Problem of the Week #4: March 29


Black has survived the first stage of an early 5-5 blitz and now has an anchor. Now he has to find the right way to get home.

Cash game, center cube.




(a) Black to play 2-1.

(b) Black to play 3-3.

2-1: I don't wanna be hit right now, so I play the safest possible with 6/3. Also making the 5 point is not as valuable when white has already made the bar point anchor.

3-3: I'm trying to come up with a reason not to make the 5 and 3, but I can't. We could play 8/2*(2), but white enters fairly easily and our structure is awful.

A)13-10

We have no choice but to leave a direct shot and white being on our 7 point makes priming him very difficult, If we are to be hit here I would rather encourage white to hit from the 7 point breaking his anchor.

B) 13-10(2), 6-3(2)

My 1st instinct was to run with the back checkers with 17-11(2), but the race is a virtual tie and running the back checkers gives white free reign over his half of the board and doesn't much improve our chances of getting home safely.

I think 13-10(2), 6-3(2) is the best move because it accomplishes a few things.

1. It keeps pressure on white's midpoint.
2. It makes a point in our board.
3. It unstacks our 6 point
4. It leaves the most attackers available to make another point next roll.(this is the reason I think it is a better play here than 8-5 (2). Especially since white is not able to make an anchor in our board at the moment.)
5. It provides a safe landing spot in our outer board in case we are forced to move from the 17 or 13 point in future rolls.

a) 8/5 - best place to leave a shot.

b) 8/5 (2) and 13/10 (2)

a) The dreaded 2-1...I'd play 13-10 which doesn't really do much. I guess 8/5 is the right play though, to slot.

b) Much better. I'll go with 8/5 (2), and 6/3 (2) which unstacks the biggest point and I think is better than 13/10 (2). The 5-6-8-10 formation just doesn't feel as flexible as 3-5-6-8.

My choice
A 13/5 8/9

B 13/16 (2) and 17/20 (2)

Incase B we have no midpoint so we need some point who compensates it, i think according to timing it is a right play.

I'm not sure whether your play or mine is right (or either), but I wonder what effect white not being able to make an inner board anchor has on the correct play? If white already had an anchor inside our board i would defiantly play 8-5, but the anchor on the bar point is really a thorn in our side right now and If we must leave a shot I would rather encourage him to break up the anchor by leaving a direct shot for him

Black is back is the race so the goal is to hit and to contain.
1) 8/5 is better because this is the direct way to a good board. I do not like 13/10 since hitting contest is not the goal right now.
2) Black must hold 17 pt. So the real choice is between 8/2(2)* and 8/5(2) 6/3(2). I don like hitting because it will be difficult to close another point after this play. Hence, 8/5(2) 6/3(2).

Unless i miscounted black is actually ahead in the pip count 148-150. Still not a great position but not trailing.

a) We are forced to leave a shot. What is our game plan here? I think we should try to make some long time equity in the form of points in the board making it more difficult for white to get home safe.
13/10: My first thought. Suddenly I didn't like that white can hit and try to escape his 18p anchor while we potentially are on the bar.
8/5: Slotting the best point but leaves 3 more shots than 6/3. Also we are unstacking the 8-point where 6/3 unstacks the more heavy loaded 6-point.
6/3: Giving the least shots and unstacking the most heavy loaded point.

I'm pretty sure that in a tournament situation I would choose 8/5 because I don't think it can be wrong by a mile, but when having a long time to think about this move I have to go with 6/3 as a little better, but close anyway.

b) This roll enables us to do alot for our game plan. I don't think we should break contact, thus leaving the 17p alone.
There are only one move that distributes the checkers in a smooth manner and that making the 3p and 5p.

a) 6/3. Usually if we slot, we slot at the most valuable point. But here white's single backman doesn't have any problem jumping out, so IMO 5point does not have more value than does 3 point, and slotting it is 25% more risky. It also helps balancing the checkers.

b) 6/3 8/5. Two good inner board points. Our board is suddenly stronger than opponent's. Also we don't want to strip midpoint so that we can hit when white tries to run.

Yes, it is my mistake. Black is ahead. But not very much to run.

a) 8/5 seems best to me, though 6/3 and 13/10 both seem very reasonable. I don't think it matters much what you do here.
b) 8/5(2) 6/3(2) seems obvious.

As a general observation, Black is now slightly ahead in the pipcount (146-150) and has the advantage of having no checkers back except the anchor on the 17.

The only concern he can have here is to not get hit because of White's stronger board. White can't keep a holding game for ever because he's already dumped some checkers in his board.

So I want to bring my checkers around quickly now.

With the 33, I'll play 17/11 (2) because this will give me better chances to get those home. I'm very interested in breaking contact here.

The 21 is ugly. There's no way to play safe here, so I'll play 6/3 because that minimises White's hitting rolls and as a side effect helps to unstack a bit.
8/5 does unstack the wrong point and give White one additional roll to hit.

What? 13/5 is impossible! 8/9 too, but I guess you wanted to play 13/5 8/5. If this was legal, I'd probably play it too.

EDIT: Ok, I've seen 13/5 refers to the 21 roll... Well, but I still don't understand how you want to play it.

Hmm....
1) I think I'd play 8/5. I am willing to give up a couple shots over 6/3 to make a much better point. 13/10 is reasonable too, because that at least forces opponent to give up an asset (his bar point) to hit us, barring a lucky 8 from the straggler. If we had only one spare on the 8, I'd probably pick 13/10.
2) This is not a place to try to be running away into a holding game. What are our spares on the 8 and 6 doing if not making inner board points? 8/5(2) 6/3(2) gives us a better board than our opponent and puts huge pressure on the last checker to move. Anything else looks kind of inflexible and ugly.

Edit: viik, I think agnius is moving around the board backwards, or something, and meant 13/15 8/9?

For (a) the roll that I think is best, 21: 13/10

I'm not convinced that slotting the five point is the correct move right now because only 13/11 6/5 is viable when slotting, and it involves too much risk in being hit either once or possibly twice. By moving 13/10 we risk just over a 1/3 chance of being hit, and if we are, white is left in a more vulnerable position facing his outer board which we control.

As for (b), At first I thought it was a close decision between 33: 13/10(2) 8/5(2) and 8/5(2) 6/3(2)

After thinking about it more, I chose 8/5(2) 6/3(2). It seems better to build a strong inner board than splitting the roll between the two sides. Also, I think that it is more valuable to leave four checkers on the 13 point than the other option or leaving three points with only two checkers on them.

a) I play 13/10 I think this play offers a little more flexibility for the next roll, we have more return shots if white breaks the anchor to hit, as well our 6's play much better next roll, both slotting plays leave awkward 6's.

b) 8/5 6/3 Builds your board instantly.Starts to put pressure on the straggler. I dont want to strip our midpoint by moving 13/10.

a) 13/10

b) 6/3*2 8/5*2 looked best at first glance. How is 17/14*2 13/10*2?

(a) Black to play 2-1.

Slot the 5 point playing 8/5. If it gets hit now it hurts but black can recover with white's checkers buried deep and lack of current pressure on his home board. If it isn't hit you have plenty of builders to cover. You simply need to unstack your candlesticks and build points to have any real chance to get home before white builds more points inside and getting hit is much worse.

Now that I look further another option that looks good is 13-10. White has to break the 7 point to hit and it also accomplishes bringing in builders to make points where you will need them.

Still I prefer my fifst choice.


(b) Black to play 3-3.

This is much harder IMO. Black is still behind and has to go through a minefield that will get worse over time. I like building the two inner points with 8-5(2) and 6-3(2). Not too confident though.

~ Rick

2/1 : I think 13/10 is better than 8/5 here because the race is an important consideration and if white hits, we have a lot more potential returnshots that way. white hitting on the 5 point would be much worse, because he keeps his anchor that way, basucally his most valueble point at the moment.

3/3 : black is now ahead in the race and should play safe. putting pressure on the straggler seems to be a little less important. with the anchor on the barpoint, white has a solid defense anyway.
the 17point seems to be a weakness for black, because he will have to leave a spare there soon. white has enough spares to keep the mid- and barpoint for a long time, so black will be the one to leave a blot first. thats why 17/11 should be good. black makes a new point in the outfield, keeps his spares and breaks contact.