Money Play. How should Red play 44?

XGID=—-AbDBB—cC—bBcba-bA-:0:0:1:44:0:0:3:0:10

Always remember that backgammon is a representation of war. An essential element of warfare is communication, the soldiers need to be able to speak to each other. Bearing that idea in mind, how should Red play his double fours?

Certainly not 18/10(2) which completely strands the rear checker and Red would be racing when trailing in the race. 7/3(2), 6/2(2) creates a stripped structure with gaps, very poor for communication and future development.

8/4(2), 7/3(2) is much better, creating a compact structure with some spares for future rolls. Best by a very short distance is 13/9(3), 6/2. This creates a four-point prime, again with some spares to cope with future rolls. Meanwhile Red needs to escape his rear checker to give himself another spare. That will give him options for racing or priming as his future game plans.

Flexibility and communication are the key factors in the decision-making process here.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Money Play. How should Red play 42?

XGID=—B–DbC—dC-a-Bbd–b-A-:0:0:1:42:0:0:3:0:10

The age-old saying in backgammon is, “when in doubt, hit”. This position is a classic demonstration of that principle. Over the board Red played the very passive 8/4, 6/4 but that leaves an equal position.  What will Red do next turn after the passive play.

Having decided to hit which is the correct play?

The weakest hit is 17/15*, 17/13 which isolates the rear checker and gives White good threes, a number that doesn’t enter from the bar. Better is 17/15*/11 which nicely duplicates White’s fours and fives.

The best hit is 24/20, 17/5*. Crucially this connects all the rear checkers so that, if White does enter and hit, Red will have a lot of return shots the following roll.

Aggression normally pays dividends in backgammon and this position ably supports that principle. Backgammon is a game of risk and reward. Here there is certainly some risk but that is nicely counterbalanced by the potential reward.

“When in doubt, HIT”.

Rollout Data from Extreme Gammon

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Money Play. Should Red double? If doubled, should White take?

 XGID=-DD——————–ec-:0:0:1:00:0:0:3:0:10

When we learn about doubling in backgammon we start with bear-off positions because we can calculate exactly each player’s winning chances and so we can be certain about the correct doubling positions.

So we “know” that a pure (neither player can fail to take off two checkers with each roll) three roll position is a double and drop, a four roll position is a double and a take and five roll position is a double (but not a redouble) and a take.

The next stage in our education is to introduce slight variations to the know positions to see if that makes any difference. This position is the standard four roll position but one of White’s checkers has been moved from his 1-pt to his 2-pt. Can this possibly change the doubling decisions?

Surprisingly, it can. Red should clearly still double but now White has to drop the double!

Why is this? Two reasons: White’s double ones no longer takes off four checkers thus saving him a roll; White might roll four successive aces in which case on his last roll he will only take off one checker.

These two possibilities combine to push White into drop territory although I have seen many players erroneously take this position when playing the White checkers.

So we learn the basics and then we vary things a little and gain more knowledge. Quite simply, basic education applied to backgammon.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Match Play. Red trails 0-2 to 7. Should Red redouble? If redoubled, should White take?

XGID=–aCABBB—-AA—-c-Cc-dd-:1:1:1:00:0:2:0:7:10

This continues the theme from last week. When I first started playing backgammon match play doubling was still a very little researched and understood area of the game. With the advent of the bots things changed dramatically and modern players are light years ahead of their counterparts from the 1970s and 1980s.

However, players still wait too long to redouble in certain match plays situations and this week’s problem is one of them. White’s board is a mess and he already has four dead checkers. Red’s position is very sound with the exception of the dilly builder on his 3-pt.

For money and with a fully active cube it would be a blunder to redouble here but at 0-2 to 7 it is a very different story. With the cube on 4 a gammon for White will only gain him one extra point. Secondly, he will be very slow to redouble to 8 because Red will only need about 8% winning chances to accept. These two factors are huge in making the redoubling decision.

The position is highly volatile and by next turn Red may have missed his market and doing that when trailing in a match is nearly a criminal offence! Red must redouble now to make sure White will still accept.

Look, for example, at the sequence 53 for Red played 12/4, followed by 54 for White, played 18/22, 18/23. Red will have missed his market by a huge margin and in fact he will be too good to redouble.

You should always take longer to consider a redouble than an initial double, purely because there will be more at stake.

A lot of players would miss the redouble here because they would be influenced by their “money play thinking”. Winning backgammon matches is largely about good cube handling. Not redoubling this position is a 2.5 blunder.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Match Play. Double Match Point. How should Red play 41?

XGID=-BBBCB———–aBbcBccc-:0:0:1:41:6:6:0:7:10

This is a problem about containment. A whole book could be written on the topic but let’s start with this one position.

Red has been lucky enough to roll a number where he can hit from either of his two anchors. The question is how should he hit the White blot?  Over the board Red played 18/17*/13 trying for coverage of his outer board but that play turns out to be an error.

The bots have taught us in positions like this to protect against jokers. What is White’s only joker? Double sixes, which will nearly certainly win the game and match for him. Therefore, Red should keep the 18-pt for the time being and later on, if White remains on the bar, he should make his 12-pt with the same idea.

This joker prevention play turns out be more important than diversifying the rear checkers. The best play in this position  is 21/17*/16. After that, if White stays on the bar, Red will have time to diversify his four rear checkers to give himself maximum coverage of the outer boards.

Here’s an additional question for you to ponder. After Red plays 21/17*/16 how should White subsequently play 61? I’ll leave you to sleep on that one!

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Money Play. Should Red double? If doubled, should White take?

XGID=-a–BaCBC—eC—–e-b-Ba-:0:0:1:00:0:0:3:0:10

 A classic middle game position. Red has the advantage, not least because he is on roll. Is he good enough to double? Can White accept a double?

Leaning doubling reference positions is long and arduous and so we need  shortcut. That shortcut is PRaT which stands for Position, Race, Threat. If you are ahead in two out of three key elements you should certainly be considering doubling. From the taker’s perspective. If you are behind in all three factors the position is nearly certainly a drop.

In this position the race is even. Red has slightly the better overall position as his structure is stronger than White’s. The position is volatile as Red is threatening a blitz. There are a lot of sequences where White won’t be taking a double next turn.

This implies Red should double, which is correct. What about the take? White trails in two of three factors but, other than the checker on his ace-point, his position is sound and if he can establish an anchor in Red’s home board he will be in the game for a long time. Of course, he may get blitzed as Red has ten checkers in the attack zone, but nearly all backgammon positions have inherent risk. White should take the double.

One way of learning is to see what adjustments to the position can alter the  result. Here, if we move a checker from Red’s mid-point to his 9-pt the position becomes double/drop because Red’s attack is now just too strong. This sort of exercise can rapidly improve your playing strength.

So remember to use PRaT – it is a fundamental tool for evaluating doubling decisions

Rollout Data from Extreme Gammon

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Money Play. Should Red double? If doubled, should White take?

XGID=aa-B-BC-A–AdDa–c-e—-B-:0:0:1:00:0:0:3:0:10

Other than end-game situations and races how do we learn when to double and whether or not to take an offered double?

Backgammon is far too difficult a game to be able to evaluate doubling decisions over the board without prior knowledge of similar positions. These are known as ‘Reference Positions’. A Reference Position is one where we ‘know’ the correct cube action for both players. Expert players have thousands of reference positions in their mental library. Beginners have very few and consequently a) make a lot of mistakes and b) take a lot of time to make decisions. Building a library of reference positions takes time so the more you study the quicker you can build your own library.

Positions rarely repeat but types of positions constantly repeat. An expert will look at the position in front of him, call up a Reference Position, make adjustments for the differences between that and the actual position and, more often than not, arrive at the correct doubling decision.

This week’s position is an early blitz. Red has rolled an early 33 and White has stayed on the bar. The standard Reference Position for an early 33 is the same as this position but with the two blots on the respective 11-pts both on the mid-points. That position is known to be both a correct double and a correct take.

How do the two 11-pt blots affect things? They are both in Red’s favour. Firstly, his 64 hits another blot. Secondly he has a checker closer to the attack zone than in the standard reference position, strengthening his blitz attack.

Those two differences turn what was a reasonable take into a close pass for White, although many would take because of an imperfect Reference Position library.

So remember, most doubling decisions are based on Reference Positions. This example was reasonably easy but sometimes the adjustments are much more difficult  to perform and then the expert comes into his own.

The quicker you can build your own reference library the stronger player you will become.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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 a) Money Play. Should Red redouble? If redoubled, should White take?

b) Match Play. Red trails 5-6 to 11. Should Red redouble? If redoubled, should White take?

XGID=aB–b-DDB—-Ba-a–bbcAb–:1:1:1:00:0:0:3:0:10

Whenever I face a match play cube decision I first try to create a benchmark by looking at the correct action for money. Here Red still has a lot of work to do to win the game. His home board structure is poor and White is in the game for ever with his 4-pt anchor. If things go well for him, Red can win a gammon but given the strength of White’s home board Red will not expect to get many drops but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t redouble.

A cautious player might hold the cube but not redoubling is technically an error – the position is too volatile to wait.  Red will win a high percentage of gammons and he would rather win 8 points rather than 4.  Even so, White has an easy take and dropping would be a huge blunder.

What about the match play decision. Now things are very different. A 4-cube where either player could win a gammon and the match should give both sides pause for thought. Whenever I am redoubled in a match situation I always take extra thinking time. Note especially that cube will be virtually useless to White,. Red will only need 10% game-winning chances to take a redouble to 8 so White will hardly ever redouble.

That lack of cube usefulness for White plus the gammon threat means that now the cube decisions are very different. Not redoubling becomes a blunder and the take is right on the borderline for White. Because it is so close the opponent factor must be considered. If White is the stronger player he should probably drop but if he is the weaker the player he should take.

Remember, redoubling decisions in match play are usually crucial to the outcome of the match so ALWAYS take your time.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

 Money

Match

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 Money Game. How should Red play 43?

XGID=-a—aE-C–AdD—a-bAb-bbA:1:1:1:43:0:0:3:0:10

Red is in a lot of trouble in this position. He faces a strong blitz and the loss of gammon.

His 3 is forced. He must play bar/22. The question is how to play the 4?

Exposing a new blot with 8/4 (although that duplicates 3’s) or 6/2 does not look right.That leaves the choice between 22/18, 20/16 and 11/7. Before making any play, Red must consider his game plan and uppermost in his mind should be this question, “how can I establish anchor?”. If he can establish an anchor, he will have a foothold in the game and some winning chances or at least he might save the gammon.

Over the board, Red chose 20/16 but that does not follow the game plan. After bar/22 he has two potential anchors, the 22-pt and the 20-pt. The best chance to make one of those points is to leave them both slotted.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Money Play. How should Red play 54?

XGID=-BCbBaF-aB———bbbbc–:0:0:1:54:0:0:3:0:10

This looks like a classic ‘Pay me now, pay me later’ problem. Should Red play 9/5*, 9/4, leaving White 13 shots to win the game or should he wait with 6/2, 6/1?

As it happens the two plays are very close with the ‘pay now’ play of 9/5*,  9/4 winning by the tiniest of margins.

However, that statement is only true if Red had already doubled. It is rarely right to ‘pay now’ if you haven’t made your opponent pay for that opportunity. That is the case here and, because Red hasn’t doubled, he should play safe with 6/2, 6/1 and see what the position looks like next turn when he is on roll. Playing 9/5*, 9/4 with the cube in the centre is very nearly a  double blunder.

In fact, Red made a big error in not doubling before rolling this 54. The position is highly volatile and he may have lost his market by his next turn. White would have had a comfortable take.

So remember, paying now with the cube in the centre is rarely correct.

Rollout Data from Extreme Gammon

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Money Play. Should Red double? If doubled, should White take?

XGID=–BBCCCB——–abbc-c-bb-:0:0:1:00:0:0:3:0:10

Backgammon is at its simplest when the two armies have disengaged and the game becomes a simple race. Once that happens knowing how to use the doubling cube is much more important than moving the checkers.

The most important thing to know in a race is the pipcount for each player. When playing online this is given to you. In live play you have to do it yourself. Lots of people tell me they can’t count but it is surprising how much a  little practice can help. There are various shortcuts that can help. For example, two checkers on each of your home board points give a pipcount of 42. I’ll leave you to research other others.

How do we know when to double and when to take? The roughest guide is that you need to be about 10% ahead to double and at that point your opponent still has a take. Most beginners use the 8-9-12 rule. You can double when you are at least 8% ahead, you can redouble when you are at least 9% ahead and you can take until you are 12% behind.

That is the best guide when starting out in backgammon but once you have mastered that technique there are advanced formulae for more complex positions. If you really want to understand the topic, please download “Backgammon Races” from the downloads section of my website:

http://www.chrisbraybackgammon.com/#/downloads/4577963017

What about this week’s position? Based upon the 8-9-12 rule and just looking at the pipcounts this is both a double and an easy take. Regrettably life is not that simple. Two key points: White needs five crossovers to bring his remaining checkers home while Red needs only 2; White has gaps on his 3-pt and 5-pt. These two facts mean that White must drop Red’s double although I know many would take.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Match Play. Red trails 2-6 to 13.  Should Red redouble to 8. If redoubled, should White take?

XGID=aA-CB-DB–B-A—–bb-cbbc-:2:1:1:00:2:6:0:13:10

 High cubes in matches often determine the eventual outcome. Therefore, it is always worth taking some extra time when faced with a high-value cube decision and by that I mean at least a couple of minutes and probably longer. Too often I see even top players rush into crucial decisions without enough thought.

Such was the case in this week’s position. Red did not redouble to 8. He made his ace-point and after White fanned Red did redouble and White passed, tying the score at 6-6. Red went on to win the match

The first thing to do is to decide on the right action in a money game and then adjust that for the score.

For money this is not yet a redouble. Red has only a three-point home board versus White’s five-point home board. Red trails in the race and even if he makes his ace-point, White will still be favourite to enter from the bar. Red is the favourite, but he is not far enough into his doubling window to justify turning the cube. He needs to give White a much more difficult decision. With a fully active cube Red should hold on to the cube.

The match score changes things hugely. Now if Red redoubles and White takes, White can never use the cube to win the game. Also gammons are meaningless to White. In fact the score changes things so much that Red is longer within his doubling window. His market has gone. Red should redouble and White should drop. Taking is actually a blunder.

However, many players forget to adequately adjust their cube handling for the match score and as Red I would expect to get a few takes here. In the actual match Red missed a glorious opportunity to give White the chance to make a big mistake.

Always remember just how important the match score is when considering a high-value cube.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Money Play. How should Red play 44?

XGID=a-a-BBBCD-A-b-a–cbc-b–A-:1:-1:1:44:0:0:3:0:10

This is a difficult position that I got wrong in my first analysis.

In fact there are two perfectly valid game plans. The pure blitz of 7/3(2), 10/2* is thematic because Red has fourteen checkers in the attack zone. Unless White rolls an immediate 2 or double 1 or double 3 he is going to be in a lot of trouble.

The second approach is the “bot” play of 24/16, 6/2(2)*. This leaves White no discernible target in Red’s home board and escapes Red’s last rear checker, something that the bots put a high premium on.

The rollout has the blitz as the winner by a tiny amount but, in reality, there is no difference between the two plays. The position neatly demonstrates that there can be two perfectly valid game plans in a single position.

30 years ago I would wager that nobody would have considered 24/16, 6/2(2)* but the bots have taught us to look at things differently and thus progress is made.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Money Play. How should Red play 33?

XGID=-b—-E-C–AdD—cad—-aB:0:0:1:33:0:0:3:0:10

This is another third roll position that demonstrates an important learning point.

Obviously two of Red’s threes are forced, bar/22(2). The question is should Red then make his 5-pt with 8/5(2), his 3-pt with 6/3(2) or his 10-pt with 13/10(2)?

In the early skirmishes it is usually better to make home board points rather than outer board points as home board points have the advantage of reducing your opponent’s entry numbers if he/she has a blot hit. That is the case here and 13/10(2) comes last of our three plays, although it is extremely close.

So, which home board point should Red make? 6/3(2) leaves White only one hitting number, 64 while 8/5(2) leaves four hitting numbers: 64, 61, 52 and 43. Is it worth giving the extra shots to make the better point? The answer is yes, and it is because of the structure of White’s board with blots on his bar-point and ace-point. If Red is hit, he will have a lot of return shots. So ,in this case ,the risk is worth the reward.

If you take a checker from White’s 6-pt and put it on his ace-point thus giving him his ace-point then the two plays become equal.

There are two key learning points here:

• If your opponent has home board weaknesses you can take more risk on your own side of the board to improve your position.
• Always take the time to look at the whole board. Only then should you look at candidate plays and choose between them

Rollout Data from Extreme Gammon

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1. a) Money Play. How should Red play 31?

   b) Money Play. How should Red play 42?

XGID=-a—-EaC—dE-a-c-e—-B-:0:0:1:31:0:0:3:0:10

When replying to the opening roll we are taught to hit a blot to take a tempo from our opponent and gain ground in the race, but we are also taught to make new points on the board. What happens when you have to choose between the two?

Here White has opened with 63 and played the standard 24/18, 13/10. How should Red play both 31 and 42? Before computers nobody was absolutely sure of the answer, but time has moved on and we now know that with 31 Red should make his 5-pt but with his 42 he should hit with 13/7*. Why is there is a difference between the two plays?

Firstly 31 makes the best point on the board, your own 5-pt or the “Golden Point’ as Paul Magriel named it. 42 could be played 8/4, 6/4 making the ‘Silver Point’ but the 4-pt is not as strong as the 5-pt simply because of the gap left on the 5-pt.

Secondly if Red hits with 31 by playing 24/21, 8/7* or 13/10, 8/7* he has to use the last spare checker on his 8-pt to do so and that reduces his flexibility for future moves. Conversely when Red hits with 13/7* with a roll of 42 he is unstacking the heavy mid-point and he maintains the spare checker on the 8-pt.

These differences might seem small but over time these things add up and if you always play these two moves correctly then you will see the benefits over the long-term.

So, remember. With 31 take the 5-pt asset but with 42 the hit is correct. This concept extends well beyond the opening. Often it is right to take the 5-pt asset when you can but it is correct to hit if an inferior point is on offer as the alternative.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Money Game. How should Red play 21?

This position was featured in a Facebook discussion on back games. My initial reaction was to play bar/22 so that Red could release that spare checker on the 22-pt with a six, thus maintaining the timing he needs to play his 1-3 back game. Without this being set as a quiz question, I would not have given it much more thought.

Some of the heavyweights of the backgammon world joined the discussion and most of them were in favour of bar/23, 24/23, electing to play a 2-3 back game. That surprised me and so it was time to ask XG its opinion. Lo and behold, as you can see from then rollout below, bar/23, 24/23 is the clear winner.

Now we need to understand why. The 2-3 is a better back game than the 1-3 game because all of White’s numbers have to be played and he cannot slow himself down (that is the main problem with the 1-2 back game which requires huge timing). The outcome is that the 2-3 game generates shots earlier than the 1-3 game. Remember that the general rule of thumb for back games is that you must trail in the race by the number of pips represented by your two back game points. So, to play a 2-3 game you need to trail by 90 pips.

Red is close to that here so that points towards being able to play a 2-3 game. Red has timing because of his two checkers on his mid-points and his spares on his 6-pt. That gives him about 26 pips of timing while White has less than that and must soon begin to break his prime. Additionally with any two Red will be able to play 24-22 and then a six will release that checker.

The bottom line is that the move I have played in such situations for years, bar/22, is actually a bad error and so I have really learnt something from studying this position. You have to take away quite a lot of pips from Red’s timing before bar/22 becomes the correct play in such situations. In fact the two checkers on his mid-point have to be in his home board before bar/22 becomes the best play.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Match Play. Red leads 9-6 to 13. How should Red play 32?

XGID=–C-aCD-B-BA——accbbba-:0:0:1:32:9:6:0:13:10

After this play of his 32 Red will be 7 pips behind in the race but White still has to escape his rear checker.

Red can play aggressively with (a) 11/8, 6/4*. He can play totally safe with (b) 11/6 or he can build his home board with (c) 6/3, 5/3 and leave White four hitting numbers (43, 34, 52, 25). Which is the correct move?

Over the board Red had visions of losing a gammon if White hit a blot and then seeing his lead being cut to 9-8. He chose the very passive (c), White escaped and won the game with a  cube a few rolls later. As you can see from the rollout this is a triple blunder.

Better is (b), building the board at the cost of four shots. This play is a merely an error.

The point about this position is that Red cannot play passively. He must attack the White blot to prevent it from escaping. The correct move is (a). At the cost of 13 shots Red builds a potentially winning position. If White fans he can cash the game. Otherwise he will have caught up another 4 pips in the race and White’s blot will still be subject to further attack.

Whatever move Red selects White will still be the favourite to win the game but Red must optimise his own winning chances. The best way to do that is to hit the White checker. Note that 6/4*/1 is not the right idea. It minimises immediate shots but the second blot on the 11-pt costs Red more gammons when he does lose.

In the main, timidity is the wrong mindset for backgammon. A positive attitude over the board usually pays dividends and that is the case in this position. Remember twenty-three of White’s numbers do not hit the blot on Red’s 4-pt after 11/8, 6/4* and just look at the swing on a number such as double fives by White!

So, please think positively.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Money Play. Should Red double? If doubled, should Red take?

XGID=—CCbD-B—eC—babc—–:0:0:1:00:0:0:3:0:10

 When we start to teach the use of the doubling cube, we begin with endgame problems because they are easy to calculate exactly. However, the vast majority of doubling decisions cannot be calculated precisely and so we have to rely on reference positions.

These are positions that we have committed to memory where we ‘know’ the correct cube action. When a similar position arises, we make use of the reference position by accessing it and then adjusting our decision based opon the actual position we have to consider.

One of the reasons beginners play so slowly is that they have very few reference positions upon which to draw, and they end up trying to solve problems from first principles which does take a lot of time. The more you play the greater your reference library becomes and the easier it is to find a useful position to use as a reference.

This week’s position is a classic reference position for playing against the five-point holding game.

Red is clearly the favourite and should double now because rolling nearly any double will lose his market. He leads the race by 55 pips so unless White rolls a lot of big doubles he is very unlikely to win the race.

White’s route to victory is to build his home board points (in order), hit a Red checker, contain it and win with a redouble. In this position White has plenty of time to keep his mid-point and Red may soon have to leave a shot as he tries to clear-his own mid-point.

If the race were closer White may have to give up his mid-point and rely on hitting a shot from Red’s 5-pt. The beauty of this type of position is that as White’s racing chances diminish his hitting chances increase.

The rule of thumb is that Red should be 20 pips ahead in the race before he doubles and White can take until he is nearly 60 pips behind. That’s quite a range! Once White is more than 60 pips behind he has to pass because he loses too many gammons, a point you may not have considered.

If you want to study these type of positions in more depth try to get hold of a copy Kit Woolsey’s “The Backgammon Encyclopedia: Volume 1”.

Rollout Data from Extreme Gammon

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Money Play. How should Red play 21?

XGID=-a–a-E-C—dEa–c-e—-B-:0:0:1:21:0:0:3:0:10

With the opening roll we look to do three things: make new points; unstack the mid-point and 6-pt; advance the rear checkers.

When responding to the opening roll we will have a fourth option, namely hitting an opponent’s blot. Unlike at the end of the game when a hit can be fatal because of your opponent’s strong home board, a hit in the opening is usually anything but fatal.

However, it does something very important and that is to take a tempo away from your opponent. He will have to spend half of his next roll entering from the bar (and sometimes he rolls 66 and stays on the bar, that is known as a boxcar bonus). Therefore, unless he rolls a double, he is unlikely to make a new point. Thus, he spends his time reacting to your play rather than having the freedom to play his whole roll as he chooses. The more you play backgammon the more you realise how important it is to take tempi from your opponent

Having understood the thinking, you should now to be able to play Red’s 21 in response to White’s opening 32 (played, 24/21, 13/11). Red must hit 6/4* with the 2 to take a tempo. After that the logical 1 is 24/23, getting one of the back checkers moving on its way while White is preoccupied on the bar. All non-hitting plays are too passive as you can see from the rollout.

What about if White had rolled 52, played 24/22, 13/8. How would you play 64?

Before the advent of computers most people played 24/14 but the bots have taught us that 13/3*, taking that all-important tempo, is correct.

There are many other opening rolls and possible responses (actually about 600 of them) but as you play more and more those responses will become second nature to you. The more you play the quicker you will learn them!

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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1. Money Play. Should Red double? If doubled, should White take?

2. Match Play. Red leads 4-0 to 7. Should Red double? If doubled, should White take?

XGID=-aC—-b-a—a—abcbb—A:0:0:1:00:0:0:3:0:10

I was watching a match between two strong players on GridGammon when this position came up. Red doubled and White snapped up the cube which I must say surprised me. Red easily won a gammon and the match. I was sure that White should have passed but then started doing some detailed analysis.

Let’s quickly deal with the money game question. Red should double (activating gammons) and White should pass very quickly indeed. Taking this double would be worse than a quintuple blunder – see the rollout below. If you even considered taking this cube in a money game, then some swift re-evaluation of your cube handling is required!

The match score question is very different. This is fundamentally a prime-versus-prime position and it is well-known that these positions generate a high percentage of gammons for both sides. That is exactly what White wants, especially if the cube gets to 4 when a gammon will win the match for him. Holding a 2-cube and already down 4-0 White will need very little excuse to redouble to 4. For example, any game-winning single shot will suffice.

What is truly surprising is that technically Red should not double – see the rollout below. This position falls into the category of “not good enough, too good to double”. This means that Red should leave the cube alone and play on for an undoubled gammon which would get him to 6-0 (Crawford). Of course, he can always use the cube later if the position warrants it. Naturally White should accept the cube if doubled (as he did in the actual game).

Having said all that for practical purposes Red should double. A high percentage of players will drop this and play from 0-5 behind. XG gives you a percentage figure on rollouts that would change its decision. In the rollout below you will see the figure is 3.2%. Many more than 3 out of 100 players will drop this double so unless I was certain my opponent was taking the double, I would ship the cube here.

When watching the match, I had let my money play thinking cloud my match play judgement, one of the most common errors in backgammon.   If you got this problem right for the right reasons, then very well done.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

Money

Match

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Match Play. Red leads 4-2 to 11. How should Red play 55?

XGID=-aaB-bE-B—bCb–b-dBa—A:0:0:1:55:4:2:0:11:10

This position comes from the recent Boston Open. The score is actually irrelevant to the play.

Red played bar/15, 20/15(2) with his double fives but that was not the best play.

Giving up an anchor in a backgammon game is a major decision and the more I play the more I like to hang on to my anchor. Of course, eventually you have to give up your anchor and run for home but if you can do it with a gain of tempo (i.e. hitting your opponent as you do so) so much the better.

When there is a lot of play left in a position, as is the case here, then normally you are better off holding on to the anchor so that you have a safe re-entry point. There is likely to be quite a lot of hitting before this game is finished and so Red should have kept hold of his opponent’s 5-pt.

He should have played bar/20, 6/1(2)* (Barclay Cooke would turn in his grave with making the ace-point so early!) and then thought about the third five. He could play safe with 13/8 but he has gained a tempo by putting White on the bar. Three checkers on the 15-pt is inefficient and so the spare checker should be put to work with 20/15. 13/8 is too safe a play given the demands of the position and as you can see from the rollout such a passive play is actually a blunder.

The result is that after bar/15, 6/1(2)* Red has maintained a flexible game plan. After bar/15, 20/15(2) he has no choice but to try to tip-toe through the minefield to bring his checkers home safely – a blot being hit could be ruinous. Try playing the position out a few times and you will find just how difficult it is to bring those checkers home.

There isn’t a huge equity difference between the two top plays but the important thing is to understand the concepts behind bar/15, 6/1(2)*.

So, remember – keep hold of your anchors!

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Money Play. How should Red play 32?

XGID=-b—-EBB—eD—b-db—B-:0:0:1:32:0:0:3:0:10

After the second roll there are about 600 possible positions. When it gets to third roll there are many thousands so you cannot learn them off by heart, instead you have to learn the appropriate principles.

This position arises after Red has opened with 61 (13/7, 8/7) and White has replied with 31 (8/5, 6/5). Red must now play 32. How should he play it?

Once your opponent has made his 5-pt it is normally correct to split the back checkers to stop your opponent quickly building a prime in front of your rear checkers.

That would imply playing 24/22, 13/10 or 24/21, 13/11. Surprisingly enough both these moves are still errors because they don’t go far enough in applying the correct principle. The correct move is 24/22, 24/21, advancing both rear checkers. One of the ideas behind the play is that if one of the checkers is pointed on, you might be able to make an advanced anchor using the other one.

It is interesting to see how big a blunder 13/11, 13/10 is. That play strips the mid-point of its spare builders and does nothing about addressing the strength of White’s home board position. 13/8 is also very weak because it does virtually nothing to improve Red’s position at a time when he should be taking risks.

The key here is to learn the principle of advancing both checkers and then put that principle into use in your own future games.

Rollout Data from Extreme Gammon

 

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Money Play. How should Red play 64?

XGID=-b—-E-C—eE—c-e—-B-:0:0:1:64:0:0:3:0:10

What could be easier than the opening roll? After all, there are only fifteen of them that you have to learn. Not too much work for anybody.

Five opening rolls are always played the same way: 31 (8/5, 6/5); 42 (8/4, 6/4); 53 (8/3, 6/3): 61 (13/7, 8/7) and 65 (24/13). These moves have stood the test of time although as late as the mid-1970s 53 was often played 13/10, 13/8! The game is old (5,000 years) but some of the theory is quite young.

With the other ten opening rolls you have choices as to how you play them. I have chosen to discuss 64. For years this was played 24/14, simply running a back checker in an attempt to get it to safety. Then people started moving 6x by moving 24/18, 13/x. This applied to 62, 63 and 64. The idea behind this play is to either make the opponent’s bar-point next turn or promote an exchange of hits on that bar-point. Normally that exchange of hits is favourable to the player who opens with the 6x.

For years, players laughed at the third choice, 8/2, 6/2, making the 2-pt. It was felt that this play made a point too deep in the home board so near the start of the game. Then along came computers and lo and behold, they think that making the 2-pt is a very reasonable move.

As you can see from the rollout below there is virtually nothing to choose between the three plays and so it becomes a matter of personal choice (except in match play but that is a lesson for another day). The three moves lead to very different types of game so if you want a simple game choose 24/14. Pick 24/18, 13/9 for complexity and 8/2, 6/2 lies somewhere between the other two.

The opening roll is likely to be the last time you have a choice so enjoy it while you can.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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1. Money Play. Should Red double? If doubled, should White take?

2. Match Play. Red leads 2-1 to 5. Should Red double? If doubled, should White take?

XGID=-aC—-b-a—a—abcbb—A:0:0:1:00:0:0:3:0:10

Without an extensive knowledge of reference positions this is a difficult problem. If you have seen something like this before it makes life a lot easier!

I know that if those three checkers on the 2-pt were safely on the ace-point this would be a double and a huge pass but the possibility of White picking up a second (and even a third) checker make things much more complex. Of course, White has to know the right technique to maximise his chances of picking up that additional checker. He must build a prime, then Red has to roll an inconvenient ace and play 2/1* and then White must hit that exposed checker.

White must be patient and the game may well go on for a long time. However, the threat of picking up that additional checker makes this a very easy take for White and in fact, Red only just has a double.  Unless, of course, he thinks that White will drop and believe me a fair few people will drop this.

At the match score, doubling this position would be a gargantuan blunder. White will need little excuse to to redouble to four and put the match on the line as his winning chances from 1-4 down (Crawford) are only 17%. Red must leave the cube where it is at this match score and hope to win a gammon to take him to 4-1 ahead. He will actually win a gammon about 17% of the time from the start position.

Because of the match score Red may not even be able to double if he ends up with a single checker closed out. It will depend upon if he has any other checkers exposed in his home board and White’s exact bear-off structure.

You can learn a lot from this position by adjusting it slightly. For example, change the match score to 1-1, and see what impact that has. As I have remarked before backgammon is a very complex game and you can learn a lot by an in-depth study of any single position. This one is worthy of your attention! 

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

Money

Match

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Money Play. Should Red double? If doubled, should White take?

XGID=–DF-aCB———–bdbbbb-:0:0:1:00:0:0:3:0:10

This type of position is fairly common so it is best to know how to deal with it.

First, it should be clear that Red should double. With a 15-pip lead in the race and multiple market-losing sequences not doubling here would be a double blunder.

The interesting question is whether or not can White can take. His thinking should go along these lines:

Red will leave me a shot with 62, 26, 44, 55 and 66. I will hit that 30% of the time so that is 1.5 wins out of 36.

What about the race? Red is nominally 15 pips ahead but that is not a true count. He has six checkers on his 3-pt and four checkers on his 2-pt. that will add approximately 6 pips to his adjusted pip count. In addition, he will have empty 4- and 5-pts in the bear-off so that will create further inefficiencies for him. On the down side he has only two crossovers and two pips to get his checkers home while I have 4 crossovers and 15 pips to roll before I can begin to bear-off.

In the 31 games where he doesn’t leave me a shot, can I win 7.5 of them to bring me up to the nine games I need to win to accept the double? To answer that question requires both experience and judgment but it can be made a lot easier if you have a reference document. Luckily, you will find “Backgammon Races” in the download section of my website: www.chrisbraybackgammon.com

The answer in this particular case is that White can take with relative comfort. The key to learning is then to adjust the position to find out what happens when things change. Move the spare on White’s 4-pt to his 5-pt and he can still take the double but move it to his 6-pt and the position becomes a drop.

In the initial position if we move one of the spare checkers on Red’s 3-pt to his 6-pt the position becomes double/drop because 44,55 and 66 now play safely. So small differences in the position can make a big difference to the cube action – tricky game backgammon.

Rollout Data from Extreme Gammon

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Match Play. Score 4-4 to 7. Should Red redouble? If redoubled, should White take?

XGID=—B-aDBBB—B–aAbbbc-bb-:0:0:1:63:4:6:1:7:10

Once again, the match score dominates the doubling decision.

For money this would be a very premature redouble as White has all his checkers in play and,  owning the cube, he would be in a powerful position to redouble Red if the game turned around.

However, at this match score the cube is valueless to White and so it is merely a question of whether Red is a sufficient enough favourite to redouble now.

White’s point of last take is 25% (the match-winning chances he would have if he dropped the redouble). Is Red close enough to 75% winning chances to redouble? As ever that is a matter of using experience to make the judgement and an exact percentage estimate is impossible.

However, Red has a five-point prime, a five-point home board and White is on the bar. He is certainly a strong favourite. Over the board I redoubled this position and my opponent dropped.

White should have taken as you can see from the rollout below. Red is near the top of his doubling window but not above it. Therefore, the answer is that Red should redouble and White should take.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Money Play. How should Red play 43?

XGID=-BbC-BB-D——–bbcd–bB-:0:0:1:43:0:0:3:0:10

This is not a very difficult problem but Red went astray over the board by playing 24/21, 8/4, which is an unnecessary overplay. White replied with 64, played 7/1*, 5/1 and after Red fanned, White won with cube.

Red should observe that White has 13 checkers in the attack zone and that should flag up an immediate warning. Those extra checkers on the 6- and 5-pts are just itching to join the battle. At the moment White’s sixes and some of his fours play badly but not after 24/21, 8/4.

Equally well Red cannot afford the luxury of the ‘safe’ play which puts a third useless checker on his ace-point and does nothing to help his position.

The correct play is 8/5, 8/4 which puts the checkers where Red wants and just as importantly does not allow White an attack. There is also some duplication of twos.

White is a strong favourite irrespective of which play Red chooses but anything other than 8/5, 8/4 is a bad blunder.

They key is that Red must stop all those checkers in White’s home board coming into play.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

 

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Bray’s Learning Curve is a USBGF online series by author Chris Bray. Each week Chris lends his sharp insight and easy to understand analysis to help you improve your game. Visit the USBGF Facebook page every Monday to view an interesting backgammon position and join in the lively discussion, return on Tuesday to view the answer. In addition, as a USBGF member, you get access to this companion blog article that includes an expanded explanation.  More about Chris Bray

 

Money Play. How should Red play 31?

XGID=aBBAa-B-BA–cCA–e-e—-A-:1:-1:1:31:0:0:3:0:10

This position is used to highlight a very common error amongst beginners, intermediates and sometimes even experts.

Red has doubled and embarked on a blitz. Sadly, he has thrown a poor number. Many players now think that they must give up on the blitz and tighten things up.

I would expect to see 13/9 played quite often and the even weaker 14/13, 9/6 will have quite a few supporters.

The basic strategy for such positions is to keep blitzing until it is no longer possible. This means that in this position the correct play is 8/4*. There is a huge difference between having two rather than one opposing checker on the bar. One bad roll from White, particularly staying on the bar, could see him quickly lose a gammon.

The game-winning percentage for all three of the plays discussed is very similar but 8/4* wins 10% more gammons and that is the big difference.

8/4* leaves five Red blots and that puts many players off making the correct play. Yes, Red will lose some games, and even gammons, when things go badly, but there are very few certainties in backgammon and Red can only play what the dice give him.

Any play other than 8/4* is bad blunder. So remember, have the courage of your convictions, and blitz aggressively until that plan is no longer viable.

Rollout Data from Extreme Gammon

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Bray’s Learning Curve is a USBGF online series by author Chris Bray. Each week Chris lends his sharp insight and easy to understand analysis to help you improve your game. Visit the USBGF Facebook page every Monday to view an interesting backgammon position and join in the lively discussion, return on Tuesday to view the answer. In addition, as a USBGF member, you get access to this companion blog article that includes an expanded explanation.  More about Chris Bray

 

Match Play. Red trails 4-6 to 7 (Crawford). How should Red play 63?

XGID=—B-aDBBB—B–aAbbbc-bb-:0:0:1:63:4:6:1:7:10

This position was originally posted on Facebook by Phil Simborg. In terms of degree of difficulty this is a very high tariff problem.

If this was a money game with Red holding the cube on 2 then the answer would be the simple 17/8. Every other play loses too many gammons.

However, this is the Crawford Game and Red must win it in order to continue the match. Gammons are irrelevant and so Red just needs to make the play that wins the most often.

I think a lot of players would elect to play 17/14, 13/7, leaving no direct shots but whenever White rolls a 5 or a 6 Red will very likely be in trouble and what does Red plan to do on his next roll even if White rolls small numbers? That is the key to the problem.

The more direct approach is 17/11, 8/5*, employing the standard backgammon theory of attacking a lone blot. Red may be able to execute a blitz or possibly create a prime.

The one move nobody looks at 17/11, 13/10!! A passive move exposing two blots to direct shots!

Whenever White rolls a 5 or a 6 Red will be in big trouble, although he will have a small amount of residual equity. The big gains come on the 16 rolls when White doesn’t roll a 5 or a 6. Now Red is ideally placed to attack/prime White’s rear checker.

The difference between 17/11, 8/5* and 17/11, 13/10 is small but small differences count for a lot in backgammon. Not one in a hundred players would find and, more importantly, play 17/11, 13/10 over the board demonstrating just how difficult the game can be. Even analysing in the calm of one’s study it is hard to find the right play.

The key is that having once seen the solution you can now take this type of thinking and apply it to future problems even though such a problem may not occur again for quite some time.

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Bray’s Learning Curve is a USBGF online series by author Chris Bray. Each week Chris lends his sharp insight and easy to understand analysis to help you improve your game. Visit the USBGF Facebook page every Monday to view an interesting backgammon position and join in the lively discussion, return on Tuesday to view the answer. In addition, as a USBGF member, you get access to this companion blog article that includes an expanded explanation.  More about Chris Bray

Money Play. How should Red play 63?

XGID=-a-BBCCBA———ccbbcBa-:1:1:1:63:0:0:3:0:10

 The age-old question: should you build the full prime with 8/2, 5/2 and perhaps crack it as soon as next turn, or use that precious 6 to run with either 23/14 or 22/17, 8/5?

When I had this position as White, I knew what I wanted my opponent to do and that was to run. He very kindly obliged and after a couple of good rolls I was actually able to play on for, and win, a gammon.

The correct play by quite some way 8/2, 5/2 – see the rollout below. The keys to the position are:

• A full prime is much stronger than a five-point prime and even if Red cannot escape a checker next turn, he will still probably have a five-point prime, so he will be no worse off and, if he rolls a six, he is nearly home free.
• Crucially, White must play before Red rolls again and facing a full prime he will have to move on his side of the board. Big numbers like 64, 65, 55, 54 etc now severely damage his position, giving Red gammon opportunities.

My rule of thumb in such positions is to take the full prime if it is on offer and that rule has stood me in good stead throughout my playing career. If Red had a 65 to play then 23/27, 8/3 would be correct.

Note that 23/17, 8/5 is much better than 23/14 because it halves the gammon losses. The former is an error, the latter is a blunder. Players often forget to take gammons into account properly when deciding upon a move. 23/14 exposes three blots and that is too many when there is a sensible alternative.

So, remember, hardly ever turn down a full prime!

Rollout Information from Extreme Gammon

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Bray’s Learning Curve is a USBGF online series by author Chris Bray. Each week Chris lends his sharp insight and easy to understand analysis to help you improve your game. Visit the USBGF Facebook page every Monday to view an interesting backgammon position and join in the lively discussion, return on Tuesday to view the answer. In addition, as a USBGF member, you get access to this companion blog article that includes an expanded explanation.  More about Chris Bray