Money Play. How should Red play 41? XGID=-a-B-CC—a-dD—bbcbB—A:0:0:1:41:0:0:3:0:10   Most people, including myself, get this one wrong. It looks logical to enter on White’s ace-point and then play 13/9 but that is before you consider Red’s game plan. The key is that the race is nearly equal after Red plays his 41 and whatever he […]

Money Game. How should Red play 21? XGID=-b—-E-C—cE–Abcda—A-:0:0:1:21:0:0:3:0:10 This is not the time for the ‘safe’ 16/13. White is ahead in development and Red must seek to equalise the position. Stepping up with 24/21 is the wrong game plan. It allows White a blitz attack which is precisely the game plan she wants to employ […]

Money Play. How should Red play 61? XGID=-a-BBBB-BBbA-B—b-bbb-ca-:2:-1:1:61:0:0:3:0:10  Over the board Red calmly played 11/4, leaving nothing for White to aim at. That move is not an error. Neither is 11/5, 9/8 which gives White 62 to hit but leaves Red with more flexibility. Those two moves are very close in equity. The key question […]

Money Play. Should Red redouble? If redoubled, should White take?   XGID=aCBBCB——AA–A—-ef-c-:1:1:1:00:0:0:3:0:10  I hope everybody recognises this as a huge redouble for Red. By next turn he will very often have lost his market. The key question is, can White take? The pip count is false because of White’s stacks in her home board and, […]

Money Play. How should Red play 65? XGID=—aBBBBBB–bA—caeBa-b–:1:-1:1:65:0:0:3:0:10 There is an aversion amongst beginners to giving up a full prime. This was demonstrated in this position when Red moved 20/15, 20/14. In fact, nearly all sensible plays result in Red winning about 85% of the games. However, only one play optimises Red’s equity in this […]

Money Game. Should Red double? If doubled, should White take? XGID=aB-Ba-C-A—dEa–c-e—-B-:0:0:1:00:0:0:3:0:10   This position occurs after White has opened with 32 (24/21, 13/11) and Red replies with 55 played 8/3(2), 6/1(2)*, followed by White staying on the bar. This position occurs frequently enough that you should know the correct doubling actions for both players. In […]

Money Play. How should Red play 44? XGID=-aaB–DCC—-ab–eBe—–A:1:-1:1:44:0:0:3:0:10  How should Red play this 44? He has the better position, he has 12 checkers in the attack zone, has already doubled and White has three loose blots. This cries out for an active rather than a passive play. There are gammons to be won. That means […]

Money Play. How should Red play 42? XGID=—–ADbC–AcD—cbe—-B-:0:0:1:42:0:0:3:0:10  This position arises after Red opens 21 played 13/11, 6/5 and White responds with 66 and makes both bar points. How should Red play this 42? It is ever so easy to pick up the checker on the 11-pt and play 11/5. A good point made and […]

Money Game. Should Red redouble? If redoubled, should White take? XGID=aBBCCCB—————ce–:1:1:1:00:0:0:3:0:10  You have been lucky enough to hit a shot when White was bearing off. You have closed your home board and White still languishes on the bar. When should you redouble? The basic rule of thumb, which has stood the test of time, is […]

Money Play. Should Red redouble? If redoubled, should White take? Match Play. Red leads 2-0 to 13. Should Red redouble? If redoubled, should White take? XGID=aabBbBBBA–BbC–A–db-a—:1:-1:1:61:0:0:3:0:10 Money Play. Should Red redouble? If redoubled, should White take? Match Play. Red leads 2-0 to 13. Should Red redouble? If redoubled, should White take? This position came up […]

Money Play. How should Red play 21? XGID=-Ba-B-DBA—bBabab-db–AA-:0:0:1:21:0:0:1:0:10   When playing against a lone back checker the standard technique is to attack it. In this position Red is unable to do that, so what should his plan be? Over the board Red looked no further than 24/22, 23/22, securing an anchor in White’s home board. […]

Money Play. How should Red play 53? Red will be thirty-eight pips ahead after the roll. That is the biggest clue in the position! If he plays the roll in his home board, he will still have three stripped points to clear and, while his board might be slightly stronger, he will have done nothing […]

Money Game. How should Red play 52? XGID=-aa—E-C—cE-aac-e—-AA:0:0:1:52:1:0:0:7:10:0:10  One of the problems with playing backgammon well is the multiplicity of choices on every roll. Given there are 21 different dice rolls I suppose this is not too surprising but it does mean you have to concentrate intently to play well. With this 52 Red has […]

Money Play. How should Red play 61? XGID=aabBbBBBA–BbC–A–db-a—:1:-1:1:61:0:0:3:0:10 Back games are very difficult to play well. The bots have taught us much, but back games still account for the biggest checker play errors in backgammon, so we still have a long way to go to master them even reasonably well. Here White has a reasonably […]

Match Play. Red leads 2-0 to 7. Should Red double? If doubled, should White take? XGID=a–BB-B-Ba–dD—dAe-AA—:0:0:1:00:2:0:0:7:10  When looking at any match play problem you should first seek to determine what the correct action in a money game would be. Using PraT (Position, Race, Threat), this look to be a clear double. The race is equal […]

Money Play. How should Red play 32? XGID=-b—-E-CA–eD—aAc–b-bA:0:0:1:32:2:0:0:7:10 Early double fives blitzes are very common in backgammon, so it is useful to know how to handle them. For those interested in learning the correct doubling strategies I recommend buying Kit Woolsey’s Backgammon Encyclopaedia Volume 1. Unfortunately, it is currently out of print so you will […]

Money Game. How should Red play 31 XGID=-a-a-BD-B—dE—d-e—-B-:0:0:1:31:0:0:3:0:10 Red has opened with 31 (8/5, 6/5) and White has split her rear checkers with her responding 52. How should Red now play 31? Beginners know it is good both to split the rear checkers and create builders for new points and so they choose either 24/21, […]

Money Play. Should Red double? If doubled should White take? XGID=aB-Ba-CB-a–cBb—-cBbaaAA:0:0:1:00:0:0:3:0:10  White has five blots and a fan at the wrong moment could easily result in the loss of a gammon. Crucially White does not have an anchor. All of this indicates that Red should be doubling despite being on the bar himself. What about […]

Money Play. How should Red play 52? XGID=–aBBBBB—–AB-A—–A-h-:1:1:1:52:0:0:3:0:10 The bots have taught us a lot about containment. Before the early 1990s we really weren’t very good at containing hit checkers! Breaking primes to hit is seldom correct and that is the case here. With such superb outer board coverage Red should not hit with 7/2*. […]

Money Play. Should Red redouble? If redoubled, should White take? XGID=-DA——————c-a–:1:1:1:00:0:0:3:0:10 When we study bear-off doubling we learn about ‘roll’ positions. A 3-roll vs 3-roll position with no misses is double/pass because the taking side has only just over 21% winning chances. We then learn to adjust for the actual position in front of us. […]

 Money Play. How should Red play 42? Match Play. Red leads 1-0 to 3. How should Red play 42? Both players have opened with a 52, played 24/22, 13/8. How should Red now play 42? The choices are simple: (a) 24/20, 22/20 or (b) 8/4, 6/4. For money it is close but that extra checker […]

Money Play. How should Red play 11? XGID=-abaBBC-C–B-A—–bcdb-B-:1:-1:1:11:0:0:3:0:10 Note: For this and all future articles where the players are not specifically named Black will have a male persona and White will have a female persona. Small doubles nearly always generate a lot of possible move and hence are difficult to play. Add the complexity of […]

Money Play. How should Red play 51? XGID=-aB–BDB-A–bBb—ccBbaa–:0:0:1:51:0:0:3:0:10 The two blots in White’s home board give Red the licence to make a bold play. The question is what is the right game plan? Red can attempt a blitz by hitting on the ace-point or play to prime White’s rear checker. For the blitz Red can […]

Money Play. How should Red play 64? XGID=aB-BBBD-A—b—-bbccB-b–:1:-1:1:64:0:0:1:0:10 A simple question: do you close the home board or run out with one checker to avoid crashing with small numbers on subsequent rolls? After 8/2, 6/2 Red is a favourite, just, to roll a 5 or a 6 next turn and solve the problems of the […]

Money Play. How should Red play 64? XGID=-a—-EBBa–eD—c-e—-B-:0:0:1:64:0:0:1:0:10  This position arose last week in a consultation match between France and Rumania in the World Team Championships in Forges Les Eaux, France. Remarkably, the top five players in France managed to agree on the wrong play. You cannot learn all the correct third roll moves because […]

Money Play. How should Red play 66? XGID=—cBBCBB—-B—–A-abbgA:1:-1:1:66:0:0:3:0:10 Whenever you roll a double it is always worth taking some extra time to think about how to play it as there will be multiple options. The double sixes in this week’s problem is a good demonstration of that principle. For the rollout I had to look […]

Money Play. How should Red play 44?   XGID=—-a-EbE—dCB–b-cba—-:0:0:1:44:0:0:3:0:10   This is an apparently simple position and many will make the reflex move 14/10(2), 8/4(2)*. However, that is completely the wrong game plan and any move other than the right one is a triple blunder or worse! Red will be 36 pips up after the […]

Money Play. How should Red play 62? XGID=-b–B-D-B—dE—c-ca–bB-:0:0:1:62:0:0:3:0:10 It is early in the game and Red has an awkward 62 to play. It can be played (a) 24/16 (b) 13/11, 13/7 or (c) 13/5. 24/16 gets a rear checker moving but there is no duplication of numbers in the move and it puts no pressure […]

Money Play. Should Red double? If doubled, should White take? As part of one’s library of reference positions you should know the basic doubling rules for all the different types of anchor games. Of these the most difficult is the 3-pt holding game. There is a saying that all 3-pt anchor games are doubles and […]