/5 (2) and 6/3 (2) and hope for a shot on my next roll. Hitting wastes a roll and doesn't change the race unless White dances with sixes. I don't hate 24/18 (2) but would rather make my home board.

(b) Bad roll. I guess I either go safe with 13/8 or Hit with 8/4* 11/10. I think the hit is likely the proper play and then go for the back game, but most of the time I'd likely play the safe 13/8.

1) 8/5(2) 6/3(2) makes a lovely board and makes white's straggler look very unhappy. We don't gain much by hitting a checker with no offense, and I'd like to leave the guys on his one-point for defense.

2) I have a bad habit of getting questions like this wrong where I should just be content playing 13/8, but let's put checkers where I want them and play 11/7 6/5. We get hit, not a huge deal.

(a) Well, the 1-5 backgame sucks. That's why I want to play 24/21 (2). I don't want to advance to the bar point because this gives White more room to play his checkers into his home board. I'd take the chance to unstack my 6-point with 6/3 (2) - I'm not mad if my outfield blot is hit becaue Black will have good timing for his 5-4 backgame then => 24/21 (2) 6/3 (2)

(b) This roll sucks hard. I think I'd play it 13/8. This way Black keeps 61 duplicated and creates a new spare to make key points with. I think the price of stripping the midpoint is rather small here. One of the stragglers could unstrip it in the future. And moreover, 13/8 unstrips the 8-point, so it's kind of a trade-off.

Black is still not committed to playing backgame and this is why I think all-out slotting like 11/7 6/5 is bit early => 13/8

A) The reason i dont like 24/21 is that it increases whites flexability by allowing him to pile in checkers behind our men. Our checkers on the ace point need to stay where they are at.

B) Moving 13/8 acomplishes nothing....start unstacking that 6 point with your one.....than either 13/9 or 11/7. You can not contain whites checker in this position, you dont have enough spare men to accomplish this.....not with 4 of your men in whites home. Let him go...............we will get him later.

I agree that 13/8 is a wasted move, but I think 6/5 13/9 leaving 3 men open commits us 100% to a Back Game.

I'm still answering from my personal feelings and have not asked GNU yet.

With the 33 I tried to compromise and this was why I didn't like 24/18 (2) because this will give White even more room behind me. I don't like playing 8/5 (2) 6/3 (2) because I feel Black's timing sucks and he can't reasonably contain the straggler as you've pointed out.

The thing with staying with the 1 and 5-point anchors is that it's more dangerous to hit an outfield blot by giving up the 5-point. With both the 4 and 5-point in Black's hand, White has to take some care not to get hit because Black still keeps a good anchor after he has hit. We are not committed to play a backgame here.

Again we are not committed to play a backgame here. So I don't want to spew my checkers around by wild slotting. 13/8 sets Black up to make points next roll while waiting for White to leave shots on the way home.

By the way, does anybody know the story of "Backgame Larry" from Robertie's "Advanced Backgammon"? Among my backgammon mates, this has become a bonmot whenver somebody retreats into a backgame...

As usual, my comments are generally already covered itt, so no need to post them again.

a) 24/21 (2), 6/3 (2).

b) 13/8

Blacks best winning chances is to set up his board in preparation for a future shot. A true backgame with 1 5 is a little suspect....i agree. But we are still in an excellant position to fall back on a very well timed ace point game. Its not something i am happy about ...but i think it does offer our best winning chances.

Yes agreed, but I do have some time to build my board. It's also a matter of timing, and instead of building my board immediately I improve my defense by making White's 4-point.

From there on I will also have other options than playing a backgame. The same reasoning is behind my suggestion to play 41 13/8.

But I have to admit definitely that this is by far the hardest of the three weekly problems so controversy is guaranteed. I don't want to ask a bot, because bringing their evaluations in might spoil the fun for subsequent posters.

One thing is for sure: I'm really looking forward to the solution next weekend (-:

(a) Black to play 3-3.

Black has four men back widely separated (an advantage given black also has an advanced anchor, white can't slot and build his inside board nor easily trap black). I don't see any advantage to moving these men at this time.

On the other side of the board black can build two key points moving 6/3(2) and 8/3(2). Stripping the 8 point isn't that big a crime; black isn't playing a blocking game at this point anyway against white's lone blot on the four point. But he'll have plenty of chances to hit white later with a likely even stronger board.

(b) Black to play 4-1:

With the advanced anchor black can take some risks. I like playing 24/21 putting a builder on that anchor. If the blot on the 24 point is attacked so what, white would be moving too far inside his board against an opponent who will have little problem getting back in.

With the one I'd slot the useful 5 point with a 6/5. Yeah this leaves a few blots around but only one can be hit productively and directly. If not hit black has many rolls to cover and will be pretty close to even.

~ Rick

Haven't got that far yet. But it seems true backgames (with four or five checkers holding the 1/2 points, 2,3 points, or 1,3 points virtually never happen in games played against skilled opponents. It's simply too easy for a decent player to disrupt the backgame player's timing (by not hitting blots preserving timing, a play that chumps make).

~ Rick

These backgames are some kind of a last resort, and in this disguise they happen among strong players as well. "Backgame Larry" on the other hand always tried to reach backgames because his chouette mates told him like "Larry, nobody plays backgames like you do."

a) 8/5(2) 6/3(2)
b) 24-20 6/5 A spare on 20 allows to be used to hit without breaking that point.

a) I play 24-18 (2) to start getting out of there before white starts making more points. The downside is white can unload freely in his home board.

b) Just 13-8 to bring a spare down to the 8 and not leave a direct shot elsewhere I guess.

Yeah just read that a couple days ago lol. Only real men play backgames...

a) It seems that five checkers at 6pt is a big problem. Hence, 6/3(2). But 3pt without 5pt is not useful. Hence, 8/5(2). Then we have a three-pont board against a one-point. It is good for an attack and good for a holding game. I do not see a better option.

b) Back has four checker back against one, so 6/5 does not take any risk. And I prefer 11/7 to 13/9. (13/8 is very passive and I do not see a perspective after 6/5 8/4*)

Hi guys,

I think the thing is that game can really develop in different directions, so what do we do in such situations make points and make anchers to have powerfull weapons no matter what happens.

Agnius

1) 24/21(2) 6/3(2)
5 4 backgame is not as good as 4 3 backgame but can still cause lots of trouble for white I think. 1 5 backgame means if white somehow leaves a blot, you'll have only a single shot while otherwise it's a double shot. On the other hand, we start to build inner board to wait for the hit.

2) 8/4* 11/10
The upside is huge if we manage to contain white's last checker. The downside is small because we are already very behind the race and secured two anchors.